EqualiHirpty

Last night I found myself on the outside of a conversation, the kind I love. There’s a man, a hard working blue collar kinda guy, and he expressed his concerns/displeasure with the fact that his child is being exposed to “Black history month.” On some levels, I kind of agree with his sentiment, but for different reasons. His concern is there’s no German History Month, or White History Month (I know, isn’t that every other month?) and that generally, things just aren’t fair. He’s all for equality, but feels there’s a strong portion of society that is looking more to take advantage of the system, rather than assure an even playing field.

I know he isn’t alone in his thinking, and to be honest, I’m not really a big fan of “Black History Month.” I prefer that we just incorporate what we now call “Black History” into American history. I don’t see that it makes them special, to have their own month, rather I think it serves more to clearly draw a line in the sand.

We have an African-American President now, and that’s a sign of great progress. But I don’t think the idea should be to discontinue progress when we hit a certain milestone, this isn’t a marathon, and we don’t have a finish line. The road to equality stops when the lines that clearly separate us are no longer around the track. When women are paid the same wage, for doing the same work, as a man. When my daughter receives a great education in our little Agrestic as the black boy receives in KCMO and the Hispanic girl receives in KCK. When the life expectancy of our neighbors isn’t altered by their color. When our religious, or lack thereof, beliefs are given the same respect. When every adult man and woman is allowed to marry whomever they choose. When paper is designed so our left handed friends can write without their hand being covered in ink.

The man I’m referring to has a little girl, and I think the best way to prove the lack of equality is to simply state one statistical fact, that is most relevant to him. According to the US Census, on average, women earn 76.7% of what men earn. So his little girl will earn almost 25 cents less per dollar, than the little boys in her class. These times are far from being equal.

We are not there, and we may (probably) never get there. The fact that there’s a “Black History Month” isn’t shifting the playing field so that it benefits one race over another. The playing field is already so heavily titled, so much so that we call someone who is equal parts black and white, “black.” I understand the frustration when it seems as if someone is being given a hand out, and the minority who is less qualified for a job, ends up with the job. Of course that isn’t how we want things to be, not in a perfect world. But we’re not in a perfect world.

The great equalizer is among us now, being our current economic conditions. We can all be equally unemployed, be equally behind on our payments and get a nice close look at how things look from the other side.