thependulumswings

Six or so years ago then-President Barrack Obama delivered one of his many eloquent speeches.  In it, he emphatically stated that “Climate change is no longer a debate, it’s a scientific fact.”  He added one of his dramatic pauses for the cause.  And, so it was.

It is indeed a fact that the climate has been changing since the earth was created, and actually even before, so he has a point.

In the last 18 months or so we’ve been told over and over that black lives matter by the Black Lives Matter organization, many civic leaders, elected government officials, and many politicians trying to earn your vote.  Heck, if you believe that all of us deserve equality you would agree that black lives matter as you obviously believe that all lives matter.

It’s stated overtly in the second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence as follows: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

And, so it is.

But, on the road to ensuring this equality, a few potholes have made the ride rough.

One such pothole is in the far northwest.   The Oregon state legislature’s Emergency Board created the Oregon Cares Fund this summer — with nightly Black Lives Matter riots raging in Portland — to allocate $62 million (or 31% of the total) in funds from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to black residents (out of $200 million in total funds).  This fund is meant to provide the Black community with the resources it needs to weather the global health pandemic and consequent recession. The most recent census shows that just under 2% of Oregonians identify as African Americans or black.

Does the community need 15 times the average of fellow Oregonians?  You bet.  Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) and AG Ellen Rosenblum said as much last month: “The data show that Black Oregonians are experiencing disproportionate harm from COVID-19.  We must not allow pernicious and ideologically-motivated lawsuits to impede our efforts to deliver critical resources to Oregonians amid a devastating pandemic.”  Two lawsuits citing inequitable distribution of federal funds, a direct violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, are pending.

Meanwhile, two time zones and almost 2000 miles due east, Madison, WI has some road repair to do as well.

According to a report, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has come under fire this week over the pay disparity between two recent keynote speakers. Robin DiAngelo, the author of the best-selling White Fragility, was paid substantially more than the second keynote speaker, black female author Austin Channing Brown. DiAngelo was paid nearly $13,000 for speaking at the event, while Channing received just $7,500.

Now, the university is facing criticism over its failure to live up to its own standards on “diversity and inclusion.”  Ethelene Whitmire, chair of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Afro-American Studies, refused to comment on the pay disparity when questioned.

“The department has not discussed this topic,” Whitmire said.  Like climate change, it must be another fact with no need for debate.

Perhaps Barrack Obama could use his considerable powers and discuss this topic. Even in these pandemic times he probably could deliver a Zoom speech from his home office.   His standard speaking fee is a mere $400,000.  Maybe both authors were under-compensated?

Are government and capitalism blocking the way on this drive to equality heaven?

Or, perhaps some things aren’t as black and white as they seem.