What Gives?
According to Yourdictionary.com, "What gives?" is a question asked when you aren't sure why something is happening or why someone is acting a certain way. The phrase dates back to the 1940s and is often used to replace "what the f---?" What gives, I ask, as I consider what is going on in this city, this state, this country.
"The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed, and its crimes against God and man must be denounced."
-Frederick Douglass
What gives? On Monday morning, January 4th, 2021, the Grand Rapids community woke up to the sad news that a 65 - year - old woman had been shot in her home. She died later in the hospital.
What gives when someone reaches this milestone in life and is killed ruthlessly?
What gives when not even our homes are safe?
What gives when life has so little value to some?
What gives when another member of our community is gone, and there is no way we can fix it.
We often view crime as spectators – until it knocks on our own doors. It was jarring that a woman was shot in her home, as she, unsuspecting, opened her door. She could have been me; she could have been any one of us. What gives?
In 2020 there were 38 homicides in Grand Rapids. The victims included mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, and daughters. On the list is a child as young as eight months old. I don't know the circumstances of these deaths, but every one of them saddens me.
What gives when parents have to bury their children?
What gives when families have to plan back - to - back funerals of loved ones and friends?
What gives when the stress and pain of victim's families and friends become overwhelming?
What gives when violence becomes contagious and loved ones feel the need to retaliate?
What gives when unresolved discord and pride collide and give way to vigilante justice?
What gives when conflicts, crime, and mayhem lead to the highest death count we have seen in a single year?
We are the products of our environments. What are we doing – or not doing – in Grand Rapids to precipitate these outcomes?
The swell of gang activity, crime, and gun violence in the city is troubling. And, if we ignore the violence in one area or neighborhood, it will be only a matter of time before it knocks on another door.
What gives? Over the past year, America has been battling multiple pandemics. The medical crisis was caused by COVID 19; another has been driven by social justice inequities. Then there are the radical philosophies built on lies, alternatives facts, and fear.
What gives when social and economic hardship compounded by the stress of pandemics creates overwhelming pressure?
What gives when pressure leads to family and community stress?
What gives when family and community stress lead to anxiety, pain, and hopelessness.
What gives when fear, despair, and hopelessness lead to crime and mayhem?
What gives when our country's safety and sanity are compromised by crime, while also being compromised by COVID 19?
What gives when political and social strife cause an invasion of the very democracy upon which we stand?
If most crime is opportunistic and if the crime rate was up in 2020, there must have been more opportunities to commit more crimes in 2020.
The restrictions and the precautions taken as a result of the pandemic created openings for criminal activity.
Closed schools and businesses, lighter traffic, and the possible pulling back of police may have provided opportunities.
And guns in the hands of individuals motivated to harm are always dangerous for all of us.
Whether you live in the city, the suburbs, or in rural areas, the past year's events will have affected you in some way.
The pandemic caused by COVID 19 itself was beyond our control. But our responses to the events occurring in its wake need examination and reflection. We can be spectators no longer — only responsible thought and action will get us through these pandemics and return us to "normal" life.
Sophia Brewer (M.L.I.S.) is Collection Development and Serials Librarian, Grand Rapids Community College; Co-President of the Greater Grand Rapids History Council; member of the Grand Rapids Study Club and serves on the Grand Rapids Public Library, Board of Library Commissioners (Elected 2016-2021). She is a former Head of Programs, Grand Rapids Public Library and former Branch Manager, Madison Square Branch, Grand Rapids Public Library.
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