One Nation Rally

A Plea for Mutualism and an End to “Us and Them” Divisiveness  

Saturday October 2, 2010. I fell down some stairs on Tuesday and chipped a bone in my foot so I am lying in bed with my foot propped up otherwise I would be at the rally.

As I reflect on where we are as a nation today economically, politically, socially and from a values perspective, I am frustrated, confused, angry, ashamed but at the same I am also ignited, hopeful, energized and grateful to live in a country where I have freedom of speech.

My negative sentiments stem from being tired of hearing the same old rhetoric about our problems but no concrete solutions.  Let’s take education, which I think is our nation’s most pressing issue. We have been talking about the appalling public education results since the mid-eighties when large corporations made significant financial and human resource contributions in support of improving schools.  These efforts seemed to fizzle after a few years.  Bill Gates, Oprah, and educator Jonathan Kozel have brought these issues to light in recent years. There are pockets of excellence such as Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Zone Schools but the national stats are appalling.  68% of 8^th graders do not read at grade level; by 12^th grade the US ranks 26 out of 29 among industrialized nations in math and science. We have a 25% drop out rate but for Blacks and Latinos it is as high as 50%. 

It is truly unbelievable that in a country that was first to send a man to the moon and is considered the world’s economic Super Power (although this is quickly changing) we can’t figure out how to provide quality education to all children.  It is inconceivable that a country founded on freedom and justice, justifies large portions of its population being denied basic human rights.

At the core of why we haven’t turned the education problem around is the same root cause of the other failures with the economy, political divisiveness, poverty, poor health outcomes, etc.  It is quite simply a failure to really believe that we are all equal and deserving of the same respect and human rights. If we really believed it, we would have fixed the schools a long time ago.

Even with all of the laws banning discriminatory behavior, hate crimes, redlining and other practices that promote inequality, many still see the world as “us” and “them where “us” is better and we live in fear that if we let “them” share in what we have, “us” will suffer.

Just last week, five gay young men committed suicide.  Among them, Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University, jumped to his death from a bridge after discovering his sexual encounter with another man had been streamed live to other students by his roommate and another student . He killed himself because he was gay and in this country gays are “them”.  Just days before a 13 year old California boy Seth Walsh, hung himself after suffering years of bullying for being gay.  A majority of our elected officials want to maintain the don’t ask, don’t tell military policy.  Clementi was a talented musician, described as a wonderful young man. This was not just a horrible loss to his family and friends but to society as a whole.  Seth had his whole life ahead of him and we don’t know how he might have contributed in wonderful ways to our society.

We have a large proportion of our population who are anti-Islam.  According to an ABC poll, 49% of respondents had an unfavorable view of Islam even though over 50% of respondents in a Pew survey admitted that they knew very little or nothing about the religion.  Again, Muslims are “them”, viewed as a threat to “us.”

Seventy –three percent of the public broadly supports the Arizona law aimed at dealing with illegal immigration and the law's provisions giving police increased powers to stop and detain people who are suspected of being in the country illegally.  Another survey showed that the public’s main fear is that immigrants take jobs away from “us”.

We just don’t get it. As long as there is “us” and “them” we will be stuck as a country…stuck in intolerance, hatred, divisiveness, violence, incivility, illiteracy, poverty and the list goes on.  The message of the One Nation Rally is just what we need but we need to go further and help people understand the imperative of mutuality.

Mutualism is a term commonly used in the natural sciences to understand complex relationships and interdependencies among different species.   Webster defines mutualism as the doctrine or practice of mutual dependence as the condition of individual and social welfare.

We are inextricably entwined, like a web.  We will not function well until we connect all of the pieces of the web.  As long as we think it is ok to continue to allow a broken education system to exist for some, the country will stay at number 26 in math and science or decline even further. While we are busy trying to figure out ways to keep “them” (immigrants) out of the country, our economy will fail to grow as it as potential to do.  If we can’t get over our homophobia, we will continue to lose the Tyler Clementi’s and the Seth Walsh’s.  As we senselessly lose “links”, we weaken the entire web.

Much of our fear is based on ignorance. We don’t know much about “them” except the more often negative media portrayal.  We have to learn about each other, our commonalities and differences.  Diversity is normal and natural. But no matter how different, we are still a part of an interdependent whole.

Martin Luther King, Jr. probably said it best: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny and that what affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”