Instead I’ll be finishing ‘The Half has Never Been Told’, the most disturbing book I’ve ever read.
Like many, or perhaps most, I’ve not taken Martin Luther King Day seriously in the past. When I had it off, I used it as a catch-up day. When I didn’t (the last 18 years) I almost always worked.
My decision is not so much about Dr. King as it is about values. What he stood for, what he died for, what he worked for is in peril. The events of the last few months coupled with the lack of economic progress over decades for many people of color have been a wake-up call. We are better, far better than this.
A quote from Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s inauguration speech makes the point very well:
It’s all about me. And somehow we have lost the beautiful sound of our neighbor’s voices. Moving beyond ourselves and trying to share in the experience of others helps us open our minds, allows us to grow as people. It helps us become less self-righteous. Did you ever find that in yourself? I do…self-righteous. Allows you to be more righteous. Empathy is the first ingredient in compassion and makes it possible for us to care enough to begin to reach out to those who have been forgotten, disenfranchised, ignored, or who are suffering, and to reach out to them in the way they need.
A while back I received an email from a very successful businessman that quoted from Pat Buchanan’s unbelievably racist, stupid, ill-informed and hurtful column about racism. To wit:
America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.
Buchanan goes on to blame blacks for pretty much everything negative affecting the black community. I responded immediately to his email, then promptly forgot about it.
Then, I found ‘The Half’.
The book links slavery and economics tightly together, so much so that on occasion I’ve found myself forgetting that author Edward Baptist is writing about slavery – the ownership of one human being by another. Baptist seems to have recognized that risk, as he intersperses graphic and wholly terrifying descriptions of rape and child rape, family-splitting, flogging, murder and whipping throughout. He doesn’t do this gratuitously, but rather to make two points;
- slavery is the most evil one human can do to another; and
- without the mundane brutality employed by slave owners the geographic expansion and economic development of the United States would have been much, much different.
For a very smart, very successful American businessman to say anything positive about slavery is just appalling. That statement endorses absolutely horrific behavior, while perpetuating the false meme that the poor and underprivileged are solely responsible for their condition.
What utter bullshit.
If you don’t believe it, read ‘The Half’.
That’s not to say our various, sundry, and very expensive public policy efforts to alleviate poverty and racism have been universally successful – far from it. But just because we continually screw up doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep trying.
How a nation treats its poorest, most vulnerable, least able and least fortunate defines that nation. And we have failed those people, and failed them miserably.
Today’s the day to think about what we can do to help. Tomorrow – and the days after – are the days to do it.
Thanks for the recommend, I’ll be purchasing this book. If you want a book that will rock your world try “Black Rednecks and White Liberals” by Thomas Sowell.
Another thoughtful and courageous entry. I find far too many in our industry believe the things written by Pat Buchanan and we encourage our state legislators and regulators to create policies that continue if not exacerbate the cycle of poverty. While those policies do not discriminate by race, we know blacks live in poverty in greater numbers than whites.
Politically, those who want to continue those policies and create new ones that make it nearly impossible to climb out of poverty are more often than not those who identify themselves as ‘Christians’. Dr. King, a pastor, preached Christian values for everyone. We must call them out for that distortion of Christianity. We must recapture it for the good of all.
Sooooo tweeting this article out to my followers!
Thanks for this column, Joe. I’ll try to get The Half…sounds like a great book!
Simply….. Thank you.
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”
This is our hope.” This remains my hope.
God bless our fallen leader. This year is the 50th anniversary of a different speech on the Village Green of Winnetka, IL on July 26, 1965. Let’s hope our country continues to grow stronger, thinking of his great work.
Thanks Joe for the post.
Kudos, Joe!
Valerie McGregor makes an excellent point, too many people in business in general, and in Insurance in particular, listen to the rantings and ravings of Buchanan, Limbaugh, et al. That is sad, but it is also endemic of the financial world’s obsession with money. While money per se, is not a living, breathing thing, it nonetheless carries with it certain memes, called vMEMEs, or “value memes” that act like mind viruses. These viruses affect certain people who are susceptible to them, but not all are. So for example, when “Thurston Howell III” Romney called out the 47% in the last election, that really wasn’t him talking, it was money talking. His recent declaration about the next election and anti-poverty/income inequality is the BS walking, as in “money talks, BS walks”. Unfortunately, as long a one political party is made up of unreconstructed racists, there is very little chance that things will change, in fact it has gotten worse, and will do so if the next administration is of that party. With control of both houses of Congress, a right-wing Administration will take us backward, not to the 1950’s, but the 1850’s, in both economics and social/political matters, I am afraid.
Thanks for giving effective information
Innovate Medical Center
Thank you for sharing the book recommendation and, more importantly, your personal reaction to its content. I’m sure your words will leave many shaking their heads but perhaps some reflective thought will follow. Then, change is possible.
If you or your readers are interested in further reading, later this month Sen. Cory Booker is leading an online book club discussion about “The New Jim Crow” written by Columbus’ own Michelle Alexander. This book centers on the criminal justice system, another area requiring thoughtful, urgent reform.
As you state above, just because we continually screw up doesn’t mean we should stop trying.