Baltimore: Solutions

Really, what’s the problem in Baltimore?  And more important: what’s are some solutions?

There is plenty of blame to be put on everyone.  It is easy to get angry.  It is easy to take a stand of righteous indignation, no matter what your point of view. It’s easy to show where the other side is wrong, because in some ways they are. But, sadly, as always, the answer is more complex.

Who’s wrong?  Everybody and nobody.

The underlying problem is fear and misunderstanding.  That has been going on for three hundred years, and three thousand years.  It was written into the hallowed United States Constitution.  Slavery was allowed.  That meant some people could legally own and rule over the lives of others. 

From today’s point of view that was awful.  Back then it was common practice.  A few people opposed it, but certainly not a majority.  Really, it was an energy policy.

However, the enslaved Africans were not happy with it, not even then.  They feared the people who owned them, and the owners knew it.  So the fear and resentment began then. Fear and resentment is circular.  It breeds on itself and expands. 

The police in Baltimore were doing their job.  They had to deal with a population that didn’t trust them.  They had to be on guard.  They were afraid.  That fear, magnified by both stereotypes and experience, shaped their reactions. 

Those reactions created more resentment in the community. They feel mistreated because of prejudice, and they are.

Both parties were correct in their assumptions.  The cycle of fear, resentment and misunderstanding continued.

This is not new. Nor is it unique to America.  Last month I was in Israel and saw how the cycle of fear and misunderstanding in that part of the world goes back 3000 years.  It continues there today.  There are big fears over very small differences.  But there is no communication.  The different communities are isolated.  The fear increases because no one really knows the “other” as people.  Prejudice and stereotypes and misinformation take over.  The political system reinforces that. Politicians are good at splitting people into “interest groups.” And that is certainly true in Baltimore.

This has been so true for so long that it seems as if there is a genetic basis for it. It probably was adaptive a thousand, or even five hundred years ago to be fearful of people and tribes who were unknown.  Those strange young men swooping into your valley were not coming to teach meditation and yoga.  They wanted your gold, your crops, your women and your water.  They also were eager to cut off your head or make you a slave.

But fear and prejudice are not adaptive any more.  The people of the world overlap too much.  Our lives are too intertwined.  Our enemies have become our suppliers and our customers. Yet, fear, prejudice, hatred and vengeance still seem to be very widespread. It’s an easy sell, and our brains like easy.

What can be done?

We have to get to know each other as people, as individuals.  We have to see we are really all the same.  We have to care about each other instead of blaming each other. We have to build empathy based on our similarities, instead of fear based on our differences.

Sure? Easy to say, hard to do.

For example:

 Brown vs. Board of Education, 1951. A huge landmark case for racial equality.  Integrated schools.  A big step forward.  For a while, maybe, but that didn’t last.

The backlash drove white families into private schools and out of the cities.  Most cities now have badly funded, poorly run schools, filled with poor, almost all minority children.  Their skills are limited. Their networks are limited, and so is their future. The parents who pay for private schools don’t vote to pay taxes for the public schools. People who go to public schools don't pay taxes because they don't have the money.

The idea was to get people to know each other as people.  Instead now, whites and non-whites, rich and poor, religious and secular are now further apart.  We don’t know each other, but we have developed distorted ideas about how the “others” think. People get separated.  Fear and resentment develop.

Solution:  Close all private schools.  Integrate schools with an equal mixture of all levels of wealth.  Give the same education and same resources to all. All families would participate in developing, delivering and monitoring the same education. But mostly get children to feel safe and familiar with those who they now see as different. Fear declines, prejudice declines. America flourishes with contributions from everybody.

Likelihood of happening:  nil. 

Or

Mandatory two years of national service between high school and college.  Everyone

would be sent away from homes and put into small, diverse groups that work on community building and nation building projects together: building a school, building a day care, building a wireless network. Asking not what their country can do for them but……

This is really possible, but likelihood of happening : .00003%

Or

A family dinner exchange program.  Twice a month everyone would have dinner with some folks they didn’t know, who were different in some ways from themselves: racially, economically, professionally, culturally. Six families in six months, with dinner at each person’s place twice.  The costs would be shared unequally, or from the government.  Get to know new people, eat different food, open new pathways in your brain.

Another fun possibility that could be implemented in any city, county or state.

            Likelihood of happening: .00004%

            Why? Because it’s new and therefore feels risky. Because it’s so much easier to stick with the old way of thinking, to blame someone else, and to be frightened.

            If you don’t agree with me, come up with your own idea.  I like new ideas.  I’m an old dog that can learn new tricks.

“Look at me, Look at me, Look at me now.  It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how”

            --- The Cat in the Hat.