Thursday, April 26, 2012
DIVERSITY and BIAS: our split personality
This may or may not
really be about Trayvon Martin – although his senseless killing inspired me to
finally put some random thoughts in writing
What hasn’t already been
said about it? It must be said, though,
that I’m appalled that a) a young man could be killed without cause and b) it
took two weeks or more for the mainstream media to pick up the story. If there had not been an online petition
calling for an investigation, it might never have had national attention.
Apart from the terror of
another young person dying because someone with a gun can’t control their
actions, and someone making the wrong assumptions had the gun, I’ve been
thinking about our society in general.
Was this another symptom
of our split personality disorder? One
side of our societal personality values inclusion and acceptance. Our other personality is racist and
elitist. Indeed, our nation was founded
on racism and elitism and they are, therefore, systemic.
The wrong side of an indulgent
approach to diversity even wants to allow that a Latino man can’t be racist
enough to kill an African-American. Really?
Another oddity is how we
have the wrong conversations after these events. Soon enough, I saw comments online that
referred to a white kid being set afire – and why wasn’t that national news,
etc.? I looked it up. Sadly, there are
several cases in the last few years – some victims white, others black – all
the crimes are atrocious.
There was, indeed, a kid
set on fire on his porch in Kansas City, MO.
He didn’t die but what a horror for him and his family. Know what?
I didn’t see any report on whether or not he had been suspended from
school or suspected of (even intending) any crimes. In fact, all I read about him was that fact
that he was a victim (true) and white, and that the perpetrators were black.
Would it matter if he
had done anything to provoke an attack?
No. Would it soften the crime that
was committed against him if we knew he wasn’t a nice kid; he had problems in
school or anything other personal detail in his life? No. If
he was a rotten kid, he didn’t deserve to be set ablaze. The punishment for poor choices and behaviors
or even being a rotten racist is not a death sentence (or to be set afire while
alive and conscious).
Why was it relevant (to
some) that Trayvon Martin was not a saint?
There was no proof of crimes, only suggestions – at least as of
this writing.
But questions about
black victims come up that almost never do with white victims: their character,
any police record, whether or not they are “likeable,” even what they were
wearing! Why? If we really pretend justice is blind, why
does it matter?
Why do some of our
“wrong” conversations include too many “buts”? “But” what about black-on-black
crime? Why is it different when a white person kills or attacks someone
black? It just is. Understand me, violent attacks are wrong
regardless of the ethnicity of the victim or the perpetrator. No matter what,
we should all be horrified and the courts should treat them the same. But our history has allowed for
white-on-black crime far too much.
After all my rambling, I
must – still – come back to Trayvon Martin.
After you and I are finished with our opinions, complete our self-righteousness,
feel assured that “some” of us are, after all, correct and right-thinking
people, someone’s son is still dead - unexpectedly, violently, and unjustifiably
dead. In the end, I still cry for
Trayvon Martin, though a tear or two may be for our society.
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Why We Don’t Change
I wish I had a dollar for every time
I was going to change or improve something – or stop a bad habit – and
didn’t.
One of the main reasons we don’t
change is that we don’t really decide
to do it. We think about, may even want
to, but we don’t decide – which in its
Latin origin meant to “cut off”; in other words, to really stop something.
Deciding changes direction; really
choosing and not just thinking or hoping or wishing. It’s our physical version of the declarative. It eliminates options – one of our biggest
problems (we are “free” to choose from so many choices that it’s overwhelming).
So real change comes from really
deciding, even our follow-through happens because we really decided to do it.
In a spiritual context, even
deciding will not eliminate struggle but it is a required first step. Decide.
Follow through. Most importantly,
perhaps, don’t give up.
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DAYLIGHT WHAT TIME?
It’s time to stop switching
our clocks twice a year to accommodate daylight saving time. Others have written and talked about it, and
I think they are right.
The change in time is
dangerous for some people who lose sleep and a pointless way to try to have
more daylight hours. Those of us who
live in a definite four-season zone will sometimes have dark mornings or an
earlier sundown. Each one has its effect on us.
We would adjust; that is what we do.
In the past, it was
argued that DST saved money by saving power/energy but some are now saying that
isn’t true (see below).
Below are some links to
articles about why we do it and some interesting opinions on the subject. Some say we should continue DST all year in
sections of the country, some say stop DST altogether, etc. I don’t know if I have a preference; I just
think we should stop changing the clocks!
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