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guest opinion
| 7/28/2010 11:45:00 AM Email this article • Print this article | |
Calling For Ithaca's Best
Nathan Shinagawa, Svante Myrick and Eddie Rooker
Saturday, July 10th, was a day that showed the best of Ithaca and the worst of Ithaca. While thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds gathered to celebrate the community's fifth annual Dragonboat Festival, across the inlet, thousands more attended the Scottish Games Festival and experienced the traditions of a rich culture that they may not have appreciated before. Meanwhile in the hamlet of Etna, the home of Sergeant Bryan Bangs smoldered; the blaze was set by an arsonist and, while firefighters extinguished the blaze in the early morning, the house was ruined.
As newer residents, it was Ithaca's best that drew us to this wonderful city from three very different backgrounds. We are Black, White and Asian American; we hail from both the east coast and the west coast; our families are located on a range of socio-economic classes. Now each one of us is proud to call Ithaca home. We celebrate Ithaca's best - diversity, tolerance, rich community culture, natural scenic beauty, and the vibrant quality of life for all who live and work here. Our shared story is a common one in Ithaca. One need only look at the Juneteenth Festivals, the Ithaca Parade, or the Chili Cook-Off to see individuals coming together and experiencing Ithaca's best and the best in one another.
In the past few months we have seen, however, some of the worst of Ithaca. The dialogue that has followed the dual tragedies of Shawn Greenwood's death in February and the recent loss of the Bangs' home has been marked by a tone of unwarranted divisiveness. Anonymous posters reveled in their power to publish inflammatory and unproductive comments online. Yet even in benign water cooler conversations, and passing remarks shared on the Commons, there is a lack of empathy and compassion for both Bangs and Greenwood by many members of our community.
The inexcusable arson against Sergeant Bryan Bangs may be the culmination of months of anger - anger that has often lacked enough empathy and compassion from all quarters. There are those who refuse to try to see how difficult it must have been for Bangs. Forced to make a split second decision with the life of a fellow officer in jeopardy. Bangs acted as best he could and a grand jury recently determined that his actions were justified.
There are then those who turn Shawn Greenwood into a caricature and fail to see him as a man whose loss merits grief. His family and friends experience genuine heartache and are undergoing a type of loss we can only pray we will never need to confront.
Similarly, there are those who are unable to understand how difficult these last few months must have been for those close to Sergeant Bangs as well and who had to witness a close friend, family member, and colleague thrust into the public eye.
There are also those who are unable to comprehend the real fear of the community of color who have known - either first hand or via collective history - the terror of violence perpetrated against young men of color, from Emmett Till to Oscar Grant.
Now, as misunderstanding begets more anger, we find that our police officers must worry about the lives of their families and the safety of their homes as they continue to pursue the crucial and difficult task of keeping our community safe. We find that ordinary citizens in our community of color fear retaliation because of this arson, a crime that the community condemns. These fears, in our great City of Ithaca, need not be.
We must work together, in open dialogue, to prevent our fears from leading to acrimony, isolation, and violence. We must expect more from each other and our city. We can only move forward, in a positive direction, through cooperation, compassion, and understanding - qualities that have long been the foundation of this great community. It is the best of Ithaca that always brings us together at countless festivals, in school classrooms, and in the living rooms of friends and family. It will be the best of Ithaca - this powerful notion of togetherness - that will allow us to unite in these painful times and grow stronger as a community.
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This guest opinion was written by Nathan Shinagawa, Tompkins County Legislature, 4th District, Tompkins County Public Safety Committee chairperson; Svante Myrick, City of Ithaca Common Council, 4th Ward; and Eddie Rooker, City of Ithaca Common Council, 4th Ward.
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| |  | | Posted: Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Article comment by:
Melissa Troutman
Bravo!
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