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8/29/2007
Discrimination vs. personal responsibility
Today the state Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities will be talking in Green Bay about the statistic driving the Commission - blacks make up only 6% of Wisconsin’s population, yet account for 45% of the inmates in the state’s correctional system.
According to a spokesperson for Governor Doyle in March, at the time of the Commission’s creation, it would “help us identify where the discrimination is and how we can overcome it.”
Indeed, from its inception, the assumption of the Commission was that discrimination was to be found at the bottom of the tragic discrepancy in incarceration rates.
A similar theme was offered when the Post-Crescent ran an early June story that cited incarceration numbers, included minimal analysis and inferred that discrimination was the cause of the reported discrepancies.
It was refreshing to see one reader object to the inferences (June 6, P. C-2).“When a judge sentences a person to prison, I’m sure it isn’t a decision that’s taken lightly. A prison sentence is not only based on the crime committed, but it includes the perpetrator’s past history, among other factors. Did the P-C by chance look into any histories of the persons sentenced? Someone doesn’t normally get sentenced to prison for a first offense, unless it’s a serious crime. Also, all felonies aren’t equal. You’ll end up in prison faster for an armed robbery than you will for a forgery.”
Maybe refreshing isn’t quite the right descriptor. Maybe I mean the honesty gave me hope. And perhaps it was what a whole lot more folks were trying to figure how to say in a constructive, kind manner.
I saw more of it in the weekend’s reports out of Wausau. Several typical explanations for high incarceration rates in minority populations were offered by community leaders – “a common denominator is economic and family support problems, not race” – or - “many people who are arrested lack ‘the life skills and people skills needed to be competitive’.”
But Wausau Police Chief Jeff Hardel laid his cards face up on the table. “I take a real simplistic view. We arrest people who commit crimes no matter what race, sex or age.”
Tony Patterson, a member of the Wausau Police and Fire Commission, and a black man, said “Many people think changing their location to a small, quiet place such as Wausau can help them. The issue is, many of these same people never change anything about themselves, so the problems just follow them and repeat themselves.” Well, hear, hear. It begins to come around to personal responsibility.
The Post-Crescent, inadvertently brought the discussion full circle this weekend in the last of a five-part series exploring the challenges and tragedies of the working poor. The closing sentence of the month-long report series quoted a single mother who “turned the corner” on poverty.B “You have to want to better yourself and family. If you just want it handed to you, you won’t go far.”
Well said and well done.
COMMENTS
I can't disagree with anything you said. What doesn't ring true for me, however, is that you seem to use the anecdotes you cited and then draw the conclusion there is no racism in Wisconsin.
Certainly personal responsibility can go a long, long way. We should demand it of everyone. To think that this pick-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps mentality will solve all of our problems is either naive or disingenuous.
Maybe, instead of racism, we should call it classism. No matter what you call it, however, there are people who can use a hand up ... not a hand out, but a hand up.
Would you agree?
Yes, I agree. And included in the hand up is an absence of discrimination in the high expectations we have for each other, regardless of the color of our skin. Yes, I agree. JE
Tom (Wed Aug 29 12:35:36 2007)
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