Fair warning: I may get a tad political this week.
This past Monday was the recognition of what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. accomplished in his less than 40 years on this planet. He was a confident, well-spoken man who helped lead the civil rights movement and gain equality for all races in the United States.
Yet more than 50 years after the heart of that movement, are we actually equal? Sure, there are laws in place. Blacks don’t have to sit in a certain section of the bus or drink from different drinking fountains or attend their own schools, but are we truly equal?
I use a website called ReadWorks for my students. I can select stories that match their reading level; the students read those stories and answer questions. It’s really pretty nifty and allows for more differentiated learning, trying to give kids a story they’ll be able to comprehend and find success before moving them up a notch at a time as their reading improves.
Last week, I selected stories for every student that had something to do with the civil rights movment, whether they were about Rosa Parks or Jackie Robinson, etc. Especially in our small communities, without much minority representation, it’s important for our young people to understand these battles and recognize the injustices done to minorities in our country’s history. It would be preferable not to continue those atrocities.
But they still happen. I wrote last fall about cultural bias, and it continues to pop up its ugly head. Recently, I heard a student say how he calls another student “black.” I stopped in my tracks and asked why. His response was that that particular student was quicker and more athletic than most others his age, just like black athletes.
Those of a particular age remember Jimmy “The Greek” on CBS broadcasts of the NFL. He got in big trouble back in the 80s for saying something like that on the air. Thirty years later, and people are still propogating that idea. In no uncertain terms, I alerted the student to the high level of impropriety of that statement and the racial undertones that are not okay. In fact, uttering something like that could be taken in a really bad way, depending on who heard it and the context of the situation.
We live in a world where everyone really needs to be cautious of their words. We all fail at that sometimes and say things we wish we could take back, but in a social media world with a 24-hour news cycle, it doesn’t take as much as it used to in order to find yourself at the center of a media storm.
For example, a visiting basketball coach recently questioned why a group of students in Jordan had a pro-Trump sign prominently in view during a game where the opposition had many minorities. There are many people in our country, especially minorities, who feel the current President is a bit racist. No matter your view on that, the question still got raised about whether a political sign at a high school sporting event was appropriate.
And this is our world today. It doesn’t take much for something to take a racist bent. Is that right or wrong? Perhaps a better question would be: Are we a truly equal country? There still seem to be many racist actions happening. Is everything that hits the news with a racial undertone actually so? Is every time a white police officer shoots a black man an example of racism?
No. But it becomes more and more difficult to sift through everything that appears on a newsfeed or in a newspaper or on a news program. It’s a little bit like the story of the boy who cried wolf – when the real thing happens, we find it harder to believe because of all the outcry over events that weren’t really racially-based.
Our country is very divided right now. All the talk about building a wall along the Mexican border is getting to be too much, especially in light of shutting down the federal government over the matter. Here’s the way I look at it, and you’re certainly welcome to disagree. We do not need to spend billions of dollars building a wall. Studies show that the numbers President Trump is spouting about crime from illegal immigrants is fake news.
However, we do need to tighten security. There are problems that arise from having many people in this country illegally, though not to the extent our President tries to trumpet. The very idea of compromise seems to elude our country’s leaders, both in the Oval Office and the legislature. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear just one of them say, “You know, I like parts of your idea. How about we take elements of both sides and come up with a good plan that works for everyone to some degree? At least we’ll get something accomplished. In the future, we can see how it’s working and make adjustments as needed.”
Until we see compromise from our leadership, instead of us vs. them, we will continue to have conflict, like the racial unrest. It’s just like a young child imitating something bad that Mom or Dad does: if our leaders learn to get along, maybe the rest of the population will as well.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is gallionic, which means careless or irresponsible, as in, “As the government work stoppage continued, it seemed gallionic to keep people away from their paychecks because compromise couldn’t be reached.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!