Walking the Talk

 

Nattering Nabob Here

“Negativity is the enemy of creativity.”

David Lynch

          There is a new editorial section on AL.com called “Comeback Town.” David Sher started it to encourage the citizens of Birmingham to make observations and suggestions for improvement of the city. Over the weekend a gentleman from the most affluent mini-town in this area wrote an article about why people in his neck of the woods should be concerned about the quality of education in the city schools—even though his area has its own municipal government and its own (almost all white) school system. It was written from the perspective of an affluent, white male, who happens to be CEO of Alabama’s Iron and Steel Council. He admonished the people of his community to support improvements to Birmingham City Schools and to public transportation to ensure the quality of care for people like himself at hospitals and in restaurants, and so that the his business and others can get skilled and on-time laborers. I know that this man meant well and believed himself to be writing an inspiring piece in support of the predominantly black school district. But honestly, it was the clearest example I have seen lately, in bold black and white, of white privilege and unconscious arrogance.

          Wouldn’t you want to improve the school system and public transportation simply to add quality to the lives of the people who live here and use those services? Wouldn’t you want to everyone to enjoy the same high-quality education and easy, on-time transportation that you have because it’s the RIGHT thing to do? Must it be that support for basic human services is necessary so that the people we rely upon, our personal workforce, can more efficiently and reliably serve us? Am I just a “nattering nabob of negativism” as Spiro Agnew suggested, or is this as disgusting as I think?

          I am working hard to rise out of the negativity the recent past has produced in me, but articles like this one set me back. I am aware of my own privilege as an educated, white person, and this man seems to believe he doesn’t have it and that he is simply working for the greater good. Perhaps I’m the one who’s off course. Perhaps not. Whatever the answer, I don’t want to go back to that place of spewing negativity, so I will take a few deep breaths and say, in that dearest Southern tradition, “Bless his heart, honey. He means well.”

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane