As leaders in our community, we were keenly aware that our city was on the brink of potential riots if even one police interaction went wrong.

Our little city of York, PA, has a history of violent riots dating to 1969. That year was violent and deadly as a young Black woman, Lillie Belle Allen, was shot by white men as she drove with her family. A white police officer, Henry Schaad, was killed in an armored truck by a Black sniper that same year.

York was boiling over with antagonism and rage, much like most of America in 2021.

Peacekeeping is exhausting because it requires constant avoidance of problems, calculating the cost of missteps, and manipulating circumstances to keep warring groups from fighting. Peacekeepers try to keep the temperature down while anger and bitterness is boiling due to unresolved issues. At some point unresolved tensions will blow up. The peacekeeping leader knows this and it causes a great deal of stress to prolong the explosion.