A Call to Action

 I'm breaking a rule today.  For those who know me - especially my social media presence - I use social media as an escape.  I like to stay in contact with family and friends.  I enjoy connecting with former students and their families.  I follow organizations for which I am interested such as antique tractors, scuba diving, whirligigs, history, etc...  (Secretly, I don't even mind an occasional stupid pet trick!)  You get the idea.  Today, however, I am breaking that rule.  Today I intend to be bold and maybe in some people's eyes, a bit controversial.  1.) If this offends you, please just scroll along.  I will not be responding to any negative comments.  2.) If you are moved to action then I have met my goal.  Finally, much of what I post or discuss is totally appropriate for young students, the age I worked with the most in my teaching career.  This post, however, is not appropriate for younger children.  Thank you for understanding.

My request is really quite simple - read this book.  Read Caste, The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.   Humanity as we know it depends on it.

I mean that.  Find it, borrow it, buy it, download it, acquire it.  I don't really care how you get to it, but please read Caste.

We've all had friends or colleagues recommend books to us.  I suppose I'm about 50/50 in taking those suggestions.  This book is an absolute must-read.  If you're uncomfortable reading it, good.  I was too.  If you're offended, good.  I was too.  If you're pained by it, good.  I was too.  If you're too busy to read it, make time.  I was too busy as well, but I recently completed a study of Caste with two friends.  Nothing I have ever read has moved me more.  Nothing I have ever read has provoked more thinking on who we are as a society.  Nothing I have ever read has put more of a laser focus on why our country is currently so divided.  Nothing I have ever read has left me longing for more answers and searching for hope as to why our nation has become so polarized.

What has happened in our country?  Read Caste.  Why is there a lack of basic decency in our political arenas?  Read Caste.  How is it that so many in our country are willing to accept a major news channel where false statements and misinformation are told over and over about our voting processes, deceiving the American people as evidenced in a legal settlement to the tune of 787 million dollars?  Read Caste.  How is it possible one of our two major political parties will soon be nominating a candidate for president of our country who still denies the 2020 election results in which NO court or official agency has found any evidence of fraud that would have changed the outcome of the election?  Read Caste.  How can normal, ordinary citizens look the other way, excusing inhumane behavior while continuing to support a presidential candidate who bullies others, who uses incredibly vile names to describe immigrants, who tells lies, who brags about sexually assaulting women, who degrades disabled veterans and gold star families?  Read Caste.  How is it possible we have allowed this candidate and those who support him to forget the insurrection on January 6th of our nation's capitol where our law enforcement officers were attacked and resulted in deaths - yes, deaths?  Read Caste.  How have religious zealots perverted Jesus's message of love and forgiveness to create an aura of self-righteousness and Christian nationalism that is filled with hate and contempt?  Read Caste.  

Yes, read Caste.

I am not a politician.  Like many of us, I don't fully understand political science and policy making.  I am (I hope) a humble, retired public school educator who worked with children for 30+ years, and I do understand that our youth are watching us for guidance and as role models.  In these challenging times our young people are looking to us to see how we will be caretakers of our democracy.  Is our country perfect?  Of course not.  Caste taught me that while our generation has not created many of the current cracks in our political systems, we do have a moral obligation to repair our country - to make it a “more perfect union” for ALL.  Democracy, of course, depends on truth, compassion, collaboration, and compromise.  It feels to me like some in our nation have agreed to deny the truth, forget about compassion, and only collaborate to maintain a status quo.  

Who notices the status quo?

I remember taking a call from a parent who was lamenting that kids were swearing on the school playground.  As much as I wished I could totally control the words kids were using on the soccer field, we both snickered when I said, "And I promise you my staff is not teaching those words in our curriculum."  I share this story not to make light of our country's current issues but to highlight how keenly aware children are of what their parents and other adults in their lives accept and expect from them. Modeling is a remarkably effective pedagogical strategy.  Our kids are watching us. 

Watch this video.  Specifically, advance to the 2 minute mark and watch to the 4 minute mark.  As painful as this is to view, look closely as Adolf Hitler returns to Berlin from Paris in 1940.  Look at the cheers Hitler receives from the hundreds of thousands of German citizens.  Watch the young and the old.  Watch the women and men.  Watch everyone salute this evil despot and all he stands for.  Watch the normal, ordinary citizens.  Why watch this?  In 1940, German citizens absolutely knew what was happening to their Jewish neighbors.  Normal, ordinary citizens knew of the pain and hate being imposed on Jews.  Normal, ordinary citizens either agreed with or ignored the mistruths told to them by Nazis about Jews.  Normal, ordinary citizens allowed for the genocide of over 6 million people.  Normal, ordinary citizens either agreed with or ignored what Hitler and the Nazis were doing to their own neighbors.  Let's not forget, we are normal, ordinary citizens, too.  

While these sentiments and illustrations might sound quite heavy and overwhelming, Isabel Wilkerson does share ways in which everyone can take positive steps to bring healing and hope to our divided country and society.  Read Caste to learn about radical empathy and hope. There is always hope, but we must take action.  Read Caste.

We are responsible for our own ignorance or, with time and openhearted enlightenment, our own wisdom.  We are responsible for ourselves and our own deeds or misdeeds in our time and in our own space and will be judged accordingly by succeeding generations.  Caste, pg. 388

It is up to us to choose.  Future generations are depending on us.

Read Caste.

Thank you.

*Clearly the opinions stated here are my own.  Much of the content, however, is inspired by Isabel Wilkerson in Caste, The Origins of Our Discontents.  Finally, many thanks to my special friends, Sue and Judy, for their editing and inspiring support.