RACE IN AMERICA

RACE IN AMERICA,

FEATURING THE THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCES OF BRIAN ALLEN

FROM BRIAN: I am an ambassador of positive energy...people connector...mortgage advisor..former college athlete...casual triathlete.  I’ve lived a very fortunate life, growing up all over the country…Joliet, IL, the home of The Blues Brothers; New Jersey; Dallas; Houston; and Northern Virginia/DC.  It allowed me to nurture healthy relationships with a multitude of people and cultures.  I played college basketball for Penn State, and I currently work as a mortgage advisor.  More than the issue of race being a crucial topic today, the way it is being used to threaten our democracy is what is of utmost concern to me.  That is my reason for sharing my thoughts.

NOTE:   I will often use “Black” and “White” not because either term is a real human distinction, but because it is a real construct in our country. I personally prefer to be referred to as Black rather than African American because it is one syllable and simple.

“ME! WE!”

Why I Think Democracy Will Win

By

Brian Allen

 

Muhammad Ali, when speaking to Harvard’s graduating Class of 1975, was asked from the audience to recite a poem, and “Me. We.” is what he came up with.   This is known as the world’s shortest poem, but it does pack a punch.  (See what I did there?)

In explaining it, Ali said, “… what I gained was the ability to see the world in something like the way God must see it. To understand that there are no distinctions of any real importance in the affairs of men, that there is only one time and one place and one person and one truth. And that we are all contained in that time and place and person, and that the truth contains us all.”

Who represented “One World” more than Ali?  It is the message of community and togetherness, what Ali stood for, that inspired me to share my thoughts on where we are as a country in the two years that have passed  since George Floyd lost his life to police violence.  This was a time, like 9/11/2001, when this country was “We.”

From that tragedy, I learned that I had numerous allies (members of the dominant caste), who with sincere intentions, wanted to know how to do better.  COVID took away people’s ability to look away, to ignore, and to rationalize what happened to Mr. Floyd, and it is important that we stay vigilant toward anti-racism.  It is no longer acceptable to stay silent, or even neutral.  My message to the multitude of friends looking for guidance was to improve their racial intelligence, because it creates empathetic ears, which leads to ally behavior.  

In order to manage this overwhelming demand, I actually started a private Facebook group called “My Allies” to provide a safe space to ask questions and discuss things without judgment, and to share ideas on how to fight racism.  If we can’t talk about it, we cannot eradicate it.

The more sinister form of racism is the unseen, which produces outcomes detrimental to people of color.  That ranges from written policy/laws to silence in the face of racism…when good people do nothing.

The most disappointing or disheartening exercise for me, especially during the previous administration, has been with people who I know love me and would probably take a bullet for me.  It has been their inability or unwillingness to try to figure out why, on a daily basis, I was not only more aware of my Blackness, but also more afraid because of my Blackness for the first time in my adult life.  They know my even temper, empathetic nature, and open-mindedness.  Why, when I would suggest ways to understand it more, would I just experience radio silence?  Is it shame, embarrassment, or denial?  Whatever it is, I’m not going to give up on them, because they are me, and I’m trying to get them to “we.”

Understanding Racism and Institutional Racism

Whether it’s people I know, or talking heads on TV, one of my pet peeves is a lack of true understanding of racism, which is a subset of institutional racism.  The often-used definition of racism revolves around intent and looks like the person wearing a hood, burning a cross, terrorizing people of color.  That is the easy-to-see definition, popular until the decade I was born when it became quite distasteful to suburban America.  It made it easier for people to absolve themselves of “that” disease or to deny they are taking part.  It had to evolve and become less obvious.

ACTION ITEM: PLEASE EDUCATE YOURSELF ON INSTITUIONAL RACISM, RACISM, AND ANTI-RACISM 

The FBI Criminal Behavioral Analysis

Within the FBI, there is a position called a Supervisory Special Agent in the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), agents who are trained in deception detection.  In layman’s terms, they are human lie detectors.  They use training, verbal, and nonverbal cues to determine whether a suspect is telling the truth.  They are a vital and very respected profession within the organization.  It is a process that takes 7-15 years to even apply.  

Think about all the knowledge you gained between 1st and 10th grade.  Then, take those 7-15 years of experience, and add 20, 30, or 50 years to it.  But, instead of using that talent to fight crime, you use that talent to avoid professional roadblocks, micro-aggressions, physical harm, or even death. That is the Black experience when it comes to detecting racism.  It’s not 100% foolproof, but you get the point.  By instinct, I can walk into a room and pretty much pick out the allies as well as the others  who may not have my best interest at heart.  Thankfully, in most cases the latter are few.  

Getting back to the FBI Profilers.  Yes, I have some basic knowledge on whether someone is being truthful, but I would not sit in a room, with see-through glass and tell a Deception Detector if the subject is lying.  So, it is probably best to leave racism detection to those who have the years of knowledge and experience.

Let me expound.  From American history, personal-lived experiences, and statistics, my every day latent fear of terrorism has a White face, not a Brown, or Middle Eastern one.  But that same lived experience precludes me from assigning a negative stereotype to all White faces.  

Those White teenagers who threw firecrackers at me in elementary school were offset by the big Texans with the cowboy boots, and big belt buckle, cursing out other adults with White faces who said something derogatory to me in a Dallas hotel lobby.  Before that I was trembling inside because I had heard “How they are in Texas,” and learned a lifelong lesson at age 11. 

The White teenagers who chased me down the street in their car in Houston, TX, when I was 14, were undone by the Taylor family, a White family who took me and my brother in as if we were their own, when my single father had business trips. The Taylors taught me how to water ski and to love Austin.

The White teenagers during my senior year in high school, who called me the N word, and told me to go back to Africa, and threatened my well-being, were immediately negated by the White faces of my high school friends, who without a word, waited on a bus stop bench with me, letting me know they had my back and were ready to rumble if those guys returned.  These lived experiences have given me a heightened ability to be able to recognize allies and enemies adeptly.

I try to explain it to my friends of the dominant caste by starting with my favorite definition of White Supremacy.   What I say goes something like this…  

“You could go your whole life without meeting a Black person and be very successful.  The same is not true for me; I could not go my whole life without ever meeting a White person and thrive.  In fact, any successful person of color has had to interact on a “10,000 hour” level to succeed in a White world.  Until I was 14, I went to all White schools all over the country, but still had to endure the N word, threats to my life, firecrackers thrown at me as a child, and multiple driving-while-Black incidents, so my life experiences have made me “racially bilingual.”  Because there has been no need for you to live in my Black world, there is a natural blind spot for you.”

Then I follow that up with…

“When George Floyd died, so many of my good friends came to me for answers, I had to go back to school to get my ‘Race Masters Degree.’  I was almost embarrassed at how much I did not know about race in this country…how much was intentionally left out.  So, if we all went to the same schools, and I, as a Black man, was embarrassed about how much we didn’t learn in high school, is it possible that there might be room for you to become more informed?”

ACTION ITEM: INSTEAD OF TRYING TO PROJECT YOUR IDEAL OF WHAT RACISM IS OR ISN’T, RECEIVE THE PERSPECTIVE OF THOSE WHO HAVE THE LIVED EXPERIENCE

 

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 Who Is “Us,” and Who is “Them?”

“Explaining racism to a White person is like trying to explain water to fish.” – Tim Wise

“Race” is such a complex word because, as it applies to DNA, it is a manmade construct created in this country in the 1600’s, when the plantation owners realized they were far outnumbered by the enslaved.  They had to create a social construct to engineer a “White” majority with those who, before then, were no better off than the enslaved and only categorized by their country of origin…English, Irish, German, Italian.  

These indentured servants were given horses and guns and were motivated by fear that the Black and Brown people (“them” from earlier) were the threat, not the power elites.  The reality was that the slaves and the White indentured servants had more in common (economic insecurity) than the indentured servants had with the plantation owners.  

Tim Wise, author of White Like Me, is considered to be one of the foremost intellectuals on anti-racism.  If you listen to any of his lectures, he usually discusses “the greatest hustle” the wealthy used on the others who looked like them. My favorite heartfelt lecture from Tim can be found on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_IBE94hh9s

This hustle is still alive and well today. The plantation owners and power elites have been replaced by politicians and power elites, who seem to maintain a caste system motivated by power and White supremacy.  I’m talking about the 1% of the one-percenters.  Think Trump, McConnell, Graham, DeSantis, Gaetz, Holly, Cruz, and those that support their supremist agendas.  It’s business suits instead of the “Colonel Sanders” outfits.

If we had a better grasp of our history, those people who stormed the Capitol on January 6th would see that they were being used by the power elites, just as those who stormed the Capitol in Wilmington, NC in the 1890s, and those who fought in the Civil War to maintain the slave states for those power elites who benefitted most.

People of color, like me, and pretty much anyone not of color I know would be the “us,” even though the economic net is much wider than it was in the early stages of our country’s founding.  I have no one in that highest tax bracket that I break bread with.

ACTION ITEM: INSTEAD OF LABELING SOMEONE A REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT…CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL, START DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN THE 1% OF THE 1% VERSUS THE REST OF US.  VOTING RIGHTS. GUN LAWS. HIGH GAS PRICES.  ABORTION BANS.  WHO BENEFITS AND WHO DOESN’T?

Zero Sum Gain

The generations-long practice of divide and conquer as it applies to race is getting those of the dominant caste to believe that if consideration is given to the subordinate caste, then those in the dominant caste give up something, or a lot of something. To those fighting diversity or social programs, giving to the marginalized makes the piece of the pie smaller for those who are advantaged.  Diversity, in my opinion, would produce a bigger pie.  Of course, my opinion is based on studies on economics (larger tax base), neighborhoods (multi-cultural enrichment), and education (better test scores and social awareness) that have all shown that diversity produces positive outcomes.

I contend that the piece of the pie does not get smaller with diversity.  I contend the pie gets bigger.

ACTION ITEM:  START ACKNOWLEDGING THE MEGA-WEALTHY IS WHERE PEOPLE’S IRE SHOULD FOCUS, NOT INTERETHNICALLY. 

 Living With Grace – What if We (dominant caste) become Them (subordinate caste)?

I’ve been under the tent long enough to know one of the major motivating factors of the extreme right movement is the fear of becoming the “minority” in this country.  Knowing exactly what the sentiment is about, I give the simple answer first: 

That would make those who fear being a minority, actually be one of “us” and we would all be in it together. 

Or is it… “I don’t want to become the minority because I know how I’ve treated them, or at the very least, how many have treated them”?  

Throwing away the obvious unintended self-admission, it tells me they have no one significant in their lives who has been marginalized.  

For the sake of this blog, I’m going to stick with what I feel about it.  To endure all that we have endured, and still thrive, it cannot have been done without grace.

                  Macro level – All of those kids who desegregated public schools showed grace in the face of rocks, spit, and racial epithets thrown at them.  Even as adults in hindsight, they reek of grace. 

              Micro level – My high school friend, whose parents disinvited me to his birthday party, is a current Facebook friend of mine and we correspond periodically.   To explicitly disinvite me because of ethnicity takes a special kind of racism.  They could have come up with 10 other excuses.  But even in the moment, I knew it wasn’t his decision.  If my ethnicity was an issue with him, I never would have been invited.  I’m sure the hurt and embarrassment of that stung him like it did me because it was perhaps the first time someone in his life did something he knew was not right.

So grace has been imbedded in our DNA since that first ship hit Jamestown in 1619.  Once the dominant caste becomes the minority, no one is going to start following you around in stores, or stopping you in your car for doing nothing, as we have endured.

Why Can’t We Just Move On And Stop Talking About The Past?

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” is not just a quote from philosopher George Santayana when referencing the horrors of The Holocaust.  Those in the dominant caste, who are uncomfortable acknowledging our country’s past, conveniently want to celebrate the 4th of July, and enjoy time off on “Columbus Day,” but talking about the dark side of our history often becomes taboo.  

That’s like buying a business because of its assets, but totally ignoring the debts.  

In my line of work people pay thousands of dollars for title insurance and hundreds of dollars for an appraisal to make sure there is nothing catastrophically wrong with a home.  But our country has had a shaky foundation since before it was a country, and many prefer not to talk about it, or just choose to ignore it like it’s going to go away.

ACTION ITEM:  LEARN YOUR REAL AMERICAN HISTORY BECAUSE IT IS DIRECTLY AFFECTING OUR TODAY AND OUR TOMORROW.

THERE ARE NO ABSOLUTES

The human condition seems to be, for things to make sense, that we have to pigeonhole people…put them in neat categories…prejudices.  The goal should be to acknowledge those prejudices, address them, and grow.  The world does not operate in the Black and White.  It operates in the gray.

My father’s favorite saying growing up was, “Racism should be a pebble in your shoe, not an albatross around your neck.”

CONSERVATIVES AND “STOP BLAMING THE WHITE MAN”

One of my problems with conservatives of any ethnicity are tropes like “You can’t blame the White man for your problems…you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps…you have to strive for Black excellence.”

I contend that the two are not mutually exclusive.  Any person of color who has excelled has not only acknowledged institutional racism but has adeptly circumnavigated it.  Any person of color in my immediate circle provides living examples that  racism is real, but it isn’t going to stop them from thriving.  

My basketball analogy is of my 6’ 10” teammate saying, “Stop blaming the tall people for your struggles in basketball!”

There was absolutely nothing physically I could do about it, so I used my physical “deficiencies” to my advantage…to blow by the taller players…to increase the arc…to make eye contact. my shorter stature could help him…get him the ball in the paint because he can’t dribble.  T-E-A-M!

The Southern Strategy and Its Grip on Society Today

As a country, we have had a history of White backlash with the progress of the Blacks.  Reconstruction brought The Black Codes, record lynchings, and the construction of statues and memorials to The Confederacy to demonstrate White supremacy.  The Civil Rights Movement brought about The Southern Strategy in the decade when I was born.  

As I have mentioned, blatant racism became unsavory to American sensibilities.   The triumvirate of George Wallace, Barry Goldwater, and Richard Nixon were the transition from bullhorn racism to dog-whistle racism, moving it into the gray palatable areas.  The politicians started using code words to appeal to that segment of the population who did not in favor the strides Blacks were making, especially with the Civil Rights Acts of 1964/1965.  That is the inflection point when Democrats (Dixiecrats) started moving over to the Republican Party.  Even candidates for governor, like Ronald Reagan, were the “early implementers,” using words like crime…tough on crime…law and order…young bucks…jungle paths…welfare queens…individual property rights…forced busing…states’ rights…immigration…illegal aliens…liberal.  

The backlash was in the form of the largest campaign of mass incarceration of people of color our country has ever seen, which continues today.

Please do not take my word for it.  Lee Atwater, a political consultant to Reagan, and Bush 41’s campaign manager 1988, spilled the beans in this interview he thought was off the record.:  https://youtu.be/X_8E3ENrKrQ

A protégé of Lee Atwater was Stuart Stevens, a Republican Political Consultant, and Media Advisor for Bush 43’s 2000 Campaign.  Showtime is currently running a 5 episode series that shows the through line of 50 years of dog-whistle politics.  Stevens, had a mea culpa, when faced with the presidency of Donald Trump, and created The Lincoln Project, a group of former Republican strategists whose sole purpose became to insure 45 wasn’t re-elected.  They definitely had an impact on the result of the 2020 election, but it was his introspection that was so revealing:

The Lincoln Project Episode 1/Minute 24 - “It’s all about race.  But, the whole Republican Party is all about race.  They seem to have given up pretending otherwise…The Republican Party has become a white grievance party.  There’s always been this element in the party.  I don’t think Trump made people more racist.  I think he made it ok to be racist.”

The Lincoln Project Episode 1/Minute 53 - “[Lee Atwater] He would hire somebody like me to really do the racism.  My first lesson in racial politics was in The Southern Strategy.  All politics is, at least certainly in the south, is played in the key of race.  So, our path to victory is to maximize White vote…It was playing the race card if I’m honest about it.  But, you’re able to convince yourself, that the danger of the other side, is greater than the flaws of the side that you’re for…I think that in many ways, we [The Lincoln Project] feel a sense of personal responsibility.  Who would believe this party, like this thing that you worked in, turned out to be, to some not insignificant degree, a force for evil?  I can’t say it’s not my fault.  The firm that I started was the most successful firm. I helped elect more than anybody else.”

What we are witnessing today is a direct result of the third major event of Black progress…the election of Barack Obama.  Pushback that brought about the Tea Party, the MAGA Movement, and all of the other far-right groups we are seeing today.  The lexicon of the dog whistle has been expanded with more “boogie man” terms like…”liberal media…radical left…build that wall…Black Lives Matter…woke…critical race theory.”  The last three were positive terms, and movements, in the Black community that were appropriated and weaponized by politicians.   

Critical Race Theory was the political response to the inarguable facts of George Floyd’s murder.  As a side note, anyone demonizing The 1619 Project hasn’t read it, because it discusses the heroes of all races fighting for freedom and equality.  When has critical thinking ever been a bad thing?  Why does adding “race” create hysteria?  When has banning books or not telling the truth ever been a good thing?  Answer: When elites who wanted to maintain power decided it was.

The hands of the Democratic Party are definitely not clean, but there is only one party that is a clear and present danger TODAY to this experiment called Democracy.  There is a segment of the population that will be unmoved by this blog post, but there is the majority of the population, I believe, who fear for the democracy, and the rights that are being taken away.  They/we just need to be empowered and encouraged to do something about it. 

By those charged with election security, 2020 was the most secure election ever. In four particular cases of voter fraud that I heard of, all voted for 45.  One of the four was a woman of color, a former felon, who was told she could vote by the election board, but then had it rescinded.  Which one of the four was put in jail? 

VOTE the election deniers out!  DON’T VOTE for the election deniers currently in office!  It’s never been about Democracy for them.  It has been about power.  We as citizens have the power to save this country from autocracy, and if Kansas is a bellwether, I truly have hope that we will do the right thing…be on the right side of history.

 

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What has been most enlightening to me in these last 2+ years is the readily available facts about our history, that were suppressed in my public education.  It is a history that scholars have been documenting since the ‘60’s.  Here is a list of the books I have read since the murder of George Floyd, and the multi-cultural authors who have reinforced things I knew, and confirmed certain things I felt:

White Like Me – Tim Wise

Caste – Isabel Wilkerson

The 1619 Project – Nikole Hannah-Jones

The 1619 Project Born in The Water – Nikole Hannah-Jones

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man – Emmanuel Acho

Dog Whistle Politics – Ian Haney Lopez

The Sum of Us – Heather McGhee

The New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander

White Fragility – Robin DiAngelo

White Rage – Carol Anderson

Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Myth of Race – Robert Wald Sussman

What Unites Us – Dan Rather

A People’s History of the United States – Howard Zen

Everything Trump Touches Dies – Rick Wilson

The End of Policing – Alex Vitale

The Warmth of Other Suns – Isabel Wilkerson

Critical Race Theory: An Introduction – Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic

Critical Race Theory – Caldwell Wagner

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? – Beverly Daniel Tatum

The Essential Kerner Commission Report – Jelani Cobb

Born A Crime – Trevor Noah

Copyright: Brian Allen, all rights reserved.

Contact Brian at Brian.Allen30@gmail.com

 

 

 

POSITIVE COMMUNITY INTERACTION!!!

THERE CAN BE POSITIVE COMMUNITY INTERACTION!

By

Chuck Cascio

       It was a lovely Thursday October evening, so Faye and I decided to go to an informal event at a park in the Reston Town Center. I had long been advocating (some might say "whining") for more outdoor activities at the inviting open spaces in the Town Center, and we had recently heard that on Thursday evenings in September and October outdoor jazz performances were being featured there. Adding to the appeal was the fact that viewers of the performances could participate in what was featured as "Sip and Stroll," a nice way of saying that if you purchased an alcoholic beverage from one of the predetermined restaurant bars, you were allowed to take your cup to the event, walk about, watch and chat. Further adding to the appeal of this was the fact that the events (though not the drinks) were FREE!!! 

     So...beautiful evening, a chance to sip and stroll, listen to some jazz for no charge...why not wander out and see for ourselves?

     We each purchased a Sip and Stroll beverage at Passion Fish, walked to the park nearby, and sat on the informal artificial turf. The group performing was a quartet, the Shawn Purcell Group, that played with incredible creativity--the kind of jazz that is both inspiring and entertaining. 

     The kind of jazz that makes you say, "How do they come up with that?" 

     The kind of jazz that made little kids dance informally and adults shake their heads both to the rhythm and to their amazement at what they were hearing.

    But the most important takeaway from the evening was the feeling of community. Everywhere we looked, we saw hundreds of people of every age group and ethnicity smiling, chatting, interacting in ways that reflected the music, the evening, and the sense that they all belonged to something together. No political causes from either side infringed on this event. The people in attendance clearly understood that this was something more than the buzzing hostility that hovers over, and too often enters, our daily lives.

     Two days later, on a chilly October Saturday, we took our youngest grandchild, five-year-old Catherine, to another event at the Reston Town Center. This one was filled with multiple options, many of them free, mainly for kids. From open-air train rides around the Town Center to informal line-dancing instruction for all ages to face painting and more. 

     One spot in particular, besides the face painting, captured the attention of Catherine and many other kids (as well as adults)--the hula hoop experience. Yes, you read that correctly--an energetic woman dressed as a morphing of clown and trainer encouraged anyone of any age who wandered up to try the good old fashioned hula hoop...and this captured attention beyond anyone's imagination.

 

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     Little kids, including Catherine, were determined to learn how to twirl the hoop. The energy they displayed as well as their persistence  were a far cry from the stereotype we have of kids today--that they are wedded to their phones and their virtual world. 

     The hula hoop experiences, as well as the face painting, free ice cream, chance to run in open spaces and more all captured the attention and energy not only of the kids but of their parents...many of whom were hula hooping and getting their faces painted and line dancing and more with their kids! 

     None of this is to imply that we do not live in a very different world (in so many respects) today from the one that those of us of a particular age group can recall. Sure, times change and people change and adapt and generations evolve (as did ours) with their own values and their own views of what life is about. But simple experiences like those presented at the Reston Town Center remind us that there are still common factors that we can all experience and share. 

     Giving us the opportunity to share those factors and to see true community involvement, even for a few days a year, can remind us of the importance of youth, development, and--most of all--community.

     Note: Special thanks to the Reston Town Center Association and its executive director, Robert Goudie; Boston properties and its marketing director, Sapna Yathiraj; and all the folks and organizations who are committed to bringing these engaging community events to the Reston Town Center. For more information, go to: 

https://restontc.org/live-work-enjoy/enjoy/sip-stroll-rules/darden-friends/

and 

https://restontc.org/live-work-enjoy/enjoy/sip-stroll-rules/second-saturdays/

…and to get a taste of the Shawn Purcell Group's music, go to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWSCiktGXh0

Copyright for this blog entry: Chuck Cascio, all rights reserved.

Thoughts? Write to chuckwrites@yahoo.com

 

 

FIVE TAKEAWAYS FROM THE TRANSFORMING EDUCATION SERIES

Five Takeaways from the TRANSFORMING EDUCATION Series

by

Chuck Cascio

 

     When I started the “Transforming Education” series on my blog last school year my goal was simple: Cut through the empty political blather and share ideas and experiences from people who have actually devoted their lives to teaching, school administration, and education-reform initiatives. As a former teacher of 27 years at both the secondary school and university levels, and as a former executive at two major education research/reform organizations, I knew this-- 

     The reality that people inside schools experience daily is vastly different from the “experience” of people who push around political and/or personal agendas. 

      Inside any school building, where youths move through various levels of maturation daily, there are multiple tensions, challenges, and, yes, rewards. Every teacher who is doing their job thoroughly is basically putting on approximately five hours of “shows” daily for youths whose brains and emotions are often pulled in many different directions. Administrators, counselors, and support staff are submerged in analyzing challenges and experiences that can help each individual child. And leaders in education reform organizations like the Urban Schools Human Capital Academy, the National Board for Professional Teaching standards, and many others put their experiences on the ground-floor as they search for innovative ways to help the daily challenges that their colleagues inside schools face.   

     These ground-floor experiences and the challenges that emerge from them are at the heart of education reform. That is not to say that political interest is not important—it is, for all the obvious reasons in American society today. But far too often, the political proposals and decisions are made without any realistic understanding of what goes into the exhausting day-to-day operations of educators. So I invited educators and education-reformers with that ground-level reality to contribute to my ongoing series “Transforming Education” and they responded with truly enlightening experiences, comments, and proposals that have the capability of making real change. 

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Here are five key takeaways summarized from their collective comments, but I urge all readers to review my blog site to read their comments in depth…and to follow the series, which will continue during the 2022-2023 school year:

     >>>TAKEAWAY #1: Grass-Roots Reform—The need for transformation is immediate and it must start at the grass-roots level, which means getting the input of teachers, administrators, and educational organizations. The conversation in the field has been overtaken by politicians and others who have little or no experience actually engaging in day-to-day learning activities. Nor have they spent significant time inside school buildings actually experiencing and analyzing the fundamentals of educational operations. 

     Every person contributing to the Transforming Educations series has had--and is having--those experiences. 

     Every person in the series knows what it is like to try to engage students in activities designed to help strengthen their self-image, to increase students’ understanding that the world extends far beyond their own daily lives, and to help students commit to increasing their knowledge—all part of a process that is constantly evolving. The experiences discussed in the series are filled with levels of engagement that show the respondents’ awareness of how true education develops. From the heartbreaking racism some experienced to the realization that someone in a position of educational development actually believed in them, these educators show how their lives were changed. 

     Those lives were changed not through narrow-minded, empty rhetoric but through daily, minute-by-minute decisions made with the knowledge that the world is bigger than any one person. Through the comments of these committed educators, we see realistic actions that can be taken—actions dedicated to making students aware that their lives are more than a simple ideology.

     >>>TAKEAWAY #2: Students First--When a teacher or coach or counselor or administrator makes it a point to let students know that their lives and their intellect are meaningful and can be used for a greater good, those educators have a positive influence on countless lives. Sadly, respondents in the “Transforming Education” series also shared some examples of the opposite experience--the unnecessary criticism leveled by an education professional on students in ways that made those students feel inferior and reduced their sense of purpose. 

     Educators are not perfect…they make mistakes like lawyers, doctors, athletes, mechanics, politicians and other professionals do. They may not even be aware of their negativity in the moment and the lasting impact it can have on individual lives. But they must be made aware! There are ways to do that, to assist educators who need to have their purpose adjusted, and those methods must be implemented in order to bring teaching to a new level of professionalism--a level that is essential and is already being implemented by many in the field. 

     I believe that educators want to reach their students in a positive manner. They recognize their opportunity to change lives in a moment and to guide students as they consider their future. We see from the responses in the series that everyone, when reflecting on their own experiences as students, had both positive and negative experiences. But let’s focus on the positive, the responses that show how teachers can shape lives through simple, consistent, personalized interactions.  Transformation occurs primarily by keeping students in mind as the priority rather than the goals of politicians.

>>>TAKEAWAY #3: The Times Are (Always) Changing--Old methods of instruction are being outmoded. Relax!That does not mean that every teacher needs to become a technology expert. However, it does mean that the reality needs to be faced--kids today are tech-driven, and in the “Transforming Education” series various statements show ways in which new, more engaging methods of learning can be implemented. 

     Sure, educators should try to do things that take kids away from their technology—to engage them in conversation, to stimulate their on-the-spot thinking, to help them realize that they are MORE than their technology. But that can be done while also engaging them to use technology in creative ways--perhaps to develop videos that correlate to a piece of literature or to elaborate on a historical event or to encourage them to explore cutting-edge areas of science. The educators in this series, and the others out there like them, have those creative ideas but they MUST be given the opportunity to explore and implement them without fear of political reprisal.

     Society moves on as time moves on. New experiences impact and shape daily lives. Our cars are different. Our methods of payment for daily needs are different. Our social interactions are different. Yesterday’s science fiction is today’s reality. The respondents in the series make us realize that things also change in education and, therefore, educators and education itself must change in order to match the times and the experiences of the youths we serve.      

>>>TAKEAWAY #4: Teachers Deserve Respect…and Higher Pay--Various responses in the series also touch upon the ongoing lack of respect for teachers in particular and educators in general. This has to change. Anyone who actually believes that teaching--real teaching--is easy has never actually done it!!! Teachers are pretty much on stage for several hours per day in front of the toughest "audience" imaginable--young people whose active minds are ready to be engaged and are easily distracted. 

    As is noted in some responses, too often teachers are viewed as having an "easy" schedule--"only" working nine months of the year, summers "off," etc. That is nonsense!!!  Teachers who are deeply engaged in their work put in countless hours during the school year and during summer month studying, preparing, creating, learning. It is a nonstop process, and it is a process that requires the highest levels of professionalism

     Yet the average public school teacher salary in the United States is approximately $64,000, a figure that varies significantly by state and locale.  (Members of Congress and the Supreme Court receive well into three-times that amount, along with staff, retirement, and various other benefits.) Teacher benefits such as health care, retirement, IRA contributions also vary widely with some states and localities not providing pensions at all. 

     The knee-jerk reaction to improving teacher pay and related issues is that there are not enough measures in place to determine how effective teacher performance is, so providing increased benefits and pay across the board would reward even those who are not reaching high levels of professionalism. Perhaps to the surprise of many, I agree that there should be measures in place to ensure that teachers are performing at the most effective levels possible, and an answer is in front of us: 

     Series respondent Peggy Brookins heads the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, an organization that has established the highest levels of teaching performance as developed by educators and researchers in their respective fields for more than 30 years! Implementing those standards nationally would provide goals for teachers to reach, the possibility for incentivized compensation for teachers who reach those goals, and the requirement that every few years teachers must show that they are continuing to perform at the highest levels of those evolving standards. 

     Teachers deserve to be treated, evaluated, and compensated as professionals, but the standards that they are to reach cannot be established by politicians operating in isolation of the profession. The members of the profession themselves can--and have--established those standards. All that is required now is implementing a process for transformation. 

>>>TAKEAWAY #5: CHANGE IS POSSIBLE!!! This series will continue indefinitely because too many people seem to believe that meaningful change in education is either unattainable or can only come from outside sources. Every person has some experience, at the very least, as a student. But those singular experiences do not comprise the total reality! Read the insights in “Transforming Education” in order to get at least a taste of the complexity that goes into teaching, school administration, and education reform. There is no singular experience, no personal solution—education is so much bigger than the singular. It is about many; it is about thousands of individual decisions made by educators and students daily; it is about understanding that the real world is larger than any one person’s reality.

     Certainly, given the system in which we live where political realities tend to drive other realities, we should not ignore the potential impact of politicians on the decisions that need to be made to help transform education. However, those politicians should not venture into the unknown. They should make a commitment to spend significant time inside school buildings, talking to teachers and administrators, observing the incredible diversity in the student body, and meeting with education-reform organizations to gain a personal, detailed insight into what those organizations do and how they might help in the transformation.

     Change is essential. Change is overdue. Change requires thoughtful, insightful, experiential action.  With that, then yes: Change IS possible!

Your Thoughts/Comments? Write to chuckwrites@yahoo.com

Copyright: Chuck Cascio; all rights reserved.

      

 

 

In Memory of Brig Owens: Football Legend and So Much More

IN MEMORY OF BRIG OWENS—

An Outstanding Football Player and So Much More

By

Chuck Cascio

     Fifty years ago, a 25-year-old freelance writer and would-be-author heard of a summer camp that was being sponsored and run by some members of the then-called Washington Redskins football team. The camp was designed to help needy kids, mainly from inner-city areas, have a brief but significant experience outside of their city in a semi-rural setting. The youths would spend several days and nights together under the supervision of a few dedicated members of the Washington football team. The purpose of the camp was not just to teach football—though informal instruction was part of each day—but also to give the kids the chance to experience and enjoy a different taste of life, something far removed from the heated sidewalks of the city. 

      Brig Owens was the player who most aggressively recruited kids to attend the camp and he was determined to make the camp meaningful in many ways to all of them. And I was the aspiring, nobody freelancer who wrote the story thanks to Brig accepting my request to spend a day at the camp.

     Brig’s death on June 21, 2022 at the age of 79 hit me hard, but much more important is the fact that his passing serves as reminder of all the good that can be done by one person who commits his life to helping others. 

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     For Brig, my feature story provided publicity and possible additional funding for a camp that helped thousands of kids over the years. For me, it was a step toward recognition as a young reporter. For us both, it was the start of a friendship that led to a book entitled Over the Hill to the Super Bowl that we co-wrote based on Brig’s diary of the 1972 Washington football season, the first year the Washington team ever went to the Super Bowl. That friendship lasted throughout the 50 years that have passed, and it also led to a book that will be released this fall by Temple University Press. The book, written by the late Ed Garvey who served as executive director of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) from 1971-1983, details how Brig, who earned his law degree after retiring from football in 1977, and other players committed themselves to developing the strength of the NFLPA. Brig used his experience and expertise to raise the level of pay, benefits, and ultimately respect for athletes who too often in the 1970s and ’80s and were taken for granted and treated unfairly.

     Brig’s name and his jersey number, 23, are featured on a wall of Fedex Field, the now Washington Commanders home turf, and Brig was inducted into the Washington Ring of Fame for his outstanding career as strong safety with 36 career interceptions and countless key plays. Sure, I will remember him for his on-field intelligence, speed, toughness and game-changing plays. But I will also remember him for his willingness to work with me over the years, and for his determination to improve his own life, the lives of his wife and two daughters, the lives of fellow athletes, and the lives of countless others.

     Brig Owens remains an example of the value of positive commitment. He was an outstanding quarterback, punter, and placekicker for the University of Cincinnati, where he was inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame. But at a time when Black players were not viewed as prospective professional quarterback prospects regardless of their outstanding collegiate accomplishments, Brig was moved to the position of safety in 1965 when he was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys, who placed him on the taxi squad and then traded him to Washington. Not one of the greatest moves by the Cowboys, to say the least!

     When writing our book Over the Hill to the Super Bowl in 1972, Brig would occasionally stop by my home to drop off the secretly-recorded audiotapes he was making on which he detailed the team’s practices and preparations for games. He always played with my two-year-old son, Marc, who knew he was in the midst of a guy who actually played pro football on TV! My younger son, Ross, came to know of Brig a couple of years later as Brig's accomplishments continued to accumulate.

     At other times, I would drive to Redskins Park, located at the time in Herndon, VA, and park at the far end of the lot so Brig could drop his audiotapes off to me without anyone noticing. When the book was published after the season following the close Super Bowl loss to the undefeated Miami Dolphins, Brig did not back away from interviews. There was concern among some in the press and some players that Washington coach George Allen would be upset over the secretly published content. However, Brig viewed it as his personal right to have the book published and given Brig’s character and, of course, his on-field skills, Allen never openly challenged the book’s publication.

     Brig’s belief in players’ personal rights was evident in his involvement as a player representative to the NFLPA and then as assistant executive director of that organization. He was a leader in the fight for players’ salaries, pensions, and other benefits. For football players, there will always be a debt owed to Brig and to others who believe in equal rights on and off the field. 

     Brig was not a man driven by a quest for personal recognition. First and foremost, Brig was a man who saw that through his position, intellect, and personal drive, he could contribute to the benefit of others. So that is what he did. And that will be Brig Owens’ lasting legacy.

Copyright: Chuck Cascio; all rights reserved.

Reach me at chuckwrites@yahoo.com; @ChuckCascio on Twitter; Chuck Cascio on Facebook.

 

 

Transforming Education: Tenth in a series

TRANSFORMING EDUCATION TODAY
(Tenth in a Series of Interviews with Education Leaders)
Featuring Hollee Freeman,

Education Reform Innovator

Note from Chuck Cascio: Given the difficult issues facing educators today in the USA, I have been running a series in which I contact established educators and request their insights, in their own words, on a number of vitally important education issues. Readers who would like to comment on the views expressed may email me at chuckwrites@yahoo.com. My Twitter handle is @ChuckCascio. Not all comments will be responded to by me and/or the individuals interviewed, but all will be read and, if appropriate, forwarded to others engaged in meaningful education reform. I am pleased to present as the tenth interview in this series the views of dynamic education reform innovator Hollee Freeman, whose profile follows:

     Hollee Freeman, PhD, is a career educator specializing in Science Technology Education and Mathematics (STEM), equity, and educational access. Hollee is the Executive Director of the MathScience Innovation Center in Richmond, VA, where she combines her love of STEM content with curriculum development and hands-on programming for students and adults. 

     Hollee owns and operates Freeman Educational & Business Consulting where she provides writing services for individuals and businesses. She also conducts creative writing classes, book studies, and more. Hollee has authored numerous professional book chapters and articles focused on educational reform, teaching, gender equity and STEM. Hollee is a self-published author of a children’s book entitled Muddy Ballerinas (available in English and Spanish). Her just-published books, Muddy Ballerinas and the Big Bowling Party and Beekeeping Besties--An Apiary Adventure, are available on Amazon and at https://holleefreeman.com

     A hobbyist photographer who specializes in nature-based images, Hollee has shared her photography in art shows and cafes including: The Nutty Buttery Café, ArtWorks, Rigby's Jig, and The Broad.  Hollee is also a beekeeper, cyclist, and voracious reader. She dances with Claves Unidos and volunteers on several the community boards of several organizations including ArtSpace, Bridge Park, The Richmond Public Library, and The Innerwork Center.

     You can learn more about Hollee by watching her TEDx talk (https://youtu.be/ZEi03HojVi8) and by visiting her website https://holleefreeman.com/.

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>>>Recalling your own life as a student, going back as far as you would like, what do you remember as the most positive and most negative educational influences for you personally?

     I remember spending a lot of time on my grandparents’ farm in Prince George, Virginia. I really came to

know the value of farming but also the value of environmental education and nature. I learned how to make

things grow and how to take care of flowers, fruit, vegetables, and animals. I learned to look closely at weather

 patterns, temperature and goings-on in nature.

      I have carried this love of science and math and a deep connection to nature with me for my whole life. I also vividly remember fishing, doing artwork, and making wallets and belts out of leather.  These experiences all contributed to my love of learning and creating, and I work hard to create spaces for students to have similar experiences as well. 

     When I was in high school, I really learned the value of being a leader and engaging in independent and self-sustaining learning experiences. I'll never forget doing research for a class on African-American poets; my teacher accepted my proposal and developed a full-fledged class that was added to our repertoire! 

     As a high school student, I also took classes at the Math & Science Center, where I am now the Executive Director. These classes were built on a deep exploration of math and science ideas and learning in community (our own Math & Science community and the community at large). The classes had a deep and profound impact on the kind of educator that I am to this day. 

     The only difficult learning experience that I had during my formal educational experience was when I went to Columbia University. Coming from a very progressive high school and simply seeing the university’s architecture (Lowe Library in particular, filled with names of authors of the so-called great works) on the frieze was enough to throw me into full-blown imposter syndrome. I knew how to learn but I did not enter Columbia with the requisite knowledge that many other students had in high school regarding the "great works" as well as how to navigate a hierarchical way of working and being.  I made my way through close friendships, tutoring to “catch up” and independent learning, but it wasn’t until I started my Masters degree at Bank Street (and doctorate at Boston College) that I really felt like my learning style and way of working was valued again. 

     I continue to be a learner and engage in activities where I learn something new and also where I can create space for students and adults to explore their connection to the world, to each other, and to themselves. 

>>>Can you identify an educator (or educators) who provided you with uniquely positive insights into subject matter as well as teaching style? If so, please explain what made them unique.

     Fortunately, I started interning at the Columbia Greenhouse Nursery School and then was offered my first teaching job by Julie Diamond at the Westside Community School (a progressive school within a school in NYC). These experiences on-boarded me to the academic (and more technical) aspect of the learning style and philosophy that I learned with my dad and in other earlier learning experiences. 

      I remember sitting down and going over my curriculum unit with Leslie Alexander, Director of the Muscota New School (NYC) where I worked as an elementary classroom teacher. While talking about my ideas for my science curriculum, she continued to ask me questions about reading, art, music, culture, etc. that I could incorporate. This conversation gave me pause and made me think more deeply about making cross-curricular connections for myself and for students. 

     While at Muscota, I was part of the North Dakota Study Group and the Prospect Center for Education and Research. These experiences provided a diversity of thought around educational issues and also demanded that we observe student work closely and to work from an asset model rather than a deficit model of understanding students, what they think and how they orient themselves to learning. 

     I have had a whole lineup of amazing educators who have been role models, mentors and colleagues. I have worked at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the Technical Education Research Center, the Boston Teacher Residency, and consulted/led learning experiences in public, private, rural, suburban and urban schools across the United States. Each of these experiences added more specific and unique tools to my toolbox while affirming my role and stance as a progressive educator. 

>>>Identify a couple of accomplishments that you and/or members of your school and/or organization achieved that you feel have had a lasting impact on education.

     When I was preparing for an interview with the Math/Science Innovation Center, I decided to call the organization to see if I could get a tour. I did not share that I was an interviewee. I simply asked if I could have a tour to get a better idea of the programming and space. I was told that a tour was not possible since I was not a member of the consortium. So I elected to drive by a few times to take a look (from the outside) at how and who was using the space. 

     I was awarded the job as Executive Director a few weeks later, and I vowed to myself and the Governing Board that the conversation I had about a tour would never happen again for ANY member of the community—not the consortium, but the community because I believed that this regional STEM center should be open and available to all. 

     During my 10-year tenure at the Math/Science Innovation Center, the team and I increased the number of Black and Latino students who had access to the programming and other (vast) resources that the Center offers. We created satellite centers in communities that were further away in order to mitigate the issue of transportation to put STEM programming in their own neighborhoods. This included libraries and schools. We created programming delivered in Spanish and partnered with HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges & Universities) to create a pipeline of STEM students in undergraduate education and careers.  We partnered with Career and Technical Education Centers, NASCAR, and other organizations to create a space for learning that did not necessarily explicitly exist for all students in the region. 

     To do this work required developing trusted partnerships and raising capital. I was hard at work on a grant to provide access for 200 K-12 students in an under-resourced town in Central Virginia to participate in our summer programs held at a local community college. When I was notified of the grant award, I rushed to my secret spot (my bathroom) and cried. I was so overwhelmed with joy that these Black, Indigenous, and People of Color(BIPOC) students, in particular, would have access to robust, engaging STEM programming, where they otherwise would not. 

     During the program, I remember seeing a White student from a rural town and a Black student from the city lying on the floor, side-by-side working on a rocket project. It was not just the project that stopped me in my tracks but the fact that they were talking about lots of other topics as well. I thought to myself, were it not for this program, right here at this time, these students, and other students like them, might never have met. Furthermore, they would not have had an opportunity to get to know each other. As we talk about multicultural, multi-talented teams in the workplace, experiences like this will get us there and make our products better, our work places better, our humanity stronger. 

>>>What do you see as the major challenges in education today?

     I see the major challenge in education today as being the extreme dichotomy that communities have regarding access to educational resources. This dichotomy has always existed. However, the issue has been made more clear with the onset of the pandemic when we saw which families had the resources to mobilize learning pods for their neighborhoods and which families did not. Consequently, this severe difference in educational access to resources has also shown the very present through-line concerning the connection between chasms in technology access, use of time, health and wellness, transportation and workforce issues, to name a few. 
>>>
Has the remote learning that started as a result of the pandemic become entrenched as a new direction that education will take and, if so, could it have a positive impact?

     I’m not convinced that remote learning will become entrenched as a new direction for education. Remote learning may be more readily offered post-pandemic, but I hesitate to say that it will be a long-term, viable modus operandi for K-8 education. While, I know that remote learning provides a type of ease for some students who perform better and are more comfortable using remote learning platforms, it leaves many students in an untenable situation. 

     A large part of schooling is socialization. That is greatly diminished through remote learning. In my own experience teaching remotely, there is a different (and for me, unwelcomed) part of teaching in which you are interacting with blank or black squares rather than students' own faces. Moreover, even when all students are “video-on,” the level of interaction is stunted. It is more difficult to use body language to convey information and working in cooperative groups just isn’t the same. Technically, remote learning allows instructors and teachers to convey information but the adaptive portion of teaching is not (and cannot be) built into remote learning platforms. 

     All of this is to say that, yes, remote learning has provided positive impact and outcomes for some students. However, many students have been negatively impacted given the lack of in-person support that instructors and other faculty in schools provide. I think that most teachers and students want to return to in-person schooling. I, for one, do so as well. 

Copyright: Chuck Cascio and Hollee Freeman; all rights reserved

Your thoughts are always welcome; please send to chuckwrites@yahoo.com