Namaste Believer ji,
With respect, I can't agree with you there. At least,, not when it comes to living on this continent. Most of the time, we have plenty of choice even when we don't want to recognise it.
Sadly, again, I can't agree. The problem was not what he was doing. If it were an elderly white man, even someone no one recognised, I very much doubt the authorities would have been called at all. People probably wouldn't have looked at him twice. There is nothing wrong with walking along a street in any part of this country and looking around at the neighborhood. There is no part of what this gentleman did that was counter to any "American Values", either in general or local. He is in no way responsible for the attack that injured him. That responsibility falls to the greater community and law enforcement of the area he was visiting/living in.But I feel that certain individuals get into trouble because of their habits from the old country and their lack of understanding/embracing the traditional American values. In this case "looking" is what seems to have done it for the elderly man in question. He is walking in the neighborhood and looking towards open garages. This "looking" is so natural to people in India but over here, it scares people into believing that someone is casing their garage/home for a possible robbery.
How do you teach people to not use their eyes when walking around? I'm not saying there aren't some situations where such a thing wouldn't help, but when it comes to blatant racism in a known hotbed for racism, then it can be very hard to predict what the next trigger will be, because it has nothing really to do with correct social behavior or incorrect. This is blaming the victim, even if only partly.I wish there was a course for the new comers to teach them what is acceptable social behavior and what is not; because doing non acceptable things can land someone into hot water very quickly.
Police academies across the US teach assessment of situations, approach and modulation of response. What happened in this kid's mind, we may never know. But unless he was paying absolutely no attention, he was indeed equipped with the correct skills in the academy. You are kind to give him some benefit of the doubt, but even if he had some prior untreated trauma and just snapped at a bad time, as the authority figure he bears a lot of responsibility here.
It's a sad situation all around, agreed, and a sadly common picture in this country recently. I never realised until this year how bad it still is. I hope we start to finally address it, now it's looking the nation in the face.
~Pranam
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