Note: At the Nonviolent Moral Fusion Direct Action Training this past weekend, we promised to post this. There’ll be another Nonviolent Moral Fusion Direct Action Training on Weds, May 9, 5:30-8:30pm, at the Rafi Greene CAO Masten Resource Center, 1423 Fillmore Ave, Buffalo 14211. Register at: RSVP: bit.ly/BuffaloPPC5-9 FB https://www.facebook.com/events/1015535118613461/ and/or at 716-332-3904; or office@wnypeace.org.
When there’s a threat or danger, our alert system – the fight-flight-freeze that we share with our other species – will activate a stress response. This fight-flight-freeze response includes high energy, rapid heartbeat, and the shut-down of the higher brain functions. It comes when we sense a threat or opportunity, and is hard-wired into our genetic make-up. It happens easily in a large group, when there’s fear of the unknown, and/or an actual possibility of arrest or conflict.
In a large crowd or any particularly threatening situation, these reactions are heightened. Not only that, as we are “social animals” we communicate and “catch” those feelings from others. Therefore, keeping calm in a protest, rally, march, or gathering is particularly important – even more so if there may be civil resistance or civil disobedience.
So many of us also already have a “broken alert system” because that system, meant for only occasional use, is often on all the time due to daily demands or difficulties, chronic stressors, and/or longstanding traumas (including shame, which is the subtle trauma) and strains.
First we need to calm ourselves. DEEP SLOW BREATHING is one powerful way! Even just reminding ourselves of our breathing can be helpful. Increased oxygen is a known calming factor, and breathing is used in most meditation and pain management.
If we practice before the stressor comes, that will also help us use the technique, as the more we practice, the more it helps. Some breathing techniques are:
- Conscious breathing – just notice your breathing
- Square breathing – four parts: breathing in is one part; holding your breath, two; breathing out is two more parts. In other words, you breathe out twice as slowly
- Square breathing with Repetition – pick a fairly short saying, phrase, sentence, or name that is meaningful to you and helps you feel the way you want to feel. Use the mental repetition of those words to help you time your breathing: saying it to yourself once while breathing in, once while holding your breath, and twice while breathing out. That will supplement the calming effect of the increased oxygen on the body with the calming effect of the words chosen on the mind, heart, and spirit.
Tapping yourself lightly with your fingertips (eg top of head, side of eye, chin, collarbone) is also self-soothing. Even stretching and/or slow sustained movement can serve the purpose at times.
As for calming others, again, our calm helps others to be more calm (as social animals, we “catch” feelings from each other). Then CLARA is very helpful. CLARA (Center & calm; Listen; Affirm; Respond; Add information) will help a lot. Communication techniques to use with CLARA are active listening (affirming while listening), the use of I-statements (rather than blaming/talking about the other person) in the response portion, will also help. Humor can too. And sometimes, if we are in touch with ourselves and what’s going on around us, with inspiring Spirit – that Truth and Love – that is in us all, we may find the Transforming Power to change up the energy in the situation. Sometimes we can disarm the aggressor, defuse the conflict, and/or stop or at least minimize any violence. We work to stop the cycle in its tracks.
Note: Robert Snekser is a 14-year-old Peace Activist and who attends Kenmore East. He is part of the Students for Action, Students Against Gun Violence, and of course the WNY Peace Center. He (again) spoke eloquently and courageously at the March For Our Lives. Thank you, Robert, for your insightful column below, and for your compassion and commitment!! Together, We Shall Overcome!! #UnitetheStruggles!!
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Police in the United States have a historic presence of being violent, especially in the last 60 or so years. Talking about police can leave a bad taste in people’s mouths, specifically those of minorities. Being white you may not know how people of color get treated by police, being straight you may not know how LGBTQ+ people are often viewed by police, and being a man may mean you don’t know how women get treated by police, male cops in particular. Saying this, it might need to be clarified that being a part of one of these privileged groups doesn’t make you inherently evil and it’s not meant to attack you. However, it is meant to shed light on your potential ignorance and to hopefully encourage people of privilege to get the conversation going with their friends who also hold some aspect of privilege.
When you think of police brutality you may think of the killings of unarmed black men like Stephon Clark. This has become the face of modern police brutality, for a very good reason. It happens all too often that unarmed black men are fatally shot by police. Yes, more white people are shot by police, but when you look at the records, these people are almost always armed with a gun and there are more whites than black in America. When you look at the statistics of probability however, black people are more likely to be killed by police than white people. This issue most likely stems from the institutionalized racism that this country was built on, specifically referencing slavery and Jim Crow Laws. Both of these were said to be “local issues” by the federal government previously and now the government is saying that the issue of police murdering unarmed black men is also a “local issue”. Clearly slavery and Jim Crow Laws had to be dealt with at a national level and hopefully the national government will take care of these murders in the same way.
The harsh treatment of black men and women is nothing new. Look at how police responded to Civil Rights protests in the 1960s. They responded by arresting the protesters for exercising their first amendment right to assemble, they blasted them with fire hoses, and attacked them with police dogs. Police have always reacted differently to people of color than they do to white people.
Not to erase the incredibly real and valid concerns of Black Lives Matter (an organization which should be supported fully), indigenous peoples in America are actually at a higher risk to be killed by police than any other group of people. They also face extreme backlash from police. For a recent example, the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which took place for almost a year, led to extreme unprecedented responses from police. They used many tactics similar to what they used during the Civil Rights movement.
Another issue with our policing system is that officers often have no idea how to deal with people with mental illnesses and disabilities. They often react by shooting first and assessing later, granted that isn’t just limited to this, but this mindset leads to the deaths of innocent people. Police need to be trained on how to actually deal with people who have a mental illness or a mental disability so that hopefully their behavior towards these people will change as they realize they can’t treat everyone as neurotypical.
Police also have treated LGBTQ+ Americans with a similar blatant disrespect for human lives. They raided gay nightclubs and bars throughout the 50s and 60s until the Gay Community had had enough. The Stonewall Inn Riots of 1969 were an important step for gay liberation. Theses riots were caused by how the police raided the bar and then invaded these individuals privacy. The LGBTQ+ community finally fought back. Another example of how the LGBTQ+ community has been negatively treated by
Dear Friends! 716-332-3904; 716-931-3520 4/27/18
Every day the whirlwind! Please pace yourself – lots going on, and much more to come!
First, news:
– 55 arrested Monday in the Cuomo: Walk the Talk Climate rally with 1500 attendees (all released without bail, arraignments yet to come);
– Kings’ Bay Plowshares action: 7 Catholic Workers held on felony charges from the symbolic actions highlighting the madness of nuclear weapons. More info at wnypeace.org/resist-militarism!;
– The West Valley Nuclear Site’s comment period was extended to May 25. Please request full clean-up (and repeat as necessary/feasible)! Go to wnypeace.org/environmental-justice/
– Triple Divide saved – for now! JKLM has decided to stop pursuing building a fracking wastewater treatment plant that would’ve placed radioactive waste at the headwaters of 3 major rivers. Nya weh to Water Protectors!
And for the week ahead:
– Poor People’s Campaign WNY: Intro and Nonviolent Direct Action Training, Sat, April 28, 1-4pm; @Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 1080 Main St, Buffalo. Register at 716-332-3904; office@wnypeace.org; or on the facebook event page; (if you can’t make it, there’s another Weds May 9, 5:30-8:30 at Rafi Green Ctr, 1423 Fillmore). Also helpful for all, not just if risking arrest! No worries pot luck as well. Hope to see you there!
– Racial Justice Taskforce meeting Sun, Apr 29, 1-2:30pm, WNYPC/NRC, 1272 Delaware Ave (entrance & pkg round back of building);
Significant other developments: The Poor People’s Campaign WNY will have free buses to Albany for May 14 (first Moral Fusion Direction Action), To be part of it, register here: RSVP Today to take part in the May 14th action in Albany
We’ll also have an overnight trip for Mon June 4-5, focusing on the Environment and Health Care including an Annual Lobby Day the next day. We are also taking donations to help fund the buses.
Anytime now, #45 may fire Mueller or Rob Rosenstein. If it happens, we’ll gather and the Marcy Casino for a march down and up Elmwood. Stay tuned, and/or text Text “ALERT” to 668-366 to get rapid response updates.
#unitethestruggles and #stoptheviolence – Real change is possible! We Shall Overcome!
Again, please go to our website wnypeace.org and facebook page for more events and campaigns, with new ones cropping up all the time! (Keep checking 😉 We’re all in this together – Harambe!!
#unitethestruggles
Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, Justice, and yes Love.
#PowerWITH-NOTPowerOver
Remember to tune in: DEMOCRACY NOW! IS NOW BEING BROADCAST MONDAY-FRIDAY, 8AM-9AM (LIVE) ON WBNY 91.3FM. Hear it over the radio or streaming live at wbny.buffalostate.edu or http://tunein.com/radio/WBNY-913-s27549/.
Below are
– more event listings (see also calendar & facebook page);
– Taskforce items and campaigns; and
– regularly scheduled events – all in that order.
And be sure to go to wnypeace.org/calendar for more event listings – there’s plenty more and additions are frequent! …..
No hate, no fear as we are #StillResisting. #UnitetheStruggles !
Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love. #loveisloveBUF <3
