Collective Progress

 Labor Day Recalls Collective Progress

 

This Labor Day weekend brings a time to reflect on how modern America was built by a thriving middle class, many of whom belonged to and benefited from union membership. 

            

My grandfather was part of the early labor union movement in the 1920s and 1930s and advocated for a movement not only concerned with wages and safe working conditions, but also education, healthcare, civil rights and political involvement for working people. He founded a college for labor union organizers and later a private high school the children of union workers that was in the forefront of progressive education.

 

I worked my way through the end of my undergraduate college education and all of my years in law school as a proud member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), Local 251, AFL-CIO in Madison in the early 1970s. The work was hard, with long late-night hours, and paid very well for the times. The union negotiated the pay scales and ensured the work was safely performed. I was trained my more experienced brothers and sisters.  My work putting on traveling shows for rock stars, ice shows, auto shows, ice hockey games, and Broadway musicals helped keep my family fed. I still have my union card.

 

As a lawyer, I am a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin. Not usually thought of as a labor union, the State Bar does look out for its members, lobbies for and against legislation affecting the profession and judicial system, provides ethics advice and financial benefits like insurance and discounts on purchases. I was Chair of the Bar’s Criminal Law Section in the early 2000s and helped lead the effort to defeat legislation that would have reinstituted the death penalty in Wisconsin. 

 

The common thread throughout is the notion that collectively working people in all of our society’s economic classes can bring about change for the collective good that individuals could not achieve on their own. 

 

In the current political climate, we seem to have forgotten the need for collective responses to broad collective threats. Nowhere is this more evident than in our lack of collective response to the Corona virus pandemic. The recognition of the need for a universal, collective response has been subverted by outmoded beliefs in individual freedom and autonomy.

 

I was born at the end of World War II. As a child, I can remember my parents talking about the sacrifices they had to make in order to focus on winning the war against fascism. Food was rationed, gasoline was rationed, certain building materials were rationed or not available at all, whole industries were converted from peace-time to war-time production, some individual freedoms were curtailed. Those of us who lived on the coasts had blackouts at night so enemy submarines and aircraft could not see the lights. The sacrifices were universal, went on for years and impacted every aspect of society in pursuit of a single goal, to win the war. 

 

Fortunately, we as a nation have not had to face anything near these lengthy and universal sacrifices since the end of World War II. There have been smaller, shorter lived sacrifices, like those we experienced after 9/11, but they only impacted proportionally few of us.  Individual freedoms have increased as a result and have taken over the body politic. We have descended into more tribal political stances and the correspondingly smaller collective actions pursue single issue agendas. We have forgotten the collective good as a core value.

 

Our upcoming presidential and congressional elections will pit two, very different, ideologies and the outcome will define our collective future for decades. 

 

Donald Trump’s view is that we are all in this struggle for what is best for individuals as they determine for themselves. His is a view of rugged individualism and individual success. “Let me get whatever I can for myself without regard for anyone else.” He advocates the use of government to support individual aggrandizement. He wants to end government interference with business and personal freedoms so that each of us can do as we please. 

 

Joe Biden’s world view is much more collectively oriented. He supports organized labor, environmental regulation to combat climate change, more universal access to healthcare and a host of other goals that would make America better for all of us, not just those who share a privileged status. His is not a Bernie Sanders’ democratic socialist agenda, but a more moderate, yet still inclusive, agenda where each of can work to succeed while looking out for and after the less fortunate and less abled. 

 

Should Trump secure re-election, we will ultimately be forced to require a period of lengthy universal sacrifice in order to undo the damage he will have caused to the republic and the democratic principles upon which it was founded. I hope it does not come to that.

Vote Biden and Harris

 Biden and Harris Deserve Your Vote

 

The Democratic National Convention this past week focused on all of the correct issues and highlighted the stark differences between our current president and the man who would replace him. 

 

The Democrats’ candidates, former Vice President Joe Biden and current U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, helped frame the new democratic coalition’s positions on the issues important to most Americans while showing their humanity, compassion and empathy. 

 

Over the past week, Democrats showed they value inclusiveness and diversity, opening their hearts to all Americans regardless of station, economic status, race or sexual orientation. Everyday working people were given a voice alongside of the wealthy and politically powerful. People of various hues and those across the gender spectrum highlighted America’s strengths and opportunities. No one was left behind or out.

 

To be sure, Democratic knives came out for the failings of the current administration to effectively address the current pandemic, to help shape an economy that works for everyone, to protect us from foreign intervention in our democracy, and to obey the rule of law. The attacks were grounded in policy failings, incompetence and corruption that are the hallmarks of Trump and his enablers. 

 

The Democratic vision for our future addresses these failings with bold proposals to contain and defeat Covid-19, to restore the economy by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and to create new opportunities and jobs while combatting climate change by investing in renewable energy and drastically cutting back on the use of carbon-based fuels. Voter suppression and interference in our elections will be eliminated. America’s standing as a world leader will be re-established as we stand with our allies and against our adversaries again.

 

These initiatives will be coupled with a renewed emphasis on leveling our playing fields through recognizing and ending systemic racism and income inequality. Expanding access to affordable health care for every American will increase opportunities for more to be productive members of society. These efforts will be paid for by making the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes and raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

 

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris also introduced themselves to the American people by sharing the high and low lights of their stories. They opened themselves so that we can rest assured that they are folks that care about all of us and are willing and able to do the hard work necessary to move us forward. 

 

Biden’s history of familial loss and grief and what he did to move past them shows his resilience and purpose. The loss of his first wife and children stays with him and helps him relate to and help others experiencing similar loss. His decades of public service give him a breadth of understanding of the issues American face and how to navigate the governmental system to address them effectively. His acceptance speech on Thursday night laid to rest any claims about his ability to command and deliver what he believes in and how he plans to move us all forward. Even Fox News pundits thought his speech was very effective, “a home run.” 

 

Kamala Harris made history as the first woman of color and east Asian ancestry to be nominated for vice-president by a major political party. Her background and life experiences make her uniquely qualified to address racial inequality and systemic racism, especially in the criminal justice system. She is strong and tenacious and provides a progressive slant to Biden’s more centrist positions. She will help make him a better president.

 

The most telling part of Biden’s acceptance speech came as he sought to reassure Americans that he would be the president for everyone, not just those who vote for him. That being said, he reminded us of the choices we will have to make moving forward.

 

“America is at an inflection point,” he said. “A time of real peril, but of extraordinary possibilities. We can choose the path of becoming angrier, less hopeful, and more divided. A path of shadow and suspicion. Or we can choose a different path, and together, take this chance to heal, to be reborn, to unite. A path of hope and light. This is a life-changing election that will determine America’s future for a very long time. Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy. They are all on the ballot. Who we are as a nation. What we stand for. And most importantly, who we want to be. That’s all on the ballot. And the choice could not be clearer.”

 

This is a ticket and a vision we can all support. 

Mask Compliance Excuses

 Government Mask Mandate Compliance Excuses Debunked

 

I was nine when the US hit the top of the polio epidemic in 1954. During the 1940s and 50s polio infections spiked during the summer and I can remember the fear my mother expressed about our going out, swimming or having picnics. I remember being told I could not go some places as a result. While the polio death totals did not come close to the number of current Covid-19 deaths, polio caused long lasting damage.

 

Our caution was increased by the experience of the family whose house was on the other side of our back fence. Their polio infected daughter lived in their living room in an iron lung that kept her alive by forcing air into her lungs until she died. While many survived polio, most who did were left with lifelong effects from the paralysis they suffered. 

 

I cannot remember if there was a concerted effort to resist the cautionary measures adopted to reduce polio’s spread like we see now. The fear was not erased until the now universal vaccine came out and was proven effective. Thank you, Dr. Jonas Sauk for refusing to patent his vaccine formula so it could be made available to all.

 

In our current Covid -19 pandemic, we see misplaced resistance to the simplest of measures shown to effectively reduce the virus’ spread. Masks and social distancing are no brainers. 

 

Unfortunately, some businesses want to be seen as honoring the current mask mandate while giving a “wink and a nod’ to those who refuse to wear one, effectively inviting the unmasked in to their establishments. Businesses can and should refuse entry to those who refuse to mask up, even if the person has a valid medical reason not to wear one in order to protect others. If they want to allow entry of a maskless person by honoring a medical reason, the best practice is to require proof of the claimed medical justification before allowing entry. 

 

Signs have appeared on local business doors indicating that masks are required to enter, but noting that they are prohibited from asking those not wearing one why they are not complying with the requirement. The signage lists a number of “legal” reasons they cannot or will not ask why the customer is not masked up. None of them are valid.

 

The most common “wink and nod” excuse offered is that asking for a valid medical reason for not wearing a mask or requiring proof of a qualifying medical condition is a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA protects your medical information in the hands of healthcare providers and insurers from disclosure without your consent. It does not apply to and cannot be used by fast food restaurants or gyms to justify not asking why a potential customer is not masked.

 

The next erroneous “legal” justification used to not ask is a claimed reliance upon the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). The ADA prohibits public facilities from discriminating against those with recognized disabilities and requires accommodations for those with disabilities who use the facility. Reasonable accommodations are already in place with curbside pick-up or online ordering with delivery for those who cannot wear masks. Neither provision prohibits asking the unmasked why they are not wearing one or requiring proof of a qualifying disability. Businesses are free to refuse entry to one not wearing a mask as long as they refuse entry to all those not wearing one. 

 

The most creative excuse offered for not asking for justification for going maskless is reliance upon the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This provision of the Bill of Rights applies only to unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. It does not apply at all to private businesses or public establishments and most certainly does not prohibit one from asking why you are not wearing a mask.

 

Finally, there is the claim that asking why you are not wearing a mask violates your right to privacy. We all have a limited right to privacy. It is not absolute. You have to disclose your identity in order to vote. You must prove who you are by showing a driver’s license when stopped for a traffic violation. We all relinquish certain private matters when we venture into public spaces. Nothing in the small recognized bubble of privacy we have in public spaces prohibits others from merely asking for your justification for not wearing a mask before being allowed to enter a business establishment.

 

All of these claimed “legal” reasons for not asking merely cover up the business owner’s unhappiness about having to exclude a potential customer from entering their business and spending their money because of a government-imposed measure put in place to protect our health. Get over it and protect yourself, your employees and your masked customers.

Mask Mandates are Constitutional

My column in today’s West Bend Daily News.

Government mask mandates don’t violate constitutional rights

Many on the conservative side of the political spectrum claim that government mandates to wear a mask violate their individual constitutional rights.

A not-so-shining example of these claims was evident at the recent meeting of the Washington County Board of Supervisors, where all the members of the board met in a small room, sitting in their usual close-to-each-other seats with not one wearing a mask. In that clearly unsafe setting, the board debated Resolution 17 that reminded the members of the oath they took to defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and Wisconsin. Much of the debate centered around their claimed duty to protect our citizens from overreaching state mandates requiring masks because they violate an individual’s constitutional right to “liberty.” The so-called “sanctuary” resolution passed unanimously.

Claims that the Constitution prohibits requiring individuals to wear a mask are ridiculous and wrong.

Many of these so-called constitutional arguments are based on a misunderstanding of the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution and the similar provisions of Wisconsin’s Constitution. These provisions generally prohibit government from passing laws impinging on freedom of speech, press, petition, assembly and religion. A mask does not keep you from expressing yourself. It may limit where and how you can speak, but these “time and place” restrictions are not prohibited unless they discriminate based upon the content of the speech. You cannot campaign within certain distance of a polling location is a perfect example.

First Amendment liberties are not absolute. All constitutional rights are subject to the government’s authority to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public according to the Supreme Court in cases like Prince v. Massachusetts.

Similarly, claims that mask mandates violate the “right to liberty” are just as ill-conceived. The right to liberty is really an embodiment of the principle of individual autonomy summarized succinctly in the phrase, “my body, my choice.”

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Jacobson v. Massachusetts puts the argument that only you can control your body in the scrap heap. The court ruled that the state could require smallpox vaccinations without violating Jacobsen’s right to personal liberty or “the inherent right of every freeman to care for his own body and health in such way as to him seems best.”

The court continued, “There are manifold restraints to which every person is necessarily subject for the common good. On any other basis, organized society could not exist with safety to its members.” State courts have also ruled that an individual with active tuberculosis could be forcibly detained in a hospital for appropriate medical treatment.

This “police power” doctrine commands that all constitutional rights, including liberty, speech, assembly, freedom of movement or autonomy are held on condition that they do not endanger others or the public welfare.

A general pandemic, like the one in which we currently live where a deadly communicable disease can be transmitted by those who show no symptoms, justifies a wide range of reasonable restrictions on our liberties. Believing otherwise turns the Constitution into a suicide pact.

The government can force you to wear a mask to protect others, just like it can ban smoking in public or make you use the seat belt in your car. Doing so does not violate your constitutional rights. 

States, under the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution, retain broad powers to protect the health and safety of their citizens, even if the federal government cannot or does not act.

Businesses that require masks for their employees and customers do not violate individual rights either as long as the requirements are applied in a manner that does not discriminate against a protected class. Think about it as “no shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service.”

Those who continue to believe that wearing a mask is just a personal choice have no respect and do not care about their fellow citizens. They should stop claiming a mantle of constitutional right to justify their selfishness.My column in today’s West Bend Daily News.

Government mask mandates don’t violate constitutional rights

Many on the conservative side of the political spectrum claim that government mandates to wear a mask violate their individual constitutional rights.

A not-so-shining example of these claims was evident at the recent meeting of the Washington County Board of Supervisors, where all the members of the board met in a small room, sitting in their usual close-to-each-other seats with not one wearing a mask. In that clearly unsafe setting, the board debated Resolution 17 that reminded the members of the oath they took to defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and Wisconsin. Much of the debate centered around their claimed duty to protect our citizens from overreaching state mandates requiring masks because they violate an individual’s constitutional right to “liberty.” The so-called “sanctuary” resolution passed unanimously.

Claims that the Constitution prohibits requiring individuals to wear a mask are ridiculous and wrong.

Many of these so-called constitutional arguments are based on a misunderstanding of the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution and the similar provisions of Wisconsin’s Constitution. These provisions generally prohibit government from passing laws impinging on freedom of speech, press, petition, assembly and religion. A mask does not keep you from expressing yourself. It may limit where and how you can speak, but these “time and place” restrictions are not prohibited unless they discriminate based upon the content of the speech. You cannot campaign within certain distance of a polling location is a perfect example.

First Amendment liberties are not absolute. All constitutional rights are subject to the government’s authority to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public according to the Supreme Court in cases like Prince v. Massachusetts.

Similarly, claims that mask mandates violate the “right to liberty” are just as ill-conceived. The right to liberty is really an embodiment of the principle of individual autonomy summarized succinctly in the phrase, “my body, my choice.”

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Jacobson v. Massachusetts puts the argument that only you can control your body in the scrap heap. The court ruled that the state could require smallpox vaccinations without violating Jacobsen’s right to personal liberty or “the inherent right of every freeman to care for his own body and health in such way as to him seems best.”

The court continued, “There are manifold restraints to which every person is necessarily subject for the common good. On any other basis, organized society could not exist with safety to its members.” State courts have also ruled that an individual with active tuberculosis could be forcibly detained in a hospital for appropriate medical treatment.

This “police power” doctrine commands that all constitutional rights, including liberty, speech, assembly, freedom of movement or autonomy are held on condition that they do not endanger others or the public welfare.

A general pandemic, like the one in which we currently live where a deadly communicable disease can be transmitted by those who show no symptoms, justifies a wide range of reasonable restrictions on our liberties. Believing otherwise turns the Constitution into a suicide pact.

The government can force you to wear a mask to protect others, just like it can ban smoking in public or make you use the seat belt in your car. Doing so does not violate your constitutional rights. 

States, under the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution, retain broad powers to protect the health and safety of their citizens, even if the federal government cannot or does not act.

Businesses that require masks for their employees and customers do not violate individual rights either as long as the requirements are applied in a manner that does not discriminate against a protected class. Think about it as “no shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service.”

Those who continue to believe that wearing a mask is just a personal choice have no respect and do not care about their fellow citizens. They should stop claiming a mantle of constitutional right to justify their selfishness.

Supporting Biden

This Bernie Sanders Supporter is voting for Biden

The overriding goal is to oust Trump

My political views have shifted significantly over seven decades. I was raised in southern California by parents who wholeheartedly supported the Republican Party. My mother told me the only Democrat she ever voted for was FDR. My dad believed his business depended on Republicans being in control. As a child and into high school, this was what I knew.

Unable to handle what they had raised, I was sent off to the very progressive high school my dad’s brother ran in western Massachusetts. At Buxton, I met students and faculty with very different political and social views. Instead of the Big Bands, we listened to classical music, the Weavers and Woody Guthrie. I learned union songs, about my family’s history in progressive education and their support for unions and civil rights. My mother cried when I came home for the summer in my sophomore year with hair longer than my usual buzz cut. My dad was furious when I questioned the wisdom of building nuclear arms to win the cold war. 

After high school and a short stint at an ivy league college, I dropped out and joined VISTA. I spent five years in the south organizing voter registration drives, marches on local school boards demanding an end to segregated schools and challenging the entrenched power systems oppressing poor people of color. I supported the War on Poverty launched by Lyndon Johnson and watched it be co-opted by Republicans and Southern Democrats.

I finished college in Madison and went to the UW Law School to learn how to change the system using the rules written by those in power. I marched to end the war, in support of civil rights and for women’s’ equality. I found my passion for justice in criminal law courses and knew I wanted to defend the defenseless from the might of the government. I spent 37 years making law enforcement follow their own rules.

Along the way, I also picked up a passion for the environment and learned of the social injustices imposed on native tribes in northern Wisconsin. That led me from working on the fringes of the Democratic party into a decade of working as a Green. I helped form the Wisconsin Greens and was active with the Milwaukee Greens in the 1990s. I found a home in the Green Ten Key Values. I worked with the national Green Committees of Correspondence and helped draft position papers adding flesh to a political platform rooted in grassroots activism. I fought against the early calls for the formation of a national Green Party because I thought it too early to run national candidates when local offices were more important to advancing the Green agenda. I still hold to that belief. 

I came back to the Democratic Party when I was elected Chair of the Wisconsin Bar’s Criminal Law Section and it took a stand against re-introduction of the death penalty being floated in the Wisconsin Legislature. I recognized that in our two-party system, the only way to defeat state sponsored killing was to support the Democrats that opposed it. 

I did not become actively involved as a local Democrat until the first Obama campaign. In Barack Obama, I saw a leader with a vision of grass roots power and a willingness to embrace and champion many of the issues I hold dear. I worked hard to get him and Joe Biden elected to the White House. I took to heart the campaign’s message that grass roots activism needed to continue after the election to support the issues raised during the campaign. 

We formed a series of local progressive groups to take on local issues with our public schools and others. We were independent of the local Dems, but many of their members were active with us. 

When Scott Walker got elected and Act 10 passed in the middle of the night, the war was on. Our independent progressive groups saw the need to unify progressive independents with the local Dems. We organized, put forward a slate and won the election for the leadership of the Washington County Democratic Party. We opened an office on West Bend’s Main Street and began to organize. We are still at it. Our office and its model of progressive community grass roots activism has been emulated in many other Wisconsin counties.

We, like other Democrats, split between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in 2016. When Clinton won the nomination, I tried to rally other Bernie supporters to her campaign knowing that a Trump presidency was not going to be good for our democracy. We did not bring enough progressives on board to carry the state.

I supported Bernie Sanders in the current campaign too because his platform is more sweeping and progressive than Joe Biden’s. Bernie chose to end his campaign and threw his support behind Biden when it became clear that he could not prevail at the Democratic Convention. Bernie understands clearly that the overriding issue in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and rid our government of his enablers. After that happens, we can work to enact a more progressive agenda that Biden is beginning to embrace.

Now is not the time to ride the horse of political purity. We cannot survive another four years of the misogynistic Trump oligarchy and its pervasive corruption. We cannot allow Russia and other foreign interests to continue to hold power over our leaders. We must restore American leadership in a world facing a pandemic. We need to unite around the rule of law and equal justice for all.

We need to unify and work to elect Joe Biden as the next President of the United States.

About Safety

Wisconsin is losing 

What will it take for us to be safe?

Contrary to President Trump’s claims that the coronavirus is under control, we are seeing increasing numbers of both positive tests and hospitalizations, especially in the states that opened up their economies early.

As the cases continue to increase in 29 states, including Wisconsin, some other states chose the wiser course of following the almost universal recommendations from the experts in infectious diseases to require all who venture into public spaces to wear a face covering.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an order on June 18, requiring a mask in public indoor spaces, including while shopping, riding public transportation or seeking medical care. The order also requires masks in outdoor public spaces where social distancing is not an option. He recently increased the mask requirement to include everyone in public.

On April 17, Connecticut mandated masks for all people over the age of 2 in a public space where social distancing is not possible, including public transportation, taxies and ride shares. Employees at essential businesses must wear masks while at work. Customers over the age of 2 are also required to mask up.

Delaware’s governor issued an order in April requiring people to wear masks while in public including inside stores and on public transportation.

As of May 16, the District of Columbia ordered the use of masks when conducting essential business or travel when social distancing is not possible. They are required in grocery stores, pharmacies, take out restaurants and on public transportation.

As of April 20, Hawaii has ordered both customers and employees of essential businesses to mask up.

Illinois Governor Pritzker ordered everyone stepping outside of their house to wear a mask on May 1.

As of May 11, Kentucky Governor Beshear ordered all state residents to wear a mask in public and gave businesses the ability to turn away unmasked customers.

Maine’s Governor Mills issued an order as of May 1 requiring masks for anyone over 2 in indoor public spaces like markets, stores, pharmacies and doctor’s offices.

On April 15th, Maryland’s governor ordered masks in both indoor and outdoor spaces where social distancing is not possible. Employees and customers of essential businesses over the age of nine must wear a mask.

On May 6, Massachusetts Governor Baker required masks for everyone in all public indoor and outdoor spaces where social distancing is not possible.

Michigan requires all residents to wear masks in all public settings. Business are allowed to refuse entry to those refusing to wear a mask.

Nevada required anyone in a public space to wear a mask as of Friday. This includes public transportation, public work environments or shopping.

New Jersey started requiring customers and employees to wear masks at essential businesses as of April 8. Businesses must supply them to employees and deny entry to anyone refusing to wear one.

As of May 16, New Mexico required adults to wear masks in all public settings except while eating, drinking or for medical reasons.

New York’s Governor Cuomo issued an order requiring masks in public for everyone

on April 17.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Health issued an order effective April 19 requiring employees and customers at essential businesses to wear masks. Customers who refuse must be denied entry.

Rhode Island issued an order effective May 8 requiring all residents over 2 to wear a mask in public settings, indoors or out.

On Tuesday, Washington’s Governor Inslee issued an order for all residents to wear masks starting Friday while in public spaces.

All of these orders are backed by solid public health science showing that the use of masks helps significantly reduce transmission of the airborne particles responsible for the spread of the deadly virus.

With significant spikes in infections and hospitalizations in Texas, Arizona, California, Florida and several other states, governors in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut just imposed a 14-day quarantine requirement for all those traveling to their states from known virus hotspots. The European Union is seriously considering banning international travel from the United States to their member nations because of our increasing numbers.

Wisconsin continues to see increases in the numbers of people who test positive for the virus and in hospitalizations of seriously ill people who have contracted the virus. Wednesday and Thursday of this week saw the largest increases since the pandemic began.

Governor Evers and his health department tried to contain the virus’ spread through reasonable regulations and orders, but found his hands tied by the conservative majority of the state Supreme Court who sided with the “local control” leaders of the state Legislature and struck down his orders.

We now are experiencing a public in denial about the serious public health threats this virus is bringing into our communities. Masks are not common for most folks I see in public, except in some businesses. Only a few are requiring customers to mask up before entry.

I fear it will only be a matter of a short time before we become the next Texas, Arizona or Florida whose hospitals are almost over capacity with critically ill virus infected people. Until an effective vaccine is developed and shows results, I’m staying at home as much as I possibly can.

End Racism

Racial Justice Starts at Home

Learn from History

In 1965 and again in 1967, American cities erupted in flames from rioting by Black and Brown Americans. The response was a brutal crackdown by police and the National Guard. Many died as a result. Those were not the first times that peoples of color took to the streets to protest because their voices were not being heard and they were not the last. 

In 1968, then President Lyndon Johnson appointed a blue-ribbon commission headed by Illinois Governor Otto Kerner to figure out why the unrest took place and what could be done to keep them from taking place in the future. The Kerner Commission went into the racial ghettos and interviewed thousands impacted by the violence. 

The Commission’s report issued at the end of the study blamed institutional and systemic racism, poverty and inadequate housing, unemployment and underfunded schools in communities of color, inadequate police training, a flawed justice system, discriminatory credit practices and voter suppression as the major causative factors of the unrest and violence. The Kerner Commission report was followed by an in-depth article published by Newsweek that reached many of the same conclusions. Both the Commission and Newsweek proposed massive government programs to address the racial inequities and discriminatory practices they found. Nobody listened.

President Johnson wanted outside agitators blamed for the unrest and a report that did not address racism. He ignored the findings and the recommendations and Richard Nixon was elected President later that year after running on a “law and order” campaign. Sound familiar?

Now we are faced with similar, but less violent, protests by people of color and their allies demanding an end to police violence against them and of the institutional racism that still permeates American society. More and more white Americans are joining these calls and taking to the streets to demand change.

Institutional changes in how police agencies interact with people of color or those deemed outside the mainstream of society are coming. As more people of color reach leadership positions in law enforcement, they bring a different vision of how the rank and file needs to behave. These changes will be slow to emerge as institutional changes take place slowly. 

More important to the wave of change is how we Caucasian Americans look inward to discover and root our own biases against those who look different than we do. This introspection will be critical to the long-term success of the movement to end racism. It is not enough for the military and NASCAR to ban the Confederate battle flag, for the military to remove Confederate names from military installations or for Confederate statutes and memorials to be removed. We white people all need to stop reacting negatively, even subtly, to people who appear to be different from us.

Humans are not born to see race or to hate those with different skin tones. We are taught by those like us to make distinctions based on this perceived difference and impose the assumptions of inferiority that follow.

White adults need to look inward, recognize these learned behaviors and figure out how to put them aside and adopt a new way of perceiving and reacting to fellow humans who look different to white people.

For those who can’t figure out how, here are some resources that might help.

https://egbertowillies.com/2020/06/11/here-is-how-i-overcame-my-own-prejudice-white-people-must-do-this-and/?fbclid=IwAR2cpeOvXOkDJpaSwV7sWnTgNGhkYmqVNaLUmfHOA-xSxBFmEZziLekAymU

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/parenting/kids-books-racism-protest.html

http://www.resourcesharingproject.org/anti-racism-resource-collection

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/06/06/871023438/this-list-of-books-films-and-podcasts-about-racism-is-a-start-not-a-panacea

https://www.racialequitytools.org/act/strategies/training-and-popular-education

https://fortune.com/2020/06/05/antiracist-books-donations-black-owned-businesses-resources/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/us/talking-to-kids-about-racism.html

https://medium.com/wake-up-call/a-detailed-list-of-anti-racism-resources-a34b259a3eea

The Underground Railroad by Olson Whitehead

So you want to talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in an American City (Milwaukee) by Matthew Desmond

It is up to each and every one of us to change what is in our heads and hearts about people of color and seek out ways to live together peacefully. 

Racial justice starts at home.