Social Justice Blinders

 

I write less than I used to.  It’s not that I don’t have something to say.  It’s that sometimes speaking the truth just isn’t worth it.  If something I write has even the slightest variation or divergence from “The Progressive Agenda”, the Cancel Police will come after me.  In some cases, I am not even allowed to agree with their positions, because I’m an old, privileged white guy and anything I say would be disingenuous and patronizing.  I cannot possibly understand the systemic  rottenness of racism in America nor do I realize that I am the problem….therefore justifiably cancellable.

 

Inevitably, this one lane, one note, one truth assessment of our nation’s problems blinds us to other things that are also true and may, in fact, be even more relevant.  As an example, the Dallas Independent School District has been challenged to ban the practice of suspending trouble-making students from school.  Social justice activists point to the disproportionate number of black students who are suspended.  This has now become a Black Lives Matter issue.  Black students are 21% of the DISD student population and 1 out of 7 are getting suspended for misbehavior.  Comparatively 70% of DISD students are Hispanic and only 1 out of 28 are suspended.  Only 5% of DISD students are White (let that soak in)…and just 1 out of 37 are suspended. 

 

So clearly, looking at the numbers, Black students are being treated unfairly.  This is a problem with such grave consequences, that suspensions have been labeled “The Pipeline to Prison”.    Black leaders are demanding that schools offer other, more constructive alternatives such as:

“providing teachers and staff with the skills and tools necessary to support students’ social and emotional development, restore relationships within the school community and ultimately affirm each child’s humanity and right to learn”.

Well, there’s the answer.  Schools must stop suspending students for bad behavior and find ways to replace bad behavior with good behavior.  Social and emotional development, that’s the ticket. This is how we shut off the “pipeline to prison”.

 

Let me be clear, I agree that suspending kids from school is a bad idea.  It may provide some relief for other students and certainly for their teachers.  But it does more harm than good to the suspended students.  Keeping the students on campus, counseling, educating, even punishing (make them clean toilets and mop floors); is better than turning them out on the streets.  But it’s not going to solve the problem.

 

 The real question we must ask is who is most responsible for a child’s “social and emotional development”?  Perhaps we should be calling out parents and guardians as the ones most responsible for the “pipeline to prison” problem.  When black students are 4 times more likely to be suspended than other students, this is not just a matter of teachers targeting black students for suspension.  Oh by the way, the DISD has a HIGHER percentage of Black teachers than Black students.  And, I am just guessing that Black teachers may well be suspending black students more often than White or Hispanic teachers.  (If it were otherwise, I am confident it would be in the news).  

 

We need to look beyond the school suspension dilemma and get to the root of the problem.  One of the core tools of Six Sigma methodology is DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control).  Using this approach we Define the problem and the objectives.  Then we determine what needs to improve and  how should we Measure it.  Next, we Analyze the problem, defining the factors of influence.  Then, we Identify and implement Improvements.  Lastly, we establish Controls to assure that the improvements are sustainable.

 

Suspending students is a symptom, it’s not the problem.  Suspending black students may indeed have racial overtones. Maybe it really is about four hundred years of slavery and Jim Crow laws and segregation and lack of opportunity.  Fair enough.  But this is now.  What are we going to do about it now? Leave it to the schools to keep the trouble-makers off the streets and re-program them?  Perhaps magically transform these little devils into angels with a few extra hours of what amounts to “special education” (not that we would ever call it that.)

 

The real problems run deep and are complicated.  The solutions are neither quick nor are they easy.  Economic development and opportunity must be a priority.  Families, single parent or otherwise, must have the opportunity to succeed.  Better early-age child care and development is worthy of investment.  You can’t wait until a kid is 6 or 7 or 12, to start working on their “social and emotional development”. 

 

Why are Hispanic students so much less likely to get suspended?   Are teachers just looking the other way or is there something else going on here?  Analyze the problem and define the factors of influence.  There’s more going on here with these Black children than just the fact they are Black. 

 

What needs to change and how does it happen?  Not suspending kids from school is a good start. But just “locking” them up on campus and giving them a bit of extra attention, isn’t going to be enough for most of them.  If it saves a few, praise the Lord.  But let’s not kid ourselves.  The problems go much deeper.  We just choose not to see them.

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored”- Aldous Huxley

Bubbles and Blue Northers

 

I grew up in North Texas.  I can remember the old folks talking about blue northers.  Back then they didn’t have as much advanced notice as we enjoy (and mostly ignore) these days.  But, they were prepared.   In the middle of winter, they understood that a big freeze was always possible.  Maybe it would just be in the 20’s for a couple of days or it might get into single digits and stay below freezing for a week or more.  Animals had to be protected.  Pipes to be covered and faucets left dripping.  Well-houses kept warm by whatever means including buckets of hot coals.  People hunkered down, had candles and kerosene lanterns for light and wood in the stove to keep warm.  Food down in the cellar and meat in the smokehouse.  Extreme weather was just part of life.  Cold and heat, wet and dry, wind and hail, birth and death…seasons and the circle of life.

These days we do our best to avoid the effects of weather.  And we do it pretty well most of the time.  Climate controlled homes, water at your finger tips, hot in an instant if you choose and it will stay hot as long as you wish.  Ice with the push of a button, crushed or cubed as you like it.  Freezers and refrigerators full of food.  Microwaves, air-fryers, convection ovens and cook tops standing by.  And when our bodies are done with whatever we consume, we don’t even have to go outside to relieve ourselves.  Even those bodily functions have been made convenient and comfortable.

Life is easy for us, until it’s not.  And when that rare extreme weather event occurs we are exposed.  When the power goes off, our bubbles burst.  And we realize that we are weak and vulnerable.  Not only vulnerable to the forces of nature, but to the decisions of those whom we have paid to maintain our bubbles.   We find that we are not prepared because we have not made them prepare.  We discover that cheaper is not always better and managing risk is not just a matter of probabilities and cost-benefit analysis.

We Texans love to tout our independent spirit, forged on the frontier, blood and soil, a whole other country, come and take it…and so on.  But, in fact, we are just citizens of the modern world.  A world that keeps us fat, dumb and happy most of the time.  When it fails us and our bubbles burst, we look for someone to blame.  There is no one there to blame but ourselves.  This is the life we have chosen.  And we are not prepared nor can we afford to give it up, even for a short period of time.  So we will spend billions and restore our bubbles.  Then we will spend some more to repay insurance companies and upgrade our bubble maintenance systems.  And we will forget about all of it…until the next time our bubbles break.

“But it was alright, everything was alright, the struggle was finished.  He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”  George Orwell, 1984

74 Million

 

“Power does not corrupt.  Fear corrupts…perhaps the fear of a loss of power.”- John Steinbeck

I learned a long time ago that if you try to take something away from a person, something they truly value, you better be prepared to give them something as good or better in return.  Otherwise, be prepared to face negative consequences. 

 

If you really want to understand what’s going on in our country right now, you must realize that millions of Americans truly believe they are losing “their country”.  In no way is this justification for the right-wing mob attack on Congress.  But it is something that we must admit to and understand if we are ever going to find our way back to being “united”. 

 

A  considerable amount of legislative effort has been put forth to level the playing field for Americans who in the past were not allowed to fully share in the American Dream.  And that would be pretty much everyone who was not white, male and straight.  I mean let’s face it.  For most of this nation’s history white people have had a huge advantage, men even more so than women.  Thus, women have had to fight for equality including the right to vote.  People of color have faced even more discrimination and things much worse.  The LGBT community has suffered far too much for way too long.  And one can list all sorts of disadvantages and biases that many people face for reasons that are far beyond their control.  All of these factors intersect to create a multitude of identity groups who may legitimately claim to be “oppressed” or “marginalized”.  And, these days just about anyone who is not a member of the “privileged class” can claim membership in some victim group.  

 

So why are the people who have enjoyed advantage and privilege so angry?  What do they have to bitch about?  Are they just racists?  Homophobes?  Religious fanatics?  Fortunate sons who are just unwilling to share the bounty of this good land?  What’s wrong with these people?  Admittedly, some are indeed racists.  And there are homophobes and religious fanatics among them as well.  Might as well add in a few tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorists.  And there are the 2^nd amendment zealots who resist any limits to the firepower they might rightfully possess.  All in perhaps there are a several million on the far right who are prepared to storm the castle walls.  But not nearly enough to elect Donald Trump as President four years ago… and then almost elect him again.  

 

How does one account for the majority of these angry people?  It’s actually pretty simple. They are just fed-up… and they are afraid.   Angry about what they have lost and fearful about what is left to lose.  And I’m not talking about the recent election.  It goes deeper and much farther back.  The truth of the matter is that millions of Americans believe that they have been asked to give up too much, for too long in order to appease those who are forever demanding fairness, equity and inclusion.  Decades ago, many  who may have actually supported the Civil Rights Movement went on to suffer the consequences of forced busing, white-flight and the subsequent decline and decay of their neighborhoods and cities.  They have witnessed the failure of the Welfare State’s War on Poverty…not just in black communities, not just in urban areas; but across all races and regions.  

 

Many have experienced job loss as a result of their work being shipped off to lower cost operations elsewhere in the world.  They see their public schools failing to educate their children.  Increasingly they see government as the problem, not the solution.  Professional politicians on both sides of the aisle catering to special interests groups while ignoring the needs of “average” Americans.  

 

More than a few have experienced or witnessed the consequences of an out-of-control “woke” movement that can cost people jobs and ruin careers.  They connect the rising costs of health insurance to the Affordable Care Act, as once again they end up paying the price for a government program that hurts them more than it helps.  They see a mainstream media that bashes bad behavior or even alleged bad behavior on The Right, while downplaying or ignoring the same or worse on The Left.  They are tired of being force-fed progressive ideas in movies, television and music.  And even more so, they are tired of being told they are deplorable human beings because they refuse to go along with the narrative.  

 

You want to know how angry they are?  74 million of them voted for Donald Trump, even after watching him flail around for four years.  And were it not for Covid-19, my guess is that Trump would have actually won another term in office.  Let that soak in.  People are so angry that they were willing to once again hand the keys to an unqualified, real estate investor/celebrity with all sorts of personal baggage and craziness….simply because they believed that he was on their side.   

 

In 2021 we have the opportunity to hit the reset button and pull this country together.  But if we continue to ignore. cancel or demonize half of the population, this nation is headed for disaster.

Two Sides...Same Coin

 

If you were surprised by the Trumper Riot in Washington D.C. yesterday, then you just haven’t been paying attention.  Same could be said for the riots this summer from “the other side”.   Even if the rioters only represent a small percentage of the population, in a nation of 328 million that can still be a lot of people.  Plus, there are even more people out there who might not join the riot, but are applauding the effort.  Who knows how many extremists are really out there?  But, it’s a big number on both sides of the political divide.  And both sides share common feelings of anger, resentment, distrust and fear.  The feelings are the same but they are based on totally different worldviews. 

 

The Left sees the past as one of oppression by a mostly white, mostly male, Western European, Christian hierarchy.  They choose to reinterpret history, reject traditional narratives and seek to establish a society based on very specific definitions and desired outcomes with regard to their “holy trinity” of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity.   And don’t forget to save the planet while you’re at it.

 

The Right sees the past through a different lens.  A past seriously threatened by those on the Left,  along with professional  politicians lurking in The Swamp, the Mainstream Media and Global Elites.  They have embraced the distorted perspective of conservative commentators and right-wing bloggers/conspiracy theorists that once upon a time this country was so much better, at least better for them as they recall.  Their Populist message is a mix of Patriotism and Protectionism.  America used to be great until “others” ruined it.  Freedoms are being taken away and jobs have been lost…and “We The People” are not going to take it anymore.

 

Both extremes contain threads of truth, but are mostly wrong and certainly misguided.  I still think, or want to believe, that the majority of Americans are somewhere in the Center.  Perhaps center-right or center-left.  But not that far from each other.  Most of us want a functioning government and a healthy economy that offers opportunity to all citizens.  We want to do what is right not only for ourselves but for our fellow citizens.   We must resist being drawn to the extremes.  It’s time to come together and pick up the pieces.  We must not let the loudest voices tell us what to do.  United we stand, divided we fall.

“You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist”- Indira Ghandi

The Mist and More

 

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

-James 4: 13-14

Each year in December, I make predictions about the coming year.  I also go back and grade the predictions I made the previous December as the year comes to an end.  The grade for 2020 has been in for months now and, of course, it’s an F.  Even if I had made new predictions in the Spring, it would still be an F.  2020 has been a year like no other in my lifetime.  Only the World Wars have been worse and the 1918-19 flu pandemic comparable.  Covid-19 changed 2020 and will certainly change the future.

 

So it is with some trepidation and considerable humility that I make these predictions for 2021.

 

_1 In Georgia, the Republican candidates win narrow victories.  (And the Democrats will no doubt challenge the results. It’s what we do in America these days.)

 

_2 January will be the worst month yet for Covid-19.  It’s going to be ugly.

 

_3 Covid-19 related restrictions will ease up a bit by mid-year, but are not going away in 2021.  If you are expecting “normal” to return sometime in 2021, you will be disappointed.

 

_4 70% of Americans will have been vaccinated by the end of the year, but there will still be a good deal of uncertainty.  Some will still get sick and some will die.  The fear and the testing will not go away.  Wearing masks and maintaining social distance will be with us at least through the winter of 2021-22.

 

_5 I’ll make no predictions regarding who will win our major sporting events. It will be another Covid impacted year.  I think it’s unlikely that college basketball will have a normal season.  There will be some sort of reduced and restricted “March Madness”; and there will be a National Champ.  Baseball and football will continue testing players and limiting attendance.  But there will be more fans in the stands and fewer players in quarantine.  Golf will go on with only a select few spectators around greens and tee boxes. I suppose the Olympics will go forward in some fashion, but it will no doubt be muted and disappointing.

 

_6 GDP will grow and some sectors of the economy will do very well.  Travel, entertainment, restaurants and hotels will do better than they did in 2020, but that’s not saying much.  It may be 2022 before there is much recovery in those sectors.  E-commerce will continue its rapid growth.  Retail survivors will continue to adjust and re-invent themselves.

 

_7 Public schools will continue to struggle with Covid through the Spring. The education and skills gap continues to widen with underperforming school districts falling further behind.

 

_8 Crime increases as law enforcement agencies struggle with budget cuts and more scrutiny.  Increasingly police officers will avoid involvement with citizens unless absolutely necessary.

 

_9 The Retreat to Remote will be in full swing as those who are able to leave crowded urban areas move to small towns and outlying areas.  Affordability, safety and space become more important than the availability of shopping, services, restaurants, arts & entertainment.

 

_10  Social Justice Warriors will resume their demands and pressure the Democratic administration to respond to their agenda.

The good news is that by this time next year we’ll be in a better place relative to the pandemic than we are today.  The bad news is that we are running out of time and money to fix the real problems in this country, much less around the world.

The Great Reset...Act 1

Donald Trump lost and Joe Biden is going to be the President of The United States of America.  Trump lost because Biden got more votes.  Biden got more votes because the Democrats did a better job of getting their voters out this time than they did in 2016.  Mail-in ballots made a big difference.  In some states the process might have been highly questionable but was indeed legal according to the state.  And now the highest court in the land has said let it be.

 

So Biden won.  In some places, Democrats probably cheated a bit more than the Republicans did in order to “save the nation from four more years of Trump”.  Any means to an end, that sort of thing.  But “cheating” or doing whatever you can get away with in order to win an election is as American as apple pie.   It’s been going on forever and will continue to go on in the future.  We can put up all sorts of barriers, but when it comes down to it…a lot of votes are bought and sold in marketplace.  Always have been, always will be.

 

Besides, what is a “fair” election anyway?  Misinformation and money spent in the right places tend to determine the outcome of most elections.  Occasionally, the candidate who should win takes it for granted and the upset occurs (2016).  Sometimes things are so bad that the party in power has no chance of winning (2008).   But, increasingly big money and big media and big tech pick the winner in the election of a President.   

 

Make no mistake, big money was tired of Trump.  I’m not talking about the average business or even big business.  I’m talking about the really big money, global money.  And the “Globalists Cartel” was done with Trumpism.  Nationalism and America First doesn’t work well for the Globalists.  And for those who have spent decades learning to navigate “The Swamp” to their advantage, there is no upside in seeing it drained. 

 

Collectively big money, big media and big tech have a different vision for the future of America and for The World.   Trump and his supporters are seen as the crazy old aunts and uncles who clutch their purses and rattle the change in their pockets while talking about the way things used to be and all that’s wrong these days.  Furthermore, they represent a roadblock to The Great Reset.  For Globalists, The Great Reset means rebooting the world in order to address the existential threat of climate change while also creating more fair and equitable social and economic systems.   Welcome to Postmodernism 2.0.  It is no longer a matter of ideas and beliefs, it’s about action. 

 

The real question becomes, who’s in charge?  Who will decide what needs to be done to “save the planet” from the pending climate catastrophe?  Who gets to decide what is fair and equitable and how those outcomes are achieved?  Who decides how we pay for The Great Reset?  And The Great Reset will require power and control.  Who decides how much freedom and privacy is allowable?  

 

Freedom isn’t perfect either.  But history would tell us that it beats the alternative.  Beware The Great Reset.

 

“For the Left, tolerance does not mean tolerance.  It means first, acceptance.  And second, celebration. That is totalitarianism: You not only have to live with what you may differ with, dear citizen, you have to celebrate it or pay a steep price”. – Dennis Prager

At A Distance

 

Like the rest of the world, I am so ready for this pandemic to come to an end.  I want people to travel again, to visit family and friends.  I want church to be like it should be with fellowship, hugs and handshakes. I want to see stadiums filled with cheering fans. Let’s get back to living.

 

But, with that said, I must admit that I don’t miss the things that most people have missed during 2020.  I have always been a loner.  An only child who did not need others for entertainment.  A child who enjoyed playing with other kids but did not need them.  As I grew older, I loved sports and was a good teammate, but always needed my space.  I need long drives by myself with just music and my thoughts.  I need time to read and to sleep, both being the ultimate escapes for me.

 

As a student, nothing was more draining for me than “group projects”.   Ok, let’s meet, assign the tasks and get on with it.  Everyone do their job and we’ll be fine.  But that’s not how it works is it?  It always takes twice as long as it should and is seldom done well.  The only people who like group projects are little dictators, cheerleaders and slackers who have no issue with letting others do the heavy lifting.  The rest of us, even those who aren’t loners, despise group projects.  

 

As an adult in the business world, one does what one must do to succeed.  And that means meetings and committees and other peoples' problems by the bushel.  But, that’s the job.  So one compartmentalizes and forges ahead, hopefully, with at least a few relatively capable and trustworthy people around them. 

 

And now as an even older adult, I have been working remote for some years.  Constantly on the phone, or emailing, or texting…busy and interacting with a lot of people from all over the country.  I meet more new people daily than I ever did during my years managing transportation companies.  I like the action, the variety and most of all I like talking to people about things that really matter…whom they should hire... or should they go to work for this or that company.  Even more I like the fact that no one is standing at my door.  And if the phone rings, most of the time, I do not have to answer it at that moment.  The same for emails and text messages.  Usually they can wait, if only for a few minutes.  And, when the day is over no one is pressing me to go do something, drink something, eat something or discuss something which is most often pointless and of no consequence.

 

So, indeed I like my time and my space.  It is not a positive trait for anyone aspiring to high position and a major reason why I “under-achieved” for most of my career.  The ladder is crowded and you cannot climb it alone.  I do not miss the ladder.

 

When this pandemic is over they say we will have a new normal.  I think it will look a lot like the old normal.  More people will work from home, so there may be a bit less traffic for a while.  Business travel will be slow to rebound as companies have discovered that so much of that expensive travel was unnecessary in the first place.  But everything else will fill up quickly.  Holiday, vacation and weekend travel will explode.  Those restaurants, bars, theaters and assorted other gathering spots that did not go out of business will be packed with happy patrons.  Free at last, free at last.

 

But, those of us who prefer to walk alone will not be joining you.  So by all means, please celebrate your happiness and your return to the freedom of gathering and rubbing elbows, nibbling from one another’s plates, singing, dancing, drinking or praying to the gods you have chosen.  You can have my seat.  I will be elsewhere, at a distance, thankful and quite happy not to be there.

"He liked to get off by himself, a mile or so from camp, and listen to the country, not the men."

-Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove