The Legacy of Slavery

The Atlantic has published another great article by Ta-Nehisi Coates called "The Case for Reparations."

The wealth gap and continued segregation of African Americans is the legacy of centuries of exploitation by white Americans.

"When we think of white supremacy, we picture Colored Only signs, but we should picture pirate flags."

The exploitation starts with slavery but continues via housing practices and other predatory activities.  In the meantime it seems like the continued de facto segregation is causing all non-African Americans to be completely ignorant of and detached from African American communities.  They point to the handful of successful black Americans as proof that racism is no longer an issue rather than correctly recognizing them as the exceptional.

"...They ignore the long tradition of this country actively punishing black success"

"Some black people always will be twice as good. But they generally find white predation to be thrice as fast."

"...for all our exceptional ones, for every Barack and Michelle Obama, for every Ethel Weatherspoon or Clyde Ross, for every black survivor, there are so many thousands gone."

Coates' article calls for passing HR 40, the Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, a bill by Congressman John Conyers Jr., who represents the Detroit area. The commission would study slavery and its lingering effects as well as recommendations for “appropriate remedies.”

I really hope people read this, including immigrants who need a deeper understanding of the historical context for the social issues in the US.

Even though I am fairly aware of many problems black Americans face, I was jarred by the specifics detailed in the article.  It highlights the importance of having patience for people you don't understand and communities you aren't immersed in.  Also, the article illustrates that many problems are systemic just as fairness is systemic.  One person's success or failure cannot prove that America is finally fair or not.  America will be fair only when a person gets as much encouragement, opportunities regardless of their race, class, or gender, but also no more likely than the next to get swindled or judged.

Discussion on Hazing

A recent Rolling Stones article on hazing has triggered a long discussion over old dorm lists about hazing and fraternities. This was my two cents.

The Stanford prison study shows how this behavior is motivated by
humans' primal nature and response to power. That doesn't explain,
though, why it gets perpetuated in fraternities.

In some sense, hazing activities are like extreme (X-TREME) ice
breakers, which gets people to form a bond based on seeing each other
do and say ridiculous things. All relationship building activities
work because of humans' primal nature, and most of the time there is
nothing wrong with that since we're social animals and we like to hang
out and be part of a group.

Perhaps hazing makes the bond even stronger, and the upside of a
strong bond for the individuals is that there are people out there who
are absolutely loyal to them personally, perhaps even die for them.
The benefits are clear in a military setting. But in general, when
you are in a bind, financial or otherwise, only your family is really
obligated to help you even if you haven't been that nice to them.
Fraternities increase the number of family you have. This is also why
people often start businesses with fraternity people, really close
friends, or family. Since you need to people who will stick with it
even when things seem like they will never get better, it's usually
best to work with people who are extremely loyal to you personally.
In this sense, there is a role for nepotism. I have found that your
personal trustworthiness is your most valuable commodity in the
workplace. Although it can seem extremely stupid to keep incompetent
but loyal people around, there are situations where a stupid person
who will really try their best can be more helpful than a smart person
who is trying to figure out how to get the most credit from the least
amount of work. Obviously you are most valuable as a trustworthy
competent person. I would say that the closer you get to
entrepreneurship, the more primal things get and the more important
relationship dynamics are. In large companies, they have had time and
resources to standardize things and create processes, like for hiring.
That's what human resources are for. Hiring is a time consuming
process so all companies prefer to hire a more known entity. While it
would be great to only hire competent people, honestly it's really
hard to figure out who is really competent and who is good at talking
without working with them for a bit.

Anyway, I think that the primal nature of the professional world,
especially in high risk high reward situations perpetuates things like
hazing. What can we do about it? Find other ways to teach more
valuable skills for those situations without hazing maybe? Increase
the profile of professional networks of living groups to compete?
Make hiring easier for small companies? Get more colleges to require
freshmen to live the first year on campus so people forms bonds
outside their fraternities?

Work Life Balance

Cool NPR piece on getting rid of 9-5. This kind of lifestyle would be really amazing. I would be able to have time to pursue hobbies. On the other hand, it is very convenient to work with people in person.

Bullying and Suicide

Recently, a high school girl Phoebe Prince killed herself because of relentless bullying by her high school peers. At first when I hear about it, I thought, well, that's sad, but you can't prevent everyone from killing themselves. I didn't really think the mom who posed as a boy on MySpace was responsible for Megan Meier's death. What if the bullies never meant that much harm? When I read more about it, though, it seemed like her bullies were especially vicious and were not at all remorseful when she died. Then it really seems like they need to be punished, but it's unclear how.

The thing is that while the stereotypical male bullying of stealing lunch money is more easily identifiable, verbal bullying especially by girls is not well-understood and not as easy to spot. Besides, kids are bound to have arguments, and adults don't always need to intervene. Some people say that kids need to learn how to stand up for themselves, and that's certainly true. On the other hand, kids need to know how to behave civilly. Plus, there are limits to what someone can do to stand up for themselves.

Being surrounded by hostile people all day is not easy. It's not as benign as someone calling you a name sometimes. When you're a kid, you don't know very many people, and you are just beginning to build your identity and relation to society. When you are an adult, you already have an identity and you have met many different groups of people so of course when people criticize you, it's not as disturbing. People say that if kids can't even handle being bullied, they'll never make it in the 'real world.' Well, in the 'real world' people at work have to behave professionally, and people you interact with outside of work are either your friends (maybe from college) or people you are buying things from.

At the same time, I know that I have been on the giving as well as the receiving end of bullying. East Campus also had a certain way of keeping people in line. In extreme cases it could be considered bullying, but every social group has a mechanism for moderating behavior. In fact, I have a theory that bullying tactics are really meant to be used for curbing people's social behavior and help with their social development. When people don't use it to help bring people in to the fold, though, they are effectively telling their victims that they are worthless without providing any directions for how to reform. In that context, it's no surprise people feel the urge to commit suicide because they feel there is nothing they can do to escape persecution as a social failure.

Babies

too many Babies in 07

28 percent of white babies were born to unmarried mothers in 2007, compared with 51 percent of Hispanic babies and 72 percent of black babies.

maybe marraige is on the decline. soon, only gay people will want to get married.

Sunday Night Dinners

cool story on NPR about a guy who hosts Sunday Night Dinners in Paris! we should videoconference with him, hehe.

Family Unit

Recently, I been thinking and talking to people about families and family values. In American culture, the family means something different than in European or Chinese culture.

It's hard to generalize, but it seems that the family unit in America is smaller and not connected together in a community as much as it is in China or even Europe.

What are the implications? It would seem that the emphasis of individuality in America may be good for young entrepreneurs and the creative class. However, it leaves many behind to be content with mediocrity. Children are more influenced by peer pressure than family pressure and thus seem to try to "grow up faster," although I definitely don't think they mature faster.

I'll have to finish this post later.