Time to Walk away from the Boy Scouts

It is difficult to understand how anyone is still able to rationalize supporting the Boy Scouts of America. It must have to do with the fact being a “Boy Scout” is ingrained in the American lexicon as being honest, fair, trustworthy and all things good. Apparently, it is hard to discard such strong images despite irrefutable evidence the national Boy Scout organization is anything but those things.

Timeless Values Besmirched?

It is time, once and for all, for parents, churches, community groups and supporters of the national Boy Scouts to cease supporting the discriminatory and often backwards policies and practices of the national Boy Scout organization.

The Boy Scouts of America has for years unashamedly prevented gay and lesbian adults from participating as scout leaders and parent advisors. They have relentlessly fought to remove capable, trusted people who are fully committed to the principles espoused in the Boy Scout handbook from being involved in adult leadership roles based on a bigoted belief sexual orientation qualifies some and disqualifies others. And, the Boy Scouts’ discriminatory practice doesn't stop at adults. Just this month a model Boy Scout in California was denied the organization’s top award of Eagle Scout simply because he was gay.

Now comes another bizarre twist to the Boy Scout saga. Yesterday a court in Oregon ordered the release of decades of documents compiled by the Boy Scouts dubbed the perversion files. In numerous instances child molesters were kept hidden from law enforcement with no regard for their victims. Some of these deviants were chased from Boy Scout positions. Many were not. Most important, the Boy Scouts helped ensure few offenders ever faced justice for their crimes against children. All of this was done to protect the Boy Scout organization’s image, not the rights of the children they supposedly were there to serve.

Many boys have become upstanding men with the help of their Boy Scout experience. The Boy Scout credo, their leaders, fellow Scouts and lessons learned scouting have served them well. It would be a shame to entirely scrap what remains a wholesome and positive force in thousands of people’s lives. Many parents and community organizations supporting local Boy Scout troops say they disagree with the national organization’s behavior. They insist they are trying to change Scouting from within. They say their troops operate independent of the the national organization’s policies and practices. They would never discriminate. But, this rings hollow as long as dues are paid to support a national organization that does.

Yes, the files released yesterday ended in 1985, but before you dismiss what is contained in them as yesterday’s news consider for how long and how zealously the Boys Scouts fought to keep the files a secret while victims quietly suffered. Think about the yet-to-be-released files that were not included in the Oregon court matter. And, do not forget the organization’s discrimination based on sexual orientation continues today in earnest and unabashedly in the open.

The time has come for those who disagree with the Boy Scouts of America to walk away. Stop supporting an institution that supports bigotry and puts children at risk. Churches, public schools and other community groups housing local troops should cease doing so as long as any dues are paid from that local group to a larger group that openly discriminates as do the Boy Scouts. The change Scouting from within experiment has failed. Local Scouting troops should take a stand by permanently and completely severing ties with the national organization. These troops can then band together to start a new Boy Scouts of America, one that does more than pay lip service to the credo by insisting all involved actually practice it.

Cutting off all funding and support for the national Boy Scouts organization is the only way to make being a Boy Scout mean what we would like it to mean again.

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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com 
This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register online essay.

Unequal Schools Threaten Future of U.S.

I spent some time researching my genealogy recently. I uncovered some notable ancestors, a number of quiet heroes and a few interesting characters. I learned several surprising things about the people who contributed to my being here. Discovering what many of them accomplished during their time made me realize I have a whole lot of catching up to do.

In one narrow aspect, this exploration confirmed what I already knew. I’m about as White as a person can be.

I’m not ashamed of my lack of color. I am proud of from whom and where I came. There are some brave slavery abolitionists inhabiting my line and I consider myself open-minded and free of racism. I have come to terms with my country’s checkered history pockmarked with racial inequality and would like to think I have helped the effort to stamp it out during my life. I have been willing to speak up against injustice – most of the time. Plus, I live in 2012, for God’s sake. Sure, racism still exists, but I convince myself the day is within reach when racial discrimination is something relegated to history books.

That’s why I winced when I heard Jada Williams read her essay. The 13-year-old from Rochester, New York had written a book report on The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in which she had the temerity to say little had change from the days of slavery – “just different people, different era” and “the same old discrimination still resides in the hearts of the white man.” Who does this girl think she is?

Williams said this about her mostly White teachers; “they are in a position of power to dictate what I can, cannot, and will learn, only desiring that I may get bored because of the inconsistency and the mismanagement of the classroom.”

My knee jerk reaction was to dismiss Williams as a hothead quick to play the race card, but something nagged me and I listened to her read her essay again. It is well written, but it has the undeniable voice of a 13-year-old, albeit a bright one. She has picked up some education along the way belying the charges she leveled at her school. Then I heard Williams say, “the reality of this is that most of my peers cannot read, and therefore comprehend the materials that have been provided.”

Aha! Surely she twisted a fact to make her point. Quick, to Google to prove she is exaggerating to dismiss her as nothing more than an overly excitable teen.

Unfortunately, old Whitie (me) finds a report about Rochester City School District, School 3 indicating that only 19 percent of the school’s eighth graders were proficient in language arts last year. A paltry 13 percent were proficient in math. Not only is Ms. Williams correct, I am beginning to think she underplayed the problem by saying most of her peers cannot read. She should have said nearly all of them.

A book about Frederick Douglass inspired Rochester, NY student Jada Williams to write a powerful essay.

Something is clearly wrong when a school has numbers like these. Freedom isn’t reaching its potential in a country where large segments of many communities are not learning, not gaining the tools essential for success, let alone, setting a course to self-reliance. Jada Williams knows this.

The Iowa General Assembly has spent much time this year debating education reform legislation and, save maybe a couple of those elected officials, none of them have made a better assessment of what is wrong in U.S. schools than this eighth grader did. As hard as it for me to admit, Ms. William’s jarring assertions are on target, but we should not stop there. Even in this day and age, race remains a factor, but socioeconomic differences play a role as well. The virulent, festering problem of inequality still threatens.

Much of what is said and written during the education reform debate involves testing and screening teachers. Ms. Williams, too, wants to make those who teach accountable, but she seems to know testing has little to do with the solution. America’s ailing schools will not be cured with more testing and additional rules that tie the hands of those professionals motivated to teach. We must establish a system that trains teaching professionals and lets them guide learning free from the micromanagement of elected officials.

We should heed the call of Jada Williams and fan a revolution. Until we change the culture of our schools and turn them from dismal factories processing children through a series of pass/fail assessments to places that inspire students to learn, Jada Williams, her classmates and countless American children will continue to suffer a clear and present life disadvantage.

Our best national investment is in the creation of schools that motivate the next generation of Americans to reach for a potential their ancestors never imagined. Perhaps the opening lines of our next national chapter on social justice and equality may begin with the words of a thirteen-year-old.

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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com


This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

Changing the Rules of the Lobbying Game

Decrying the power lobbyists wield here and in Washington has become a national pastime for the political elite and occasional voter both.  When not playing golf, dining or hobnobbing at high-dollar fundraisers with lobbyists, many a powerful Republican and Democrat lawmaker have been known to give lofty speeches about limiting the lobbyist.

Financial disclosure laws, restrictions on gifts and many other acts have been passed to convince the public the lobbyist/policymaker relationship is being kept on the up and up.  However, if one has an important item pending before a lawmaking body, a good lobbyist remains essential.  Tongue in cheek, more than a few have suggested what the American public needs is our own lobbyist. They may be on to something.

Even though he is a lobbyist, I have always liked Marty Ryan.  When we have lunch, he generally eats dessert first because he feels the best part of the meal shouldn’t be ruined by the main course.  While he is a lobbyist and his eating habits are unconventional, don’t assume he is the self-indulgent, head-in-the clouds type.  Marty may be the only lobbyist in Des Moines who has longer-than-shoulder length grey hair and his interest appears to have little to do with accumulating power.  More important, he is doing something interesting .

Marty used to lobby for the Iowa wing of the American Civil Liberties Union.  He is passionate about civil liberties, protecting individual privacy, keeping the doors and records of government open, and a myriad of other issues.  After many years, he left the structure of the ACLU and started hunting a new way to make a difference.  This year he is going to be back at the Capitol, but his client list is going to be a bit different than most who prowl those halls.  Marty has launched an experiment which he hopes will allow him to lobby directly for people.  He will not work for an organization, a front-group for corporate interests or a coalition of entities.  For a modest fee, a few dollars actually, Marty tells me he will represent individuals by keeping them informed of activities on the Hill and giving them a voice during the Legislative Session.

I have no idea how this experiment will turn out and I am undecided whether I will be one of his subscribers, but I have to hand to him.  It took a guy who turns the table on lunch, to think of way to turn the table on the lobbying game.

The voters just suffered through a rough and tumble election season and most of us would like nothing better than to take a break from politics.  However, in just a few weeks, Congress and the General Assembly will be back at it again.  The difference is the real work begins now.  Voters decide who gets to sit in the seats of power, but the people need to make sure their voices are heard long after the voting booths are packed away.  It is nice to think that individuals could go about their busy lives knowing somebody was paying attention to the details without the wasted expense and meddling influence of a huge bureaucracy.  You may not support Marty’s issues and I am not trying to convince you to do so.  I just can’t help hoping his experiment is a success.  It is time somebody changed lobbying for the better.

Tonight, I am having dessert first.

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(Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com)

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.