Weekend Postcards 11.27.21
Thank-You Notes, A Few News Quotes... Mileage Markers Along the Course
Greetings with a happy-holiday edition of newShrink — on a weekend obviously tending toward the hectic, perhaps for writers and readers alike!
This photo and quote last Saturday from political-historian Heather Cox Richardson set what for me has been a tone and theme of reflection on perspective — and my gratitude for it. This came in a Friday-to-Friday news week that began with multi-faceted concerns raised by the Kyle Rittenhouse jury-acquittal verdict that arrived just after last Friday’s News Notebook posted. Richardson’s comment here echoes for me some lines from the Tom Hanks character in the 2000 film Castaway:
“One day the tide came in, and gave me a sail…
I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?”
Now I’m not quite comparing the Rittenhouse verdict with surviving a plane-crash alone and stranded on a desert island! (I do still say that’s one movie that needs a sequel.) And I’m still thinking on several aspects of the Rittenhouse case-outcome, such as:
psychological, developmental and neurological dimensions of a then-17-year-old’s brain and behavioral functioning vs those of the adults, adult culture and institutions charged with teaching, protecting and modeling behavior for him;
a lot of video material we all saw, which the judge excluded from trial, that seems to speak to intent;
my desire to “follow-the-money” in this case, specifically to how well-lawyered, well-prepared, well-funded this then-17-year-old was… And is (with now the post-verdict offers for internships and hero-status appearances in the media and politics of the far right);
the various aspects of our gun culture that this case puts on trial, even for those a lot more devoted than I am to the mass arming of individuals in 2021 America;
toxic versions of adulthood exhibited in and out of the courtroom in the case — both the many caricatures of strong masculinity and the sympathetic-sentimentality vs the well-grounded, psychologically mature feminine;
wide variations in laws governing guns, self-defense and other issues across state lines and how even to think and talk about remedies for that in a united America;
societal consequences of concern in the wake of the verdict, such as idealizing a misguided kid as a hero and signaling approval of vigilantism to extremists;
and finally, a question for this increasingly gun-supporting Roberts Supreme Court: Are 17-year-old well-intentioned vigilantes really what you believe the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment means by “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”?
Then the lens widened, with the Thanksgiving-week Rittenhouse verdict followed closely by two other key jury decisions — the Ahmaud Arbery murder case conviction in Brunswick, GA, and the jury finding liability and awarding $25 million in civil damages against organizers of the violent, deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA. This has shifted the newShrink theme and focus to the perspective that timing and juxtaposition of the three cases provide… and my gratitude for it as much-needed.
One important caveat before even beginning to reflect here on any positive outcomes or hope for future good arising from these cases. That is, at the heart of each of these very different trials is the common fact of individual Americans who died with no opportunity to ponder such things, discover and learn from any patterns and insights, realize any such benefits, or “to live to fight another day.”
Unlike them, we still can.
🦋💙
Links to stories today are listed in order of appearance at the bottom of these Postcards..
news, quotes…
First a small sampling of coverage of the three cases.
Kyle Rittenhouse
Kyle Rittenhouse Acquitted on All Counts (The New York Times)
In a case that fueled debate over gun rights and vigilantism, the jury appeared to accept Mr. Rittenhouse’s explanation that he had acted reasonably to defend himself during demonstrations.
After about 26 hours of deliberation, a jury appeared to accept Mr. Rittenhouse’s explanation that he had acted reasonably to defend himself in an unruly and turbulent scene in August 2020, days after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, a Black resident, during a summer of unrest following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
Mr. Rittenhouse sobbed and was held by his lawyers after a clerk read the jury’s verdict, acquitting him of all charges.
After the shootings, Mr. Rittenhouse was transformed from an unknown 17-year-old from rural Illinois into a national symbol. Some Americans were horrified by the images of a teenager toting a powerful semiautomatic rifle on a city street during racial justice demonstrations, a reminder of the extent of open carry laws in the United States. Others saw a well-meaning young man who had gone to keep the peace and provide medical aid, a response to the sometimes destructive protests that had roiled American cities in the summer of 2020.”
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In Kenosha and Beyond, Guns Become More Common on US Streets (The Charlotte Observer)
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Kyle Rittenhouse Is Also a Victim (Tribune News Service)
Ahmaud Arbery
Three Men are Found Guilty of Murder in Arbery Shooting. (The New York Times)
“BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Three white men were found guilty of murder and other charges on Wednesday for the pursuit and fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, in a case that, together with the killing of George Floyd, helped inspire the racial justice protests of last year.
The three defendants — Travis McMichael, 35; his father, Gregory McMichael, 65; and their neighbor William Bryan, 52 — face sentences of up to life in prison. The men have also been indicted on separate federal charges, including hate crimes and attempted kidnapping, and are expected to stand trial in February on those charges.
The verdict suggested that the jury agreed with prosecutors’ arguments that Mr. Arbery posed no imminent threat to the men and that the men had no reason to believe he had committed a crime, giving them no legal right to chase him through their suburban neighborhood. ‘You can’t start it and claim self-defense,’ the lead prosecutor argued in her closing statements. ‘And they started this.’”
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“It’s good to see racism lose”: Guilty Verdicts are Hailed in the Arbery Case. (NYT)
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How a Prosecutor Addressed a Mostly White Jury and Won a Conviction in the Arbery Case (NYT)
“Linda Dunikoski, a prosecutor brought in from the Atlanta area, struck a careful tone in a case that many saw as an obvious act of racial violence.
….Despite the evidence of racism she had at her disposal, Linda Dunikoski, the prosecutor, stunned some legal observers by largely avoiding race during the trial, choosing instead to hew closely to the details of how the three men had chased the Black man, Ahmaud Arbery, through their neighborhood…
…Kevin Gough, the lawyer who represented Mr. Bryan [one of the convicted defendants], credited Ms. Dunikoski with threading the most difficult of needles. She mentioned a racial motive just once during the three-week trial, in her closing argument: The men, she said, had attacked Mr. Arbery ‘because he was a Black man running down the street.’
‘She found a clever way of bringing the issue up that wouldn’t be offensive to the right-leaning members of the jury,’ he said. ‘I think you can see from the verdict that Dunikoski made the right call.’”
Charlottesville
Jury Finds Rally Organizers Responsible for Charlottesville Violence (NYT)
“Jurors found the main organizers of the deadly far-right rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 liable under state law, awarding more than $25 million in damages, but deadlocked on federal conspiracy charges.”
🦋💙
… and notes of thanks
Now, some thoughts from me and readers on a few things we are glad, or at least cautiously hopeful, to see. I’ve appreciated hearing some of your spontaneous thoughts and comments on these cases — like this summing-up by reader Deborah from just outside the metro Charlotte area:
“I think what bothers me the most is Kyle was not living in the area where the protests were. He lied about being a medic and wanting to help people. He came there with an AR Rifle, posing a problem with himself and others. He is responsible for the deaths.
I think he was 17 when this happened. He strikes me as a kid who needs to look and seem tough.
I am glad that at least there was justice served in Ahmaud Arbery’s murder trial. I was worried about that case too.
(Sorry, you are the only person I can talk to about this kind of stuff.“)
To summarize my own thoughts a bit, perhaps trite but true is the overarching sense that I’m glad these three verdicts — especially arriving the same week amid otherwise slower holiday news cycles — across the political and geographic spectrum are both inspiring and provoking conversation, thought, and calls for more improvements (such as recent changes in Georgia citizen’s arrest laws.) More specifically:
With Rittenhouse, disturbing as the case is from so many psychological perspectives because of his youth and the behavior of so many of the adults and adult institutions involved, those very factors have also generated a lot of constructive parental awareness and intense discussion among families.
In the live-televised Rittenhouse trial itself (as with some U.S. Senate and House committee hearings), a lot of the behavior, tone and content from multiple figures — particularly the judge — were so jarring I almost wished a certain amount of viewing could somehow be required of citizens… or at least in schools.
By contrast, I valued the live coverage of the very small, relatively modest Brunswick, GA, courtroom in the Arbery murder case because it so vividly displayed a lot of exemplary trial decorum and professionalism — particularly calm, even-handedness and temperament of the judge and astonishing precision of lead prosecutor Linda Dunikoski.
To me Dunikoski was so impressive that I need to echo here the above story and quotes describing her deft strategy in handling a very racially charged case before a rural Georgia, nearly all-white jury. And her effective demeanor — combining razor-sharp technical detail with disarming accessibility —extended far beyond just the race strategy. This can be a difficult hurdle for the sharpest of female lawyers, especially in such small-community Southern courtrooms.
Earlier in the Arbery trial, one of the lawyers had actually asked aloud in court that no more Black ministers be allowed to attend the trial for fear it might influence the jury. (One supposes he must mean jurors are blind and immune to the legions of non-Black characters effective attorneys everywhere position as visual props supportive to their cases in jury trials.) I was very glad the live national television coverage brought this guy the blow-back that bone-headed, tone-deaf behavior deserved.
Because of the timing and massive coverage of trials so close together I find many areas of useful comparison and contrast between the Rittenhouse case in Wisconsin and the Arbery one in Georgia. A big one is in many of the ways the two states’ respective laws on the right to self-defense, citizen’s arrest, and gun laws are written and interpreted. (The Rittenhouse case further illustrates how complicated this becomes when situations and people cross state lines. For example, Kyle Rittenhouse’s parents are divorced, he lives in Illinois with his mother while his dad lives 20 miles away in Kenosha, WI, where the shootings occurred. Those two states’ gun laws are different and both were in involved in his case.)
In the Charlottesville civil lawsuit, although deeply disturbing it’s important that a lot of the direct testimony and behavior regarding avowed white supremacist leaders and organizers were aired. Especially encouraging were the findings of liability by: Richard Spencer, once seen as the leader of the alt-right in the United States; Jason Kessler, who organized the event; and Christopher Cantwell, a vocal neo-Nazi podcaster who is already serving 41 months in federal prison in a separate threats and extortion case.
To conclude this revisit of the 2017 Charlottesville case, I’m reminded that it was this tragic event — and the former president’s comments condoning the violence with false equivalencies — that inspired Joe Biden’s 2019 decision to run again for president… and his theme-focus, (a bit similar to that of newShrink), on the American soul.
🦋💙
in-it for the long run(s)
Here (from the Sun Sentinel of South Florida) is a refresher from coverage of Biden’s 2019 video announcement when he decided to run:
“Biden’s video centered on the moment in 2017 when Trump responded to the Charlottesville clash between neo-Nazis and counter-protesters by saying that there were ‘very fine people on both sides.’
‘In that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I’ve ever seen in my lifetime,’ Biden said.
The video underscored the belief within Biden’s camp that his strongest argument in the primaries will be that the former vice president’s stature and long political experience make him the best equipped to beat the president.
A campaign spokesman said Biden’s message will build on ‘three pillars’ -- the ‘battle for the soul of America’ …rebuilding the middle class… and uniting America.”
Increasing signs of a heating-up midterm election year ahead include the now-President’s declining approval ratings, political flak from issues ranging from COVID-management backlash to Building Back Better, and such general cultural nastiness as vehicles (and even boats) all over my suburban county waving giant “F___-Biden” flags.
From my standpoint, on the news and public-issues front I am so thankful for you newShrink readers and the countless ways this process and ongoing discussions with you bring light, air and some sense of choice and hope for what are sure to be turbulent news months, and years, ahead. This is true despite, or maybe even because of, how the newShrink process can sometimes look and feel an awful lot like, um, spitting, in the wind.
And in the personal sphere, you may have noticed that running literally has also come to serve similar parallel aims — or perhaps just a needed illusion of being in control of something!
Maybe the running — to which I shifted only in recent years, for still-unknown reasons, from years of near-daily swimming — kind of fits my dual professions. The wing-footed Greek god Hermes, Roman Mercury, was the go-between runner of messages across the various different worlds of society and Olympus.
In the depth psychology tradition, Hermes is associated with the alchemical process of psychological individuation, the bringing of our conscious minds into communication and relationship with the psyche, the soul.
Or maybe for me it’s just a more mundane and practical thing:
In any case I’ve realized adding some achievable, roughly quarterly, goals and milestones can at least help survival, if not peak, form on both newShrink and personal fronts as we head into another daunting news- and election-year…. (already?!)
After a somewhat demanding winter, next-up will be the April 9 CharlotteFest 10k race, a slightly longer course through the same beautiful SouthPark area streets of my hometown. (Oddly enough, Charlotte’s a near-exact marathon distance from my Lake Norman home… and one I think I’d rather run than have to commute twice daily again, as I did for over a decade!)
Would love to see you out there, or moving in whatever ways, um, move you wherever you are. And please do share tips you find for keeping body, mind and psyche working well together in this often-mad world of news and humans.
🦋💙
I’ll leave you with another song lyric served up to keep me chuckling from about midway through the Thursday race, by the psyche’s trusty creator of ear-worms inside my head. This one, from a Billy Joel song, needs some back-story:
Those of you of a certain age may share my recall of TV ads I’d see as a small child while visiting my grandparents and great-grandmother. The ads promoted a product called Geritol, some sort of so-called youth- and energy potion target-marketed to older men and women during their respective preferred TV shows.
The Geritol song-jingle had a cloying-annoying refrain that went something like, “…ohhh, she takes care of herself…” over visuals of older women wafting dreamlike through their idyllic days…
… Which (of course) also happens to be the Billy Joel ear-worm lyric that has forever kept me stuck at the image of “Geritol!” with his song that might otherwise be lovely, “She’s Always A Woman.”
For where Billy sings: “Oh, she takes care of herself, she can wait if she wants/She’s ahead of her time/Oh, and she never gives out and she never give in/She just changes her mind…”
…. I am hearing my great-grandmother’s voice with something like: “Oh law, look, she’s so well-preserved, bless her heart!!”
(Which, in Southern great-grandmother code back in the day, meant something like, “hey, the embalming fluid seems to be working nicely, dear…”)
And, that is all I have! Talk to you next week.
🦋💙tish
… it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give — yes or no, or maybe —
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.
— William Stafford, “A Ritual to Read to Each Other”
Post Notes: