On Losing Einsteins

Talent vs Access

A post about the minor misperceptions that allow us to fail, punish, incarcerate, kill and destroy hearts and minds.

The so called "black" community likely has a lot of fear, anger, and distrust of our society and history as well as current situations justify that. Two hundred and forty six years of slavery (including stealing people from their homes, prohibiting their native languages, prohibiting their education, beating, killing, raping as well as separating families repeatedly to destroy any sense of family or community.) Follow this with one hundred years of Jim Crow laws that included denied access to voting, running for office, education, opening a business, fraternizing, making friends with or, God forbid, being romantically involved with so called "white" people. These regulations were enforced with brutal violence, threats, terrorism, rape, and murder and they were almost always backed by the full support of local, state, and national authorities. Finally, the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act promised, at least legal, equality. That was 1965. We’re at about 56 years of legal equality in the US. Damage done to the psyche of all Americans in the first three hundred and forty six years does not disappear instantly at the stroke of a pen on a law. Open racist violence still persists. Unconscious biases by all Americans still persists. Systems that reward "decency" and "hard work" in incarceration records, education records, and work experience often ignore the fact that not all people in the US have access to the same perceptions by police officers and judges. Not all people have the same access to quality legal representation or even basic legal advise such as - never speak to the police. Not all people have access to decent schools or workplace experience opportunities. So, when we say we live in or are aiming for a meritocratic society - is that really true?

Being the “Other”

Similar arguments could be made for the mistreatment of women, Latinos, homosexuals, transgender people, so many immigrant waves of the past, any poor person or family, and any other "other" in our society.

In reverse, society has a lot of fear, anger, and distrust concerning "others". This, however slight it is in most people, misunderstanding of each other leads to a greater average frequency of negative or downright tragic events happening to people relegated to the position of "other". For some, this is experience is localized in time or space. If I go to a fundraising dinner for my kid's sports team but my kid is on a team where many of the parents are wealthy and I am not - I will feel that. But I will be able to return to my spaces and friends and feel "normal". Of course, some "others" may have far less refuge than some other "others". They may feel alien in most spaces in our society. This is what I, personally, call systemic or institutional bias. That slight edge of mistrust leads to a few more calls to the principals office, a few more suspensions, a few more police interactions, a few more incarcerations, a few more deaths… This, in turn, leads to difference in overall access, wealth accumulation, thinner and less dependable networks of support, etc. These differences then amplify feelings of distrust, fear, and anger allowing further division in the larger community to which we all belong and the cycle continues in a negative feedback cycle. This is why most “other” groups have stats that reveal a cause for concern about equality in America.

Blame

If you think it's all the cops fault - you're probably wrong. If you think it's all the kids fault - you're probably wrong. If you understand what I wrote above, then you know that what happens in our schools, streets, and courtrooms is due to systemic racism and it happens all the time and that is why the black community is so frustrated. If you refuse to understand or see this problem or even appreciate the plight of the "others" in America by claiming racism is dead or sexism is over or simplifying the case into something like "that cop is a racist" or "that punk deserved it", then I truly believe you are actually one of the central pieces of this problem.

For women, maybe it is the feeling that they are not being heard, that they are being seen as a sex object, or that they are perceived to have some skills and not others. For men, maybe it is the feeling that they must save face, they must look strong, they must win. For Latinos, maybe it is the feeling that they are unwelcome, that they're  here to ‘service’ the Americans, that they are not Americans at all… What do these small, slight inferences do to us all? They divide us. They pigeonhole us. They make certain paths easy and accessible while they fill other paths with the obstacles of other people's expectations.

Einstein was detained by the border patrol. The next great discovery will have to wait

TLDR. One out of every million people (or whatever the numbers are…) is another Einstein, another Michael Jordan, another Mark Twain, another whoever…. another valuable asset that our society could broadly benefit from. With the tragic and brutal history of the world, it might be true that the numbers are way better than that. It might even be one in a hundred!! But since we have never truly experienced an equal access, multicultural democracy with core values of peace, honesty, trust, equality, and a commitment to helping each individual find a path to self actualization - we have no idea. Maybe the next Einstein is a Puerto Rican kid who goes to an underfunded school in the Bronx. Maybe the next Jordan is a white kid in Tennessee whose parents and community don’t like him playing with “those kids”... Maybe the girl who just has a knack for cars would be that really great mechanic that you can go to and trust - but she won’t be because she is on a college bound track in HS that makes her miserable and she just ‘doesn’t get’ why she hates going to school and why she's "so dumb"… Maybe the doctor that could have saved you from a heart attack and allowed you to live long enough to see your grandchildren will be a careless entitled kid who's dad made him go to medical school even though he really wanted to play music.

Biases are not harmless... they’re destroying all of us and we are losing our Einsteins.

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Al B. Einstein Productions