A deadly new disparity

Posted on May 13, 2012 by

The killing of Trayvon Martin raises the prospect of a new disparity: unequal enforcement of “stand your ground” legislation.

A stand your ground law states that a person may use force in self-defense when there is reasonable belief of a threat, without an obligation to retreat first. In some cases, a person may use deadly force in public areas without a duty to retreat.  Florida’s stand your ground legislation declares a person is justified in using force…against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force.

George Zimmerman is said to have shot and killed Trayvon Martin when Zimmerman, on patrol in his capacity as a neighborhood watch volunteer, spotted Martin and claimed to police he was acting suspiciously; when confronting him, Zimmerman allegedly shot and killed Trayvon.  When police arrived Zimmerman said he was feeling threatened and acting in self-defense; he was not arrested, and let go.

A question arises when the situation is reversed: is a black man permitted to carry a gun and use it in defense of his neighborhood whenever he feels threatened?  Can he patrol his neighborhood in search of suspicious behavior shown by, say, a suited white man driving slowly through the streets?  Can a black man say to police, without fear of arrest and prosecution, while standing over the body of the white man he just shot, “Just standing my ground, officers, acting in self-defense from this man dressed like a white man and acting suspiciously”?

The law might say Yes, he can.  The law looks race-neutral.  But I seriously doubt there’s any way the scenario of the previous paragraph would be permitted.  I suspect that most people, at least in states where this legislation has passed, blacks and whites, would say the very intent of this legislation, while not stated explicitly, is to give whites yet another tool to use the law to control blacks.

I acknowledge that putting my question and doubts out there is bold.  Am I trying to start a race war?  Do I want more white people killed just to even things up?  Of course not, I’m trying to stop a race war, to shed light on one that began hundreds of years ago with slavery, continued through the Jim Crow era, and continues through today.

I suggest our legislatures take steps to ensure that the intent and enforcement of this law – of all laws –  is no more harmful to one group than another.  This “stand your ground” law, enforced selectively, practically declares open season on black men, a notion reinforced by this inserted image of a gun range target sold openly in Orlando, in the same state  where Trayvon Martin was killed.

It will take activist nonprofits and activist funders to push against this legislation and to insist on equity in law enforcement and law enactment.  Is that a proper role for nonprofits and funders?  Absolutely; let’s recognize that two of the principle parties advocating for stand your ground legislation are themselves part of the nonprofit sector, 501(c)3 tax-exempt organizations supported by donations from individuals and foundations — the National Rifle Association, and the American Legislative Exchange Council.

A law-by-law and state-by-state evaluation of disparate impact of law enforcement will reveal where progress most needs to be made.

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Steven E. Mayer, Ph.D. / Effective Communities Project / May 13, 2012

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Why business thinking is not the answer

Posted on April 17, 2012 by

“We must reject the idea – well-intentioned but dead wrong – that the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to become ‘more like a business.’” This is Jim Collins’ opening statement in Good to Great And the Social Sectors, a monograph to accompany his classic 2001 management book, Good to Great.

It will also be the first assigned reading in my upcoming class, “Program Development and Evaluation,” offered this Fall by Johns Hopkins University through its Advanced Academic Programs, one of six courses leading to a graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management.

I will need something, and this fills the bill nicely, to help students appreciate that the business sector doesn’t hold a monopoly on effectiveness, and excellence is not uniquely a business concept.  It would be as absurd to argue that the primary path to greatness in the business sector is to become more like a charity.  The fact is that a great many organizations from both sectors are simply mediocre, because their practices are mediocre.  Collins explains this very nicely, in both his books.

For the social sectors, Collins puts forth five principles, the first one — the necessity of defining “great” without business metrics – setting the stage nicely for explorations of evaluating effectiveness in the public and nonprofit realm.

Collins continues, “To throw our hands up and say we cannot measure performance in the social sectors the way you can in a business is simply a lack of discipline. … It doesn’t really matter whether you can quantify your results.  What matters is that you rigorously assemble evidence – quantitative or qualitative – to track your progress.  If the evidence is primarily qualitative, think like a trial lawyer assembling the combined body of evidence.  If the evidence is primarily quantitative, then think of yourself as a laboratory scientist assembling and assessing the data.”

I’ve espoused this principle for years, first in a 1983 project that mimicked a courtroom presentation of evidence on the merits of a school-based drug prevention program, using a model advanced by the National Science Foundation.  “Pretend you’ve been accused of running a trivial or ineffective program – what evidence can you marshal in your defense,” I ask.

This – the presentation of worthwhile evidence of effectiveness – will be one of the core themes of my class at Hopkins. The course is one of six required for a Certificate in Nonprofit Management, a program developed for Johns Hopkins by Char Mollison, a former Vice President at the Council on Foundations.  As the program materials say, “The fully online Certificate in Nonprofit Management recognizes the substantial role nonprofits play in the formulation and delivery of public services, and as vehicles for citizen influence and expression.

“The coursework focuses on building the specific analytical and management skills needed by those assuming leadership roles in a variety of nonprofit fields. All the courses feature a global perspective for relevance in today’s world of interconnected economies and communication.”

Preparing and then presenting the course on nonprofit and public program development and evaluation will provide me many opportunities to create blog posts informing the larger themes of JustPhilanthropy.org.  Who knows – maybe someday there’ll be an online course on philanthropy, justice, and evaluation.

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Steven E. Mayer, Ph.D. / Effectiveness Communities Project / April 18, 2012

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It’s hard to see racism when you’re White

Posted on February 23, 2012 by

“It’s hard to see racism when you’re White,” the billboards erected by Duluth’s Un-Fair Campaign allege.   Enraged Whites, according to an article in the Star Tribune, have interpreted this as anti-White, as an insult to their intelligence.  “They’re saying we’re stupid.”

It’s hard to see racism when you’re White is no doubt true, but not because Whites are stupid.  It’s because,  just as fish will be the last to discover water, Whites are so enmeshed in the systems we created that we can’t see how it works in our favor.  We’re just too close.

Society’s systems and markets for housing, finance, employment, law enforcement, economic development, etc are riddled with privileges that favor Whites as a group over other groups, on average, as virtually every study in these arenas shows.  These differences in the ground-rules are barriers to more equitable outcomes, and form a pattern of institutional racism that is typically unseen and unacknowledged by Whites, as the billboards point out, because we’re just too close.

Racism isn’t only about hateful attitudes, or intelligence, it’s about the unfair performance of our society’s systems.  Exposing the privileges enjoyed by Whites – not all Whites, of course, but on average — is a challenge in the face of emotional, angry resistance by Whites who refuse to look or listen.

Of course lingering in the land of anger and resentment is counter-productive. Anti-racism workshops or white privilege workshops can begin to open minds and hearts, but only if minds and hearts are willing to open.

What else can be done?  If institutional barriers to fairness is the problem in our systems of economic development, justice, school-to-life pathways, etc., then how about some fair-minded folk coming together to focus some creative energy on the institutional barriers themselves – forget the feelings — and promote some fixes?  That seems more productive than provoking people (though some say, with justification, you have to provoke some people first to rouse them from slumber, get their attention, and inspire them to act).

Pushing for change in these systems will require pressure from outside and leadership from inside these institutions.  Also needed is community leadership, some good ideas for improving policy and practice that could productively address the equity issues, perhaps one barrier at a time in one arena at a time.  See my two most recent posts, here and here.

This in turn requires sustained energy, leadership, and resources.  The Monday morning evaluation discussions should focus on “Are we making progress in addressing this particular equity issue?”   Participants should come prepared to discuss, “Are we getting to know a promising leverage point — the just-right tweak to the policies and practices that determine how decisions get made?” “Do we have the just-right partners to move these changes along,” and “Will our people understand how this is a win-win solution?”

Philanthropy, in the form of precisely-targeted gifts to the right organizations, can support these activities.

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Steven E. Mayer, Ph.D. / February 23, 2012 / JustPhilanthropy.org

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