Thoughts on Dr. Dorothy Height

One of the world's tireless advocates for justice turned 98 this past week and has been hospitalized. Dr. Dorothy Irene Height has spent most of her life fighting for the rights of children, women and African-Americans.

In all her years, she has never slowed down and has never failed to go when and where called. Having never married or had children, she has been nicknamed "secular nun" because despite not being part of a religious order, her service has been as selfless and dedicated to the public good as that of a nun.

I wish I could say I'd had the pleasure, to date, to meet Dr. Height. There are so many questions I would have asked her. Blessedly her life is available as an example.

Despite the hurdles and roadblocks placed in her way, she didn't pity herself and stop, she didn't become bitter and destructive. She got angry and used it to find creative ways around or to remove the roadblock. She used it to see the problem – not just the surface issue but its underlying motivations and causes – and identify potential solutions and implement them.

Sitting Ducks

When I heard, shortly after Thanksgiving 2006, about the shooting of Sean Bell by five New York City police officers, that he was killed with four bullets from a torrent of 50 shots, my thoughts were not only of him. They were also of Amadou Diallo.
Diallo was killed in February 1999 when 19 of 41 shots from four New York City police officers pierced his body, mere feet from the safety of his front door, after one of the officer identified his wallet – reached for to provide identification – as a gun.
These men, now dead, had some interesting things in common. Both were 23, both were headed home after participating in legal early-morning activities, both were unarmed, both were shot at by multiple officers at the same time and those responsible for both their deaths were found not guilty and set free. Oh and both were Black.
But why in 2010, you ask, am I talking about this old news?

Our culture of violence

For a long time I've been amazed at the level of cruelty humans are able to inflict on each other. From unnecessary teasing and bullying as children,  to road rage as adults and wars as a society, the lack of desire or ability to control ourselves and the intensity of our lashing out continues to astound me.

Being fully aware of the reality that a lack of self-control or a belief violence can be a viable solution is pervasive across ethnic and class lines – I still found myself slammed by the shooting of professors in a faculty meeting on Feb. 12 by another professor.

Colleges – which I thought of as institutions of thoughtful engagement in the pursuit of solutions to the world's problems (OK, so maybe the problem is with my rose-colored glasses on this point) – are places where people are supposedly looking at the bigger picture, sharing ideas, proving or disproving theories and enhancing the whole by providing a better understanding of the parts. So when a professor, a person who by title is supposed to be looking for better ways, begins shooting her peers in a dispute over tenure and the non-renewal of her contract, I'm moved to ask: "What is wrong with us?"

Have we failed Obama

I'm one of the many Americans impacted by runaway medical costs, out of control energy prices and other expense increases that are outpacing wages. I'm also one of the many Americans that voted for change in the last election.

I admit I didn't know what form change would take and didn't care. Our path is headed into the abyss and I want any course change. Could a new course end up in the same place? Absolutely. But from my perspective, we know for sure where this is going – a new course at least has a chance to go someplace different.

For weeks, I've been increasingly discontented because I haven't seen any real changes. Instead of political bickering, posturing and rhetoric decreasing – despite having a Congress and White House of the same party – it has increased. Misdirection, spin and outright lies have been cast about with increasing frequency and we are spending more time blaming than trying to solve the problems.

Perhaps this represents change, but it's not the change promised, voted for or believed in.