Backlash.
We are experiencing a counter-revolution.
Boomers like myself experienced a cultural revolution in real time. Many are made uncomfortable by it. They are pushing back.
Larry Slessler's Guest Post describes a Medford High School ten years ahead of mine. It was the before era-- before civil rights for Blacks and before second wave feminism. Medford was White, both in Larry Slessler's 1950s and still in mine in the 1960s. There were 2,500 students at Medford High, but no Black students. There were no Hispanics and nobody from South Asia or the Middle East. There were three students of Chinese ethnicity, the American-born children of the operators of local Chinese-American restaurants. Discrimination in Medford did not take place at lunch counters. It took place at the starting gate. Blacks weren't welcome here.
In 1950s and 1960s at Medford High, boys were athletes and girls were cheerleaders. The revolution of "women's liberation" came later, at the very end of the 1960s, but the stage was set by The Pill. It changed women's options, and therefore America. Childbearing became a choice of when, where, and whether.
We are digesting those revolutions with proxy fights. The abortion fight is ostensibly about the life of a potential baby--but it is also about the bigger issue of women's place in the world. It is easier to recognize social conservative backlash when we see it in others. The Taliban is demanding women go back into burkas. The populist right's opposition to CRT and Black Lives Matter gets traction from some people's discomfort with the status of Blacks and other people of color. It is easier to recognize this in the manifesto publications of people opposing "replacement."
Thesis. Antithesis. Synthesis. The new synthesis is led by people who say they want America great again, in some earlier golden age. They command a majority in a major political party.
Guest Post by Larry Slessler
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| Slessler |
On Saturday my wife and I took part in a local Ashland/Jackson County Oregon march in support of a women’s right to choose. As I walked in the bright sunlight I thought back to my 1950’s High School years.
When remembering my teen years, I have to resist my thinking “They were the good, really great, old days.” Truth is those days were great--for me. I was White, straight, male, varsity athlete and a member of the school choir, male quartet and in musicals. What not to like! However if I am honest with myself--which is sometimes difficult--there were many other groups from my era that cannot reflect back on the old days as good.
I remember each year in high school, there would be some fellow co-ed that would decide to spend a year in Portland with her aunt and go to school there. Even I, a rather naive not-so-dumb jock, knew that was code for “Knocked Up” and having the baby elsewhere to avoid the shame. The other major options were get married at 16 or have an illegal back room and dangerous abortion.
Women’s lack of equality did not start and end with pregnancy issues. There were no women sports in my high school and most all other schools. Professional fields with open arms for the female gender tended to be in nursing or teaching. My military CO in the early 1960’s was fond of saying that; “If the military wanted me to have a wife they would issue me one.”Younger women may not be familiar with a college term in vogue in my day. At the University of Oregon in the late-1950’s a typical reply to my enquiring about a co-ed's major would be the answer; “I’m here for my Mrs. Degree.” Simply put, many young women were in college to find a mate with an excellent future earning potential. As a History major I was not acceptable to some fellow co-eds. And, I am talking about White women. Black, Latino and other ethnic groups had a much tougher road than did we “Palefaces.”
As I aged and moved through life, women’s opportunities improved. Much of that improvement was the result of federal laws such as “Roe vs. Wade’s” right to choose and Title IX that gave women’s sports an equal footing with male programs.
Today; May 15th 2022 this old man is watching a backslide in women’s rights. I don’t want the “Good old days” of my youth back. Instead, give me an equality of all our people. As an old White man I am willing to share my privilege so the youth of today can all look back to their days as truly “Good Old Days.”
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10 comments:
The U.S. is suffering from a life-threatening disease called the GOP. The symptoms are an obsession with guns fueled by white nationalist anger and hatred. The results are deadly. Ironically, they call themselves “pro-life.”
Women outnumber men in both undergraduate and graduate universities.
Women constitute 53% of all medical school students.
Women constitute 54% of all law school students.
76% of all teachers are women.
Anyone who thinks that women are being shortchanged needs to take their head out of their ass. It's men who are getting screwed. Try going to Family Court (for a divorce or child custody) and you'll know what I mean.
Well put, Mike.
Conservatives complain about the nanny state. Well, what is more "nanny" than the government making decisions about your family planning?
If conservatives were really upset about a loss of liberty then they'd take a closer look at corporations. But they're not. They're concerned with power. Right now, corporations hold the piwer in the US.
Larry Slessler, well stated. I had the same experience in high school and graduated in 1960. I can't be nostalgic for that position of privilege. A society, more open to all, is the better one. As others have been accorded additional rights and privileges, I haven't lost any of mine.
Peter said:
The populist right's opposition to CRT and Black Lives Matter gets traction from some people's discomfort with the status of Blacks and other people of color.
There are good reasons to oppose CRT and Black Lives Matter that have nothing to do with racism.
One of the fundamental principles of CRT is that “disparities“ can only be explained by racist discrimination. Blacks are approximately 13% of the US population. So, for example, if 13% of symphony musicians are not black, CRT claims that this is conclusive proof of racist discrimination. No other explanation is permissible under CRT.
This ideology has resulted in demands to eliminate blind auditions for symphony orchestras. Just listening to the music without knowing anything about who is playing it does not result in the ideologically decreed racial proportions. Blind auditions do not allow kind of racial discrimination that would produce the results desired by the proponents of this ideology.
Ibram X Kendi, One of the leading voices of CRT ideology, has stated that discrimination in favor of blacks is “anti-racist,“ and is a good and necessary practice.
I had a great career as a high-level software engineer. In my field, what matters is the quality of the code, a very measurable and objective criterion. If someone came along who wrote better code than I do, I would have no objection to having them hired instead of me.
Right now, my field is rifle with demands to improve its “diversity.” To the extent this involves prioritizing race over the quality of the code, I will fight World War III to prevent this corruption of the standards of my field.
And meanwhile, China is watching with glee as CRT ideologues attempt to destroy the quality and integrity of our STEM fields.
Thank you Larry for telling exactly how it "was" in that protective white
shell you inhabited. Many would not know to this day that your world of
male, white privilege was not heaven planned but carefully constructed by the
ancestors of the hate groups that so befoul our existence. Larry was able,
somehow, to see what he was not supposed to see or let bother his conscience
and I for one salute him.
Bob Warren
A little reality orientation: CRT is a graduate level law school course that points out the obvious – after centuries of official, government-sanctioned oppression of Blacks, inequities still permeate our social system. One small example: a typical White family has eight times the wealth of a typical Black family.
Republicans have turned the initials 'CRT' into a racist dog-whistle intended to inflame their white nationalist base. What it has come to represent is their opposition to the sort of anti-discrimination policies that try to address the inequities. Contrary to their disinformation, CRT is not being taught in K-12, but Black history is and long may it continue.
Our kids need to learn the history and herstory of ALL Americans.
CRT, the graduate level law school theory, is not taught in K-12 schools. CRT-influenced curricula, however, are infiltrating K-12 schools across the nation.
Due to the Covid epidemic and remote learning, parents noticed this ideology being imposed on their K-12 students. A righteous backlash ensued. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
"Fox News has mentioned “critical race theory” 1,300 times in less than four months. Why? Because critical race theory (CRT) has become a new bogeyman for people unwilling to acknowledge our country’s racist history and how it impacts the present."
--- https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2021/07/02/why-are-states-banning-critical-race-theory/
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