XXX. Segregation or Integration. We Choose. Again.

This week, Mexico elected a female president, a first for the country and only the second in all of North America. Allies met in Normandy for the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, a 50/50 gamble that saved Europe from a self-absorbed narcissist (talking about Hitler). And in India, the world’s largest democracy, voters sent a sharp message to Prime Minister Modi in a much tighter race than anyone anticipated.

Democracy wins when good people act.

One cannot be born and raised in the South without feeling and seeing the roots of segregation. Maybe I am more keen on this from spending several years as a white kid in a black neighborhood or realizing the churches we always attended were predominately white. But these observations came late. I did not fully grasp the extent of our American contentment with both subtleties and self-segregation until I reached adulthood. Now I see the concept of remaining apart entrenched in so many places the question is whether it is by design, ignorance, or not giving a shit?

Could it be that a tribal mentality is so evolutionarily ingrained that it is too hard to overcome the want to be with others that look like us, or believe like us? Even if one considers segregation a natural tendency, it would not explain the economic differences, which is why I think much of this is a learned construct.

After reading some articles related to schools, it is easy to notice that segregation has been steadily climbing, and it is hard to stop when both the legal and economic means that ensured equal public access and support have been clipped or modified.

The real question is whether we have matured enough as a nation to go back to even more neighborhood-type schools that are predominately black or white.

Will these real neighborhood schools along with school choice, vouchers, and current taxing policy support the building of citizens who have a diversity of friends and thoughts? Will they have equal opportunities for the best teachers and experiences? Will quality suffer? If not through schools, where does social cohesion come from? Will it come from our neighborhoods or churches or workplaces? Is it possible to have a homogenous upbringing yet develop a respect for a diversity of people?

There’s a tendency to accept things when they are not right in front of us or discussed. Out of sight, out of mind. After all, almost every city has a school or neighborhood that you wouldn’t send your child to.

Which makes me believe that the push to end segregation was never completed.

While diversity in thought, music, and entertainment has greatly increased with each generation, I still see the hallmarks of segregation rooted in fear and greed and an economic system more than ready to feed it. If we can’t join them, we’ll do our own thing. If we can’t get rid of them, we’ll build our own places. 

Even Christianity, the “all that come unto me” faith, has been weaponized to divide and segregate populations using specifically chosen scriptures and positions. I wonder if God ever gets tired of the modern-day prophets who claim to know the way, and then segregate on Sundays.

The thing about America is that it is more than a country. It is an always-evolving concept, built on a belief in people to self-govern, not self-segregate. The Constitution is remarkable for its creation as a living document, leaving plenty of room to grow in both power and spirit.

The Founding Fathers didn’t get everything done. Perfect being the enemy of good, they did the best possible to get things going and get a document in place. The founding principles are still applicable, yet three centuries later, we are still complacent in addressing some obvious things, the comfort of segregation being one of them.

I have always been fascinated by pictures from the effort to end segregation in schools, and I wonder what was it like to be on the wrong side of history? How would it feel to be a young black woman followed by a white mob for…

going to school?

Did people from that era, that time, in that picture, mature and grow and have a change of heart over the years? What will be our foolish examples for the generations of tomorrow to see? There’s lots of material. This is not a time to be complacent. 

The lesson for leaders in this is to understand the long history of ideas still trying to cause trouble today. With segregation, we’ve been there. We know how it works.

Know when to lead, and when you are being led.

• Do you teach your kids early on the value of finding a penny? How many of you have been told not to throw away your money? Here’s an interesting story: https://www.wsj.com/finance/americans-throwing-away-coins-28ca794c?st=xp39ntlr5cp3kxm&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

• I’m not sure who the actress in this new western film was, but it is the best acting I have seen in a while. Powerful and poignant on hopes and lost dreams. https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/the-dead-dont-hurt-review-viggo-mortensens-new-western-is-a-gem

When you think of the authentic long-time educational legends we have left in the world, who comes to mind? Ken Burns? Doris Kearns Goodwin? Neil DeGrasse Tyson? Sir David Attenborough? Jane Goodall? One you might not think of is Rick Steves. My wife and I used his book on our trip to England a couple of decades ago. He has a particular interest in finding places that you might otherwise miss, and he is big on taking moments to be with the culture, whether talking with the locals, sharing of food, or staying in their homes. I’ve become more admiring of him as he has not been afraid to share educated opinions based upon his world travels.

As it should be.

Travel will give you a window into the world like nothing else, and if you do it right, just like education, you should come back with some different views and observations. This is a great little piece on someone who cares to do a good job and leave a lasting legacy of being a decent human being.

This piece is on the other side of my thought process, but I will sometimes read such items because I’m curious about what is being said and why. You should learn from this how studies can be cherry-picked and combined with false equivalencies to produce a pre-conceived story. Accordingly, almost anything you read that freely uses adjectives such as “leftists” to make its point should be read with skepticism (emotional vs. factual).

The separation of church and state is the cornerstone of why America is still free. Look around the world at the countries that have blended both and you will see tyranny against its citizenry. While I agree with the theme of the author that students are graduating with no concept of what it is to be a responsible citizen, his logical reasoning for why that is occurring is a banquet of fallacies.

Here’s an alternative.

This article is also from the conservative side but much more balanced. Yes, we have an absentee problem and many kids seem adrift. The author makes a few attempts at the reasons but stops short of solutions, and maybe that is where it needs to be. Maybe the first thing is the willingness to accept that we all bear some responsibility for the education system we have. There are numerous moving parts and lots of vested interests.

Get more involved or else the nuts will gladly fill the seats.

I’m going to continue discussing AI in future newsletters. Having lived through the rise of cable, computers, and the internet, I see what’s coming and I want readers to learn and grow with it.

In my previous position, I made a presentation to the strategic leadership group on the coming of AI. Some were interested and some weren’t. Those who have a blase attitude toward this will be left behind. As a public servant, my point was to get ahead of the AI curve for efficiency reasons. There are many policies and procedures that AI can handle better than looking for a human to get the answer.

This article is worth a read though the premise is a bit misleading. If governmental entities role out AI too late, it will be left behind and be scorned for doing so. Public servants will end up wading through more inefficiency and be scapegoated by angry customers. If AI is made a primary method of reducing jobs, that would also sink progress and I think you will see some purposeful gremlins put into the system.

AI needs to be introduced with existing staff with the goal of making it correct, responsive, and seamless. It can be done. People are creative. AI is an asset if treated as such, or we risk falling behind in ways we are still not realizing. Just as efforts have been made for decades to ensure every child has a laptop or getting affordable bandwidth to every household, AI is the next such wave.

And it can be a good thing.

I loved this little piece I picked up from a friend on Facebook. Umberto Eco, the great author of Name of the Rose and many other works, died in 2016. The internal square of la Sala Borsa, one of Bologna's public libraries, is dedicated to his memory. How much did he love his books?

"It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.

"There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.

"If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the 'medicine closet' and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That's why you should always have a nutrition choice!

"Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity."

And Now….

Check out the newest Conservation Legend t-shirt in the store, and thank you for forwarding this to new subscribers. May your life be overflowing with many fine and beautiful words. Keep reading, practice your gratefulness, and remember: Be a good human.