Glenn Beck at the Movies

A relative of mine , a follower of Glenn Beck, asked one of my children if they knew that Glenn Beck had been harassed while trying to watch a movie at an outdoor park.  The incident occurred at Bryant Park while Beck and his family were viewing an Alfred Hitchcock movie.  Beck alleges that someone intentionally spilled wine on his wife and another person heckled his daughter.  What gets lost by his followers are his “lynching” comments as reflected below.

Beck’s additional comments are interesting.  He is quoted as saying, “These people were some of the most hateful people I’ve ever seen. All I wanted to do was watch a movie in the park. I have a right to watch and enjoy a movie in the park,” Beck says. “If I had suggested ‘Does anybody have a rope? Because there’s a tree here. You could just lynch me.’ I think there would’ve been a couple in the crowd that would’ve.”

I agree that Beck and his family are entitled to watch and enjoy a movie in the park.  However, his lynching comments are disrespectful to the many African-Americans who were terrorized since the days of slavery with whippings, beating and lynchings by whites.  His comments exhibit a serious lack of knowledge of, and insensitivity to history.  Beck has no concept regarding the truth about race in America.

Even after the physical ”lynchings” ended, people of color have been harmed through structures and institutions put in place by those who are privileged and in power.  Housing opportunities were non-existent for African-Americans because of the discriminatory lending practices of the FHA.  Even today, African-Americans and Hispanics bear the brunt of predatory lending practices and the foreclosure crisis.  Think about it.  Where you live determines your access to housing, safety, jobs, education and health care.  Our criminal justice system has been tilted so that black and brown young men fill our prisons in disproportionate numbers to their respective populations.  Read Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow for a more in-depth analysis.  Access to health care is limited and disparities in the treatment of people of color remains an issue.   Beck states that the people in the park were some of the most hateful people.  Does he listen to his own show?  Tim Wise points out that in Beck’s comments around the time of the passage of health care reform Beck claimed that our President’s health care plan was a way to get African-Americans reparations.  Not only is his comment hateful, but ludicrous.  Imagine someone wanting to get seriously ill so that she or he can collect on it. 

This is a time when one needs to take off the lens in which he or she views the world, and instead looks through the lens of “the other”.

Another Step Backwards in Michigan

Our state will remain at the end of the line until we attract and retain the best and brightest young people

 The key to unlocking a more prosperous future for Michigan is retaining and attracting the most talented, educated young people from all walks of life to live and work in our state.  Last week’s decision by the Michigan Senate to overturn a ruling of the Michigan Civil Service Commission and deny benefits to live-in partners perpetuates discrimination against Michigan’s gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender community and takes the state a step in the wrong direction.

 Diversity and inclusion are more important than ever to succeed in today’s economy. Our state is experiencing a critical transition, moving from a factory-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. Live-in partner benefits, which were scheduled to begin Oct. 1 for some state employees in Michigan, are offered in ten states, by many local governments and at more than 700 major corporations — including a majority of the Fortune 500. This decision of Michigan’s Legislature decreases the quality of benefits offered to public employees when other states are moving to improve them.

 Worse, it signals to talented gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender individuals around the nation and the world that Michigan is “closed for business” to them. Given a chance to play a role in building the economy in an open-minded state committed to equality for all, or in a state such as Michigan, which are they more likely to choose?

 The agreement to offer health benefits to unrelated adults living in the same household was approved by the Commission in January. This was an agreement negotiated under the previous administration. The Michigan Senate was urged by Governor Rick Snyder to vote against the benefits. A similar resolution to strike down the Commission’s decision is pending in the Michigan House of Representatives.

 Gov. Snyder’s white paper on retaining youth, posted on his website during his 2010 campaign said:

 Rick believes we need to create networks, programs, and environments across Michigan that will cause our young people to want to stay in this state. His experience has given him an understanding of how Michigan can retain and attract young talent.

 We are looking to the Governor and Michigan lawmakers to unite Michigan residents and create a more inclusive state. Decisions like this only divide and prevent the state from becoming an environment where youth want to remain.

Taking a Step Backwards

“Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white— separate and unequal.”

Those words were written more than 50 years ago in the wake of riots in Detroit and other cities, part of the Kerner Commission report prepared at the request of President Lyndon Johnson.

A new survey commissioned by the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion and conducted by Mitchell Research & Communications measured attitudes about discrimination – racial, gender and sexual orientation – and provides frightening data that shows Michigan is still deeply divided – and may be becoming more so.

Full results of the poll are available at our website. Gender and sexual orientation concerns are serious, and need to be addressed. But what grabbed me as I read through the poll were the racial divisions, and how they appear to be growing compared to the polls we commissioned in 2008 and 2009.

The 2010 survey found that African Americans are almost twice as likely as white respondents to say racial discrimination happens, with 58% of African Americans saying racial discrimination happens all the time (31%) or happens frequently (28%). That compares to only 33% of white respondents saying that racial discrimination happens all the time (11%) or happens frequently (11%).

The percentage of African Americans that said discrimination continues all the time or frequently decreased from 53 to 51 percent from 2008 to 2009 – after the election and inauguration of President Obama – but now has increased fairly significantly.

Our survey found that 77 percent of African American respondents said people of color have worse opportunities in education and employment than whites, up from 53 percent in 2008.

Interestingly, white respondents also perceive that opportunities for people of color have diminished over time. In 2008, 29 percent said people of color had worse opportunities; that has increased to 43 percent in the 2010 survey.

In another indication of growing concerns about discrimination in the African American community, the percentage of African Americans saying the quality of life for people of color has gotten better over the last 10 years has slipped from 58 percent in 2008 to 40 percent in 2010.

And the percentage of those saying we will “never” achieve racial equality has increased from 29 percent in 2008 to 49 percent in 2010. Today, only 2 percent of African Americans polled said we have equality now; 16 percent say we will have it “in my lifetime” and 23 percent said “in 100 years.”

I interpret this to mean a fairly significant number of African Americans are losing faith in access to opportunity, as they hear the sometimes overtly racist criticism of President Obama, evidenced by the “birther” movement and opposition to efforts to increase opportunities using government programs.

There seems to be a bubbling cauldron of discontent that Michigan’s leaders would do well to address. Our survey only measures attitudes and doesn’t test solutions. But policymakers at the state and regional levels must begin paying more attention to the underlying racial tensions in our society, if we are to avoid seeing further manifestation of racial unrest.

Stay at Home and Help

This will probably makes some people mad at me or make them think I don’t care about those outside the U.S., but I lose my patience with actors and other public figures who make areas outside the U.S. their charity or social justice project of choice.  That combined with young adults who take a semester in Australia or do mission work in Scotland when this country and its citizens need their efforts and resources here.  The work performed in third world countries is laudable and to be recognized, but we have not done a very good job of educating our own citizens, particularly young adults, that there are areas in the United States and people who are “third world” status.

Let me provide you with some opportunities.  People in the Mississippi Delta live in abject poverty.  Some liken it to the days of slavery.  The invisible poor in Appalachia  have been the victims of big coal-producing companies like Massey.  Our Native brothers and sisters on the reservations.  In January of this year the Cheyenne people lost power for over three weeks due to a blizzard and ice storm.  But for a short piece by Keith Olbermann, their was zero media coverage.  Only because of Olbermann was there an influx of aid for those folks on the rez.  Then there is New Orleans.  No discussion is needed here, but think of how people were treated in the days after the levees broke.  The conditions were inhumane.

If you want to work with those in need, you don’t need to leave this country.  Go to any urban area.  Reach out to those on the Pine Ridge Reservation or head to Appalachia.  These folks live in third world conditions.  Sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know.

Stay home and help.

Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver

I wish to share with you a recent letter I sent to the outgoing Governor of the State of Michigan regarding the decision by the Michigan Department of Civil Rights to require that all Michigan Indians prove they are a member of a Federally recognized tribe before they receive a tuition waiver for college.  This is another example of our government taking a right from the Native Americans much like we took their land, resources and way of life over the last centuries.

Dear Governor Granholm,

I am writing you to request that you review the decision that eliminated the Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver for approximately one-third of the American Indians who reside in the State of Michigan and reinstate the waiver for those affected by the action of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDRC).

The number of young Native American adults who graduate from high school and attend college in our state is 11%. Of that 11%, only 2% graduate from college. The elimination of the waiver now reduces an already meager number of potential graduates.

The MDCR rationalizes the elimination of approximately 30% of Native students by stating that the Department “saved” the other 70%. This is the “half a loaf is better than no loaf” argument. Would African-Americans accept only a portion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Would a woman such as yourself accept anything less than what your male counter-part received?

Native American peoples of this country and state have been marginalized for centuries. Their land and natural resources were stolen from them. When a campaign of genocide to eliminate the Native peoples was determined to be too costly, the government kidnapped Native American children and placed them in boarding schools so as to make them “white” and therefore be assimilated into white society. Children were abused, physically, sexually and mentally in these boarding schools. They were separated from their own brothers and sisters. Their hair was cut and they were made to dress like a “normal white child”. They were forbidden to speak their language and practice their religion. Two of these schools existed in Michigan.

All of these actions led to many Native Americans not being on tribal registers and forcing them to prove they are an American Indian after having been previously accepted as one. This is unacceptable. The elimination of the tuition waiver for Michigan Indians only perpetuates this campaign to take away what is a right of young Native American adults wishing to attend college.

This comes full circle back to your campaign to educate and develop our young adults so that they may remain in the state and be productive citizens contributing to the rebirth of the Michigan economy.

Governor, please do the right thing and re-instate the waiver for those who rightfully earned it and deserve it.

Sincerely,

Thomas Costello

President

Lost Opportunity

We dropped the ball—again. 

The recent uproar and comments on the remarks of Juan Williams and his firing from NPR again provided another “perfect storm” for a discussion on racism, bigotry and discrimination in this country – particularly when it comes to Muslims, a very important part of the Metro Detroit community.

Instead, the discussion centers around whether or not Juan Williams comments justified the termination of his employment from NPR.

There is no doubt that Mr. Willams’ comment about being worried and nervous when he travels on a plane and sees a person dressed in “Muslim garb” is offensive to Muslims. It is also irrational. None of the 9/11 terrorists were dressed in “Muslim garb.” They were wearing business casual attire, shirts and slacks – hardly the kind of apparel that sets off alarms.

 Greater Detroit is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in nation. These immigrants came for the same reasons others came to America – for an opportunity to better their lives. There is a great deal of diversity in this community. Many are Muslims – a mosque was built in Highland Park in 1921 – while others are Christian. For decades they have been a part of our region’s success.

 But now many Arab Americans in our region find themselves subject to guilt by skin color. We simply cannot afford to tolerate any kind of profiling – racial, ethnic or religious – on airlines or in any venue. We should be sensitive to the kinds of loose accusations and insinuations that the Williams-O’Reilly exchange brought to the fore. They are irresponsible and inflammatory. To say so is not “politically correct,” but part of a necessary education of those who may have little personal contact with people of different skin color or religion.

 The comments by Mr. Williams should provide us all an opportunity to discuss our own internalized prejudices — and acknowledge that all of us have them, no matter how well-intentioned we may be.  Once we acknowledge these practices, prejudices and perceptions, we must affirmatively take action to eradicate them. 

 It takes not only an individual effort, but a community wide effort to tear down the policies and practices that have been embedded in us because of institutions, structures and learning from all the wrong sources.  To some extent, we have all been trained or conditioned to think in a way that is not accepting of those that don’t look like us, worship where we do or think like us.  We all have this human flaw.

 Unfortunately, the needed discussion was lost in the ongoing rhetoric as to whether or not his firing was justified.  Not a point to be lost, but a small piece of the larger picture.  If we are to move all our communities forward — home, school, work and places of worship — we must have the courage to have the open and honest conversation with each other and listen to our neighbor.  We cannot move to a place of inclusion, access and equity without dialogue and relationship building.

 Sadly at about the same time as the Williams’ uproar was occurring two Muslim women were attacked in Seattle at a gas station by an assailant shouting racial and religious slurs.  That is the kind of behavior that is incited by nonsensical unthinking comments. As Juan Williams correctly pointed out toward the end of his interview with Bill O’Reilly: “We don’t want in America people to have their rights violated, to be attacked on the street because they heard rhetoric from Bill O’Reilly, and they act crazy.”

An Evening with Tim Wise

Racial justice advocate, Tim Wise, spoke last night to over 400 listeners on the campus of Schoolcraft Community College in Livonia, Michigan.  The location was intentional.  Livonia is the “whitest” community in the United States with a population over 100,000.  It was fitting that Tim spoke at this venue.  There was energy in the room and a genuine desire to listen and learn by the audience.  It is worthy to note that many young adults attended and asked very poignant questions of Tim.  Tim’s message is distilled into acknowledging one’s privilege and then taking responsibility to eradicate it.  One must get outside one’s own comfort zone to listen and learn from the other person that doesn’t look like you, think like you or worship where you do.  Dialogue and relationship building is the foundation to success.

The current work of the Michigan Roundtable is best described by James McHale of the Kellogg Foundation in his commentary in the Detroit Free Press:  The Michigan Roundtable is working to close the housing gap by raising residents’ awareness of the structural racism that caused segregated housing in the Detroit metropolitan area. Earlier redlining and discriminatory lending practices created racially isolated and economically poor neighborhoods in Detroit, which in turn have led to limited employment options for youth, high crime rates, poor health, and poor schools. The economic downturn and credit crisis have created an opening for the Roundtable to engage community residents, build awareness and a sense of shared fate through cross-racial dialogue, and bring people together around an action plan to promote regional housing equity.

 Why we asked Tim Wise to speak tonight and why we believe our work fits within the conversations held by Tim is best stated in his own words:

 “In order to move the racial dialogue forward, and to ultimately dismantle systems of racial domination and subordination, the way in which folks of color experience white-dominated institutions will have to be understood and appreciated, by the very whites who have for so long, remained in profound denial about this matter. It will require that we strive to understand, at a deep and personal level, that incidents can be experienced as racist assaults even if those doing the assaulting do not intend to be racist. Because in between the actor and the acted upon, there is a vast territory known as history, and within that territory lay the memories of a thousand terrors, fears, insecurities and remembrances. That few whites have ever taken a trip to that place hardly acquits us from the need to understand it and recognize it as a real place, to which our brothers and sisters of color have been long consigned.”

 

Learn to Know One Another

These are certainly interesting  and troubling times we live in today.  In a time when we should be turning toward each other, there are those who turn away from their neighbor.  At a time when we should extend a friendly hand toward our neighbor, there are those who offer nothing and rebuff any gesture of civility.  At a time, when we should band together to achieve solutions based upon equity, justice and love, there are those who blame the other for their problems and instead make hateful and untruthful statements.  It is in these times, that give all of us the opportunity to do something positive.

 To accomplish this, we must put forth the time, energy and effort to learn about our neighbor, the person that does not look like us, does not worship where we do or who thinks differently than we do.  One must educate oneself and not believe the hateful rhetoric that portrays Islam as anything but a just, peaceful and loving faith.

Let’s dispel the myth and malicious talk:

 Islam is a religion of peace, justice and love where all human beings are created equal regardless of their gender, race or color.  ( Qur’an, 3:195).

 It is a religion of charity committed to providing basic human needs and eradicating poverty.  Islam also is a religion of justice that commands us to act justly.  Witness the work of Zaman International under the leadership of Najah Bazzy.   Zaman is an organization dedicated to the many needs of humanity through time honored principles of social justice such as equity, equality, opportunity, education, economic relief and the continued enhancement and advancement of the human family.

 In my work I have seen nothing but examples of equality, charity and social responsibility by the Muslim community.  In Southwest Detroit it was the Yemeni community helping in a community outreach effort to bring all citizens together to work for a better neighborhood.  In St. Clair Shores it was the members of the mosque who opened their arms to the community to welcome and better know their neighbors.  In a recent meeting with Margo Schlanger of the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the Department of Homeland Security, members from the Muslim, Chaldean, Hispanic and Indian community came together as one to express their collective concerns as to how each group is treated by Homeland Security.  While they may all worship at different places, they all expressed common ideals of fairness, justice and respect for each other.  After the attempted bombing in Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, a group of Detroit-area Imams held a press conference to speak out against violence and to pronounce that Islam is a faith a peace and love.

We all must commit ourselves to learn about those who don’t look like us or don’t pray as we do.  The Qur’an commands it when it states that we are created so that we may know one another.  When we do that, and then begin a dialogue with the other person, we will build a relationship of respect, trust and love. 

One cannot pray at her or his respective place of worship on the weekend and then prey on one’s fellow human beings the remainder of the week.

Because,  as reflected in the words of Edmund Burke, All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men and women do nothing.

 

 

Different But Similar

About a week ago, I made a trip to the foothills of Appalachia.  Specifically, Belmont County and St. Clairsville, Ohio across the Ohio River from Wheeling, West Virginia.  Much of Belmont County contains coal fields.  I was struck on how much in common rural poverty had with urban poverty.

So much of what occurs in rural and poverty-stricken areas of Appalachia can be compared to the marginalization of people of color in our cities.  I too often have felt that poor folk in the city and those in impoverished rural areas have more in common than is thought.

Many members of both communities live in environmentally toxic areas.  Environmental racism runs rampant in urban areas.  Where do poor African-Americans or Latinos live in  a city?  Many live near factories that pollute the air and water.  Dumping of tires and debris is everywhere.  In Detroit those living in the 48217 area code suffer the worst.  In Appalachia, it’s pollution from mining.  It’s acid mine drainage that refers to the outflow of acidic water from coal mining.  It’s thick orange run-off kills fish and all living organisms in streams and rivers.

Over the years minority groups have suffered from years and years of being told by those of us who are privileged that they will never amount to anything or that there lot in life is to be a domestic worker or slave.  It’s refered to as internalized racism.  After years of being told that you are nothing more than property, one begins to believe it and the circle of failure and depression repeats itself.  The same is true of the rural poor.  They are told not even to think beyond high school.  That college is not for them.  Again, after being told time and time again,  a person applies for a job in the mine or at the local Wal-Mart.  There is no one there in the city or rural town to uplift those students to let them know that they can achieve success.

Both groups have been victims of the corporate world of taking all that can be taken from a worker and giving nothing back to them.  Folks in the city and country aren’t offered opportunities to build even a modest amount of wealth.  A minimum wage job does not offer long-term security.  Over 80% of people in this country have their entire wealth in their home.  If they can’t build a career, something more than a paycheck, they will never achieve home ownership.  Large corporations take advantage of these workers because the worker has no other choice.  Working conditions in a store, factory or mine can be deplorable and unsafe, but a person needs a job.  To complain to a supervisor or governmental agency, leads to harassment and possible job loss.  The miners in the Upper Big Branch mine can attest to it.

We have become a country of “haves” and ”have nots”.  When Mitt Romney was campaigning for the presidency he stated that America was not “two countries” when it can to people’s station in life.  Not true.  People of privilege have marginalized those don’t look like them for decades, and despite a moral appeal to do otherwise it continues.  They are victims of a class system and those in positions of power and privilege have viewed the poor as expendable.  They have been kept in their “place’ by institutional and structural racism and classism.

In the early Sixties, author Michael Harrington wrote in his book, The Other Am

“In a nation with a technology that could provide every citizen with a decent life, it is an outrage and a scandal that there should be such social misery.”  Michael Harrington

erica, “In a nation with a technology that could provide every citizen with a decent life, it is an outrage and a scandal that there should be such social misery.”  Sadly, some 40 years later things haven’t changed.

Diversity Does Work

Plymouth Canton Community Schools should be commended for its outreach efforts to ensure that all qualified applicants for positions in its schools are considered.

 State law calls for equal opportunities for all in employment. This can be achieved by guaranteeing a fair and open process for application to a position.  For too long, many have relied on filling positions with in-house referrals not making serious outreach efforts to ensure that all qualified individuals were aware of openings. In some cases, this has been a tacit tactic aimed at excluding certain people from even being considered for positions. If you don’t know about a job, you can’t apply for it.

 Plymouth Canton Community Schools are wisely taking steps to ensure that it is has a strong and varied applicant pool of highly qualified candidates as it seeks teachers for an increasingly diverse student body and global economy. Teaching is as much an art as it is science. Diverse teachers and administrators bring with them experiences, perspective and balance to the global dialogue on how their value in the system gives both academic strength and cultural strength for all of our students.

 A simple test doesn’t determine the best teacher—in fact, it rarely determines the best in any profession. There is room for discretion; and in the past, in many areas of suburban school hiring, that discretion has worked to limit diversity. Plymouth Canton Community Schools is choosing not to work from that rubric anymore but to welcome the opportunity to reach out to candidates who may have been previously ignored in an effort to ensure all teachers at the schools will have both the knowledge required and the ability to infuse students with a diverse knowledge base.

 We are encouraged by the school district’s collaboration with the Plymouth-Canton Citizens for Diversity and Inclusion, who are committed to helping P-CCS in their efforts to add diverse and qualified teachers.

 Diversity is the strength of every community; helping all better understand the goal of judging based on character, not skin color. The best way to teach that is to practice it. Plymouth Canton Community Schools is working to be the leader in this lesson.  The Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion is prepared to support the strong outreach efforts of P-CCS, Plymouth-Canton Citizens for Diversity and Inclusion and other school districts willing to make a bold effort to do the same.