Common Knowledge

Caught In the Middle

"If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed and color, we would find some other cause for prejudice by noon."

                                                             --George Aiken--

"Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences.  No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them."

                                                           --Edward R. Murrow--

         Most people in the Washington Metropolitan Area have already heard about the murder that took place in Georgetown a week ago.  Most people in Georgetown also have already heard about the racially irresponsible remarks that were made at a community meeting in Georgetown by the commander of the police district that encompasses Georgetown.  For the record this article is not about whether that commander should keep his job or whether I think the commander is a racist.  I am not concerned about his personal views.  I am more concerned about his public behavior while on duty as an officer of the peace. This article is about how the murder in Georgetown and the statements by the commander are an example of what most African-Americans must deal with on a daily basis.  In short many of us feel like we are caught in the middle between the cops and the crooks.

         About a week ago a few thugs decided to rob two people in Georgetown.  Unfortunately, during the robbery attempt at least one of the thugs decided to sexually assault one of the robbery victims, which is a young female.  It is not clear from the articles that were written about the tragedy, but it seems that the other robbery victim, which was a young male, was stabbed and had his throat slashed during the robbery attempt.  The male victim died before medical help could arrive.  The deadly violent nature and locale of this crime shocked and frightened many of the Georgetown residents regardless of race.  Yes.  You may have already guessed the race of the victims and the race of the alleged perpetrators.  The victims were white and the people charged with the murder are black so of course a racial undercurrent had to eventually overflow into the public discourse about this crime.

         Crimes like what happened a week ago affects more than just the actual statistical victims.  It affects the entire community.  When someone is raped or robbed or murdered in your neighborhood that takes away something from you as a member of that community.  It takes away from your sense of security, which takes away some of your interaction within the community , which takes away some of the community's cohesion.  That is why when crimes like what happened last week in Georgetown occur a community has a choice.  It can go through a process to help restore some of the sense of safety and comfort that previously existed before the crime or it can continue to disintegrate into a cluster of households trapped in the vise of fear.  I bet you can guess which choice the residents of Georgetown made.  They chose the former and the process they chose was a community meeting.  And that is where the racial undercurrents overflowed into the open.

         That is where the commander for that district made the racially irresponsible remarks.  The commander probably voiced the opinions of some people in Georgetown in his unguarded comments.  It is my understanding from reports from local media and from someone that actually attended the meeting that the commander in an effort to encourage Georgetown residents to be more observant of potential dangers in their community told the people at the meeting to be prepared to call 911 when they see something suspicious like people hiding in bushes or black folks in Georgetown.  Yep.  Here we go again.  Someone that shares a similar phenotype as many other African-Americans commits a crime and we all are under suspicion.

         This is the slap in the face that many of us law abiding taxpaying black folks, which incidentally make up the majority of black people in this country, have to deal with everyday.  On one side of the law we tend to be the victims of violent crime such as robberies, carjacking, rape, and murder and no one seems to care.  On the other side regardless of how often we obey the law, regardless of how much taxes we pay, regardless of how polite we are sometimes it seems that all society and some police officers see is a profile of a criminal.  It is terrible to be a victim of a crime by a criminal.  It make you feel helpless and vulnerable.  It is entirely something else to feel that you can not turn to the police for protection, but that you may need protection form the police as well. 

         Sometimes it feels like being caught between a rock and a hard place.  The problem is how to avoid being crushed by stereotypes and prejudice.

         

Prison Break

"Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives."

                                                       --William James--

"There is only one admirable form of imagination: the imagination that is so intense that it creates a new reality, that it makes things happen."

                                                      --Sean O'Faolain--

         I want to talk about a different topic this week.  Ordinarily I would continue to harp on how the machine in Chicago continues to roll along and how that is not good for the African-American community or any community.  That is a topic for another day, maybe next week.

         This week's article is about prisons.  Yes.  Prisons.  No.  This is not another article about the plight of the black man and how so many brothers are either in prison or on probation.  When I write that I want to "talk" about prisons I do not mean a physical prison.  I want to write about the prisons that many of us are in, have been in, and continue to live in every day.  The prison of the mind.

         Many if "us" live in prisons of our making because we allow other people to define who we are.  I know what I am about to write may seem very controversial but it needs to be discussed.  Why do we as African-American continue to allow our community to be defined by the ones of "us" that have achieved the least.  What do I mean by that statement?  We allow the image of community to be one of a people that are poverty stricken, poorly educated, and habitually involved in the criminal justice system.  Well, contrary to popular belief the average African-American does not live in poverty, jail, penitentiary or on probation.  Yes, our poverty rate is nearly twice as high as white folks.  Yes, there are way to many of "us" that are in prison, especially when compared to people from our community that is in college.  Yes, we as a community still have a long way to go, but it is impossible to take any step on a road to a place when you have no idea where you are going because you have no idea who you are and what you want.

         We need to set our goals higher as individuals and as a community.  It makes no sense to tell our children by our words that schools and knowledge is important, but tell them by our actions that to be well educated is to be something other than being "black."  It makes no sense to encourage success in one breath and then compare our achievements to the ones of "us" that are struggling.  The only way to pull someone up to the top of a mountain is to climb up there first.  It is time we raised the bar in our community.  Throughout history our community has demonstrated that we meet and exceed whatever goals or challenges that we set for ourselves.  Well, it is time to start setting our goals higher.

         The average African-American, like many other people throughout the world, live in little mental prisons where they are over worked, underpaid, and very unhappy.  We live in those prisons because we have allowed other people to tell us our worth, our talents, and our limitations.   There are too man of "us" that believe in limitations in their lives in what they can do.  These limitations have lead to decisions that have lead to dead-end jobs, careers, and life styles that have lead to unhappiness.  That must end.  Once someone is sold on their confinement there is little need to physically restrain them because they will do that for you.  That is what has been happening in our community for decades. 

         Our community is diverse, rich with talent, and has yet to reach its fullest potential.  In order for "us" to reach that potential individually and collectively we must start challenging the images that we see on television, in the print media, and that is even perpetuated by "us."  We will be defined by someone else's eyes until we choose to present to the world our image that has been filtered through our lenses that was governed by our imagination, needs, and values.  It is easy to talk about the intelligent brother that went bad that eventually ended up in jail, but what about the creative, imaginative, intelligent brother or sister that ended up in a cubicle?  How many of "us" are living that life?   Think about it.  Is one of those brothers or sisters you?  If so isn't time to start changing the face of our community and then the conversation in our community?  What do you think?

To The Unheralded Brothers Out There: Happy Father's Day

“By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong.”
Charles Wadsworth

“The central struggle of parenthood is to let our hopes for our children outweigh our fears.”
Ellen Goodman

“Some men just aren't cut out for paternity. Better they should realize it before and not after they become responsible for a son.”
Lois McMaster Bujold

Yesterday was Father’s Day and as a son and a father I feel compelled to write an article about the important men in my life. First I must mention my father, Alfred Beals. He was a southern transplant from Orange, Texas that found his way to the Southside of Chicago. My father was many things. He was an entrepreneur. He was some one that felt deeply for his community. And He was my hero and in many respects he still is. If my dad walked a certain way, I wanted to walk that way. If someone said he had an accent, I wanted to have that same accent. When I was little, my mother cooked a steak dinner for the family. My father loved steak. He also loved to use steak sauce on his steak so of course I had to try it on my steak. As a very young boy, steak sauce did not agree with my taste buds, but I ate every last bit of my steak just so I could be like my dad. Well, I never got an opportunity to get to know my dad as a man because unfortunately my dad passed away a little before my ninth birthday.

My dad taught many lessons that I have tried to pass on two my two daughters. He taught me the value of learning and the value of getting my education. Yes. They are two different things, but that is an article for another day. My father did not go to college and he had to work hard to even attend high school so he could not understand how a child that only has to go to school and does not have to work could bring home any grade less than a B. He taught me to be proud of who I am and to be very confident. He taught me the value of hard work and to never allow myself the luxury of letting others make me feel that I was less than them. But I guess the biggest thing he taught me was self confidence and an expectation of success in my future. Dad. I wish I had the fortune to have known you as a man, but I am so glad that I was blessed enough to have at least had nearly nine years to have shared with you.

I was also blessed with several uncles who took an interest in me, my brother, and sisters. My uncles Bobby, Billy, James, and John all spent time with us, especially after my father passed away. My uncle Bobby particularly stepped up and filled the void for my brother and I that was left by my father’s passing. I was about nine years old and my brother was about eleven years old when my father passed away. We were not the “leave it to Beaver” twins. My brother and I were like a lot of young brothers. We needed male guidance and example. My uncles helped to provide that example, especially my uncle Bobby. My uncle Bobby did not lecture my brother and me. He did not try to play dad to us. He just spent time with my brother, me and my cousins and by doing that he provided needed male example for all of us. If I learned lessons from my dad through direction, I can easily say I learned lessons from my uncle Bobby by example. I learned that whereas it may take the heart of a lion to stand up to a bully, it takes the heart of a hero to get back up everyday when life knocks you down. Bobby had no problems doing either. I learned dependability, courage, trustworthiness, strength, and what it really means to be a man from my uncle Bobby. He was there at my high school graduation, my college graduation, when I was sworn into the bar of the State of Illinois and all the times in between. Bobby, Billy, James, and John, I know you all are not much on receiving accolades, but thank you for being there for me, Stephen, Jimmy, Parrish, and Henry. And I love you all.

This father’s day I count my blessings for having had a dad and for having had and still having uncles that were there for me. I am not perfect. I have made many mistakes, but I can say that what little I have accomplished in my life I owe to people like my mother, my father, my uncles, and my aunts.

Thank You Momma

"Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same."

                                        --Pearl Buck--

"The most important thing that she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."

                                                 --Jill Churchill--

"The world is full of women blindsided by the unceasing demands of motherhood, still flabbergasted by how a job can be terrific and torturous."

                                                 --Anna Quindlen--

         Happy mother's Day to all the mothers out there.  It is a well known fact of how important a mother is to her children. I know everybody has talked about how much influence mothers have on their children.  People have talked about how much their mother have meant to them.  Well, I guess I will add my own mother story.

         First, though, I want to add a little food for thought.  Have you really thought about how important your parents really are to you and the entire human race?  Think about it.  Whatever situation you are in right now is the direct result of decisions that have been made by everyone in your bloodline from eve all the way down to you.  What am I talking about?  Let me explain.  Your life is shaped by the results of your decisions.  Well, your decisions are shaped by how you see life and your views on life are directly shaped by your parents.  We learn so many things from our parents.  Many of the lessons that we learn we don't even realize unless and until we really think about it.  I learned a great many lessons from my mother. 

         The first and most important thing my mother taught me was I am somebody special.  Yeah.  I know everybody says that about their mother.  I am not talking about how a mother makes you feel like the most important person in the world, which is a good thing.  My mother convinced me at a very young age that I had a future.  She convinced me that I should be optimistic about my future, which was important because I grew up in some rough neighborhoods where there were plenty of opportunities to screw up my life.  I am certain that if I did not expect much out of life I would have taken up a few of those opportunities to follow a path to failure and despair.  My mother also taught me the value of work.  She taught me how to never give up, even in the face of difficult times.  She taught me toughness.  Yeah.  I said it.  The toughness I am talking about is not the physical in your face type of toughness.  I learned that from my father and my uncles, but that is an article for another day.  She taught me the when life gives you a lemon make some lemonade, start your own lemonade stand, then corner the market on home made lemonade type of toughness.  She taught other lessons to, but the best part of her instruction to me was she did it without even realizing it.  I learned more lessons from my mother by following her example than I did by following any sermons she may have given me.

         Who is my mother?  She is a southern transplant from southern Arkansas that came of age on the southside of Chicago.  She is a good woman that was not perfect, because she made many mistakes.  She wasn't perfect, which to me makes her even more amazing.  You expect perfect from perfection.  You expect great from a person who appears to embody greatness.  My mother is none of those things.  She is just my momma.  And all she did was raise seven children by herself after my father died.  All she did was provide for a family of eight without a college degree or a verifiable work history, since all of her verifiable work experience died along with my father.  All she did was teach two knuckle headed boys and five strong willed girls how to reach for a better tomorrow while staying out of trouble today in some rough neighborhoods in Chicago.  She did this without looking for applause.  She did this without taking a "bow."  She did this without feeling sorry for herself.  And what is the craziest thing of all . . .she would do it all again if given a chance.

         I have been blessed with two beautiful daughters and due to some mistakes in my own life I was a single father for many years.  The responsibility and energy required to help raise two children sometimes seemed more than I could handle.  It was during those times that I asked my mother "how did you do it?"  She would just smile.  Five years ago I was blessed again to find a wonderful woman that has helped me with my children while still giving me plenty of love, encouragement, and at times direction.  I also hit the trifecta because I was also blessed enough to get a wonderful mother-in-law too.  But at the end of the day I guess I must credit those blessings to my mother since another lesson that my momma taught me was how to recognize, appreciate, court, and keep a good, strong, African-American woman.  Momma.  I know I don't say it enough, but thank you for forty years of love and direction.  I love you very much.

Your Loving Son

Bart E. Beals

Let's Be Honest

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

Arthur Schopenhauer

“If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother and hope your guardian genius.”

Joseph Addison

            Last week the Nebraska Legislature passed and the Governor of Nebraska signed into law a bill that divides the Omaha public schools into three racially distinct districts.  The bill was introduced by Nebraska’s only African-American state legislator.  Although Omaha’s public school system will be divided into three different districts, according to media reports all three of the districts will be funded by the same levy.  It is my understanding, for what that is worth, that all of the school districts in Omaha should receive equal funding. This law has presented the nation with two learning opportunities: (1) the impetus for why our community fought for integration and (2) the best tool of dismantling segregation.

The Real Motivation for the Fight for Integration

            The fight for integration, especially regarding school systems, was not about getting little black kids to go to school with little white kids.  It was about opportunity.  It was about the states giving as much opportunity to African-American children by allocating as much attention and resources for schools where African-American children attended as they did for schools where white children attended.  Separate was never equal.  What do I mean by that?  Before the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education, it was constitutionally legal to maintain “separate but equal” schools, which essentially lead to two school systems: one white the other black.  Although the two school systems were definitely separate the amount of attention, resources and opportunity distributed by the states were not even close to equal.  This was also true about the rest of the separate systems in the country at the time.  The reason to fight for integration was to force the states to provide the same amount of resources and hence opportunity to African-Americans as they did to whites.  The premise was that if all children went to school together then the states would have to provide the same amount of attention and resources and therefore opportunity as they did for white children. 

This was a sound theory, but it did not completely work out in reality.  In reality the constitutional requirement to dismantle the de jure segregated school systems only lead to de facto segregated school systems.  Once desegregation started to be enforced, many city public school systems experienced a great deal of white flight.  This lead to the racial segregation of schools along city and suburban lines and as African-Americans moved to the suburbs the racially segregated lines moved farther out.  As the whites left so did much of the resources, attention and eventually the opportunities.

Ultimately this means that African-American children generally do not have the same educational opportunities as white children.  Now before I start to receive a bunch of emails, I am not saying that all black kids are disadvantaged or that are white children are privileged.  I am saying that as a result of the de facto segregated school systems there is still an opportunity gap between African-American and white children if viewed on a overall scale.

African-American Success is the Best Tool for Integration

The Omaha law could help to fight the historical trend of de facto segregation.  How?  It could help by being successful.  There is an old saying of “speak truth to power.”  Well the truth is that the strongest weapon against prejudice, fear, and mistrust is success.  Yes.  I said it.  Success!  Look at what happened in baseball.  Jackie Robinson day was celebrated across Major League Baseball a few weeks ago.  Most people know that Jackie Robinson was the first openly African-American player in Major League Baseball in the twentieth century and therefore he is credited with breaking the “color line” in baseball.  However, the truth is what broke the “color line” of Major League Baseball was the outstanding play of players in the Negro League, like Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and others as well as Jackie Robinson’s play in Major League Baseball once he was given the chance to compete. 

The same can be true in Omaha.  If the African-American controlled school district in Omaha produces children with the highest grades, graduation rates, college enrollment, college matriculation, and test scores in the county or the state then, believe me, the school districts in Omaha will not stay racially divided for long.  But, if the African-American controlled school district in Omaha does poorly then not only will the schools stay segregated, they will also serve as an example of how our people can’t learn.  Now, I know it is not fair that over thirty million people are judged by the actions of a few hundred or a few thousand, or even a million, but that is the world we live in until our community can change that standard.  And we must change that standard.  There is another saying of “don’t hate the player, hate the game.”  Well, only winners make the rules and only winners can change the game.

Are You Educated or Are You Certified?

“It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.”

--Alec Bourne--

“Only the educated are free.”

--Epictetus--

                One of the most important things that we can do as a community is to learn for ourselves and teach our children how to become independent thinkers.  Why is this important?  It is important because the first, only, and best place to imprison someone is between their two ears.  We can not continue the progress of our ancestors towards real equality without building power and we can not build power by accepting and following the old notions of cultures and institutions that were created and maintained to keep us powerless.  Of course this then leads one to ask the questions “what is an independent thinker and how do you become one?”  Well the how is closely connected to the what.  I guess the best way to start is to ask “are you educated or are you certified?”

Years ago when I was in basic training one of my drill sergeants asked me if I was educated or certified.  Since I had already received my bachelor’s degree before I entered the Army I told my drill sergeant, with a little smugness, that of course I was educated.  I went on to explain to him that the difference between being educated and certified is the institution and program that one attends.  I told him that an educated person is someone who has a college degree whereas a certified person is someone that has a certificate, usually someone that has completed a short term course in a less rigorous field like a trade or something similar.  My sergeant looked me in the eye with a mixed look of humor and pity and promptly enlightened me.  He told me that I was wrong.  He told me that I was in fact certified and it remained to be seen if I was educated.  He adroitly explained that being educated only means that you have knowledge and that knowledge can come from formal as well as informal sources.  He also explained that my college degree is only a certification by the university that I attended that I have completed a requisite number of classes in my major course of study.  I never forgot that lesson.

                Most people look at college graduates as well educated people.  As a matter of fact universities are referred to and have historically been called institutions of higher learning or higher education.  Yet, how many people do you know have degrees in areas that they can barely remember much if anything about their major?  How many people do you know are able to reiterate ideas and concepts that they learned in college but have not ever taken the time to contemplate their real meaning or to challenge those ideas and concepts continued validity in today’s reality?  How many people do you know have degrees in philosophy, history, or some other social science but can not name any significant philosophers or historians?  How many people do you know have business degrees but are not able to apply different theories of management or finance or marketing to real situations in the work place regardless of whether they are working for someone or working for themselves?  And how many of us have accepted the values of others as we chased “accomplishments” for no other reason than that is what we are supposed to do?  Well, those are not the actions of an educated person, if we equate educated with knowledgeable, intelligent or wise. 

                There are too many of us that go to college looking for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but are disappointed and disillusioned when we graduate.   There are too many of us that major in areas of demand in hopes of getting “a good job” upon graduation, but after working in that “good job” are disappointed or disillusioned about our future career opportunities.  There are too many of us that look to U.S. News & World Report Magazine to make our decisions for us when choosing an undergraduate college or law school or medical school or dental school or graduate school to attend as if universities are like college basketball or football teams and thus can be ranked in descending order of utility that is applicable to everyone.  There are too many of us that accept the thinking, priorities and values of the “majority culture” and therefore at times allow the “majority culture” to determine the value of our community or our history or our institutions.

                Education can come from many sources.  It can come from formal sources like universities.  It can come from informal sources like self study through reading, researching, and inquiring.  And it also can come by experience.  However, it can not nor will not come by accepting the assumptions of others without question, inquiry, and reflection.  We as individuals must be independent thinkers so that we individually and collectively can define ourselves for ourselves.  We must be independent thinkers so that we can avoid the trap of fighting for the crumbs from the table of elitist when we should be sitting at the table carving out our own share.  We must be independent thinkers so that we can avoid allowing the media to tell us who our leaders are or what we want out of life or what it really means to be “black.”  We must become independent thinkers so that we can stop playing the game on the terms of the old guard and start playing the game on our terms. So I ask the question again are you educated or are you certified?