Professional Hiding

Yes, I am now in hiding and this is GOODBYE! What does it all mean? Read on:

Some of you know how hard I tried to “retire” from my career as a forensic assessor, due primarily to my own indecision and back-pedaling. I wanted to leave it all behind, but… did I really? To be quite honest, there were many pleasing aspects to my job that I hated to give up. On a superficial level, I loved exploring the shops and restaurants in new cities; but it was far more meaningful to meet the people who needed my help and to educate lawyers, courts, and juries as to their needs. What I didn’t love was the rushed schedule, air travel in general, lonely hotel living, and the stress of testimony. Weighing all of this, I saw that the scale had tipped to the negative and I would therefore retire. But… permanently?? That was the question.

So, like a lot of big decisions in my life, I decided to back into it gradually, leaving the door open to walk straight out again. This meant I could take a few consulting jobs, but was free to pack away my test protocols and booklets. Then I cancelled my post office box, opting to use my home address for the now diminished professional mail. Finally, this past year, I dropped my office phone and retired the fax machine. This took real courage, since it represented the final step in my very slooooow decision-making process.

How do I like retirement? I love it! Like many people in my position, I wonder how I ever found the time to work! My day is very full – or at least, as full as I want it to be. No more freeway traffic, no interminable airport waiting, no weather screw-ups, no nothing – except what I WANT to fit into my days.

* * * * * * * * * *

There was a woman who worked for me, only very part-time, as a preschool assessor. It so happened that she lived in my home town and had a son in the same grade as mine. What I recall most about “Melanie” was that whenever I saw her driving around town, she had a big smile on her face. I used to wonder how anyone could be THAT happy and dreamed up all kinds of possible reasons for it: she was crazy, a phony, on drugs, or really really satisfied in some aspect of her life (!) Over time, I realized that she was, quite simply, a very nice woman with a super-cheery disposition. The smiles were genuine. The contrast between us was striking. While I drove like a madwoman to and from work and then rushed to my son’s school and games fixated only on task completion, Melanie was truly enjoying the identical phase of her life.

Well, now that I’m in professional hiding and my retirement seems to be “sticking,” I am the one driving around town smiling at nothing – unsolicited and unprovoked smiling. And I don’t care whether people think I’m crazy or drug-addicted, not one bit!

And so I now retire my blog… FINALLY!
It has been a joy sharing my thoughts and experiences with you for the past two and one-half years, but it’s time to move on. I commend all those professionals (and non-professionals too) who work tirelessly for justice and champion the underdog even when it’s politically and socially difficult. I also honor the gifted teachers who nurture and support EVERY successful person, and the great parents everywhere who raise moral and compassionate children. You are my heroes!

Dr. Nan
(c) 12/19/15

Our New Declaration

Congressman Grayson (Florida, Democrat) says we need a new Declaration of independence. He says that FDR took a stab at this with his “Four Freedoms:” Freedom of speech, Freedom of worship, Freedom from want, Freedom from fear. That’s a good start. But now, eight decades later, Alan says we need to declare our independence from other forms of oppression. Here’s his list (quoted almost directly):

We hereby declare our independence from bigotry, in all its evil forms. We declare our independence from racism, sexism, homophobia, language discrimination and chauvinism. Everyone has equal rights, no matter where you’re from, what you look like, what language you speak, and whom you love. Everyone deserves respect.

We hereby declare our independence from narrow-minded, extremist or violent religious fundamentalism. We live in a land where church and state are separate. Religious belief, no matter how sincere, is no license to dictate to others whether to terminate a pregnancy, whether to use contraception, or whom to marry. Earlier this year, I placed my hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution; I didn’t place my hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.

We hereby declare our independence from the greedy. Malefactors of great wealth have no right to buy and sell elected officials thorough the legalized bribery of “independent expenditures.” They have no right to despoil our land and our water, the air we breathe and the food we eat. They have no right to manipulate or gut our laws in order to increase their lucre. They have no right to jack up the price of what we buy, or determine what we see on TV or on our computer screens.

We hereby declare our independence from “1984”-style surveillance. Neither the Government nor a private company has any reason to monitor the activities of innocent people, without their express, informed and freely given consent. Who I’m with, what I say, what I buy, what I read; that’s none of anyone else’s business. Privacy – the fundamental right to be left alone – is an essential part of what it means to be a human being.

We hereby declare our independence from exploitation. Bad bosses are today’s King George. They want to work employees as hard as they can, and pay them as little as possible in return. They call the difference profit. If workers are organized, they can fight back. But if not, then they need legal protection from exploitation. If you have a job, you should have a living wage, and time-and-a-half for overtime. If you have a job, you should have health coverage. If you have a job, you should have paid sick leave. If you have a job, you should have a pension. As John Mellencamp would say, “Ain’t that America?”

We hereby declare our independence from misinformation. Fox News is a lie factory. Special interests used to lie to us about the dangers of smoking; now they lie to us about pollution and climate disruption. They claim a right to “free speech,” but we have a right to honest speech. We have to be part of what a Reagan aide once dismissed as the “reality-based community.”

We hereby declare our independence from hubris. No, we can’t bring peace through war. No, we can’t force our way of life or our way of thinking on seven billion other people. No, we aren’t going to end the 1200-year-old civil war between the Sunnis and the Shia. No, we aren’t going to go and kill everyone everywhere in the world who harbors some harsh views of us. And no, they won’t greet our soldiers with flowers, bake apple pies for them, and salute the American flag with a hand on their hearts. They want to be them, not us. We can care for victims, protect ourselves and help our friends without sticking our nose into every else’s business.

We hereby declare our independence from a rigged system of fake trade. We buy their stuff, creating tens of millions of jobs in other countries. But they don’t buy an equal amount of our stuff. Instead, they buy our assets — $11,000,000,000,000 of our assets. They not only rob us of our jobs, but they drive us deeper and deeper into debt. When did Uncle Sam become Uncle Sap? If we don’t declare independence, the endgame is national bankruptcy.

And finally, we declare our independence from the corrupt system of campaign finance. We will not carve up the law into little pieces, and sell it to the highest bidder. We will not allow our lawmakers to make “friends” with lobbyists and special interests and the minions of multinational corporations, and then “help” those “friends.” We want them to instead do their REAL job – doing something good for the people who chose them as their Congressmen – in favor of begging millionaires and billionaires for a few crumbs from their tables.

We declare our independence. We are not cattle. We are not sheep. We are human beings. Happy birthday, America. Let Freedom Ring.

Hear, hear and bravo for Mr. Grayson. I’m sending you my check today!!

Dr. Nan
Good thoughts, Good words, Good actions.
7/4/15

POOF: Disappearing Me

Hello, blog readers. This is entirely my fault. I left a short posting on my Facebook page (“Dr. Nan”) saying that I’m taking the summer off from writing. Sorry to say, I forgot to post something similar here! So, let me explain it this way: I need a break to paint and relax, and maybe spend some extra time with my gradndaughter. Plus, after 309 blogs, I am (gulp…) RUNNING OUT OF THINGS TO BLOG ABOUT!! Sad but true.

So, look for me to start up again in September… or not! Meanwhile, maybe I’ll start working on that book.

Thank you for reading,
Dr. Nan
Good thoughts, Good words, Good actions.
(c) 2015

POOF: Disappearing Black Men

Mike Brown. Eric Garner. Walter Scott. Freddie Gray.

These are the names of black men from around the United States who, in just the past year, have disappeared from this world due to tragic encounters with police. Their names are now weirdly famous, but they are only the most visible examples of many others who have “gone missing” as a result of our deeply flawed criminal justice system.

Hundreds of thousands of other black men have disappeared from everyday life because they are incarcerated in prisons and jails. As you know, incarceration in the United States has increased 500 percent in the last 30 years, making us #1 in the world with 2.2 million people behind bars. If we count those on probation or parole, about 7 million people are under the control of the criminal justice system. These historically unprecedented statistics DO NOT cut across the population equally, but are concentrated more heavily on racial minorities. Thus, if current trends continue, one in three black males born today will spend time in prison during their lifetimes.

We already know WHY: A “war on drugs” that gives so-called “white collar” drug crimes (e.g., powder cocaine versus crack) a disparate slap on the wrist; heavier policing of minority communities; disproportionate numbers of “stop-and-frisks” which lead to higher arrest rates; and inadequate legal representation that results in higher conviction rates and longer terms of incarceration. Statistics that back up these claims are easy to come by. For example, 3/4 of those sent to federal prisons for drug offenses are black or Latino, even though people of all races use and sell drugs at roughly the same rates. 3/4 is also the proportion of black versus white citizens who were stopped and/or frisked by Chicago police during the summer of 2014, even though blacks constitute only 1/3 of the city’s population. Meanwhile in Ferguson, Missouri – where Mike Brown was killed – blacks account for 90% of arrests despite making up only 2/3 of the population.

All these missing men have created a striking gender imbalance in many minority communities. In Ferguson, for example, there are only 60 black men for every 100 black women. Similar disparities can be seen in Washington, D.C., as well. The end result is fewer opportunities for marriage and two-person parenting, increased poverty, and less stable communities. Perhaps not surprisingly, states where black men are “missing” are overwhelmingly in the South, where we see both miserly welfare spending and high rates of incarceration.

What is needed now (and I’m going to quote the Sentencing Project here) is “bold criminal justice reform” in both policing and sentencing policy, which addresses “the tragedy of America’s missing black men.” We must also “rethink our under-investment in initiatives aimed at early childhood education, therapeutic interventions for at-risk youth, and treatment for substance abuse and mental illness.” Unfortunately, instead of investing in such interventions, we have expanded the criminal justice system, an extremely expensive alternative, which fails to address these problems.

Bottom line: If we really care about our missing black men we will begin to shift our resources away from prisons and invest them in communities. “Not only is this the morally righteous thing to do, but it is also the only way to build a safer and healthier nation in which every life matters.” Hear, hear!

Dr. Nan
Good thoughts, Good words, Good actions.
5/28/15

Crime, Bias, and Statistics

A damning report recently released by the Sentencing Project examined several aspects of racial bias and its troubling association with similar disparities within the criminal justice system. What the statistics behind the report reveal is that whites tend to deal with crime with a much “heavier hand,” particularly when the perpetrators are black. Let’s take a look at how these numbers stack up over a series of interrelated variables.

63 to 36 – the percentage of whites versus blacks who favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder. We see this imbalance due mostly to the fact that whites associate crime with people of color. The illogical conclusion they reach is that “criminals are black and blacks are criminals.” Indeed, many TV shows add to this perception by presenting blacks and Latinos as “different” from whites. These shows, and many newspaper articles, over-represent racial minorities as crime suspects and white as crime victims. Even our old favorite movie, “A Christmas Story,” shows Ralph fantasizing about shooting his BB gun at mostly black-faced marauders who enter his yard to cause harm to the family. Because it’s an OLD movie, we tend to look the other way; but what about the very recent TV mini-series, “American Crime,” in which both bad guys, and the kid who lends his car, are racial minorities? The victims – – a white couple.

70 to 52 – This is the percentage of whites versus blacks who support the so-called “three strikes” law. It shows whites to be far more punitive even though, as a group, they experience less crime. The report notes that whites who associate crime with blacks and Latinos disproportionately demonstrate a “three strikes and you’re out” mentality. And if the third “strike” is nothing more serious than stealing pizza, well, that’s tough.

60 to 46 – the percentage of whites versus blacks who favor trying juveniles as adults. There’s the “that’s tough” attitude again, paired with statements such as, “If you’re old enough to do the crime, then you’re old enough to do the time.” Thinking like this leaves no room for considerations of immaturity, easy coercion by adults or older kids, or undeveloped brain function, all of which can and should mitigate guilt and penalty.

The overall finding was that whites are more likely to adopt a merciless “get tough” attitude toward crime when they believe the perpetrators are racially “different” from themselves. I’m willing to bet that these feelings shift somewhat when THEIR kids get in trouble with the law.

OK, well there are a couple more related statistics to consider:

35 to 58 – This is the percentage of whites versus blacks who want to see more money spent on education and job training. See, folks, THIS is the way to take a BIG bite out of crime: make it possible for people to get ahead by NOT breaking the law. Job training and education DO this. But, no, apparently the same people who jump to punish crime won’t open their wallets to nip it in the bud.

And…

10 to 1 – The percentage of whites versus blacks who want to allot more money for police and prisons. Well, now we’ve jumped off the diving board and into the “just plain stupid” pool of thinking. If whites are so scared that they will be victimized by any black person walking by, then WHY wouldn’t they be in favor of hiring more protection? And, in the same vein, WHERE would they like apprehended felons to be placed if not in prisons? I’m afraid that the alphabet of logic doesn’t run all the way to “Z” for these folks.

The bottom line of this Crime and Bias report is a powerful condemnation of racist attitudes and race-based oppression that STILL exists in our country today. A lot of people should be reading and heeding this report, among them, the Supreme Court justices who gutted the Voting Rights Act because, in their isolated minds, racism was extinguished on the day President Obama was elected.

How blind can they be?

Dr. Nan
Good thoughts, Good words, Good actions.
(c) 2015

My Kid Said WHAT?

I was telling my granddaughter the other day about some of the embarrassing things my son said when he was a little boy. Certainly, many if not most of us have been there when, suddenly, our child notices something different about someone and loudly remarks about it. My son did this to me in a museum elevator when he asked if the only other passenger was “black” (the man kindly assured him that, yes, he was), and again at the ice cream store when he pointed out the clerk’s facial deformity. That one was harder to deal with since I could see that his remark hurt the woman quite a bit.

Anyway, I came across this helpful article about how to handle situations like these and thought I’d pass the main points along to you today. We need to do this not only to defuse the potential hurt and embarrassment of the situation, but to send a powerful and lasting message to the innocent, but offending child. Here are several suggested reactions loosely quoted from the article:

When the remark is about another child:
1. Apologize. When your child behaves rudely, apologize on his or her behalf, immediately and without excuse. Try something like: “I’m sorry my child spoke rudely. He is curious about your son and didn’t respond appropriately.”

2. Introduce yourself. Follow up your apology with a personal introduction. “I’m Mary, and this is my son Mark. What is your little boy’s name?” Be sure to also address the child, saying something like, “Hi there! How old are you?”

3. Don’t interrogate. There is no reason to ask what is “wrong” with a child or demand an explanation of his/her condition. If a parent or the child himself wishes to share this information, that is their choice.

4. Treat the child like a person, because (HELLO!) he or she is a person. Smile, offer a compliment, and make small talk. This is how friendships are formed.

For more general remarks:
5. Follow up with your child privately. Talk to him/her about better ways to respond to someone different. Suggest saying hello or even something as simple as a smile or a high-five. If the person in question is another child, offering to share a toy or play together would be a nice start. Remind your child that it’s okay to notice a difference, but questions and comments should be reserved for private, family conversations at a later time. In doing this, you are conditioning your child to know that he or she can come to you about any topic and be received with an open heart.

6. Use any mishaps as teachable moments, for both of you. If you don’t handle a situation well in the moment, admit that to your child and discuss what should be done differently in the future. And if your child, despite your preparations, responds to a situation inappropriately, talk about how it can be better handled in the future.

7. Evaluate your own relationships. How diverse is your circle of friends? Do you welcome others who are different from you? Do you have friendships with others who don’t share your race, religion, age, or ability? If your child were to look at you and your friends, would they see sameness or acceptance of difference? You cannot expect your child not notice differences when all of those around him look and act just like he does.

Folks, these are great suggestions. Children are naturally curious when they discover something or someone new. As parents, our job is to demonstrate to our children what empathy, compassion, friendship, and diversity looks like. So, next time, smile, say hello and give friendships a chance to form.

Dr. Nan
Good thoughts, Good words, Good actions.
(c) 2015

Juvenile Justice News

Could the bipartisan introduction of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) be a sign of GOOD things to come? I sure hope so, because our legislators haven’t seemed to work across the political aisle AT ALL during the Obama presidency. So, hopefully, the political snit has lessened enough to reauthorize the JJDPA because doing so is more than 7 years overdue at this point. Approving the bill would provide leadership and support to states in carrying out key juvenile justice functions, especially those related to reducing racial and ethnic disparities.

So, just what IS the JJDPA? Well, it’s the only federal statute that establishes national standards for the custody and care of youth in the juvenile justice system. It directs state juvenile justice improvements and supports programs and practices that have significantly contributed to the reduction of youth offenses. I personally wrote and directed a series of JJDPA-funded grants while working at a private center in our local area. These focused on minors incarcerated at several “camps” run by the county’s Probation Department. Our program provided testing of the youths which helped to create viable long-range educational plans. We also conducted 1-to-1 and small group counseling aimed at reducing recidivism, and were fairly successful according to one-year post observations.

In any case, the JJDPA was responsible for funding creative projects like ours which did a lot of (proven) good. I say “proven” because continued funding depended on us demonstrating positive outcomes. Here’s what else the JJDPA directs, supports, and/or oversees:

• The Act phases out overly broad court orders that currently allow young people to be detained in locked facilities for status offenses such as ordinary truancy.

• It extends the current practice of keeping youths awaiting criminal trial out of adult facilities, and ensures separation from incarcerated adults in the rare instance they are confined in shared facilities.

• It requires that states identify and reduce racial and ethnic disparities at all points of contact in the juvenile justice system, and lays out important steps that must be taken to achieve these reductions.

This final requirement to reduce racial and ethnic disparities is long overdue for reform. Until now, states have not been given sufficient guidance to understand and initiate the steps necessary to reduce racial inequality. To wit, despite a drop in overall arrest rates nationally, black youth are still twice as likely to be arrested as white youth. Also, while black students make up 16% of all public school students, they make up 31% of all arrests. By strengthening the requirement to reduce racial disparities, the JJDPA will motivate states to take meaningful action to establish a fairer system of justice for young people.

The JJDPA embodies a partnership between the federal government and all U.S. states and territories to protect children and youth in the juvenile and criminal justice system, to effectively address high-risk and delinquent behavior, and to improve community safety. Isn’t that something worth reaching across the political aisle for? Well, apparently, Senators Grassley and Whitehouse think so. Now let’s hope the rest of the crew jumps on board.

Dr. Nan
Good thoughts, Good words, Good actions.
(c) 2015

How Bullying Hurts

Being picked on or harassed is a pretty traumatic experience, but it’s even worse when the taunting/bullying comes from your peers. A new study on bullying reveals a few facts you probably already knew, plus some that may surprise you. These outcomes come from compiled data covering more than 5,000 parents and kids who were studied in the 1990s. The data included interviews with parents about their own mistreatment of their kids, as well as reports from kids about their experiences being bullied by other children. So, let me list the two major findings of the bullying study below, followed by an analysis of what we’ve been doing (right/wrong) to stop it.

First, kids who are bullied have higher rates of depression and anxiety. OK, maybe that’s no surprise, but get this: Kids who are taunted or excluded by their peers suffer more long-term emotional fallout in adulthood than do kids who were abused by grown-ups. Here, the victims of bullying were twice as likely to be depressed and 5 times more likely to feel anxiety than those who were abused by adults.

Second, bullying victims were also more likely to contemplate suicide and take on self-harming behaviors, according to the study. The implication here is that fitting in socially with one’s classmates is crucial to positive adult adjustment. Says one expert, “Kids want to be accepted and be a part of their peer group, and being excluded or singled out… can have lasting damage.”

Analysis. Bullying in this study was defined as repetitive aggressive physical or verbal abuse from another child or a group of children. Being socially excluded also qualified as a bullying behavior. The underlying factor for both forms of bullying is that it’s repeated or systematic rather than a one-time event or conflict. And while it’s true that there are comparatively few actual instigators of bullying, there are plenty of other kids who join in these degrading efforts for a host of reasons. Some of them bully by neglect (e.g., failure to stop it or to walk away), while others are enticed to take a more active role. My personal feeling is that the “joiners” can be reached, reasoned with, and discouraged from future bullying; but that the instigators will require a sliding scale of more severe alternatives.

Most bullying occurs on school grounds (or at least it USED to), thus school district personnel are scurrying to nip such behaviors in the bud. Typical approaches feature anti-bullying education paired with tougher discipline policies for offenders. Yet, many teachers and parents seem to view schoolyard harassments as “part of growing up,” thus merely suggest developing a “tougher skin.” Others ignore the problem completely. This study makes it clear that bullying can’t be “blown off” because the consequences are too severe when it is allowed to continue.

A final issue related to this problem is that bullying is NOT any longer confined to school grounds – indeed, cyberbullying is a 24-hour problem that enters right into the homes of its victims. It will take more than school district intervention to deal with this growing practice, thus many have suggested government involvement. Yet, government agencies have, until now, placed the bulk of their efforts on preventing child abuse in the home (by adults). This study should therefore serve as a wake-up call that kid-to-kid bullying is equally important and has major consequences that extent well past childhood. One expert summarized that repeated experiences as the victim of bullying can “influence the way a child thinks about himself, other people, and the world in general, and these perceptions can make a difference through adulthood.” Well said.

Dr. Nan
Good thoughts, Good words, Good actions.
(c) 2015

Art Therapy

I hope you will find this unique and upbeat story to be just as GREAT as I do! It comes from my old alma mater in New Jersey which has initiated a class for ex-soldiers that can only be described as “art therapy.” Since my major at this university was, indeed, Art, I feel very connected to the program and proud to report this novel idea to you now. Here’s what they are doing.

The Art Department now offers a 3-unit class called “Combat Paper” which ONLY enrolls war veterans as students. The primary materials for the class are the soldiers’ uniforms, which are transformed into a heavy rag paper on which they can tell their personal war stories via an ancient printmaking technique. One of the students initially remarked that he was taught to honor and respect his uniform, not destroy it. But as he turned it into pulp and, ultimately, a work of art, this young man realized that he was honoring the experiences he had while wearing the uniform to fight for his country. “It was a somber moment for me” says PFC Alvin as he displayed his art piece. He added that reliving his deployment in this manner has given him an opportunity to “decompress” now that his tour of duty is over.

The shared creative experience provided by Combat Paper results in a “community” of veterans who leave it feeling like family. Through their art, the vets deal with troubling or even traumatic past experiences and have the chance to share their feelings in closed (or open) sessions. Veteran/Instructor David Keefe says that deconstructing the war experience is the best way to “reclaim it.” Once “repurposed” as art, the vets’ old uniforms serve as their storytelling medium.

At the end of each course, the students’ finished projects are featured in an exhibit that is open to their families and the general public. Each veteran then has the opportunity to explain his or her art piece to visitors, focusing not only on the creative process, but also the memories that were evoked during the experience. For example, one Marine’s piece, entitled, “Live by the Gun,” includes a red-slashed “NO” sign to signify that he has moved beyond this former life. The artist’s explanation that, “We don’t live by the gun now” seems to be a good way for him to denounce the horrors of war. Other pieces in last semester’s exhibit depicted terrorist attacks, burn pits for the disposal of weapons, desertscapes with oil rigs, and frontline troops on the move. Class members find that participating in the exhibits strengthens their confidence to engage with non-veterans to help them better understand combat life.

Combat Paper therefore provides a unique experience that I’m calling “art therapy” for numerous reasons. First, it eases the transition from military to civilian life for these students. Second, it provides a time and space to share memories, decompress, and generally “wind down” from the war experience. Students come away from the course knowing that their personal stories are “still important” to tell as the longest war in our history drags on. PFC Alvin explains it best: “The last few months have been so introspective for me… Most importantly, this course has given me the chance to mold myself into something better than I was.”

Folks, what can I say? Only that I heartily applaud not only the foundational intent of this course, but the university’s decision to make it credit-worthy toward a college degree. To be honest, I would absolutely LOVE to attend a Combat Paper exhibit and hear the individual students share their war experiences along with details about the creative process. I see this a positive and enriching approach with the potential to heal MANY soldiers returning from the recent war, even those with PTSD. Who knows – undergoing a healing experience like this just MAY make years of therapy unnecessary. In fact, why not try something similar with abused children, battered women, and/or ex-felons? Turning trigger objects (like uniforms) into art within a supportive environment may serve to release obsessive thoughts, nightmares, and other related stressors once and for all.

Dr. Nan
Good thoughts, Good words, Good actions.
(c) 2015

Race in the Prison Culture

A new documentary film is available that depicts efforts to desegregate our California prisons. What do I mean by “desegregate”? Well, just look in the exercise pen at any California prison and you will see racially exclusive factions of inmates. Some sit or play basketball together because they choose to do so. Fine. But many are simply assigned to racially segregated housing units, eat segregated meals, and participate in segregated exercise periods. The usual divisions separate whites, blacks, Hispanics, and sometimes Asian gang members. In prisons where the Asians are too few to form a segregated unit, they tend to hang with the whites or stay to themselves.

One prison came under fire some years ago for purposely mixing the races in an enclosed exercise pen so the guards could enjoy (and allegedly bet on) the fights that resulted. It quickly became clear that you just don’t put hotheads of certain factions together in closed spaces where they feel they must prove something to their home-boys by becoming rowdy. OK, maybe “rowdy” is the wrong word – so how about hostile, vindictive, and aggressive? However you want to label it, the fights that broke out were, in many cases, life-threatening. A news crew caught wind of the situation and did an investigative piece which aired on national TV. In it, they blamed prison officials for pitting opposing gang members of the same race and/or thugs from different racial groups against each other for sport. The embarrassment that resulted marked the end of the practice, but also beefed up ideas that our prisons absolutely must remain racially segregated.

So now a film entitled In an Ideal World comes along, depicting three men trying to negotiate the frontlines of a prison’s racially divided culture. The documentary follows a warden and two incarcerated men, one white and one black, for seven years as they navigate deeply entrenched racial divisions inside a California prison. Because both of the inmates are serving life sentences with the possibility of parole, they learned the “codes” for survival from their respective racial groups. Over three decades of applying code rules, each gained influence and status in the prison. But now, a Supreme Court ruling that requires living unit desegregation challenges the status quo, and this in turn affects both of the inmates and the warden in various ways.

I watched the trailer for In an Ideal World and was struck by the intelligence of the inmates who “star” in it. Through their eyes, we see the institutional nature of racial hierarchies and know that membership is mandatory for survival. Apparently, the film also reviews a novel mixed-race program that holds hope for transformative change and produces cause for optimism. However, having spent time in numerous prisons which face similar segregation-desegregation issues, I find myself unable to take a firm position in either direction. Maybe YOU have some ideas about all of this and, if so, I’d love your reactions.

Dr. Nan
Good thoughts, Good words, Good actions.
(c) 2015