Fighting Persistent Discrimination

In the beginning, conquerors just killed or drove out the inhabitants of the land.  They justified their behavior, saying the natives were lesser creatures, sub-human, and owed no particular consideration.  Humanity has improved somewhat.

Social change through the centuries ...

slaughter

 slavery and indenture

  segregation and violent separation

   social and class isolation, discrimination, regulatory exclusion
     economic inequality and immobility

One common element remains unchanged through it all; the belief that 'they' are less worthy, somehow.  Such thinking persists across the centuries and continues today to produce new problems for 'them'.  The 'upper' person looks at the 'lower' and says things like, "they don't deserve," or, "not my problem."   The trigger might be race or ethnicity, economic status, or even manner of dress.  

Such thinking gives us 'shopping while black' and QOL policing practices, racial profiling and violent response problems, all of which are deeply troubling.  It goes on to provoke crime and gang cultures, rebellions against inequality and today's thinly veiled oppression. 

There's much more underlying criminal activity, of course, but the science is established.  Inequality and discrimination provoke protest, resistance, and violence.  Such was the root of the French revolution and dozens more in the 18th century.  It was the root of the women's rights movement,  the civil rights movements, and modern feminism.  There's more happening even now.  

So, either ...
 there are some who are 'above' others by virtue of race or culture or status ...
  those 'above' deserve greater freedom, power, wealth, opportunity ...
   their children deserve better food and care, better education and jobs and pay ...
Or ...
 all are indeed created equal ...
  all are equally deserving of respect, of opportunity, of a place ...

We can't have it both ways.  Either we will serve ourselves at the expense of others, or we will accept and make a place for others and treat them like we treat ourselves.


Economic inequality (the GAP) is today's most visible expression of that which plagues humankind.  It too can be conquered.

The GAP.   It's only one piece of the puzzle, but it needs to be acknowledged, understood, and addressed.

Monday, January 18, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 2016

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has spent a career thinking about how to address income inequality. One major reason: Dr. Martin Luther King.   Stiglitz says King saw the struggle for social justice as a battle not just against racial segregation and discrimination, but also as one for greater economic equality and justice for all Americans. 

In a recent book, Stiglitz examines the causes and consequences of an unequal society and offers solutions for what we can do about it. For this Martin Luther King Day, a conversation with Joseph Stiglitz on “The Great Divide” in America.  ~ on NPR Today