Hasta La Gadget!

This post originally appeared at clutchmagonline.com

So this is what it feels like to be invisible. Even when the world is watching. Even when an institution worth billions is rocked to its core. Even when it’s our face, plastered all over television screens, and stuck in endless loops of shocking, brutal violence. Even with all that, when it comes to crafting an effective solution to a problem that most assuredly sits squarely within our lived reality, as Black women, we somehow find ourselves still pushed aside and overtly confined to a narrow space of irrelevancy. Even when it’s our voices that remain necessary to make it right.

No more.

I watched NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s press conference last week and saw before me a clearly minimized man. Contrite. Apologetic. He had no choice but to do what I’m sure must have been exceedingly uncomfortable for him, if for no other reason than pure lack of experience. Humbling oneself is never easy. But I imagine it’s especially challenging for those who have lived a lifetime of entitlement and unquestioned authority. Still, I have to give it to him. He put on a good show–at least for a while. Appearing deeply remorseful, he wore the mask of regret well. Lamenting over and over again, the sting of disappointment, first, to himself, then, to the NFL and finally, to the fans. But when it came to the prospect of disappointing Black women, he showed no such concern, no empathetic musings, and no admissions of wrong-doings of the past. For us, it seems, he is more than willing to stand in the on-going catastrophe of what has proven to be the complete inadequacy of his own disastrous decision-making. For us, he remains unmoved.

A week before, as a member of the Black Women’s Roundtable, I was one of those who signed an open letter to Roger Goodell seeking a meeting to discuss the conspicuous absence of Black women from his newly announced Domestic Violence Advisory Panel. Given the massive over-representation of Black women among the nation’s domestic violence and sexual assault victims, and because the League itself is over two-thirds Black, we were right to point out that an all-white Advisory Panel would not provide the cultural competency that is indeed necessary to effectively turn the tide in the NFL’s war against abusive behavior.

Our concerns were echoed again last week when the lone Black female journalist in the room, after several attempts, finally captured the Commissioner’s full attention. She put the question to him directly, and this time, on live TV.She wondered, as had we, how Goodell could justify the glaring omission of Black women as part of the team of external advisers he had amassed to help him craft a plan to deal with domestic violence and sexual assault within the NFL. No sooner had the words escaped her mouth, did his cloak of contrition fall, to be replaced by the arrogance and entitlement that seemingly suited him in a much more comfortable manner.

“Well that’s not true!” he shot back. Dodging the question completely he referenced NFL staff, one of whom is an African American woman, and according to Goodell, has “great experience in this area.”

I remain unconvinced.

Any of us who have ever worked, went to school, or merely breathed in overwhelmingly white spaces knows the feeling of being expected to be the expert in all things Black just by mere accident of our common existence. So Goodell’s insistence of this, no doubt, highly capable sister’s domestic violence bona fides, I personally, find somewhat less than convincing. But even if I’m wrong, and this mystery woman truly has worked on the issue for years, her glaring omission from the Advisory Board that Goodell just announced last week, becomes even more perplexing. Why then, is the head of this newly announced Board a completely different NFL executive? What made her more qualified for this position, than the Black woman whom he now claims has been doing this work for years? Playing the sistah-card and trotting her out now as merely one of countless NFL employees to weigh in on the matter, is insufficient to meet our demand for the inclusion of external Black women experts with a track record of demonstrated expertise in the development and implementation of culturally specific services, policies, and programs designed precisely to address domestic violence and sexual assault within the Black community. Admittedly, it’s good to see that Goodell does indeed employ at least one Black body that isn’t placed at risk of career-ending injury on a weekly basis, but her mere existence is far from enough.

What’s critical to understand here is that this is more than a call for diversity for diversity’s sake. No one is asking Goodell to check off some invisible box of inclusion, only to get a Black face in a space where none now exists. We know, all too well, that Blackness for Blackness sake is woefully inadequate for true representation and effectiveness (cue Clarence Thomas). Instead, what we’re calling for here is the key missing ingredient that is absolutely necessary to finally, devise an approach to addressing abusive behavior in the NFL in a way that actually matches the context in which it overwhelmingly exists. In essence, what we’re asking for is what the commissioner has already pledged to attempt to do. What we demand, Mr. Commissioner, is that you finally “get it right.”

Now, we of course, know that the problem of domestic violence can be found far beyond the realm of the NFL, and in fact touches every community, regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. But the sad reality is that with the lone and tragic exception of Native American women, no other woman in America today is more likely to be beaten at the hands of someone she loves and trusts than a Black woman. Still, precisely because we’ve had a front row seat to the danger that awaits Black men throughout every level of society, and particularly within the space of the criminal justice system, we are especially likely to slip into the role of protector, and privilege the needs of our abuser, even if that means putting our own lives in danger again, and again, and again.

I know this, because I’ve lived it.

I am that one out of nearly every three Black women in America who has survived an abusive relationship. I understand all too well the deadly mix of isolation, fear, and racial solidarity that makes exposing the pain of abuse paralyzing for some and a complete non-starter for others. I’ve been that woman who’s had the police show up at my door only to send them away in the desire to defend the indefensible and to protect the person I still, inexplicably, loved.

You see, unlike the catchy tune of an abusive entertainer or the foolish parroting of a popular pastor, the fact of the matter is, Black women are loyal. Too loyal. And our loyalty is killing us. Today we are nearly three times as likely to die at the hands of a spouse, boyfriend, or significant other than White women in the same situation. And because of this along with a wide range of other nuanced factors that are distinct to the African American experience, it is critical that any advisory team Goodell amasses specifically include Black women domestic violence experts who can provide a specialized, external perspective on the problem in order to ensure the cultural competency this complex issue needs and deserves actually takes place.

Join us in sounding the alarm. We are the solution that thus far has been so evasive for the NFL to grasp. Sign the petition here, and tell Roger Goddell, it’s time to get it right.

Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever is the President and CEO of Incite Unlimited and serves in the role of Sr. Public Policy Advisor to the Black Women’s Roundtable.

More than we believe in God, we believe in meritocracy.

Our society has faith that talented, innovative and hard-working individuals deserve to be significantly rewarded far beyond the daily wage of others. I probably do not know anyone who thinks we should all be paid the same amount. However the level of inequality that we justify on the basis of merit has reached historical and global record heights. This is the god, the false idol, we most often worship.

Jesus cared a great deal for the poor. Christians believe that all people are equally loved by God. However, the institutional structures that protect human dignity in our society are becoming frayed and worn.

In his book Capital in the Twenty-First Century Thomas Piketty makes five observations that modern Christians should know in order to take the teaching of Jesus seriously.

1. Capital Accumulates
Perhaps Piketty’s most startling claim is that history may still prove Karl Marx (1818-1883) correct. So far Marx seems wrong in his views on religion and the withering away of the state. Marx fails to understand the usefulness of prices determined by supply and demand as a way to organize society.

However Marx may be right in his description of the way capital tends to become concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. This occurs in part because of economies of scale through which larger investors receive higher returns. The situation may become so extreme that it leads to the social conditions that ultimately destroy the basis for modern democratic states. What effect do oil oligarchs have on the prospects for representative government Russia?

2. America’s conflicted heritage with regard to inequality
Piketty believes that Europe and America have two different primary problems when it comes to inequality. He predicts that in the future Europe will face increasing inequality because of a declining population which dampens growth and increases the importance of inherited wealth.

Americans have conflicted attitudes about inequality in part because of our history. In many respects during the 19th century we were two different nations. The north was characterized by a great deal of opportunity and upward mobility with a flood of immigrants creating new wealth.

However, in the south forty percent of the population were slaves. The economic value of these slaves was actually equal to the value of the land their masters owned. As a result the plantation owners controlled more wealth as a class than the nobility of Europe.

3. In thirty years tax policy has made American society vastly more unequal
Piketty points out that during the 1950s and 1960s the United States had more equally distributed income and greater social mobility than France. Since the 1980s this has changed radically. During the 1980s in the United Kingdom and the United States the fear that other nations were surpassing us led to very large decreases in the tax rates on the highest tax brackets.

If you grew up before the 1980s you have practical experience of what a more equal society felt like. The quality of education was more even across various school districts. Immensely wealthy individuals played less of a role in setting social priorities. Less of a gulf distinguished the experience of the rich and poor. There were no skyboxes in sports stadiums and Americans had more experience with people from different social classes.

J. Bradford DeLong writes:

“Last generation’s Michigan governor and American Motors president George Romney lived in a large-but-not-abnormal house and bossed a company that created lots of good jobs at good wages. This generation’s Massachusetts governor and Bain Capital CEO Mitt Romney has seven houses worth perhaps $25m in total, and bossed a company whose core business model appears to have been exploiting legal anomalies like the fact that pension funds have little control over their money after it’s invested.”

In large part as a result of tax policy we are on track to becoming the most unequal society the world has known since the Industrial Revolution. The top ten percent owns 72 percent of the country’s wealth. The bottom fifty percent owns less than 2 percent of the wealth. Piketty writes, “wealth is so concentrated that a large segment of society is virtually unaware of its existence…”

From 1977 to 2007 the richest one percent absorbed nearly 60 percent of our economic growth. The growth rate over that period for the bottom ninety percent has been stagnant at less than 0.5 percent per year.

4. In the future there may be no middle class
In 1910 there was almost no European middle class. The upper ten percent owned 90 percent or virtually all of the wealth. The middle forty percent owned the same as the bottom forty percent (each had 5 percent).

Perhaps the memory of that kind of society is the reason that other nations have maintained higher taxes on the top income brackets and why there is so much more social mobility and equality in Germany, France, Japan, Sweden and Denmark.

5. Income does not measure a person’s social contribution
As Americans we refuse to admit that wealth does not measure the value of a worker’s contribution to society. Last year hedge fund manager Steven Cohen made $2.3 billion dollars despite a $1.8 billion dollar fine when he plead guilty to insider trading. At the same time the average pay for a social worker is $38,000 per year. Hospital orderlies make on average $24,190. Childcare providers are paid $21,490.

In Silicon Valley where I live it currently costs $30,000 per year to rent an apartment. The working poor, the ones who cannot even afford a place to live, often contribute a great deal more to society than the highly paid people who merely move money around.

I do not share Thomas Piketty’s confidence that vastly different societies and epochs can so easily be compared with economic statistics. But Christians should be grateful to someone who shows that we do not need to live by the myth that the market will ensure that everyone is paid according to their merit.

It seems like every week there’s a new argument to remove the penny from circulation. But did you know that the U.S. once had a half-cent? When the U.S. stopped making them in 1857, they had the buying power of over a dime by today’s standards. Which makes the most excellent case to scrap the penny, right now. And nickels too, while we’re at it.

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