Barry Switzer, former football coach at Oklahoma, has perhaps the best statement that I have seen regarding classism. “These so-called captains of industry who were born on third base and think they hit a triple.” In terms of class, where you start makes a big difference. 40% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck with little or no reserve for rainy day emergencies. Children go to bed hungry in our nation. Children of the top 2% don’t. Classism for all Americans makes a bigger impact than anything else in our lives including such things as our health and our safety.
I think that Americans have been sold a bill of goods about opportunity that isn’t fair. Follow your dream. Never stop trying. The problem is that a number of us make it out of the low socioeconomic group and we are held up as the standard bearers for those who still do not share in the American dream. By implication if you don’t “rise up”, then you simply did not have the desire or the ability. The problem is that the gap between those with means and those without is now larger than ever. The middle class is a dying phenomenon. That does not bode well for our nation.
Have you ever wondered why the movie, Rocky became such an important narrative for our nation?Our blood begins to stir when we hear the music that is a theme for the movie. We love to see people make it against all odds. We love to see people have a chance to “rise up”. Rocky is the noble journey. Every day people are pulled in spirit to the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum to run up those steps and jump up and down in victory. I did it!
There is a diversity exercise that graphically points out the reality of how important where you start is to your journey out of poverty and into inclusion and acceptability. Questions are raised to see where your real starting line is located. Picture a runners’ track! Do your parents have a college education? Take three steps forward. Are you attending a school system that is highly ranked in your area? Take three more steps forward. Can you go out to dinner any time your family would like? Take another step forward. The questions are questions of privilege. When the last question is asked and you look where you are in relation to others, your quickly realize that you have had a head start. Some, however, have not moved off that first starting line.
If we assume that this is a race around a track with people of equal desire and ability, the winner is likely to be that person who started the race way ahead of you. The people who are still back at the beginning have to be more talented and harder working than the people ahead. Picture yourself in the starting blocks for it is difficult for most to win in the end because they are weighed down by the internal messaging that life just isn’t fair. It is a weight like no other.
The very first moral statement that a child makes is “It’s not fair.” That lack of fairness in life can weigh down even the strongest runner. The people in the blocks ahead of us at the starting line will have an advantage that is more than speed. They feel that they will have a chance. Those left behind want just that, a chance to “rise up” even if life is not fair. People need that sense of a chance just as much as they need to be talented and hard working.
What base were you born on? Third or just heading to first? Are you still in the dugout waiting your turn?
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