A Lament for My Republican Friends

In recent weeks, I have had this recurring thought: “Boy, sometimes it must suck to be a Republican.” No one reading this blog on even a sporadic basis would mistake me for a Republican, but some of my friends and perhaps half of my family are. I grew up with parents who were and still are staunch and lifelong Republicans. I can honestly say some of my best friends are Republicans. And in a strange way I feel for them these days.

So what has led to this unconventional political empathy?

Well, the ink hadn’t dried on the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the constitutionality of The Affordable Health Care Act, and Republicans were eviscerating their (now former) hero Justice Roberts for voting with the majority, and proclaiming that one of their main arguing points in the upcoming elections will be dismantling what they derisively call “Obamacare.” I had just returned from Scotland, where everyone has access to free health care (and I might add free college tuition), and thought “how can you be against providing for basic health needs?" They claim we would have to pay a “tax” (their term), and yet if you read the fine print according the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, only 1.2% of the wealthiest Americans would pay the extra fee. So how can people live telling this lie, so that they can’t be against investing in people’s health? What kind of twisted logic does one have to live with in that state?

Republicans say they are for balanced budgets in state and federal governments (which sounds reasonable), but in such an unbalanced way. For example, the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania legislature just passed this year’s budget, and two numbers jumped out at me. The first was $150 million cut from the budget eliminating the “General Assistance Program”, a minimal cash assistance program for the poorest of the poor. The second number was $300 million in tax cuts for the businesses of the state, especially the  cash-rich gas companies drilling in the Marcellus Shelf region. $150 million taken from the poor, while $300 for the corporations – couldn’t we have balanced that out a bit to keep the minimal stipend for the poor and only give the corporations $150 million in tax breaks? Of course then we would have to look at other cuts in public education, health care (there it is again) and basic social services.

Then there is poor Mitt Romney, who says he left Bain Capital in 1999, and yet all the documents say he was in charge until 2002. Apparently in those three years Bain made some decisions that shipped a lot of jobs overseas, which doesn’t look for a guy who says he is an expert at creating jobs. However, I don’t really think it matters because whether he left in 1999 or 2002, I think it’s clear that Romney made his millions making decisions that made lots of money for investors, often at the cost of workers either here or overseas. While the media focuses on the back and forth between Pres. Obama and Candidate Romney on who is the bigger liar, the point is that it was high financiers like Romney and his friends who drove the economy to its current state of collapse, and whether its Goldman Sachs or Morgan Chase or Barclays, the pattern is the same, the leaders made those decisions knowing (1) they would or could hurt the regular investor, while (2) making themselves a whole lot of cash. I must say these guys are really adept at trying to cloud the issue, but the “bottom line” (their favorite phrase) is that they knowingly invested in ways that would benefit themselves, regardless of the cost to others. Those are Mitt’s people, that’s what they do, and he has profited by it, regardless of when he left Bain.

Then there are the other Republican positions on issues that cause me to shake my head, like being against allowing kids brought to this country at a young age and who grew up here to have a pathway to citizenship by way of the Dream Act. Or denying gay couples the right to get married legally. Or dismantling public school systems by defunding them and then blaming the teachers for doing a lackluster job, when in fact time and again it has been shown when schools have adequate resources, up to date materials, and small class sizes the overwhelming majority of kids can succeed. Then there is the fact that Republicans are in the pocket of the National Rifle Association, who oppose any and all gun buying restrictions, when other developed nations who have such restrictions are much safer from gun-related violence, and their hunters still get to go out and shoot. All of these Republican positions seem either ludicrous or just plain inhumane.

Now I know there are arguments for all of these and other Republican positions. However when I explore their views I find they are either logically inconsistent or just plain mean-spirited. My Republican friends and family members are very intelligent, kind and generous people, which is why I feel for them. Now I am sure they must wonder how I can support Obama, which I will say I am lukewarm at best, but only because he has not lived up to his promise. I would have had him go much further on these and other issues than he has gone. And I think the Democrats on the whole have been spineless at times. So feel for me if you will, but my heart goes out to Republicans. How do some of them live with themselves? How transparently greedy and callous does one have to be before he or she looks in the mirror and wonders what you have become?

That’s why I wonder how it must feel to be a Republican; if I were one of them, I would get rid of the mirror, because I wouldn’t want to face myself.

Frederick Douglass: What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

On July 4, 1852, eleven years before the Emancipation Proclamation and 13 years before the abolition of slavery, Frederick Douglass, a former slave and leading abolitionist was invited to deliver an address in 1852. The ironic power of Douglass’ words still ring true, 170 years later. While his subject is the plight of the African slave, let us consider the contemporary relevance of his words for the millions of persons disenfranchised by the “American Dream” today: undocumented immigrants, homeless persons, and the countless poor whose needs remain invisible on the national scene. Douglass speaks for them as he did for the slaves in 1852. What follows are excerpts of the speech.

“Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. The

little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country school houses, avails me nothing on the present occasion.

 The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable - and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the former, are by no means slight. That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. You will not, therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say. I evince no elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and trusting to your patient and generous indulgence, I will proceed to lay them before you. 

This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. It is the birthday of your  National Independence, and of your political freedom. This, to you, is what the Passover  was to the emancipated people of God. It carries your minds back to the day, and to the  act of your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders, associated with that  act, and that day.

This celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your
national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is now 76 years old.

"What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?"

 
Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

 Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation's sympathy could not warm him?

Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart."

 But, such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us.

I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine.

 You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, lowering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!

 Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!" To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.

My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slave's point of view. Standing, there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July!

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelly to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.

 There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.

 Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this

nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

"Is this the land your Fathers loved,

The freedom which they toiled to win?

Is this the earth whereon they moved?

Are these the graves they slumber in?"

 But a still more inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous state of things remains to be presented.

...........

Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work The downfall of slavery. "The arm of the Lord is not shortened," and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from the Declaration of Independence, the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age.

 The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. "Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God." In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it:

 God speed the year of jubilee

The wide world o'er!

When from their galling chains set free,

Th' oppress'd shall vilely bend the knee,

And wear the yoke of tyranny

Like brutes no more.

That year will come, and freedom's reign,

To man his plundered fights again

Restore.

God speed the day when human blood

Shall cease to flow!

In every clime be understood,

The claims of human brotherhood,

And each return for evil, good,

Not blow for blow;

That day will come all feuds to end

And change into a faithful friend

Each foe.

God speed the hour, the glorious hour,

When none on earth

Shall exercise a lordly power,

Nor in a tyrant's presence cower;

But all to manhood's stature tower,

By equal birth!

THAT HOUR WILL, COME, to each, to all,

And from his prison-house, the thrall

Go forth.

Until that year, day, hour, arrive,

With head, and heart, and hand I'll strive,

To break the rod, and rend the gyve,

The spoiler of his prey deprive-

So witness Heaven!

And never from my chosen post,

Whate'er the peril or the cost,

Be driven.

[A video of Danny Glover reading portions of the speech can be found at http://zinnedproject.org/posts/11086?utm_source=ZEP+-+July+4th+Article+-+July+2012&utm_campaign=ZEP+-+July+4+2012&utm_medium=email ]

A Dream Come True

This picture was taken on Saturday, June 23, 2012 in the Cullin Hills, Isle of Skye in Western Scotland and represents the fulfillment of a dream. I am with my family on the Trail of the Fairy Pools, a gentle trail that follows a stream up the mountainside and then across the base of the mountain and back down. Altogether the trek took about 4 hours.

Over a year ago, I offered my family the chance to go to Scotland as a Christmas present, and after some minor haggling we chose the last two weeks of June. In making this offer, I had come to realize that my children were growing up and moving on with their lives, that Hannah the oldest was getting married, that Esther was considering moving far away for grad school, and that Phoebe was graduating from college; the opportunities for us to all be together for any length of time would become more difficult to arrange. This was going to be a special time for us to see the country of our Boyd heritage and for me to walk in the Scottish Highlands.

However, about nine months ago, I started having serious difficulties breathing and my foot mysteriously began to hurt so much that on many occasions I had to use a cane. I changed my primary doctor to a young energetic advocate of alternative treatments and preventive medicine, and at our first visit he asked me, “What are your goals?” to which I replied “To hike in the Scottish Highlands with my family in June.” He sent me to a heart specialist, who talked to me about diet, particularly lowering my cholesterol, and she too asked me what my goals were, to which I replied “To hike in the Scottish Highlands with my family in June.” He also recommended a podiatrist, and after several visits, an xray and a MRI, she in turn sent me to a physical therapist who asked what my goals were and again I replied “To hike in the Scottish Highlands with my family in June.”

At the doctors’ urging I changed my diet and to date have lost nearly 30 pounds. The podiatrist told me that all my years of running, basketball, skiing and spraining my ankle in all three, had left the ligaments and tendons in my foot shredded and so I had to rebuild the muscle in my foot. So I did daily stretching and strengthening exercises. I took walks, rode bike, went to the gym and generally worked slowly on strengthening my foot and overall stamina. 

However, the most important thing I did was change my mental outlook. When people look at me “fragile” is usually not a word that comes to mind, but that was the way I was beginning to feel about my physical health. Everything I tried seemed to turn out worse than before, and I had become defeated about the likelihood of regaining my former strength and vitality. I had often said that when it came to my physical health I want to “wear out rather than rust out,” but it felt like the wear out time had come earlier than I anticipated. However, as 2011 turned to 2012, I decided that I was not going to let my physical struggles decide my self-concept. I decided I would do all I could to be healthy for Scotland. While I would like to say my mental attitude changed everything, what changed frankly was my perspective. I was going to go to Scotland; the only question was in what condition.

And when mid June rolled around, I was ready. We started in Glasgow, explored Dean Castle (the historic home of the Boyd Clan) and visited Stirling, St. Andrews and Loch Lomond. We drove through the Highlands, searched for Nessie in Loch Ness, hiked in the Isle of Skye, and walked the streets of Inverness. Then we ended our trip in Edinburgh, climbing Arthur’s Seat just outside the city, watching the Scottish Guard practice in anticipation of the Queen’s Jubilee, walking the streets of old Town, and roaming in the Edinburgh Castle. Our last night was spent on a sheep farm west of Glasgow. The picture above captures it all, as well as the one below taken on our last meal together in Scotland. These pictures represent a special gift. To be able to hike and share a beautiful place with the people I love: a dream come true.

Seeing the Whole Picture with AQAL

For the last six months I have been exploring Integral Theory as articulated by philosopher Ken Wilber. Over the past 20 years Wilber has been attempting to create a framework in which all the major theories of human development, religions, and philosophical perspectives can be brought together in one matrix of thought. Wilber’s goal is not to somehow homogenize all these systems of thought, but rather to show their connections and relationships to one another and to highlight the similarities across disciplines, cultures, and religious perspectives. While Wilber is dealing with some pretty heady and esoteric ideas, he writes in very accessible language. Furthermore, it’s not uncommon for him to make reference to ancient or medieval thinkers (think Plato, Plotinus or Aquinas), modern thinkers (think Hume, Kant and Hegel) and postmodern thinkers (think Focault or Derrida) in one sentence or paragraph. Likewise, he seeks to bring together insights from both Western and Eastern spiritual traditions. His assumption  is that truth can be discerned in all these writings and can correct and illumine insights in one another. In his work Wilber has developed a faithful following that is evidenced by a number of websites on Integral psychology, spirituality, medicine, teaching, Christianity and [fill in the blank].

While there is much that I fail to fully comprehend and other aspects of his theory that I still have serious questions or reservations about, I am very much impressed with his effort to bring a whole host of perspectives, disciplines and traditions together in one place. As a person who tends to think and act across disciplines, Wilber helps me with my sense of cultural and intellectual, and even spiritual schizophrenia. While in this picture he looks a bit like a cult leader with his shaved head and large glasses, his thinking really seems to be the stuff of genius.

One of the models that I have found most helpful is his AQAL framework (see at the top of the page), which attempts to create a grid through which one can look at one’s experiences and perceptions. AQAL stands for “All Quadrants, All Lines” and is a four box matrix that allows one to analyze his/her experiences and perspectives more holistically. The problem AQAL seeks to address is that too often we tend to look at an issue or an event thru only one lens or dimension. AQAL forces us to recognize that for any such event (which Wilber calls a holon) there are at least four lenses through one must look at the event.

In the upper left hand quadrant there is the personal/subjective frame (the “I” perspective). In this frame I attend to my personal thoughts, feelings, intuitions and responses to events. This “I” quadrant is my personal view of what I see, feel, hear, and think.

In the upper right quadrant is the objective/empirical frame (the “it” perspective). If the “I” frame” is internal and personal, the “it” frame is what the event appears to the outside observer. This is the realm of empirical proofs, theory, and observation. These two frames ("I" and "it") help us understand how an event or experience can seem one way to me, and look  entirely different to an outside observer. The "it" perspective looks at the event from the outside, whereas the "I" perspective views it from the inside.

In the lower left quadrant is the perspective of culture, family and other significant reference groups in one’s life (tribe, race, nation, etc.). This is the “we” perspective. In this perspective we acknowledge that how we see and experience the world is influenced by the groups with whom we identify and the groups that have shaped us. For instance, this frame explains why making eye contact with an American conveys forthrightness, whereas to an Asian it is a sign of disrespect. The overt action is the same, but because of significant reference groups (in this case culture) the action carries different meanings.

Finally, the lower right quadrant is the systemic frame (the “its” perspective) in which one views the event in relationship to the systems and environmental forces that shape and direct society. This is the frame of politics, ecology, economics, and sociology. In this frame we recognize that our existence is not isolated but rather part of complex web of external relationships which limit our choices, determine our options and generally circumscribe our existence.

The value of the AQAL framework is that it forces and allows one to ask certain questions of any and all events in one’s life to get a fuller, more holistic perspective on what is actually going on. Let me illustrate with a personal example. On October 31, 2010 I woke up in the middle of the night and could not breathe. After my breathing problems persisted for another day, I went to a doctor and was diagnosed with asthma for the first time in my life at the age of 57. For the last 18 months I have been adjusting to life as a person with asthma. As a person who had been basically healthy all of his life and regularly engaged in physical activities requiring good cardio-vascular health, this was quite a blow. I not only dealt with shortness of breath but also the emotional struggle of not always being able to do the things physically I had been accustomed to doing. This was my personal (“I” frame) experience.

When I went to the doctor, they did a series of tests, put me on a range of medicines, and told me I had “mild, persistent asthma.” According to the charts and regimens determining the nature of one’s illness, that is the category I fell in. It didn’t matter to them how I was personally reacting to my condition, what I thought or what I sensed was going on; the doctor just said “Take these medicines and call me if you have a problem.” That is the “it” frame.

Significantly impacting my reaction to my condition was my cultural and family background. As an American I have become accustomed to the idea that if there is a medical problem, there must be a pill or a procedure that can resolve that problem. Living with sickness is not something that most people in the U.S. expect to have to do. However, as I have found out the medical profession has sold us a bill of goods and has far fewer “answers” than they have led us to believe. Moreover, I came from a family that was very active and universally healthy. The old ad line “If you have your health, you have everything” could have been written by my parents. I was raised to believe that if you took care of yourself physically, you would be rewarded with good health. So my “we” frame interpreted the experience thru this lens, and I alternately wondered what I had done wrong to get the asthma and cursed the gods of health care for deceiving me on how reliable they are.

Finally, while I have not given a great deal of thought to the “its” frame, the media is full of reports on how the rise in toxic chemicals in our air and water has created an increase in conditions like asthma, particularly in children. I know that as my allergies are activated my asthma gets worse, which points to the impact of the air quality and the environment. An allergist has talked to me about various influences in my home that may limit or exacerbate my asthma. I have even wondered if the five years I spent in the toxic chemical air of Jersey City, NJ has eventually caught up to me, as I know when I would go running in that community, I often would inhale everything from bus fumes to the invisible chemicals that cause so many in that community to die at an early age of cancer. Who knows but the seeds of asthma were planted in my lungs 20+ years ago.

Thus one can view my experience with asthma personally, empirically, culturally and systemically. The value of AQAL is that it does not preference one perspective over another, but rather affirms that all perspectives have some truth within them. Depending on one’s orientation and the issue one is dealing with, a person may emphasize one quadrant or frame over another, but at all times it is important to realize there are more than one way to look at any given event or issue.

While the AQAL framework does not provide easy answers, it does allows one to ask a range of questions to grasp the full meaning of any given issue or experience. As such I find it to be a helpful tool for reflection on experiences, as well as a framework for thinking about relationships, political actions or teaching courses. I feel like I have only begun to grasp the full use of AQAL, but what I have understood so far has expanded my perspective in ways that provide me a much wider and deeper view of this thing we call “reality.”

Tenative Support for the School District Re-Structuring Plan

I have long been an advocate for high quality urban public schools and an opponent of PA Republican Tom Corbett’s wholesale slashing of financial support for poor urban school districts like the Chester-Upland and Philadelphia School Districts. The former is facing dissolution and the prospect that its students will have to attend neighboring school districts, while the latter has put forth a bold plan for reducing central school administration roles and decentralizing the school district. I see both moves as responses to calculated efforts by wealthy elites to destroy urban public education and to ignore the needs of thousands of families and children who deserve as good an educational system as any wealthy suburban community.

With all that said, I find myself in the tentative position of supporting the Philadelphia School Reform Commission’s (SRC) plan to restructure the school district; but I do so with some strong caveats. As I understand it, the plan contains the following components.

-        First, the SRC proposes that the district be broken up into “achievement networks” that would include approximately 25 schools. Principals within those schools would be given greater autonomy to decide what programs to include and which teachers to work in their schools. The better performing a school, the more autonomy they would receive.  

-        Second, as many as 40 low performing schools would be closed with the idea of moving those students into “high performing” schools, which could be either public or charter schools. This aspect of the proposal is projected to increase the percentage of students attending charter school to grow from its current 25% to 40% in the next 5 years. The proposal calls for new charter schools, but to only allow nonprofit partners to operate rather than for-profit companies such as Edison schools. 

-         Third, the district is charged with providing “high quality…individually tailored training for principals and teachers” (Lerum, 2012).  

-        Finally the district seeks to outsource many supportive functions such as maintenance, transportation and cleaning.

Now these bold proposals being put forth by the SRC are not primarily driven by a progressive educational agenda; rather they are a response to the massive budget cuts required because of the loss of state funding for the Philadelphia School District. In this blog I have contended that the conservative agenda being put forth by Governor Corbett and others of his ilk is nothing less than the destruction of public education for poor people in favor of vouchers and private schools. Moreover, I have made clear my concern that charter schools drain money from the public school system and undercut the possibility for community input and control of those schools. Charter schools also are allowed to hire non-certified teachers and to expel students who do not fit in their system, thus sending them back to overcrowded, underfunded public schools.

So how is it that I can support this plan?

First, I support it because it is the best response to a bad funding situation. The SRC is to be commended for trying to do something innovative with the money they have to work with. Second, I support it because it gives principals and teachers more autonomy to respond to the needs of their students and families in ways that are appropriate. Under former superintendent Ackerman I saw many innovative local initiatives undercut by directives from the central administration that did not take into account the unique challenges faced by teachers and administrators in local schools.

However, I offer my support with the following conditions and caveats. First of all, with the development of the achievement networks there needs to be the offer of sufficient resources for training and accountability. I asked one middle school teacher in a “low performing school” what he thought of the plan, and he said candidly, if the right person is in the principal’s office the plan would be a great improvement, but if unqualified or incompetent principals are allowed to stay in their jobs such a plan is  a recipe for further chaos. Thus, the SRC, the Philadelphia City Council and the state and Congressional legislators must continue to seek adequate funding to provide this support. Giving people freedom to be creative without the resources to do so is setting people up for failure. Giving people freedom without proper accountability, is to sweep the problem under the rug.

Second, if the plan does in fact significantly increase the role of charter schools, restrictions must be placed on those schools regarding the expulsion of low performing and problem students. If charter schools want to become a significant player, they cannot simply push their problems back onto the local public schools. Charter schools need to employ special education teachers who can address some of the unique emotional and behavioral challenges that face our students, and not simply send them out as “failures” in their system. Charter schools must not be allowed to be selective in their pursuit of excellence, they must demonstrate their excellence by serving all students.

Finally, school district officials (the SRC and administrators) need to stop looking for “quick fixes” and commit themselves to a long term strategy for change. People who have been observing the school district far longer than me, have seen too many innovations come and go. Measures of success cannot simply be limited to test scores, but must include school attendance, school climate and the relationships develop among teachers, principals, students and families. While these other things are much harder to measure, they are vital to the overall success of a school. Furthermore, such changes require not just a quick fix but a wholesale culture change which can take several years. One of the most tragic decisions I have witnessed was the firing of WestPhiladelphia HS principal Saliyah Cruz whose efforts to create a safe and enjoyable school were widely recognized to be successful; however in her three years as principal there had not been a significant change in test scores. Any reasonable person could have recognized that before test scores could improve the school climate needed to be addressed, yet a desire for a quick rise in test scores led her to be transferred out of that position. The kind of short-sightedness indicated by the Cruz decision is deadly to any effort at sustainable, lasting change.

While many teachers and other school workers oppose the plan, the fact is that the current system has not served most students well; the primary focus needs to be on what will serve all of the district's students well. Given the hard choices forced on them by declining resources, the SRC is to be commended for its bold plan. Change will be painful, and there will be many stops and starts. My hope and plea is to give the plan time to work, and realize that given the anti-public school climate in Harrisburg and elsewhere, this plan for reform faces tough sledding, but it’s worth giving it a try.

 

Sources:

Graham, K (2012). Phila School District plan includes restructuring and school closings. Philadelphia Inquirer, April 24, 2012).

Kerkstra, P. (2012). A window to school reform. Philadelphia Inquirer, May 4, 2012.

Lerum, E. (2012). A bold plan to fix city’s schools. Philadelphia Inquirer (May 17, 2012)

Whitehorne, R (2012). Commentary: Is there a ‘silent majority for the District’s transformation plan. The Notebook, May 24, 2012.

Easter Reflection-The Christ Who Keeps Moving

Every Easter I read a meditation written by Thomas Merton entitled He is Risen. Here is an excerpt from the book that always seems to move me

Christ is the Lord of a history that moves. He not only holds the beginning and the end in his hands. But he is in history with us walking ahead of us to where we are going. He is not always in the same place.

The cult of the Holy Sepulchre is Christian only in so far as it is the cult of the place where Christ is no longer found. But such a cult can be valid only on one condition: that we are willing to move on, to follow him to where we are not yet, to seek him where he goes before us “to Galilee.”

So we are called not only to believe that Christ rose from the dead, thereby proving he was God; we are called to  experience the Resurrection in our own lives by entering into this dynamic movement, by following Christ who lives in us.

Author Robert Quinn speaks to a similar truth when he says that unless we are willing to continue to grow, learn and change in our lives, we enter into a process of “slow death” to our spirits and vitality in life. The alternative to this slow death is to take risks in life that Quinn characterizes as “walking naked in the land of uncertainty.”

There is no question that our lives both individually as well as a society and as a global community, are filled with uncertainty. For those of us who believe in God, God seems strangely silent and inactive in these days when violence, greed and systemic oppression seems to rule the day. Merton’s meditation reminds us that we are called to a life of dynamic movement, even change,  that feels uncertain, risky, like “walking naked in a land of uncertainty.” Jesus calls us to follow Him to our “Galilee,” wherever and whatever that may be.

Too often we seek to hold our faith in a fixed position, to capture it in an experience, a belief system or a liturgical practice. Merton reminds us that the Christ who rose on Easter is not fixed but rather dynamic, transformative and always ahead of us. So let us seek to follow the Christ “who is not there” to the unknown and risky places to which he bids us follow Him.

Hunger Games: Trayvon Martin, Racism and Gun Violence

The tragic shooting of 17 year old Trayvon Martin has reached all corners of the nation, and has jolted us back to the realities of racism and violence in our country. Were we to use the words “racism” and “violence” in the same sentence 50 years ago, most likely we would be talking about some Bull Connor-type police officer using clubs and hoses on Civil Rights marchers somewhere in the South, or we would be thinking of race-related violence in one of thousands of communities across the nation, north and south.  By contrast in 2012 this event has inspired “Hoodie Marches” comprised of people of all races and cultures across the nation. Thus, it is worth noting that in the past 50 years such events have gone from being supported by the social and political structures to being the source of moral outrage all the way to the U.S. Congress. Having said that, it is equally important to note that this event points to the persistence of some troubling realities still at the core of our culture.

One of my earliest teachers on racism, James Tillman, pointed out that racial prejudice is based in fear: fear of the “other” and fear of loss of control. Fear coupled with the power to act out that fear against another is often the source of overtly racial acts as was seen in this incident. George Zimmerman, the 28 year old neighborhood watch worker saw Martin on the outskirts of his gated community assumed that Martin, walking home from a corner store, was a threat to him and fired in what he called “self-defense”, when in fact the only thing Martin was “armed” with was the box of Skittles. What is more troubling that in reporting this case, the local police of Sanford, FL covered up the fact that Zimmerman had been ordered by the 911 contact to cease chasing the young man whom he thought was a threat to his community. They didn’t want to become embroiled in the controversy this now has become, forcing the Sanford police captain to temporarily resign.

So why did Zimmerman see Trayvon Martin as a threat? As recorded on the 911 call, apparently it was that he was a young black male wearing a hooded sweatshirt. The image of hooded black males has been drilled into our subconscious as something to be feared, something dangerous, something to defend oneself against. Conrad Moore, another one of my racism teachers, has helped me see that racism is not just about the words we say or the overt behaviors we exhibit, but also the deeply embedded images in our psyches that have been drilled into us by caring parents, popular media, and our educational system. While we may not have shot someone in self-defense, who among us has not at least inwardly flinched when walking down a street or driving in our car, and seen a dark skinned male in a hooded sweatshirt or a dew rag or baggy pants? The reaction is involuntary, and as such is a reminder that despite our rhetoric and professed commitment to racial justice, we carry those images deep inside of us.

However, there is another troubling aspect to this incident that coupled with the unconscious racism made it deadly: the fact that Zimmerman was armed with a gun. Florida law allows an individual to carry a gun in public, and used it in a public setting when they believe they are acting in self-defense.  This law backed by the National Rifle Association was passed in 2005, and allows a person to “stand and fight” rather than simply flee a potentially dangerous confrontation. In essence it allows for the kind of vigilantism exhibited by para-military groups, self-appointed border patrols, and neighborhood watch volunteers like George Zimmerman. In an effort to be balanced I went to the websites of both the NRA and The Gun Owners of America (GOA) to see if they had any public comment on the Trayvon Martin shooting, but there was no comment that I could find. However, if George Zimmerman goes to trial claiming “self-defense,” no doubt the NRA will be right backing him and his right to carry the firearm he did.

This “stand and fight” kind of law, like the silent racism impacting Zimmerman’s actions is also based on fear: fear of being attacked, and fear of the other. That same fear drives young men and women in urban communities to buy illegal guns to protect themselves, their families and their turf; it’s the same fear that drives a young man in Charlton, Ohio to go into a school and shoot up his classmates. And fear coupled with the power to inflict harm on another as we see in the Trayvon Martin case can be deadly.

While it may seem overreaching to claim that all of us are indicted in the Trayvon Martin case, it does seem plausible that this incident should cause us to question the underlying fear that contributes to racial profiling and unnecessary violence. Ironically, as this case goes forward, the movie “Hunger Games” hits the screen, a story of a world where the powers-that-be set children against one another in a violent battle to the death. When one turns on the nightly news to hear school shooting, community violence or tragic cases like Trayvon Martin, Hunger Games does not seem so much just a story. What kind of world have we created and are we creating where young people driven by fear and desire to survive engage in such a battle to the death? Is it all that big a jump to suggest that George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin were caught in their own kind of Hunger game? I wonder.

As long as the stereotypes we carry around in our psyches are left unchallenged, we will be driven by fear. As long as the media and the structures of society divide us along race and class, and set young people against one another in a battle against their own fears, we will be corralled by that fear. As long as we pass legislation that allows people on the street to use firearms against another because they perceive them as a threat, we will have senseless killings. While Trayvon Martin’s death is tragedy in and of itself, it is also a tragic reminder that we as a society and culture have sick fears in our psyches that will continue to lead to senseless deaths, growing fears, and embedded racial strife.

2042 and the Transforming Race Conference

Certain dates such as 1984, Y2K, and 9/11 carry literal and symbolic significance.  A less well known but equally significant date is 2042, the year the U.S. Census predicts that white Americans will comprise less than 50% of the U.S. population. Thus, it was appropriate that I gathered with approximately 400 people in from a wide variety of racial and cultural backgrounds and professions ranging from law to social work to philanthropy to education and much more, to imagine what an equitable multicultural society might look like in the year 2042. More importantly, we discussed what we needed to be working on today to make it happen. In many ways the racial and cultural make-up of the participants (and the relative percentages) closely approximated what U.S. society as a whole will look like in 2042. So while there were a large number of white people at the conference, they neither were dominant in number or in the presentations and workshops that were offered. Thus we both discussed and mirrored the society we hoped to exist in 2042.

At one point one of the workshop leaders asked: Do you think you will see significant change in racial justice in your lifetime? At 58 I was among the older participants at the conference, and so that question was compelling for me. When I look back over the changes that have taken place in my lifetime at one level they seem significant. Segregation and Jim Crow have been outlawed, civil rights are built into American law, opportunity seems to be crossing racial/cultural lines, overt attitudes and behaviors have changed, and in 2008 we elected an African-American president; these are no small achievements. On the other hand, the wealth gap and educational gap between whites and people of color are persistently high. We are as residentially segregated today as we were during the time of legal segregation. Young men of color are nearly as likely to end up in prison as they are to graduate from high school. We have created what Michelle Alexander has called the “new Jim Crow.” And behind closed doors attitudes of many whites while sanitized still reflect the racial fear and arrogance of earlier decades. Thus, I often wonder how far we have actually come.

When I hear political conservatives and Tea Party-ers talk about “taking the country back,” I wonder what do they want to take us back to. It is no accident that groups like the Tea Party are overwhelmingly white, and are perceived as a threat to many communities of color. Their anti-government stance threatens the one institution in society that has intervened on their behalf when individuals, schools and local communities sought to isolate or marginalize them. Conservative efforts to pass laws that allow law enforcement to profile individuals suspected of being undocumented is too close to experiences many people have had being guilty only of “driving while black” or being suspected of terrorism because of their Muslim religion. Though not explicit, the call “to take the country back” is a call to a time when whites exercised their power and privilege in ways that were destructive and even deadly for people of color.

So when I was asked to think as to whether I would see significant change toward racial justice in my life time, realizing that in my case that might be the next 25-30 years at best, I have to admit I was skeptical. Yet I continue to work and advocate for racial justice despite my skepticism – why? One of the presenters quoted author and legal scholar Derrick Bell who said it best (and I am paraphrasing): racism is prevalent and even seemingly permanent. Yet we should continue to struggle for racial justice, because even if we don’t reach the solution we seek, miracles can still occur.

Near the end of the conference, I was in a workshop where an African-American woman said: Some of you [meaning the whites in the room] can choose whether or not to be engaged with the struggle for racial justice, but some of us are born into it and never had a choice. I know what she means and agree with her: racial injustice does not impact me personally in the way it does people of color. However, in reflecting on her statement I realized that for me at this point in my life turning back to the time of legitimizing white power and dominance over the institutions of society, and sweeping our racism under the rug in claims of color blindness is no longer an option. I realized that despite my cynicism about the lack of progress and the conservative backlash, I am living into the hope and dream of 2042: a society in which Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of an equitable society is not just highlighted once a year, but rather is evident in that people of all races, cultures and religions live together in a society where one truly is judged not by the color their skin [or their accent or language, or the covering they wear over their face, or the turban they wear on their head], but rather by the content of their character. That’s the dream of 2042 and the dream I live into and plan to work for as long as I am able.

The Destruction of Public Education and the Conservative Agenda

For some time now, I have suspected that the Conservative agenda involved the systematic dismantling and undermining of public education. Conservatives have repeatedly belittled public school teachers, fought the increase property taxes (which are the primary source of funding for most public school budgets), sought to pass bills calling for vouchers, and promoted the proliferation of charter schools, as their agenda for “reforming public education.” I have seen this is my children’s own suburban school district, in the Philadelphia public schools and in communities around the country. Taken together these actions sound the death knell of many public schools, especially in economically depressed communities. However, I doubt it will stop there; conservatives want to destroy publicly funded education in all its forms.

Recent actions by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett have done nothing to dissuade me from this perspective; in fact he all but publicly proposed that for two communities in Pennsylvania. In my last blog posting, I decried the action of the governor denying funding for the Chester-Upland school district that had run out of money mid-year. The governor refused to provide relief claiming the school had “mismanaged” its funds. Chester-Upland has been under the oversight of the state government for several years, so if there was mismanagement it was in his own government as before he was governor he was the Attorney General.

Fortunately, a federal judge ordered Gov. Corbett to provide the $3.2 million necessary for the Chester-Upland district to complete its school year; this isn’t sufficient but it gives the district some more time However, the governor has already submitted a bill to the PA legislature that will effectively dissolve the school district, disband the teacher’s contracts and turn the remaining schools over to charters. He has proposed a similar plan for the community of Duquesne City in Western PA. Moreover, he proposes lower payments to schools that Chester student would apply to, thus making a lesser incentive for schools to attract or admit Chester students. The bill is so bad that even some of the Governor’s Republican allies are rejecting the bill. Fortunately, others are proposing their own bills, but it is clear that while the Governor continues to protect his corporate friends from any more taxes, he openly and disdainfully ignores the needs of the poorest citizens and their children in place like Chester. Because of the governor’s budget slashing other districts like Philadelphia also face further cutbacks even after slashing $600 million for their budget last summer, which led to larger class sizes, fewer teachers and the elimination of many academic support programs.

In 1962 Michael Harrington published his classic book on American poverty, The Other America, in which he exposed to the world the travesty of desperate poverty in a land of such wealth and opportunity. Harrington’s book so moved President Lyndon Johnson that is was believed to be a major influence in his efforts to create The Great Society programs that addressed poverty at levels never before seen. It is these same Great Society and War on Poverty programs that conservatives have consistently criticized and systematically dismantled over the last 50+ years. That is probably why Harrington’s book continues to be published and re-issued, and why now 50 years later because of hard-hearted conservatives like Corbett, it is still very relevant. This is not to say all conservatives are hard-hearted (there have been so-called compassionate conservatives like George W. Bush who disagreed with liberal policies but did not totally turn their back on the needs of the poor and offered their own solutions), but the brand of conservatism currently being practiced by leaders like Gov. Corbett, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker shows no compassion nor concern for those who still suffer in the Other America.

While many of us don’t need to worry about our kids and their schools because they haven’t gotten to the point of Chester, we should take note what is happening. We need to see the trends, and recognize that while states are required to provide all students a quality public education, conservatives blatantly disregard that mandate in communities in most need and with the least resources. At the same time schools are being de-funded prisons are being built at a record pace in states like Pennsylvania. Research shows that there is a clear correlation between youth violence and low quality education. When it comes to building a school to prison pipeline, conservatives like Tom Corbett are showing us the way it is done with impunity.

Balancing the Budget on the Backs of the Poor: Chester-Upland School District

While the fiscal conservatives say that we must “tighten our belts” and “everyone must sacrifice,” the recent news that the Chester-Upland(PA) school district has run out of money and can no longer operate their schools is yet another example that the ones who sacrifice are those with the least to give up. (For those not familiar with PA, Chester is one of the poorest cities in the state, and is located 10 miles south of Philadelphia. Its school district depends heavily on state funds because more than 50% of the residents of Chester live below the poverty line.)The state of Pennsylvania is mandated by law to provide quality public education to all children in the state. Yet since becoming governor a year ago, Tom Corbett, has slashed spending on services to the poor, decreased the amount of money the state provides to low income school districts, refused to raise taxes on wealthy individuals and companies, and advocated vouchers so that money would be taken away from public schools. When Chester officials asked the state to intervene, the governor said “no” blaming them for “mismanagement” - yet another example of “blaming the victim”; believe me, no one is getting rich in Chester except Harrah’s Casino and PPL Park the home of the Philadelphia Union soccer team.

When folks want to know what the Occupy Wall Street movement is about when it says the 1% are profiting off the 99%, Chester-Upland School district is exhibit A. While the governor and his Republican colleagues talk about  “balancing the budget”, yet protecting their wealthy and corporate supporters, the poor of Chester and elsewhere suffer.

John Rawls, political philosopher whose work set the framework for the Great Society programs of the 60’s and 70’s, said that a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable. The moral vision that moved leaders on both sides of the political spectrum to set up social safety net for the poor and disabled caused them to see that the wealthiest society in the world could not allow any of its citizens to go uncared for. The callous disregard for basic needs such as health care, housing and education that began in the 1980’s under President Reagan and has increased to the present shows not only a social callousness but a loss of moral vision. That a state governor can disregard his legal mandate to provide education to the children of Chester, while refusing to levy taxes on gas companies reaping millions in Pennsylvania, only shows how far we have fallen.

Conservatives often like to bemoan the moral decline in our country, and in certain instances I share their concerns, but as Jesus said they need to take the log out of their own eyes before they seek to remove the speck in another’s eye. The judgment falls hard on those leaders who would forsake and deny their moral and legal mandates to care for the needs of the poor, and then have the gall to defend their view by blaming the victims and calling for a “balanced budget.”

If you are a PA resident I urge you to write your state representatives and call upon them to provide funding so that the children of Chester Upland can receive the quality education they are guaranteed by law to receive.