Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Since recent current protests, rioting and sometimes extreme police responses affect just about everyone, they should be viewed more as phenomena of human behavior than of politics. And psychologists are weighing in.
Demonstrations have been triggered by recent deaths of African-Americans at the hands of whites and the police, especially the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, whose neck was pinned under a white police officer’s knee.
“That all these things happened literally within days may have created a perfect storm,” said James Jones, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Delaware. “As more and more people speak out, there is a growing sense of commonality and recognition that this must change.”
These events converged as the COVID-19 pandemic had already brought economic hardship and uncommon restrictions. COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on minority communities complicates the issue.
Because of COVID-19, psychologist Lauren Duncan pointed out, people have been “cooped up inside for two or three months. They have lost jobs. They have more time and are more up on events.”
Further, she said, “everybody has a phone and camera. Because of social media many are direct witnesses” both to the protests and the events that triggered them.
Dr. Cheryl N. Grills, an African-American clinical psychologist at Loyola Marymount University, said, “What we are witnessing is one violation too many of the social contract with America — a contract that says liberty and justice for all includes us.”
On the other hand, many who do not see African-American lives “struggle to understand the black communities’ frustrations,” according to Dr. Daniel Gillion, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
Many, he said, “see these protests as being isolated incidents, and thus are baffled that one injustice garners such a response.”
The outpouring of sympathy for protests from all sides can also be explained by the suffering that COVID-19 has imposed on everybody, according to David DeSteno, a Northeastern University psychology professor.
A university article summarized DeSteno’s view as, “Experiencing suffering of one’s own can protect people from becoming apathetic about the suffering of others.”
Acknowledging the difficulty police officers face during current turmoil, psychologists Richard Levak and Joel Lazar noted for the San Diego Union-Tribune, “dealing with the stress of the coronavirus pandemic may have led to some becoming even more reactive.”
Even before the current unrest, John Nicoletti, a police psychologist, noted “In some places we’ve moved from ‘quarantine fatigue’ to ‘quarantine anger’ and even ‘quarantine rage.’”
He added, people are “starting to be really angry and getting in cops’ faces.”
Emotions are running high, and while psychologists agreed that conditions make this volatility nearly inevitable, they recommended some solutions.
Levak and Lazar joined others in recommending better psychological testing of police candidates, and more frequent human relations training and support for officers, but added “demonstrators need to be reminded that when some become violent, the majority should demand it cease and identify them to the police if it does not.”
Steve Hansen writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: