Category Archives: politics

Freedom Rider

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I was born in New York City, grew up in LA, and have lived most of my life on the Oregon Coast. When I was 18 years old I joined a Freedom Ride, the only one that ever went to Texas. When we arrived in Houston we joined up with local black students in a sit-in at the Houston train station. Some of these students had already been arrested half a dozen times or more, this was our first arrest. The charge was “Unlawful Assembly”.

At the Harris County jail we were segregated by race and sex into four groups. The white male Freedom Riders were put in a cellblock with over 100 white Texans, and they were not a bit glad to see us. They called us “nigger lovers”. The guards had told these prisoners that they would have a free hand to mistreat us, and that night the guards looked the other way while we were beaten on and off for hours.

Meanwhile in the white women’s cellblock the prisoners already there had gotten the same message from the guards, but were divided on whether to beat the Freedom Riders, or not. There was quite a debate, and in the end a vote was taken and by a slim margin the majority decided not to beat the Freedom Riders. Apparently women believe in Democracy.

In the black men’s cellblock the Freedom Riders were welcomed, but there were a few sociopathic prisoners who were used to taking out their aggressions on any new inmates, however the other black prisoners defended the Freedom Riders from attack.

The black female Freedom Riders were greeted by the prisoners in the women’s cellblock like the heroes they actually were and treated like royalty.

I think this is interesting because in American society, then and now, there is what I call a “totem pole of privilege”. You’ve heard the term “low man on the totem pole”, I think you know what that means. In America the white man enjoys special privilege, he’s at the top of the totem pole. Next comes the white woman, then the black man, and then on the bottom, low man on the totem pole so to speak, is of course the black woman, who faces discrimination and unequal treatment on the basis of both race and sex. 

It could be argued that as a result of many long and bitter struggles, including the Freedom Rides of 60 years ago, that the inequities of privilege have narrowed, that things are better today, but I think that few would argue that any group on the totem pole of privileged has shifted places yet.

But in the Harris County jail on August 11, 1961 the totem pole got turned on its head. The best treatment went to the black women, the black men did okay, the white women escaped mistreatment by a narrow vote, and I got my ass kicked. How about that for an interesting reversal of American racism, misogyny and white privilege?

Another jailhouse adventure of ours happened because Freedom Rider Ellen — 19 years old from Los Angeles — was of Jewish heritage and her olive skin color confused the racists who ran the Harris County jail. When she was booked Ellen had refused as a matter of principle to declare her race, and so they had to try and figure out themselves where to house her. There were two choices: black or white? It was a black-and-white issue.

They finally decided just to be on the safe side they would put her in the black women’s cellblock. This weighty decision took them a while, and meanwhile the other white female freedom riders didn’t know what had happened to Ellen and began to worry. When they finally questioned the guards as to her whereabouts, Ellen got moved from the black women’s quarters where she was getting special treatment to the white women’s section where things were a little more tense.

The point is not that the totem pole should be turned upside down — we need to get rid of the totem pole. We need to build a country where all people, men and women, are treated equally under the law, with equal access to good jobs, decent housing, quality education, and most importantly we need to make it possible, we need to make it easy for everyone to vote.

The Freedom Rides helped to end legal segregation. The next battle in the civil rights movement of the 1960s was the fight to end racial discrimination in voting, culminating in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But today, in 2022, legislators in dozens of states have enacted laws that will make it harder to vote, especially for racial minorities, students, and the elderly.

People who do not vote are just not on the radar. Their rights are not respected, their interests are not represented, and their wishes are ignored. No matter what their sex or color, they will always be “low man on the totem pole”. Some of the wins of the 1960s are under attack and being reversed today. The road to freedom is right in front of us; who’s going to step out next?

Idiot, Moron, or Imbecile?

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Thinking back to the numerous reports in 2017 of then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calling our then-President “a fucking moron”, I thought it might be useful to look into the scientific accuracy of his assessment. Mr Trump of course called the reports “fake news” and has in the past made his position quite clear (“I’m like a smart person”), but did Secretary Tillerson and others overstate or understate the case? 

My research indicates that of the 3 categories in the title of this report, a moron is considered the most intelligent with a mental age of roughly 8 to 12, an IQ of no more than 70, and “able to do routine work under supervision”. The idiot is considered the least intelligent with a mental age of less than 3, and finally the imbecile a step up at age 3 to 7 and an IQ of 30-70. A 2016  Carnegie Mellon University study has rated Trump’s stump speech vocabulary at a 5th grade level, which correlates closely with Tillerson’s assessment (5th grade = age 10-11). 

If the Secretary were merely trying to insult the President he could have called him an idiot or an imbecile, terms that would probably be scientifically inaccurate. Of course the whole issue is complicated, and other researchers might disagree with my conclusions. Those wishing to further parse their terminology could consider “fool”, “dunce”, and “lunatic” as well, but in my humble opinion Mr Tillerson hit the nail right on the head as the saying goes.

Kindergarten

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One night years ago listening to a right-wing talk show host, I heard a caller take a tack away from the usual futile arguments and instead gently chide the man for his childish ideas. His theme went something like this:

You people act like you’re still in the sandbox where might makes right and if you don’t get your way you stomp everything into oblivion. I try not to get too exercised about it, I figure eventually you’ll all grow up — maybe not in my lifetime, but eventually. That is if you don’t manage to blow up the whole planet in a fit of pique.

When a child reaches a certain age, like 3 or 4 maybe, he or she is introduced to the idea that everybody gets along better if we share the things we like, not grab and hoard them all for ourselves. Even if we’re big and strong enough to get away with taking things away from other people, we really end up happier and more relaxed if we share, not fighting and fending off others all the time.

This idea is a complex one, and doesn’t make sense at first glance to a 3-year-old. In the early stages there needs to be some enforcement, some coercion if you will, in order to test the validity of this proposition and give it a chance to play out. This process usually takes years. For some it never really takes, and those people spend their whole lives trying to grab everything they can reach. If they break the law to do it they are called “criminals,” and if they manage to skirt the law they are called “conservatives.” For most of us, we learn the wisdom of this sharing idea, but still revert occasionally to sandbox behavior.

Viewed in the larger context of the organizing principles of society, we seem to find ourselves in what I would characterize as drifting back and forth between toddler-hood and early childhood. We have all heard about sharing, and most of us agree that it’s a good idea, but we really don’t like to do it a lot of the time. We are exposed to a constant stream of print and electronic media that tells us that we need more stuff. More stuff, different stuff than what we have, we are told is what will make us popular, lovable, beautiful, exciting, and happy. Others will bow to our wishes, curry our favor, hunger for our company, and sing our praises if we only can manage to get the right stuff. So naturally we need all we can get and more — what’s with this sharing business?

And sometimes, after a few bad experiences with stuff that didn’t propel us into glory as expected, we remember the sharing lesson, and we take a break from the gerbil wheel to smell the roses. We do this as individuals, and also as a society, swinging from a focus on our own private interest to a focus on the “public interest.” Some scholars have argued a 20-year cycle to the societal swing. If you’re an optimist you hope that the swing moves gradually ever closer to the public interest as the human race “grows up.” If you’re a pessimist, or just don’t give a shit, you are left to hope that someone in high office driven mad by the lust for more stuff doesn’t manage to put a sudden end to the game.

But just as a child inevitably grows up despite everything, so too perhaps the human race will also graduate from the sandbox. In the interim, it is pretty clear from childrearing studies that beating a child, arguing with a child, or even reasoning with a young child are at best futile and at worst counter-productive. So let us act like grownups (if we are grownups), set a good example, be gentle, be patient, and maybe someday, despite everything, you [the talk show host] will grow up and the human race will grow up too.

The young man who spoke these words, clearly much younger than the host, was calm, articulate, and gently amused by the vision he was presenting. For his side, the host let him speak and I don’t remember any acrimony. The conversation left a lasting impression on me, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a clearer explication of the human condition nor a better justification for long-run optimism.