Bend
July 1, 2021
I didn’t pick the family to be born into. But so much of my life has been influenced by that. I didn’t pick my physical and mental capabilities — genes did that for me. I had no influence over the fact that I have two sisters and their husbands who have always been there for me. How different would my life be if I did not attend UVa but had instead gone to a community college — or not gone to college?
I am dancing around the hot button term of white privilege. I’m not trying to spin up anyone.
I saw homeless people in Bend yesterday. Sleeping on the sidewalk and a tent community off an exit of US 97 — on a dirt area between formed by the exit ramp. My first reaction was shock - in this affluent community on a very hot day?
I do feel lucky. Through the luck of the draw, I was born with a 99.9999 percent chance of not becoming homeless. I have had an incredible support system of family and friends throughout my life. I have had role models all along the way.
Others aren’t so lucky.
I am wrestling with what responsibilities does that mean I have. How can I help?
(BTW, the barn photo has absolutely nothing to do with this post.)
I give myself a C for my effectiveness in conveying my thoughts here. Maybe I will try again later.
One of the most eye-opening mini-lectures I would give my students was whether poverty causes crime or crimes causes poverty. Virtually all my students agreed with the former, and they were amazed to find out that it is the latter.
If poverty caused crime, then:
(1) very few crimes would be committed by middle-class or rich people, and we know that that is certainly not true;
(2) to blame poverty for crime is to insult the vast majority of poor people who never commit a crime in their lives and raise their children to be moral individuals;
(3) statistical evidence shows that migration from economic quintile-to-quintile was always robust and has only recently began to lessen on the lower en…
Yes, it was luck that gave you the parents you have, but it was their CHOICE to (1) stay together, (2) not abuse each other or drugs or alcohol, (3) teach their children a healthy respect for education, (4) impart their positive, Judeo-Christian-centered values to you, (5) push you toward a productive career; (6) effectively discipline you to respect others and work hard . . . I could go on and on.
The chances of ANYONE living in poverty if they (1) finish high school, (2) get a job, and (3) do not have children until they are married to their partner, is LESS THAN 2%. Not one of those items has a darn think to do with race …
I do not buy into the concept of privilege based upon a physical characteristic - ie as an example white privilege. Two very lucrative (although potentially short lived career spans) professions appear to made up disproportionately of one race. As an example, the racial composition of today's NBA player identified as 81% black and NFL players as 70% black (most current available data i could find). It is a fact that these fields of employment are disproportionately distributed by racial composition of the US. The current US government estimate from census data identifies 14% of population identifies as black. Conversely, being tall does not mean that you have an advantage over short people to make a successful career in th…