I recently watched a video of a black man standing still with his hands behind his head while two white police officers come up to him, one walked behind him and jump kicked him in the back, knocking him to the ground. The black man was in no way aggressive nor defensive in the ensuing attack that happened to him. I read some of the comments people made on this video, one that caught my eye was a man saying that the media portrays what they want to portray and it’s never the truth. The man went on to say that basically the black man deserved to be attacked even while he was compliant and non-threatening to those police officers.
We see what we want to see.
In that circumstance, I wonder what the man who was advocating for violence saw. Did he see that black man was a threat? This was on video and no where near the man commenting on the situation. Did the commenter see those white men maintaining their power over a black man and see that as “good” or “the right thing to do”? What did this man really see?
I can’t answer that question, but I know what I saw. I saw an act of violence.
There’s no denying that that was an act of violence, so why aren’t we seeing that as a whole? Where’s the disconnect? Are we programmed for violence? Why aren’t we seeing these videos of people being harmed and attacked, and getting bothered by it?
The first pillar of yogic philosophy is that of non-harm, not hurting others or the self in thought, words, or actions. Another take on that is being compassionate and peaceful to all beings including ourselves. What I wish I saw in that video was a black man being compliant and those police officers being calm but attentive with the man. What did those police officers see? Did they see a man standing still with his hands on his head, obviously showing that he was not going to be a threat?
We see what we want to see. When you read this and you respond to yourself, look at how you respond to these words. Look at how you see things and if it’s with clear eyes or eyes that have been veiled through years of stories from other people who have been looking through the world through veils. It’s time to start removing the veils, one by one. Clean your dirty glasses and start to look through clear lenses.