More on Civil Issues / History

Yesterday, I put together sixteen things on current events. I missed some stuff. I also figured I’d note something else–if I make a post on volleyball, I get anywhere from 400-5,000 views on it. When I put a non-coaching title or discuss history, viewing drops to 10-75. I think that’s a sad commentary on values and outside interests. Coaching should BE about these other issues.

1. There are people upset at University of Texas athletes for making demands and taking a stand. Why the anger? The objective of amateur athletics is to develop teamwork, conscientious citizens, and young people with leadership skills. Exactly–those kids are doing exactly what we want them to do as adults. Does it mean all of their ideas are correct? No. Some are naive or not really important–but some are and NONE of that changes the fact that they are showing initiative and leadership.

2. I get ‘beat up’ sometimes for making a lot of comments about Baby Boomers. Obviously there are exceptions to every rule, but I stand by my generalizations. Since Boomers took control of Congress in 1994 (the presidency in 1992), the objective has gone from governing to ‘winning’. Compromise is eliminated, replaced with confrontation. Indeed, even the policy of argument stopping at the nation’s borders has gone out the window. It was not helped by the election of Obama…there’s the racist side of it and there’s the generational anger that it was young people, not the Boomers, who get ‘credit’ for the first minority president (and eventually for the first female president as well).

3. Since today is Flag Day and you (again) have people complaining about kneeling during the anthem, may I offer the Barnette decision? Issued on Flag Day, 1943, in the middle of war with fascist nations–pay attention to the comments of SCOTUS justices and where they stand on the value of protest.

4. Today is a Sunday. Still on the flag–I’ve seen comments that kneeling during the anthem is un-Christian, that men should bow their knee before no one except God. Fair enough–but as is typical of American Christianity–it misses the whole Old Testament thing about not worshipping idols (you know, like American flags).

5. Last week a study came out on housing equality and segregation. This is not segregation in terms of the racist southern policy, but simply the act of sorting people into like groups (in this case, skin color). The comparison was between 1968 and 2018–a fifty year span. Is housing better? The answer is quantitatively yes. 30% better to be exact. The concern the study has is that there is still a ton of segregation and improvement has stagnated.I think that misses a key detail (intentionally, in my opinion). People tend to sort themselves. You see this politically, economically, in a myriad of ways, so that it becomes difficult to fight skin color segregation when other factors are at play. I should not though that the study goes into detail in how big cities (and not all in the South–Chicago and Detroit are cited) changed laws and codes after racial segregation was banned to continue racist policies…so that in Chicago, multi-family dwellings and apartment buildings were banned from many areas, making it impossible for blue-collar families to purchase homes in those areas.The tough part–how do you work to get people to not want to live around people exactly like them–skin color, religion, whatever?

6. Consider something else…the problem isn’t the federal government. The problem is your local government. In terms of things like marriage, the Supreme Court made that clear on June 12, 1967 with Loving v. Virginia that was 9-0. Race is not a crime. Even with a unanimous decision, state and local governments continue to throw up roadblocks. Worse, when they can’t make it about race, those same people make it about religion, gender, or sexuality.Sometimes the problem is individuals. I know mixed couples, both with black men/white women and vice-versa (along with other varieties because love doesn’t really know skin color). The crap they take–from whites AND blacks–is astounding. Basically, equality is fine…unless it isn’t around me. That’s a crap attitude. It’s why the focus can’t be on ‘systemic racism’ and MUST be about personal responsibility and beliefs.

7. A couple years ago, people complained about Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the National Anthem. They thought te protest was too public–that there was a time/place for protests. Of course, there’s a time/place for everything with those people–protest someplace out of the way where it won’t inconvenience me, where it won’t get attention. Ummm…for it to be effective, a protest has to get attention. Duh. That means sit-ins in restaurants, marches that block roads. Related–the people complaining about current protests…I can’t find many who complained about white men protesting in Michigan carried semi-automatic rifles into the state legislature. …so black people taking a knee = bad. White guys with guns to intimidate legislators = 1st Amendment expression?? Okayyyy.Related–the same people who worried about taking knees and the anthem…now decry rioting and say people need to find non-violent means of protest. You mean…like kneeling during an anthem? You can’t have this both ways. Arguing both of these points means you’re just really against the people doing the protesting themselves (that’s passive aggressive racism).

8. I’ve seen protester manifestos now and the demands they are making. There’s a problem with them…many are emotional, impossible to fulfill. I suspect they know this–and what they think they are doing is negotiating. It isn’t really. Negotiating has to be done in good faith–and right now, emotions are running high. It is far better to stay focused on concrete solutions and stay firm on those rather than go with making 50 demands and seeing what sticks.The Texas athletes have made a lot of demands–I’m not talking about them. Those are basically kids. They’ll learn. I’m thankful they are showing leadership. I’m aiming at adults.

9. Racism is learned. Passing laws will not eliminate racism. For racism’s effects to be eliminated, we have to unteach it. We have to understand why it is a biological necessity at birth through about 12 Months and how it goes from a way of signaling to a baby who is a safe caregiver to what develops in later grade school and higher. There’s a malfunction in there along the way. What is it that changes attitudes negatively?Having a minority kid, this didn’t start happening until 3rd Grade or so. I had no idea then how to stop it…I still don’t. It still hasn’t gone away, either. I’d nearly sell my soul to know the answer to this question…if we figure this out, I think it’s a key point in getting better as a society.

10. In 1905, Russia’s citizens were better off than any point in the Empire’s history. They still revolted. They did so again in the middle of a war in 1917 even with their nation’s future at stake. What is interesting as a generality is that Russians revolted and overthrew their government even though they were clearly better off than their fathers and grandfathers before them. Why? Ultimately, I think it is because the younger people saw a plateau–that things were not continuing along a trajectory of improvement (a near-impossibility during war for anyone)That struck me as similar with today. We know that the coming generations will be worse off (at the very least, no better off) than what the Boomers have enjoyed for themselves. You have multiples crises going on–COVID, the police brutality/race issue protests. You also have an administration which doesn’t really care about the needs/issues of common people…also similar to the Czar’s reaction to the uprisings…the difference being that in 1905, the Czar could use his military against protesters while the President can not.And in 1917–things escalated quickly when the military sided with the revolt rather than maintain the power/wealth of the aristocracy. This should be a warning to political leaders in Washington.

11. Protesters are making a substantial error, one that is very American. The standard American view of life is “If you are not with us, you are against us.” To the contrary, a better strategy is to go with “If you are not against us, you are with us.” No matter what happens in American politics, there is a majority of people sitting in the middle who aren’t going to do anything. They won’t protest, won’t agitate, won’t get off their butts. I reckon that accounts for 50% of the population–it is its own majority.If you take the attitude that they are against you, you immediately make yourself the minority in the decision-making process. If you take the attitude “Hey, they aren’t stopping us”…you suddenly have a majority’s support for your cause.–Yes, this is simplistic. It’s a generalization, but it is pretty consistent across at least a century of American history and very few people ‘get it’.