In the Public Square with Mary Glass - Addressing Racism and Overawe

MILWAUKEE, WI - From time-to-time, we will address the noun, Racism. For I find that it is a powerful contagion of influence - on how a person is valued. Yes. valued. How a person, group/race are valued and then addressed or not addressed with dignity and worth. How the behavior of distributed low expectation becomes commonplace and perpetuates low expectations and less than available successes.

It is a main culprit of ECP/Enduring Concentrated Poverty. ECP is at the root of the disparity of African American, People of Color and the Work Challenged.

Racisim
Racism is defined by Random House Dictionary as:
1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.

3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
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Recently, I commenced the evaluation of a project in Milwaukee with a questionnaire to an energetic stakeholder in a neighborhood-level project. It was clear that the Respondent was proud of her role and involvement.

I introduced the measurement of "discrimination", "bias", "respect" and "inclusion". My discovery was the stain of No. 2 - A policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination, and No. 1 - a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

Overawe
To my enlightenment, the energetic and pleased Respondent was complicit without knowing it. The excitement to finally have change in the neighborhood that addressed one of the lagging poverty disparities of the neighborhood was rehabilitating and seemingly enough for the Respondent. However, the level of quantitative and qualitative results sought in our measurement were vastly lacking.

The Respondent was expressively co-dependent and beholding, even though comments of involvement were contradictory at key qualitative and quantitative points and therefore revealed "tainted comments of intimidation" - overawe.

The comments indicated a desire to be forthcoming but the nature of the question forced honesty that the Respondent was not comfortable in replying to.

Therefore, rather than speak the truth to the question, the question was generalized with the Respondent's "personal belief" rather than what actually was exhibited by the institution. In this instance, the Respondent chose to not give a "negative truth" in order to support the institution. It is believed the Respondent felt safer and not at risk of some type of retribution.

The problem with the "do-good" of this response is, it allows the institution, who has reported through its Mission, proposal, grant compliance, business case the opposite of behavior with this group of stakeholders. It most assuredly allowed bad behavior and violations to get swept-under-the-rug and the group/race of the Respondent demonized and penalized as a group/race of people it is working for and have received heavy government funding.

It allowed the institution to exploit the group/race of people and perpetuate "less than" in transparency, customer care, principle-centered leadership and accountability in the public square - government reports - videos, press releases, etc.

It also allowed the Respondent and neighborhood stakeholders to receive less than and not have a true barometer of what they should have received and/or obtained.
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Glass Truism - Co-dependency and intimidation/overawe due to one's perceived power can and do perpetuate racism and poverty; such as what is perceived in this neighborhood-institution ongoing evaluation.