Still judged by the color of their skin

For the past few years I've delighted at seeing alumni of the tutor/mentor programs I led sharing photos of their own kids finishing high school, going to college and graduating.  That was what we hoped would happen. 

However, I'm continuing to see evidence that this success does not lessen the fear that these young adults will become victims of police violence and continued racism in the USA.

Below are two pages from my Sunday Chicago SunTimes, showing a story about how at "Illinois public universities, campus cops pull over Black drivers at higher rates."  Read it here.

This story was also on the WBEZ.org site.  You can find it here.  I found this link on my BlueSky feed. I hope you'll join me there. 

These articles show that "Black driver stops far exceed Black enrollment, population. At every Illinois four-year public college campus police department that reported stops in 2023, the share of Black drivers getting pulled over by campus police surpassed both the share of Black students enrolled in the institution in the fall semester of 2022 and the percentage of Black individuals in the surrounding community age 18 and up."

It is frightening to read stories of young Black men and women talking about being routinely stopped and ticketed by campus police and see the lack of response from police leaders. If you're a White parent, this is not something you worry about when you celebrate your child's high school graduation and college acceptance.

It should not be something Black and Brown parents fear either.  But is is.

My Sunday SunTimes also had this story showing how "Sports was a major catalyst in the drive for equity after George Floyd’s murder, but time has erased all progress.." 

A year ago I wrote a similar article to this one. It also pointed to athletes talking about racism.  I included the graphic below, in that article with the same headline as I'm using today. 

Last year's article also included this:

"This was reinforced yesterday when I watched baseball star, Reggie Jackson, talk about the racial discrimination that he faced when playing in the 1960s and 1970s.  You can view the video on Twitter  (x) at this link." 

I wrote, "These are among many things happening locally, nationally and globally that scare me."

Locally, I see stories daily showing Black and Brown kids and adults shot and often killed in intentional and random shootings.  I see growing evidence that our highest source of justice, the Supreme Court, is corrupt and under the control of religious extremists.  

I see growing evidence of other forms of hate, from antisemitism to growing attacks on the rights of LGBTQ individuals and families, too.  

Globally we're facing a range of complex problems from a climate crisis, to war and conflict and massive suffering. Yet, in too many places, including the USA, we're electing right-wing leaders who care less about the poor and the planet than they do about their wealth and privilege. 

Last June I wrote, "While we're hopeful that November's US elections will bring control of the US House back to Democrats and Progressives, expand the majority in the Senate, and keep the White House, that's no guarantee that any of the terrible things happening in the US and the world will change."

That did not happen. A radical, greedy, cruel and careless man was elected President, progressives lost control of both the House and Senate, and Drump (you know who) has filled the top levels of government with radical extremists.   

Read the rest of my June 2024 article at this link.

Expanding the choir of "those who care" and "those who speak out".

My own long term efforts to help well-organized, volunteer-based, non-school tutor and/or mentor programs grow in high poverty areas of Chicago, where adults connect with youth when they are as young as elementary school, then stay connected through high school, and into adult lives, has always aimed to influence what the volunteers do to get others involved, not just to be an effective tutor and/or mentor.

I created this concept map many years ago to show how volunteers who are recruited from a diverse economic-social-educational background to be tutors and mentors can grow their understanding of the challenges kids and families in high poverty, highly segregated, areas face.  For some, this can lead to a much greater use of their talents and networks to help solve the root-causes and lead to a much brighter future for our kids and families, and ourselves.

http://tinyurl.com/TMI-Vol-Growth-Cycle

This chart shows a cycle that takes place almost every day, in hundreds of locations throughout the country. However, it may be happening with less purpose and impact in most places, than is needed to change the flow of resources to tutor/mentor programs and the number of people who get involved in the broader issues.  

Read this article to see a full explanation of the concept map, and see how interns from universities created animated versions.

Create a learning organization.

I've been building the Tutor/Mentor library since the 1970s.  Over the past 10 years I've added more and more links to websites that focus on race, poverty, inequality, and prevention.  Here's a cMap where I point to that section of the library.

Each node on this concept map opens to a collection of websites with an extensive range of articles that I wish I had had when I studied history, social studies and political science in high school and college in the 1960s.

I point to several hundred volunteer-based youth-serving organizations on this page of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC website.  I don't find many showing a strategy aimed at educating their volunteers and turning them into leaders...beyond building support for their own program.   I'd love to have some look at my blog and website and see the value of duplicating my efforts.  

Maybe this is happening in more places and I just don't see it. Thus, I invite readers to look at the websites in my library, or in their own communities, and point out pages that show how volunteer-based organizations are systematically educating their volunteers and motivating them to become evangelists who reach out and educate others.

If enough organizations did this consistently for 20 or 30 years it would grow a movement of people that might be large enough to actually create needed changes. 

Thanks for reading this.

I hope you're saying "ENOUGH" and that you'll read and share my articles, and my library, with family, friends, co-workers, and others in your own network.  Until more people are personally connected to these issues too few will speak out or do the organizing work needed to innovate long-term solutions.

Please connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram, BlueSky, Facebook, Twitter and other sites (see links here). 

And, if you're able, visit this page and make a contribution to help me do this work.