You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
From Still I Rise by Maya Angelou, 1978
Today is Maya Angelou’s 90th birthday (April 4, 1928). In honor of this extraordinary person, poet and civil rights activist, I have selected three horrendous conditions in our nation that have gone on and on and on, as if no one cares – and yet, like dust, the people rise up and give their all to turning things around!!
Our public schools. Oklahoma and Kentucky public schools have been so poorly funded for so long, their text books are rotting, the toilets and sinks are broken, the roofs leak and the walls buckle. In Baltimore, maintenance of heating systems, plumbing and school facilities in general has reached such a level of disrepair that, in the winter, teachers and children wear parkas to school with multiple layers of clothing underneath. Schools had to be closed during the most extreme cold weather this past winter. On hot days in the fall and spring, everyone swelters.
In Kansas, schools will soon have to shut down due to prolonged inadequate funding by the legislature. Even though the Kansas State Supreme Court determined that funding for the state’s schools was so low it was unconstitutional, the GOP governor and legislature continued to fund schools at the same level that had been causing structural and curriculum deterioration. In April, schools will likely have to close.
Still we rise. Teachers in the state of West Virginia staged a state-wide teacher’s strike for almost two weeks in March of this year to protest inadequate funding of their schools and salaries for teachers. Oklahoma and Kentucky teachers followed suit, organizing the shut down of their schools to unite in protests and rallies at the state capitols. All of this teacher activism succeeded: legislatures in all three states finally approved budgets that make significant improvements in school funding and teacher salaries. Teachers in other states with inadequately funded educational systems – such as South Carolina, Georgia, Idaho and Alabama – are watching. Actions to improve conditions for students and teachers is likely to spread.
Black Lives Matter. In response to the acquittal of Travon Martin’s murderer in 2013, organizers of Black Lives Matter envisioned a network of local chapters that would intervene in cases of violence against black individuals and the black community. Since then, the police have killed more than 100 black men a year (the numbers are hard to pin down). Most of these cases never come to trial. In those that do, it is rare for the police officers involved to be convicted of a crime.
A macabre sense of déjà vu accompanies the reporting of deaths of black males – males who are beloved cafeteria workers, young fathers who are on cell phones in their back yards, asthmatics who are choked to death and on and on. Each time protesters gather and march and hold vigils and wave signs saying Black Lives Matter. Each time speakers read aloud the growing list of those who have been killed in cold blood. Each time police in riot gear, supported by military tanks and helicopters, push back the protesters and arrest as many as they can, declaring the protest unlawful even when it is peaceful.
Still we rise. The resolve of the black community to move forward, beyond prejudice, is growing and strengthening every day. The formation of independent news media targeting black audiences, the emergence of support groups for traumatized members of the black community and an increase in black entrepreneurs with products and services geared to the black community all recognize and value a unique culture that is embedded in this country but consistently marginalized.
Most white people have not grasped the importance of using their privileged status in society to get involved with Black Lives Matter – as human rights champions, for example. Members of Black Lives Matter, on the other hand, participated in the struggle of Native Americans at Standing Rock for environmental justice, the struggle of women rallying for the Women’s March on Washington and the struggle of white students from Parkland, Florida, to fight for reasonable gun restrictions. 
They are participating in the Poor People’s Campaign, which is preparing nationwide activism on the issue of poverty. Members of Black Lives Matter participate alongside activists for other causes, understanding the intersectionality among persistent issues of poverty, health, racism, women’s rights and environmental justice.
Police brutality. It’s everywhere. Police brutality has been especially evident of late in news of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids and deportations, and the resulting incarcerations and family trauma. It was much in evidence at the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline – where water guns were turned on protesters in freezing weather, protesters were arrested and kept in dog cages, attack dogs were used against peaceful protesters and armored tanks were lined up against protesters whose behavior was unfailingly peaceful.
In situations like the protests that followed the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the police have become so aggressive in their response, that police behavior itself escalates tensions. The overly militaristic and intentionally cruel behaviors of some police departments towards civilians exercising their constitutional right to protest, or immigrant families targeted for deportation, or any black person walking or driving down the street, has removed police forces far away from their intended role as keepers of the peace in our communities. The lack of public trust in police forces sinks with every shooting, especially those that go unpunished by the criminal justice system.
Still we rise. Salt Lake City, Utah, population over 190,000, has a police force that hasn’t killed anyone since 2015. It is a capital city. The place has its share of violent crime and property crime. Like many major cities, Salt Lake City has had protests turn violent in response police shootings of unarmed people of color.
However, they have been turning things around since 2015 by putting police officers through “de-escalation training.” This is a program that teaches officers to communicate with suspects and empathize with the situations they are in. Officers are taught to back up, pause and take stock of circumstances, rather than assuming they know all of the important details of what is happening. Instead of escalating a confrontation, they think about ways to calm things down so that the use of deadly force is unnecessary.
This strategy saves the lives of officers and suspects alike.
The de-escalation technique has been around for a long time. It is widely used in police training throughout Europe, where countries are apt to adopt uniform standards across all police departments. Many of our own police departments use it. If police departments in this country were willing to adopt uniform standards from state to state, that would likely shift the focus of training away from the use of force and toward de-escalation strategies.
If we want to prevent further violence during protests and further killing of innocent civilians by police, cities and towns should insist on training officers in de-escalation strategies. The legal and judicial system, in turn, needs to lean away from the “shoot first, analyze later” philosophy, which encourages lack of accountability. Lawyers and judges, it seems, also need training in the benefits of alternatives to deadly force.
