Editorial: Terrible events and the opportunity to be better

Sometimes opportunities come in the ugliest forms.

The superintendent of Community Unit School District 300 indicates as much in closing out a series of tweets responding to video that surfaced on social media of some current and former students chanting "appalling and disgraceful" racist slurs several years ago.

"This is an opportunity to do better, to say more, to do more, and to embrace the issues before us with a focus on real change," Superintendent. Fred Hein wrote.

In an apology to the community on Facebook, Elgin Deputy Police Chief Colin Fleury, whose son was one of the students shown in the video, also recognized "a profound learning moment not only for my son and my family, but for all of us who desire action to address the unacceptable racism in this country."

In an apology of his own on a District 300 Facebook group page, Fleury's son Cameron promised to use what he has learned from his "terrible decision" five years ago to "become more involved with educating others on not discriminating against another human being."

The video provided another unwelcome opportunity, one that offers a promising glimpse into how well the people involved may use their "learning moment."

For the video presented an opportunity for Deputy Chief Fleury and his bosses in the department and the city to engage the community openly in discussion about it. They took it, and although the conversation they opened will not be easy or pleasant, it will help lead to something better.

That is important for us to see in police departments and government leaders in the aftermath of George Floyd's killing, a willingness to make something better out of ugliness.

We saw another instance of it in Naperville, where city residents and leaders praised a combination of restraint and determination that enabled local police to manage protests that turned into all-out mayhem in some cities.

Police Chief Robert Marshall explained that a key provision of the department's strategy was to recognize that when destructive elements began to overtake what started as peaceful protests, the peaceful elements remained.

"We don't deploy blanket tactics like tear gas when only some individuals are becoming violent and committing criminal acts," he told the city council Tuesday.

For that, Benjamin White, the council's first black member, told Marshall, "The professionalism your department showed yesterday was remarkable."

As unfortunate as the circumstances are, his moment also is a time of opportunity. May we all use it "to do better, to say more, to do more, and to embrace the issues before us with a focus on real change."