My Dear Readers,
Americans are criticized for many things, but what is not
appreciated about our culture is the instant and overwhelming response of
Americans when it comes to the plight and suffering of others. The following
story is one in which Americans, in hearing a story of desperation and survival,
collectively reach out to help.
Dear Visible Man,
So much for the saying “crime doesn't pay.” I wondered whether you heard about the black
woman in Phoenix who was arrested for leaving her two children in the car
unattended while she went on to a job interview. Now I hear that she has received $100,000 in
donations from around the country! What type of message is that?
Sure, she is homeless, but she broke the law and placed her
children at risk. Now she is going to
financially profit from her criminal act.
One can only guess what she is going to do with all that money,
considering the media reports that she has a history of arrests for theft and
drug use.
There are hard working folks struggling out there to make
ends meet. How are they going to react
when they learn that a person can break the law and become wealthy without
breaking a sweat?
I don’t know about her situation and I have never been
homeless, but there is something wrong with this picture. What is this country coming to? We are being taken as suckers. No wonder we have so many problems with
people like her taking advantage of the system.
A Puzzled Taxpayer, Bellevue WA
Dear Puzzled,
I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your writing. There
are a variety of comments from across the nation either condemning this woman or
sympathizing with the circumstances that led to the incident.
I think it would be a broad stroke to dismiss your writing as
another gripe from the affluent middle class.
You ask some provoking questions regarding a situation which is clearly
heart (not thought) provoking. However, I
think you are falling into the trap of “blaming the victim” for her
circumstances.
In this situation, there is a single parent who is homeless
with two minor age children. She is
alone and desperate, living in survival mode, seeking to support her children.
She goes on a job interview, taking a chance that her children will be okay by
leaving them alone and unattended in the car.
It may be that she did what she felt she had to do. She may have acted out of desperation. Did she make the best decision for her
children? She knew that leaving them
unattended in a vehicle was both a criminal act and placed the children at
risk. Yet she did it anyway.
Victim blaming allows many of us to sit in judgment of
others. This woman had a terrible
choice, but she felt that she had to do this in order to provide for her
children. Is Blaming the Victim racist? Answer: It can be. However, race does not have to be a
factor. Does one actually intend to
focus blame on the victim? Answer: Actually
no.
So what exactly is victim blaming? According to William Ryan, victim blaming is “a
set of ideas and concepts that are unintended distortions of reality”. These distortions consist of the following
components:
· There is a belief system, or a way in looking at the world. The belief system includes a set of ideas and concepts.· There is a systemic distortion of reality being reflected in those ideas.· The distortion is not a conscious intentional process and,· The beliefs i.e. ideas and concepts serve a specific function of maintaining the status quo of a specific group.
There is generalized belief system in this country that
anyone can ascertain the levels of working or middle class simply by working
hard, or “pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.” This phrase, created by in the early 20th
century by the writer James Joyce, states:
“There were others who had forced their way to the top from the lowest rung by the aid of their bootstraps.” (Ulysses, 1922)
This is core to the American belief that anyone, through
their own efforts, can achieve their intended goals and objectives. This depends on another belief system known
as the “just world hypothesis”, which is the belief that in a just world, actions
and conditions have predictable, appropriate, and just consequences. In essence,
the existence of a just world is key to the ability to pull oneself up by their
own bootstraps.
The just world hypothesis or belief holds that a person’s
actions always bring morally fair consequences to that person, so it should
follow that all noble actions are eventually rewarded and all actions that
cause injury to others are eventually punished.
So how does this belief holds for this woman who has ceased her criminal
and drug behaviors and is seeking to provide care for her children?
Due to her history, she is repeatedly denied employment and
consequently she is unable to provide for her children. She becomes homeless and is forced, along with
her children (toddler and infant) to sleep in a decrepit automobile. Out of desperation and the desire to
survive, she gambles… leaving her children in the automobile with the engine
running and air conditioner on, while she makes a mad dash for financial
freedom—a job interview with the prospect of employment.
This was a desperate move during desperate times. It is truly a blessing that someone saw the
vulnerable children and intervention was obtained.
The woman is vilified as a monster for leaving her children
alone in the car, even though she attempted to lift herself up by her “own
bootstraps” in seeking employment—the same employment she would need to provide
care for her children—and the same employment she has repeatedly been turned
away from due to her criminal past and drug history.
It is the same society that vilifies this woman that also maintains
the distorted system that prevents her from attaining the employment needed to
care for her children. The society that requires
her to overcome these huge hurdles is the same society that punishes her for
failing at doing so. In a just world, either the hurdles would be lower, or the
punishment wouldn't exist.
I would challenge you to think more holistically about the
entire situation. The societal
punishment continues with the idea that the donations she received are a reward
for the actions that she took. The donations are actually a result of the
recognition of the terrible choice that she had to make and an attempt to keep
her from being in that situation again, not a reward for endangering her
children. Those who are reaching into their pockets to help are trying to make
the world a little more just, the playing field just a little more level.
You are correct, however, in observing that there is something
wrong with this picture. The focus is on
both the actions of a desperate woman attempting to care for
her children and the response of hundreds of Americans and other people
throughout the world who are responding to her plight.
Many blame the victim and sneer at those who
reach out to help. Wrong. Wrong.
Wrong. Put the focus on the system that
refuses to allow this woman to pick herself up by her bootstraps and find work
to provide care for her children. Put
the focus on a system that continues to handicap this woman, judging her for
her past actions rather than seeking to empower her through employment so she
can provide for her children.
What is wrong with this country? The belief systems as
discussed are distorted. Rather than
solve the “broken system” that forces a desperate woman to gamble, leaving her
children unattended in a automobile, why do we blame the
victim and also to criticize those who seek to help?
The end result is that the broken system is maintained along
with the distorted beliefs that hold the system together. Subsequently the objective of maintaining the
status quo and distance between working / middle class and poor is achieved.
Concluding Words
The misunderstanding here is twofold: it is tempting to fall
into the same trap as this week’s writer, and focus on the fact that a woman left
her minor children in automobile unattended, as opposed to focusing on the
situation that forced her to do so.
If we accept this premise, then we unintentionally close our
eyes and either fail to understand the reality that there are countless thousands
of Americans who are homeless. Indeed
there are many men, women, adolescents and children living in similar squalor
and impoverished conditions in local communities throughout this nation.
What is wrong with this country? Well, we are still grappling with issues such
as racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, and many others. As a nation we are not perfect. However, we are a nation of caring, sensitive
and warm people.
The people who reached into their pockets and gave funds to
the African-American woman and her children did so because they felt her pain
and suffering. They wanted to do
something on an individual level and did so.
As these individuals through their financial gifts embraced this family,
they should be acknowledged and not criticized for their generosity.
One objective that we as individuals can do as individual members
of societies, communities and families is to work towards healing the distorted
beliefs that maintains the inequities of the system. This objective is a long term one yet
necessary if we as a nation truly want to resolve the differences that keeps us
apart. One way to do this is to focus on assisting those in plight
and need in local communities by continuing to give generously to organizations
within our local communities.
An example of such an organization is Youth Care, a non-profit
agency located in Seattle, WA. The
agency, led by Dr. Melinda Giovengo, has a hard working staff dedicated to
serving homeless adolescents and young adults.
Another program, the James W. Ray Orion Center provides
food, shelter care, counseling, case management and transitional housing. (For those seeking to provide financial
assistance or simply want to help, please contact Youth Care at 2500 NE 25th
Street Seattle WA 98105 or telephone at 206-694-4500).
What is right with this country? How does one describe a nation of caring,
sensitive and warm people? In one word…
generosity.
We don’t know about the issues faced by those we encounter every
day. We often never know what becomes of those who receive the generous
assistance of others. We can only have
faith that our help has made the world a little more just.
The Visible Man
Post Script:
Thirty-five years ago, a young man arrived in Seattle. He soon found himself to be alone, financially broken, homeless and hungry.
It was the generosity of the people of Seattle that found him a place to stay, fed him in a church soup kitchen and assisted him to get on his feet. This person worked hard, overcame many barriers and obstacles.
That person went on to become a contributing member of the community who has focused his life on working to assist others to empower themselves.
That individual was me.
Dr. Micheal Kane
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