Something Happening Here by Jim Schutze is in today’s Dallas Observer. Reasons I was favorably impressed:

• Not the meatiest reason, but a reason nonetheless, is that Schutze is a columnist for the Dallas Observer.  Dad was a columnist for the Charlotte Observer, so the positive association was there from the git-go.
• Schutze identifies himself early on as an “ultra, off-the-charts liberal.” Sounds like home.
• Schutze writes of meeting a fellow for lunch who is an “ultra, off-the-charts conservative.”  That’s a good way to be.  Having friends whose politics are very different from our own contributes to things like careful thinking, constructive dialog, give and take, recognition of common ground, and valuing good hearts no matter what their politics.  That way we’re less likely to succumb to the violent impulses readily indulged by those who fancy themselves guardians of sometime ill-conceived “purity.”
• Schutze is a superb writer. He tells a story that invites readers to think about things, and to think in ways, they probably wouldn’t have were it not for reading his piece.

Along with all that, there’s who and what he writes about.  I won’t spoil the story for you, but I will say that while I wouldn’t want to be the target of some of the less pleasant, um, explications of Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, I cannot overstate my appreciation for any politician who believes that competence is more important than party lines.  It’s very heartening to read about, and too rare to encounter.

Beyond all those things, Schutze writes about matters of race and racialization with a depth that doesn’t often accompany the items I filter through having to do with bureaucracy, and most especially without the mind-numbing, anger-mongering sensationalism that usually accompanies those topics in the vast majority of American media–liberal, conservative, mainstream or not.  (Remember the recently cited WSJ story?)  Ah…no wonder, I see as I dig a little further through Google about Mr. Schutze.  He’s been writing about race and racializing for a long time, and has received more than a few awards for his writing.

So go read Schutze, here.

Peace.

Deborah Alicen

The worst that I’m referring to in this post is sexual assault and abuse. I’ll not get into ranking “worsts;” death, and other forms of torture (because sexual assault and abuse are forms of torture) also rank as “worst.” But the stories I’ll touch on in this post are:

• The Oklahoma Sheriff case;
• The Texas underage polygamy story
• Pope Benedict’s apology to survivors of clergy sexual abuse
• KBR rape cases

Representative of governmental bureaucracy in this line-up, the Oklahoma Sheriff case that broke into the news yesterday has left some Oklahomans stunned, and no doubt at least a few in disbelief, even though that’s not included in the AP news story. I include it because there are always people who cannot bring themselves, or will not allow themselves, to believe stories of sexual exploitation, especially when the perpetrators are people they love or respect either from personal knowledge of them or by virtue of their position–e.g. sheriff. While wanting to be careful not to malign a man who is innocent until proven guilty, the possibility, probability, likelihood, etc. of the allegations being true speaks volumes about the kinds of structural flaws that can exist in bureaucracies that exist ostensibly to protect people.

A similar situation exists in the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints‘ community in Texas, in which underage girls have been “spiritually married” to older men with multiple wives. Spiritual communities, faith communities, with few exceptions claim to be about the best and highest in terms of morals and values, which, as with sheriffs and other law enforcement personnel, are properly involved in caring for and protecting those who are weak and vulnerable. In other words, both sheriffs and religious stand as fiduciaries, and when they exploit rather than protect, their actions constitute a betrayal of their relationship with their victims.

The one case in this group that’s somewhat different is that of KBR, the federal contractor in Iraq against whom there are now a dozen or so women employees who have reported being raped by male KBR employees. There’s not quite the same sort of fiduciary relationship between perpetrators and victims in the KBR case as in the FLDS and Oklahoma sheriff cases, though the company certainly had a fiduciary responsibility to its female employees, and beyond the company, the Department of Justice has responsibilities to the victims which it has abandoned. The KBR case, then involves both corporate and governmental bureaucracies that have circled the wagons and adopted postures designed to protect the rapists rather than the people for whom they are responsible.

The history of Roman Catholic clergy sexual abuse in the U.S. shows the same pattern: church hierarchy that long ignored the needs of victims and made it possible for abusive clergy to victimize ever more children by moving them from place to place and trying to protect the church-as-organization, rather than protect the church-as-its-people. The fiduciary responsibilities were, of course, the same or similar to those that apply to the Oklahoma and FLDS cases.

In all cases, there are features in the structure of the bureaucracies that have allowed this turning of responsibility inside-out, such that the government, business or organization operates 180° out of phase with its stated principles and mission. The question becomes: how can bureaucracies be structured differently to prevent that 180° shift? What transparency and accountability measures can be incorporated in bureaucracies that will deter or prevent such phase shifts? There are certainly effective measures available, and I’ll address those in a separate post. For now I want just to acknowledge the similarities across abusive bureaucracies, regardless of their being located in government, corporations, or organizations.

Something else to acknowledge, too, to close out this post: Pope Benedict XVI‘s apology to survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Whatever my disagreements with him–and they are many–he has done an important and wonderful thing through his public apologies, but most especially through his meeting one-on-one with a number of survivors. To literally reach out to them, to look them in the eye, and to let himself be touched directly by them is a great, compassionate act of healing. Having worked with victims and survivors of sexual abuse and assault for twenty years as a counselor and psychologist, I can say unequivocally that what Pope Benedict did is what most victim/survivors yearn for: someone who will take responsibility, feel some of the pain, and apologize.

Would that all powers-that-be, in all bureaucracies where one of their own has done wrong, would do likewise.

Peace.

Deborah Alicen

Dear Board, Staff and Friends,

I couldn’t be happier this morning to report to you that we have a major victory in our Charlotte campaign, just announced publicly and officially in the “Charlotte Observer” this morning [article here].

The main campaign team (Pam Pompey, Les Schmidt and myself) will be meeting first thing next week to talk about next steps for keeping for-profit private prisons out of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County permanently, and for achieving significant reform in the County’s prison and criminal justice systems.

I’ve also attached, for historical value, the new campaign flyer we would have started passing out today, if we hadn’t won this wonderful victory. What a way to start the New Year!

Have a great weekend–and please take a moment to celebrate this moment.

All the best,

Si

PS If you’d like to make a contribution to help us honor this victory, you can do so on line at www.grassrootsleadership.org.

Heartiest congratulations to Si and his team for this terrific effort and success!

Peace.

Deborah Alicen

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure and honor of doing research for Si and his wife, Elizabeth Minnich, for their book, The Fox in the Henhouse: How Privatization Threatens Democracy. Si has been working for many years against private for-profit prisons, the ramifications of which are staggering. Thus far in this blog I’ve mostly written about and cited examples of bureaucratic abuse and corruption that have power over others at their center. The profiteering, though astronomical, is for many people secondary to the power.

In the case that Si writes about, it seems that the profit motive comes first. The bald arrogance of it–to pursue the building of this private prison through the city and county even long after the state of North Carolina has ceased to outsource prison management–speaks to an overweening sense of entitlement by some who have come to mistake the public trust as their private right.

I should know better, as a psychologist, but there’s still a part of me that can’t help but wonder how anyone can even imagine they should be allowed to make a fortune off of other people’s misery, even were that a matter of skulking along humanity’s darkest baseboards in the smallest hours of the longest nights. But right out in broad daylight, as if it were a good thing and even a public service to do so–that deserves all the outrage it is generating, and more.

Here’s to the day when such an idea will be recognized as unconscionable across the board.

Peace.

Deborah Alicen