Jon:
I have an entire book which will finally hit shelves after the first of next year which talks about “injustices” and how at least in my own experiences, I overcame them.
You wrote in part:
“For quite some time now, I have been aware that, in its earlier days, the BSA permitted practices that were nowhere objectively justified by the Scout Oath or Law, such as racially-segregated Scout troops. Last night, I was shocked to find an example of just how un-Scoutlike some people were, back then.”
And you haven’t been looking around and noting the lack of faces with any other “coloring” than shades of pale eggwhite? Glad you woke up. Welcome to my world.
While the BSA has tried (since 1922) with limited successes to make our programs more “colorblind”, the fact is that we live in a nation which for the most part is still not so. Even in 2011, several decades after the civil rights marches, “Freedom Rides” and the reduction of the Klan and its brother Aryan Nation organizations, things haven’t changed too much. In my beloved home state — 17 miles from where I used to work as a Paraprofessional while going to college, a biracial couple (white woman who was born and raised in the county; black man who immigrated to the States) could sing together but was denied to be married at the same church. Media pressure forced a slight majority of church members to change their minds and allow them to “live out their lives”. Most refused to even vote one way or another — for fear of being labeled “bigots” or that “lover word” which starts with a racial slur. Even where they have to pump sunlight into the hills, people have caught onto the “blazing hot spotlight” called the press and react “appropriately”.
The next time you go to a Council — no, a District — event, do this: Count to yourself the number of Black, Brown and warm Yellow faces you see around the room. Count the folks serving the food or assisting with the set up along with the participants, to be fair about it. A good 8 out of ten times, you’ll be able to count those “other faces” on both hands, and perhaps using the toes of one of your feet. It’s not the BSA’s fault… well, they’re trying but not enough in *my opinion*.
It was the way that our grandfathers and great-grandfathers were raised, Jon. It was a part of American history — then as well as now. The BSA was one of the few organizations in the forefront which didn’t discriminate against Catholics. Later Jews. Then there were constant battles between the majority of the nation and eight Southern states which wanted to “align their Scouting membership with state law”. Later when the state law was changed, to “align their membership and leadership with social morals and conduct.” The BSA threatened to yank Council charters, bar leaders from receiving the Silver Beaver, and attempted to reassign Black and in two cases Hispanic men to serve as Scout Executives in those Councils. Didn’t matter… Council Executive Boards thumbed their noses at the national organization; and their coffers increased as those “supporters” poured monies into their Council operation and summer camps to “keep them pure and separate.”
Since one of the four “pillars” of Scouting has been the level of financial management; and another one the level of youth membership and units they are a part of — the BSA shugged their shoulders and said “oh well…”
In my book, I relate an experience going to a summer camp operation in the Deep South to visit a fellow Jamboree staffer in 1978. He invited me to come and see their wonderful camp and I drove the 400 or so miles southward to the entrance to the camp. There, the Camp’s Ranger — wielding a shotgun — told me in total clarity to “take my black ass back home where I belong” and that “none of your kind will EVER find their way inside this camp as long as I’m the Ranger.”
I was a regional employee at the time. I had the Ranger fired. My friend and fellow Jamboree staffer never talked with me since then — I’ve still got his number and when I decided to put the event into my book, I tried several times to reach him for his side of the story. Either shame, regret, or support set in. The Ranger was well-liked, was being paid good money (back then), and to this day, I have not been invited to attend or participate in anything in that particular local Council. The Council has been subsequently merged into a larger metro Council, but I try my best to move forward and not dwell on it any more than I had to.
Truth be known, Jon, my mother would have yanked a knot in my tail if she’d known the number of Councils I’ve been to whereby I was literally “all alone”. A Scout is Brave, I wrote in the book, but I don’t believe that Colin Livingstone and Daniel Carter Beard had me or some of my peers in mind when they were writing the American version of the Scout Law, adding points concerning valor, purity and tolerance.
You also wrote in part:
“I have a Civics merit badge pamphlet which dates from the 1920s, and which bears, on its inside front cover, a list of the 1928 requirements for the badge. Since I am currently counseling Scouts for the Citizenship in the Nation merit badge, I decided to look through the Civics pamphlet, since I like to use older Scouting resources for today’s Scouts.”
Scouts (kids) today for the most part, “don’t care” about the “race thing”. They pal up with White, Black, Asian and Hispanic kids of both gender as if they’ve been doing it all of their lives — proudly tossing the middle finger at anyone who complains. Its a result of societial attempts at integrating our schools, churches and civic activities. For the most part, it’s a result of the media. From bit parts on the small and big screen toward starring or co-starring roles on television shows and in our movies, to leading actor and actress roles in blockbuster movies and television shows — not because of the topic, but simply because we became used to seeing those “other faces” and then thrilled when they provided the performances of their lifetimes (it was “now or never”, for many of them — they knew it and many of us knew it too). And when Bill Cosby said what many of us parents would say when our sons decided not to go to college; or when Halle Berry almost kicked James Bond’s butt… we really stood up and cheered for the chocolate brown face.
We adults have a bit of a rough time “adjusting”, going back to the recent example near Pikeville, Kentucky. Many of us are still stuck in neutral — or if not actually, in our minds we want to be in reverse. Back then it was so easy: everything had its “place” and we placed people, actions and experiences in those “places” and be done with it. Everyone knew their “place” and nobody wanted to “move” or “take” anyone else’s “place” — for fear of failure, embarrassment, shame, or worse.
“People were lynched for doing what you did. Just driving down in the wrong side of a town can put your life at risk. Leave the Wood Badge presentation to someone of their own kind”. Despite the constant “recommendation” in the early days of my travels (and her prayers before I left), even my sweetie (later to become my wife) could not keep me from upholding the Order of the Arrow’s Obligation (“…will seek to preserve a cheerful spirit, even in the midst of irksome tasks and weighty responsibilities…”) and the Tenth Scout Law. No cell phones back then. No way to summon assistance. Just blind faith — and the promise of a meal and someplace to rest my head in relative comfort; and a coffee mug, patch and/or a piece of printed cardboard with some signatures and thank you — and perhaps a bit of change to help me “get back to where I belong”.
Many Scouters replaced racial tensions with fears that like so many other things, the BSA will “cow down” to the black organizations and the black ministers and the black media and dilute the program. When the BSA started placing black and brown faces prominently on the covers of their publications, my comment to a friend of mine was “this isn’t good — a knee jerk reaction to “we need more black faces”. Let’s just print entire books with *only* black faces — you know, like they do dolls…” After the recent release of the Guide to Advancement a couple months back, I read a LOT of email basically saying the same thing: “the BSA is watering down the program, trying to make every kid an Eagle Scout!”
The BSA is too ashamed to admit it, but folks like me know factual information like this. Black and Brown kids being refused membership — it’s legal and BSA approved (the chartered organization sets the youth membership standards, not the BSA). Adults being able to serve as unit level leaders but not as Commissioners or committee members in several local Councils. Council Executive Boards telling the Scout Executive that “you can hire them, but you have to limit them to the “black” or “brown” parts of the Council’s territories. Don’t make them a District Exec of a suburban District — we’ll have your head.”
I thought we were over and done with this…
I am currently working with a biracial family in a northern state to help them appeal their son’s Eagle board of review. The chair of the board wrote on one of the documents the group was reviewing “this zebra kid has a big mouth. Not eagle material.” They denied his Eagle because he did not have “enough Scout spirit” for them.
In a nation with its first African-American president, the BSA still haven’t cracked the code (or have the courage yet…they’re getting there, but…) to simply say “There’s only one standard — that of the Scout Oath or Promise and the Scout Law (the “three and 12″) ” and enforce it across all local Councils, all volunteers, and anyone who deals with the BSA. We ask our youth to embrace those ideals. We “measure them” against those ideas, and that of fair play, equality and true brotherhood. But that’s as far as it goes.
Not in the book, Jon (the book was completed in 1989) but lots of Scouters have asked me “why hasn’t the President come out and publically support the BSA? I mean, look, he’s black — he could give a big boost toward making Scouting less white and a whole lot more blacks would see that it’s not the “white kids outdoor adventure club”.
I look at them in the eye and answer them, “because the BSA can’t even be brave enough to enforce one standard, one set of rules. We talk a great game but don’t expect the refs to follow the rule book. The day when they do, you’ll see not only the President embracing the Boy Scouts of America — you’ll see America embrace it once again.”
Wow. Wow indeed – or in the word of my “catch phrase” I’m going to use during 2012 (you can too!)…. EXCEPTIONAL!
Settummanque!
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Settummanque is writer, retired military officer, dad, friend,
traveler, public speaker, webmaster, Eagle Scout, and/or “sweetie”
(LTC) Mike Walton. South Lake Minnetonka area, Minnesota.
http://www.settummanque.com
Settummanque is writer, retired military officer, dad, friend,
traveler, public speaker, webmaster, Eagle Scout, and/or “sweetie”
(LTC) Mike Walton. South Lake Minnetonka area, Minnesota.
http://www.settummanque.com
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