Are We Dressed for Success?
We live in a fairly chill part of Upstate New York. Our neck of the woods – which is only partially woodsy – faces the City of Saratoga Springs on one side whilst the other sides border more open areas, including farmland, state parks and rural tracts.
Apart from the drone of Interstate 87, the occasional lawnmower, leaf-blower or celebratory fireworks, things are relatively quiet.
Even in this polarized season peppered by loud political shouting matches, the neighborhood seems to, at the very least, managed to keep the shouts happening on NextDoor and other social media. (Things did get somewhat heated on NextDoor a few weeks ago – a topic for another episode, methinks…)
Last Thursday night over in Downtown Saratoga Springs, however, things got a good bit hotter…
The story, which you can find and read up on by checking out the Google, had as its source in some somewhat predictable friction between groups of “Back the Blue” and “All of Us”/BLM protesters.
Evidently, here in the USA we’re all about friction between groups of protesters. Listening and conversation?
Not so much…
As the evening of Thursday, July 30, 2020 progressed, with the “Back the Blue” folks dispersing and the “All of Us” crowd remaining and settling into a local park, (as well as a local intersection) an additional group joined the party.
A little back story for context: We (my wife, my son and I) made it a point to join in Saratoga’s first large BLM march back in mid-June…
On our way to the staging area, we passed New York State Police, several of whom nodded, tipped their baseball-capped heads in our direction and said various versions of “Hi!” as we crossed the street.
At the staging area we were joined by a couple of local cops on horseback who were there to lead and follow the large crowd…
At various intersections between the staging area and Congress Park, where a not-really-loud-enough-for-the-crowd-size PA system was set up for speeches, Saratoga Springs Police were stationed.
All of the State and Saratoga cops were dressed in their usual outfits, as if heading out on their regular shifts. (The two on horseback were the only ones in helmets, which they always wear while riding.)
At one corner along our route, however, two Saratoga Sheriff’s deputies stood in full riot-gear, helmets on, face-shields down, batons out and at the ready…
They seemed oddly out of place – and their presence was more than a little chilling.
While the State and local police were dressed as if it were any other day, it certainly looked like the Sheriff’s department had issued a different memo…
Which brings us back to last Thursday…
At some point in the evening, with State and local police again dressed as usual, Saratoga County Sheriff’s Department people showed up in full tactical array, looking ready for just about any combat that might come their way, complete with one very large armored vehicle.
Yes, there’d been words between the two groups earlier in the day…
According to reports, at least one nose was bloodied…
Yes, there was heated disagreement, there were raised voices and more than a little profanity flung back and forth…
Then one group took off and one group stayed – and a couple of hours later, the Sheriff’s men appeared, in less than subtle fashion, upon the scene.
It might just be my rosy outlook and general cluelessness, but I’m of the opinion that showing up decked out for combat with a battle-ready truck just a few treads shy of “tank” is not a recipe for success if calm and de-escalation is what you’re after.
One the other hand, if the goal is to test, poke and prod a group of already angry people – to trigger them over the edge – then an armored vehicle, camo, riot shields, gas masks, pepper-pellet rounds and rifles at the ready might just do the trick.
Make no mistake, it had already been a messy, tense evening in the Spa City…
But the Sheriff’s appearance, equipment and actions were a wildly tone-deaf, disproportionate display.
Seeing the mix of local cops and Sheriff’s Deputies working together – sort of – was like watching a fire brigade coming to the realization that a large number of their volunteers were happily pumping kerosene on the same house fire they were trying to soak with water.
Thank goodness things didn’t get more out of hand, that cool heads somehow prevailed…
It’s important to note that eventually the Sheriff’s people packed up and, to wild applause, took their armored vehicle and left.
It was only then that the crowd finally dispersed.
There’s been a lot said about the tone and tenor of our current social discourse – including its very painful absence – with no shortage of finger-pointing, blame, resentment and more…
I’m looking at the Saratoga County Sheriff’s role – last Thursday night as well as at the march I attended weeks ago – as a vivid metaphor for what happens when one enters a conversation armed with pre-conceived answers, solutions and “I know better” assumptions rather than curiosity…
I’m also looking in my own mirror – and inviting you to do the same – for examples and patterns of preemptively making a show of force, entering with guns a-blazing, whilst accompanied by a lack of curiosity and/or incomplete data.
Growing that awareness is messy, vulnerable work…
It’s also vitally, powerfully important…
Because our very survival – individually and collectively – may rely on it.