'We're all people': Amidst summer protests, Facebook disagreement leads to lasting friendship
[Mar. 12, 2021: Sean Giggy]
Last summer, as she watched protestors march against racial injustice, Lana Davis was stunned. Stunned by what she saw in the Facebook comments section.
“It was getting really, really sad and depressing and so I guess I was just at a point where I was like, ‘I have to say something,’” Lana said.
She directed much of her frustration at one man, in particular: David Davis. She told him that his comments were rude and disrespectful.
Lana said she was hoping it would start a conversation, but admits she didn’t expect a response.
To her surprise, Lana actually did get a response. She and David went back and forth until eventually, David expressed his disappointment.
“And I thought, ‘what am I doing,’” David said. “Somebody once said when you’re talking, you’re not listening. I was doing a lot of talking and not a lot of listening.”
David’s change of heart began when he messaged Lana privately and heard her out.
He learned she works for Dallas Fire-Rescue and wants to run a non-profit one day. He also found out Lana’s brother is a successful doctor and yet the siblings have both been mistreated for being Black.
David, an Air Force veteran, offered an apology.
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“I learned about a lady that I respect quite a bit,” David said. “I learned a lot about how she feels and her points of view that I had not considered before.”
The two now talk regularly and a few weeks ago finally met for the first time.
“We had lunch and she prayed to the same God I prayed to,” David said. “We’re not that different.”
Far too often, it’s easy to pass judgment and lob insults from behind a keyboard. But what do we gain if we’ve already lost our humanity?
Fortunately, Lana and David have proven there’s a better way.
“She took the opportunity to kind of show me some kindness and I think there needs to be a lot more of that,” David said.
“Just try to love each other because we’re all people,” Lana said. “I don’t care what color we are, we’re all people. It’s just a matter of sitting down and just listening.”
When you do you might just realize the person you think is your bitter enemy is actually a friend just waiting to be found.
