Radical Trust

This is not my usual topic; I am generally more comfortable with plants than people, our species often driving me to despair. Certainly, this has been one of those weeks. Someone sworn to protect the community kills an unarmed man, justified protests against this horror turn violent, attempts to control the violence beget more violence. Not humanity's finest hour.

By now, many of us have probably heard of Genesee County, Michigan, Sheriff Chris Swanson's peaceful walk with a group of protestors. Flint is a city in which too many people have no reason to trust public officials, given the toxic drinking water still coming from too many taps. And yet a situation that could have been disastrous--wasn't. Hundreds of protesters had been marching for some time when they arrived at police headquarters. They had to know about the violence that has erupted around the country. In the capital city of my own state, a city council member, a county commissioner, and a no-longer-young US Congresswoman were pepper-sprayed by police. In New York, a police SUV drove into a crowd. In Detroit, a young man was killed in protest-related violence. In Flint Township, the marchers found armed police in riot gear. The protesters sat to demonstrate their peaceful intentions. The sheriff asked them what they wanted. Eventually, "walk with us" was the response. He took off his protective helmet, laid down his baton, and the police and the protesters became a group of people who walked together in a show of grief and determination to prevent more killings.





The courage of those people in Flint brought me to tears. What made Flint different from Minneapolis or New York or Atlanta or Columbus? Maybe it was trust.

The protesters chose nonviolence, trusting that their choice would prevent a violent response from the assembled officers. Sheriff Swanson removed his protective gear, trusting that the people around him meant what they said. They marched together, trusting in the American right to freedom of assembly. And everyone went home safely.

This kind of trust is radical, a word that we often forget comes from the Latin for "having roots." Radical trust is not just the ultimate reliability of crowdsourcing. A radical trust is rooted in character, whether of a person or of a society. This radical trust requires courage, the ancient word for heart.  Those leading the protest marched knowing the risk of violence, but they trusted in their own peaceful intentions. The sheriff knew that removing his protective helmet placed him at risk, but he trusted in the integrity of the marchers. They demonstrated that we do not need to distrust those we perceive as different from us.

Yesterday, Flint demonstrated trust in community and in each other. Dare we trust the rest of the country to do the same?