Acting for inclusion in a fearful world

Stacey Walker (Source: Linn County)

Our institutions have a responsibility to bring relief to those who need it most, argued Linn County supervisor Stacey Walker at the 28th annual community observance celebration of MLK Day in Cedar Rapids last night at St. Paul's United Methodist Church. The political and justice systems in particular were called out by Walker and other speakers throughout the day for maintaining facial neutrality between white and black, rich and poor; urging those from disadvantaged groups just to try harder (the "bootstrap gospel"); or worse, in Walker's words, "preserving the status of the privileged."

Addressing realities on the ground became a major challenge almost immediately upon passage of major civil rights legislation in the 1960s. Those laws--particularly the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Housing Act of 1968--achieved breakthroughs that had eluded the civil rights amendments to the U.S. Constitution a century earlier, mainly by including enforcement mechanisms. But it quickly became apparent that middle-class whites, having built wealth and individual capacities with decades of better access to jobs and a variety of government programs, were far better equipped than other groups to deal with the economic changes ahead. One outcome of the marketplace is the winners can use their gains to buy advantages in the next round. Here's how it worked in housing:

And that has happened, of course, over and over again, which has served to reinforce not only economic advantages, but also public images of achievement and deviance. (Recall that it was a predominantly-black police department in Prince George's County, Virginia, that was responsible for the death of Ta-Nehisi Coates's friend Prince Jones.) If the face of law-abiding citizenship and professional success is white or Asian, it's easier to exclude blacks and browns from jobs, housing, immigration, and so forth--which replicates what happened in the bad old days.

Hence the emphasis yesterday on institutional responses to systemic racism and implicit bias rather than the explicit barriers of Dr. King's era. In a panel discussion before the event at which Supervisor Walker spoke, Jasmine Almoayed of the Cedar Rapids economic development office cited the need to facilitate access to resources for new residents; Ruth White, CEO of the Academy of Scholastic and Personal Success, the need for the city to address the housing stratification that directly affects resources for schools; and Rod Dooley, a local pastor as well as executive director of equity for the Cedar Rapids schools, the need for public schools to respond to changes in family structure and racial diversity that affect differentials in achievement and gradation rates.

Karl Cassell, CEO of Perhaps Today! Inc. and formerly director of the civil rights commission, urged his audience at Coe College to become politically involved in the struggle over economic inequality. Young people burdened by debt are understandably afraid to "upset the applecart," said Cassell, but while bearing such burdens are not truly "free to live your life." From the audience, long-time civil rights activist Bernard Clayton added "You may not like politics, but politics likes y'all."

Karl Cassell (Source: Perhaps Today! Inc)

Dr. King's eloquent words were summoned on behalf of these arguments, although at the presentations I attended I didn't hear the part of the "I Have a Dream" speech that is often quoted by civil rights conservatives to oppose institutional remedies: 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.

Is it fair to assume that the removal of explicit racial barriers leaves nothing to judge between individuals but the content of their characters? The stories told over the course of yesterday point to barriers that remain and that require society-wide efforts to overcome, to life prospects that are dramatically different from birth depending on race and economic circumstance, to the need to reshape institutional and individual perceptions shaped by centuries of injustice before we get to a place where opportunity and justice are truly inclusive.

In this context it's useful to remember advice from another talk at Coe College, by Lauren Garcia of the University of Iowa center for diversity and enrichment. She reminded would-be allies to educate themselves about issues impacting the greater community, to listen before acting, and not to make the issue about themselves. The same advice could be directed at those who hear the whole conversation about these issues as attempts to make them feel guilty. To conclude with a point by Karl Cassell: as difficult as all this is, it's made moreso by economic dislocations that make everyone, even the relatively privileged, feel insecure.

Lauren Garcia (Source: University of Iowa)
Her talk at Coe College had a lot of solid advice for would-be allies

Ellen and Allen Fisher accept the 2018 Percy and Lileah Harris Who is My Neighbor Award

Music from Johnson STEAM Academy, directed by Charrisse Martin-Cox

Book recommendations at Coe

The complete text of Walker's talk is here.

LAST YEAR'S MLK DAY POST: "Akwi Nji on Choosing Justice over Comfort," 18 January 2017
SEE ALSO: Mariah Porter, "Coe Celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.," The Cosmos (Coe College), 19 January 2018 [link coming soon]