We believe that all members of the MAHB, regardless of age, nationality, color, or other demographics, are heartbroken and horrified by events in the US and in our local communities. While many other nations are cautiously emerging from Covid-19 lockdown, in the US our cases and deaths continue to climb and while war has been declared against this virus intruder, we find our ourselves facing another war, a war from within , a war with our system of racism, arrogance, ignorance, and indifference. A war for which magical vaccines cannot save us: only our individual honesty, acceptance of personal responsibility, and acknowledgement of this deep cultural disease can shift us from despair to social norms that are intolerant of any signs of racial oppression, inequality, and injustice: norms of respect, compassion, accountability, and responsibility.
The MAHB is built on our shared concern about the human predicament: the multiple cracks in our ecosystems, our fragile fantasy-based economic systems, our unjust agricultural and food systems, neglected public health systems, education systems too often consciously designed to reinforce ignorance, inequity, and greed—to name a few of the stressors. These stressors have now converged and the result is peaceful protests disrupted by opportunists, agitators, and failed leadership; the trigger for the convergence was the murder of a black citizen by the very people we pay to protect us and the failure of law-enforcement to respond quickly to those responsible. That was the trigger but not the cause. Just as all of the stressors have links to overpopulation and overconsumption by the wealthy, all of the stressors have links to systemic racism, sexism and oppression This is a MAHB moment—the stressors are interacting and manifesting their power in violence. It is time to come together and strengthen pro-social civil society’s influence—violence is not the enemy; violence is the symptom.
With this foundation, we invite you to share your thoughts and feelings. Please use this forum conversation for your reflections, observations and suggestions.
We’d like to begin with President Obama’s brilliant comments. And for those of you interested in the biology of race, see What Creates of Behavioral Phenome and The race bomb: Skin color, prejudice, and intelligence by Paul and S. Shirley Feldman which is available on Amazon and Google Books.
We wish you health and safety and a journey to a just future,
Joan Diamond
Brittany Ganguly
Paul Ehrlich
The views and opinions expressed through the MAHB Website are those of the contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect an official position of the MAHB. The MAHB aims to share a range of perspectives and welcomes the discussions that they prompt.