All white men should apologize for the carnage we have rained down on America. After all, since 1982, 55% of all mass shootings in the United States were committed by white men. I feel like I must apologize for the mass murder in Las Vegas, Nevada this week. The shooter was a 64-year-old white male. I am a 65-year-old white male and feel some sense of obligation to everyone affected by the carnage that was committed by someone who – outwardly – looks like me. The perpetrator is reported to have been relatively wealthy, a gambler, owned multiple guns, and lived in the American southwest – none of which apply to me. I doubt he was a Quaker, but of that I am not certain. That shouldn’t make a difference. By all outward appearances, he is just like me: white, mid 60’s and male. So, I am compelled to apologize.
I expect all my mid-60s white male peers to apologize, as well. In fact, all white men should apologize for the carnage we have rained down on America. After all, since 1982, 55% of all mass shootings in the United States were committed by white men. When I first heard about the massacre in Nevada I prayed that the gunman wasn’t identified as a white male. Not another one, I thought to myself and prayed. But alas, the killer was another white male. And again – I must apologize. Isn’t that what we expect when these things happen? If the gunman was black or a Muslim or a Latino, wouldn’t we expect the leaders of the black or Muslim or Latino community to make a public statement affirming how they despise this type of violence and confirming to the broader population that these actions are not condoned nor are they representative of the black or Muslim or Latino community as a whole? If the perpetrator of the largest mass-murder in American history was a black male or a Muslim male or a Latino male, would it not cause all black or Muslim or Latino people to pause for concern? Concern that they would somehow have to “own” the actions of the murderer because – outwardly – he looked like them. Concern that the broader population would become overcome with fear and hate and resort to violence against them as a people in retaliation for the blood caused by “one of theirs”. Would the black, Latino or Muslim community need to worry that there would be political ramifications as a result of these killings such as a threat of deportation, or a ban on entering the country, or some special corrections sentencing specific to their demographic profile? But since the shooter was a white male, our black, Muslim and Latino friends cannot be held accountable. The shooter was a white male. I’m a white male, and I apologize. It’s the right thing to do.
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Many white people don’t want to live beside people of color. When said this directly it seems obvious. A community does not create laws and erect barriers with the express purpose of keeping people out unless they just don’t want to live next to them. What is the root cause of the racial and economic segregation in southeastern Wisconsin?
In the world of process improvement, there is a tool used by practitioners to identify the “root cause” of a problem. The tool is called the “5 Why” exercise. To do this you basically define a problem and then ask “Why” five or so times until you identify the core element driving the issue. I use this 5 Why exercise in my work when helping communities understand the root cause of the issues they face such as an increase in child protective service actions or lackluster reading scores. I thought it would be helpful to apply this tool to the problem of racial and economic segregation in southeastern Wisconsin. A picture of the completed exercise is provided at the head of this article. The first step of this exercise is to clearly and factually define the problem. The problem statement I used is this: “Of the 100 most populous regions in the United States, Milwaukee ranked first in Black-White segregation, second in Latino-White segregation and 35th in economic segregation.” The next step is to ask “Why”? Why does Milwaukee rank so high among the 100 most populous regions of the country? I came up with three reasons for the ranking:
From my perspective, the answer is the same for all three: Many white people do not want to live beside people of color in southeastern Wisconsin. And now the hard question: Why do so many white people not want to live beside people of color in southeastern Wisconsin? Before I answer that question from my perspective I am compelled to provide a few caveats. First, this is not a condemnation of all white people. And it certainly isn’t an attempt to create a sense of guilt or to point the finger of blame. All I am trying to do is take a hard and honest look at the root cause of discrimination in southeastern Wisconsin. When I search my heart, I cannot identify any core reason for the restrictive laws other than what I have stated: Many white people don’t want to live beside people of color. When said this directly it seems obvious. A community does not create laws and erect barriers with the express purpose of keeping people out unless they just don’t want to live next to them. If we aspire to be one community, then eventually we must answer this critical question: What is the root cause for why white people don’t want to live beside people of color in our region? I can come up with two reasons. First, I think people are afraid. They believe that something will be taken away from them and some part of their life will be diminished if they live and raise their children in a racially and economically integrated environment. Second, there is no real sense of a moral imperative. The fear people feel overrides any faith dictate to “love my neighbor as myself” or to put faith into action. In 1957 when Dr. Martin Luther King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he did so with the stated purpose of working to save the soul of America. That was King’s analysis of the solution to racial and economic discrimination sixty years ago, and I believe it is the same today. The soul of America is crippled with fear and the faith of America is held hostage to that fear. That, I believe is the root cause of discrimination and segregation in southeastern Wisconsin. We allow our fear to quiet the leadings of our better angels. The answer I believe, is to delve deeply into the teachings of our faith traditions. There, we will find a mandate to love our neighbor as ourselves, said in a myriad of ways by a wide variety of spiritual leaders. When we renew our faith, we will have quelled our fears. When we renew our faith, we will have healed our souls and in the process, we will have healed the soul of America. Theft and murder through a vote has the same impact on the innocent as theft and murder from a gun. Only, the perpetrator with the gun is honest about his intent. The Republican health care proposal reminds me of one of those 1950s westerns like Shane, where the greedy cattle baron hires a gang of thugs to harass and even murder the struggling homesteaders so that the baron can steal their land and expand his empire.
What the Republicans are planning to do is the same as the cattle barons and it needs to be called out for what it is: theft and murder. Because it is done with a piece of legislation doesn’t make it any more right or any less lethal than if it was carried out with thugs carrying guns. I cannot fathom how anyone with a heart or a conscience can possibly vote for either version of the Republican plan that throws up to 24 million people out of health care coverage and decreases Medicaid by $800 Billion to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. Reputable studies predict that tens of thousands of people will needlessly die each year as a result of the Republican health care changes. Please tell me how anyone can vote for this bill knowing that so many will suffer and die as a result. Supporters of plan like to pretend that this won’t happen, but the evidence is abundantly clear to the contrary. In defense of their plan, Republicans like to say that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is failing and something needs to be done. Obamacare is not failing, but it does need to be enhanced. Unfortunately, the Republican approach to this problem is akin to taking your car to the auto shop to fix a flat tire, only to have your mechanic come out and tell you that they repaired the tire, but they had to remove the motor, figuring you can get along just fine without it if you find someone to push your car to wherever you want to go. It is clear that the Republican health care plan isn’t at all about health care. It is about stealing Medicaid benefits away from the poor in order to provide unneeded dollars to the wealthy. It is about taking health care away from millions of people without acknowledging or perhaps without even caring that tens of thousands will die each year as a result. This is a social sin of the highest magnitude. I don’t say this with hyperbole. I say it because tens of thousands of people will die EACH YEAR as a result of this pending decision. I know I’m repeating myself, but this is a big deal. To put this in perspective, the Bradley Center in the city of Milwaukee holds just over 19,000 people. I think there would be a significant outrage if 19,000 people were marched into the Bradley Center each year and then killed. Year after year. So why not the same outrage over the Republican proposal that will produce the same result? Writers of the letter of Romans in the New Testament tell us that where there is great sin, there is also abundant grace. I am trying to see the abundant grace in this situation. Perhaps it is found in the care and camaraderie shown for those whose lives will be threatened when they lose their health care. Perhaps it is in the vast numbers of people who are standing up to these legislators and demanding that they walk away from this atrocity of a health care plan. As I have written previously, the kingdom of God will only manifest itself through our actions. We can’t pray and wait for divine intervention on this. We can’t sit around waiting for someone like Shane to show up and save us. Our future is in our own hands. Call your legislators and tell them that they will be held accountable for the theft of Medicaid from the poor and the murder of tens of thousands who will die each year from their actions. Theft and murder through a vote has the same impact on the innocent as theft and murder from a gun. Only, the perpetrator with the gun is honest about his intent. God leads us to our larger calling by walking with us as we listen and take small and often uncertain steps I used to fret and pray on this question quite a bit: How does one know what we are called to do on this earth? For a time, I was paralyzed by the quandary that I didn’t know what it was God wanted from me. But other times, I would become frightened over the very idea that I could believe God had any plan for me at all; certain that my ego was in full take control mode and had run amok. Now, not so much.
Through daily prayer, meditation and journaling, I have slowly come to the realization that God does indeed call each of us, but our clarity on that calling is only known in retrospect. To understand our sense of calling we need to be prayerful and discerning. But most importantly, we must have the courage to act on what it is we feel called to do. If you are looking for a formula that works – or at least works for me - it is this: Pray. Discern. Act. We may hear God faintly and ignore the nudge, believing it is our own ego needs being voiced. The Quakers have a simple and practical response to the question of whether it is God leading us or are we hearing just one of thousands of our own daily thoughts. Quakers start with the belief that God dwells within each person and guides us in big ways and in small. Quakers acknowledge that understanding God’s voice within is a challenge and one that can rarely be discerned with certainty in the moment. But it is here – in the moment of uncertainty - that the Quaker practicality takes over. If a Quaker believes he or she might, possibly, maybe be called by God, then the best thing to do is to act on the sense of calling. Act on it and don’t fret about the consequences. Act on it and see if the “way opens or closes”. If the way opens, then keep moving. If the way closes, then sit back and listen more deeply. It is only by acting on our sense of call that we ultimately understand its origin; whether it is God sent or ego driven. I’ll share another insight with you. I stopped looking for the grandiose call from God; the one that I hoped would set my life on a straight and chosen path. Was I supposed to be an advocate on behalf of the poor? Was I meant to be an organizer and teach others how organizing brings power and only power brings change? Was my path to be one of spiritual guidance? Or was it none of the above and I was asked only to be a good father and good husband in my family and not worry about the rest? I have now come to believe that God leads us to our larger calling by walking with us as we listen and take small and often uncertain steps. My eleven-month-old granddaughter has decided that it is more important for her to learn to talk than to walk. She can crawl in turbo mode to get where she wants to go and she can climb onto the couch, the window sill and any other place that will send her father and mother into a panic, but her concentration seems to be in learning to communicate. She knows one word which is “more” indicating that she is hungry and wants more to eat. But she thinks she can talk like a drivetime DJ with too much coffee as she jabbers away. She is the first child, so her parents believe she is the brightest and cutest child on earth and they encourage her to continue “talking”. They will laugh with her, talk back to her, let her know that what she is saying in her gibberish is just the most charming and insightful comment an eleven-month old could possibly make. By the actions and reaction of her parents, our granddaughter Ava is learning to be confident and bold in her mission to talk. I believe God guides us in the same way. We are led, one step at a time. We are loved, encouraged and guided. And, we must follow our own desire, expecting that it is in sync with the desire God has for each of us. I no longer wonder if I am being called by God. I know I am guided by God each day. My faith is not evidenced in hearing the call of God, but by my action to the call. A popular quote erroneously attributed to St. Francis of Assisi reflects well this approach to the call of God: “Preach the gospel at all times. And when necessary, use words.” |
AuthorMichael Soika has been a community activist for more than 30 years working on issues of social and economic justice. His work for justice is anchored by his spiritual formation first as a Catholic and now as a Quaker. Archives
June 2018
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