Week 8
One really great thing that we do in Enterprise Architecture is to promote conversation and understanding between diverse groups of people. This is a skill in short supply. I wish we had Enterprise Architects helping the political discourse in America.
Tonight I participated in an event with Cokie Roberts, political commentator for National Public Radio (NPR). If you are not familiar with her, she co-anchored ABC's This Week program with Sam Donaldson from 1992 - 2002. She was appointed by President George W. Bush to service on his Council on Service and Civic Participation. Her father, Hale Boggs (1914-1972), Majority leader of the House of Representatives service on the Warren Commission which investigated the assassination of President John Kennedy in Dallas Texas in 1963.
The audience asked Cokie questions about the current political environment. One theme that came up was, how similar is today's environment to that of the US in 1968. For those of you not old enough to understand what was poignant about the comparison with 1968, here is a brief timeline of that year. It was an exciting year of great technological advances: Boeing introduced the first 747 Jumbo Jet and Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon. There were some difficult international incidents: North Korea captured a US Navy intelligence ship, captured and tortured the crew and North Vietnam launched the TET Offensive in a devastating attack that caught the US military off guard. Changes in the culture were occurring: For the first time an interracial kiss was shown on TV when Captain Kirk kiss Lt Uhura. Before you dismiss that as a big deal, remember that interracial marriage only became legal in the US in 1967 with the Loving vs Virginia case. Two American Olympic athletes, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, protested the killing of black men in America by saluting Black Power with black gloved fists while standing on the Olympic podium. Finally, tragically both Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert F. Kennedy were both assassinated only two months apart from each other.
The similarities to this year are in the both the assassination of law enforcement officers in Dallas and violence against black men at the hands of the police. The violence and following protests of 1968 caused significant political change. Republican Richard Nixon was elected President as a law-and-order candidate. Will the same thing happen this year? Donald Trump's campaign message is to restore safety and security to the people, siting a new to "restore law and order." Clinton is calling for gun control and for people to come together across racial divides. President Obama called the killing of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile "symptomatic of a broader set of racial disparities that exist in our criminal-justice system."
The question is, "Is anyone listening?" Is 2016 at all different from 1968? 1968 witnessed race riots in Detroit, Michigan, Newark, New Jersey and Watts in Los Angeles following incidents of police brutality against African Americans. President Lyndon Johnson established the Kerner Commission to understand the violence. The commissions first draft, called "The America of Racism," explained the riots as an unsurprising reaction to racial oppression by the white power structure. The 1968 report explained that institutionalized racism was enforced through segregation and poverty. The commission argued that the solution included stricter political conduct guidelines, an integrated police force, and reductions in automatic weapons and machine guns. None of the recommendations were implemented largely because President Johnson did not believe that he could get congress to enact any of the recommendations. Instead, the country followed candidate Richard Nixon who argued that the answer to the problem was, "decent and law-abiding citizens of America to take the offensive against the criminal forces that threaten their peace and security, and to rebuild respect for law across this country." The riots stopped. However, the underlying issues were still, are still intact.
So what will we do in 2016, when structural racism remains a constant issue with blacks disproportionately imprisoned and a Congress is unwilling to allow any changes to be made into law? Hillary Clinton has not done much to deal with institutionalized racism, nor has she taken a strong stance for changing the criminal-justice system. Donald Trump has at best been dismissive of the Black Livers Matter movement and is more likely to increase the reach of the justice system than he is to reform it. So our politicians aren't likely to help.
However, if the people of America can agree that there is a problem, we can change things. Ross Douthat of the New York Times stated that 2016 bears "echoes and recurrences linking this difficult moment to the American berserk of two generations back." Yet he points out that we are reminded by people like Jonathan Chait of the New York Magazine that 2016 is not 1968. Conservative writers such as Matt Lewis of the Daily Caller and Leon Wolf of RedState are stating that while the vast majority of police officers are trying to do the right thing, "police brutality towards African Americans is a pervasive problem." Both writers point out that our justice and political systems can only be effective if the people believe they work and our minority communities are unable to believe right now. People of all races have come together in Dallas to support the slain officers, so we know can agree on what is right. Paul Ryan recently complimented President Obama on his remarks about the situation and talked about the need for peaceful protest. In the 2008 election, then candidate Barack Obama talked about the unity of the nation. He said,
Whether you are a Hillary, Donald or Bernie supporter, let's take this opportunity to talk together to find real solutions to the institutionalized racism that pulled our country apart in 1968 and could bring us down again. I don't know the answers, but I do know that study after study has shown that we are smarter and make better decisions when we bring diverse opinions together. So let's take advantage of the fact that we don't agree on everything and try to solve to solve this one thing. Let's make it a better country for all of us.
One really great thing that we do in Enterprise Architecture is to promote conversation and understanding between diverse groups of people. This is a skill in short supply. I wish we had Enterprise Architects helping the political discourse in America.
Tonight I participated in an event with Cokie Roberts, political commentator for National Public Radio (NPR). If you are not familiar with her, she co-anchored ABC's This Week program with Sam Donaldson from 1992 - 2002. She was appointed by President George W. Bush to service on his Council on Service and Civic Participation. Her father, Hale Boggs (1914-1972), Majority leader of the House of Representatives service on the Warren Commission which investigated the assassination of President John Kennedy in Dallas Texas in 1963.
The audience asked Cokie questions about the current political environment. One theme that came up was, how similar is today's environment to that of the US in 1968. For those of you not old enough to understand what was poignant about the comparison with 1968, here is a brief timeline of that year. It was an exciting year of great technological advances: Boeing introduced the first 747 Jumbo Jet and Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon. There were some difficult international incidents: North Korea captured a US Navy intelligence ship, captured and tortured the crew and North Vietnam launched the TET Offensive in a devastating attack that caught the US military off guard. Changes in the culture were occurring: For the first time an interracial kiss was shown on TV when Captain Kirk kiss Lt Uhura. Before you dismiss that as a big deal, remember that interracial marriage only became legal in the US in 1967 with the Loving vs Virginia case. Two American Olympic athletes, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, protested the killing of black men in America by saluting Black Power with black gloved fists while standing on the Olympic podium. Finally, tragically both Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert F. Kennedy were both assassinated only two months apart from each other.
The similarities to this year are in the both the assassination of law enforcement officers in Dallas and violence against black men at the hands of the police. The violence and following protests of 1968 caused significant political change. Republican Richard Nixon was elected President as a law-and-order candidate. Will the same thing happen this year? Donald Trump's campaign message is to restore safety and security to the people, siting a new to "restore law and order." Clinton is calling for gun control and for people to come together across racial divides. President Obama called the killing of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile "symptomatic of a broader set of racial disparities that exist in our criminal-justice system."
The question is, "Is anyone listening?" Is 2016 at all different from 1968? 1968 witnessed race riots in Detroit, Michigan, Newark, New Jersey and Watts in Los Angeles following incidents of police brutality against African Americans. President Lyndon Johnson established the Kerner Commission to understand the violence. The commissions first draft, called "The America of Racism," explained the riots as an unsurprising reaction to racial oppression by the white power structure. The 1968 report explained that institutionalized racism was enforced through segregation and poverty. The commission argued that the solution included stricter political conduct guidelines, an integrated police force, and reductions in automatic weapons and machine guns. None of the recommendations were implemented largely because President Johnson did not believe that he could get congress to enact any of the recommendations. Instead, the country followed candidate Richard Nixon who argued that the answer to the problem was, "decent and law-abiding citizens of America to take the offensive against the criminal forces that threaten their peace and security, and to rebuild respect for law across this country." The riots stopped. However, the underlying issues were still, are still intact.
So what will we do in 2016, when structural racism remains a constant issue with blacks disproportionately imprisoned and a Congress is unwilling to allow any changes to be made into law? Hillary Clinton has not done much to deal with institutionalized racism, nor has she taken a strong stance for changing the criminal-justice system. Donald Trump has at best been dismissive of the Black Livers Matter movement and is more likely to increase the reach of the justice system than he is to reform it. So our politicians aren't likely to help.
However, if the people of America can agree that there is a problem, we can change things. Ross Douthat of the New York Times stated that 2016 bears "echoes and recurrences linking this difficult moment to the American berserk of two generations back." Yet he points out that we are reminded by people like Jonathan Chait of the New York Magazine that 2016 is not 1968. Conservative writers such as Matt Lewis of the Daily Caller and Leon Wolf of RedState are stating that while the vast majority of police officers are trying to do the right thing, "police brutality towards African Americans is a pervasive problem." Both writers point out that our justice and political systems can only be effective if the people believe they work and our minority communities are unable to believe right now. People of all races have come together in Dallas to support the slain officers, so we know can agree on what is right. Paul Ryan recently complimented President Obama on his remarks about the situation and talked about the need for peaceful protest. In the 2008 election, then candidate Barack Obama talked about the unity of the nation. He said,
Democrats, independents and Republicans who are tired of the division and distraction that has clouded Washington, who know that we can disagree without being disagreeable, who understand that, if we mobilize our voices to challenge the money and influence that stood in our way and challenge ourselves to reach for something better, there is no problem we cannot solve, there is no destiny that we cannot fulfill.
Whether you are a Hillary, Donald or Bernie supporter, let's take this opportunity to talk together to find real solutions to the institutionalized racism that pulled our country apart in 1968 and could bring us down again. I don't know the answers, but I do know that study after study has shown that we are smarter and make better decisions when we bring diverse opinions together. So let's take advantage of the fact that we don't agree on everything and try to solve to solve this one thing. Let's make it a better country for all of us.
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