Reports of no follow-up contacts to those offering opportunities to volunteer at the
housing breakout on Nov. 3rd confirm my belief that there is a hidden, unconscious bias against acts of kindness. I recall what Vanissar Tarakali has said:
"Those of us who sincerely wish to change forms of oppression that do not directly target us often hit inner walls of denial (disbelief that racism, or sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, ableism, etc. are severe, pervasive social problems), or feelings of guilt, shame, isolation or powerlessness. These states are part of what I call the armor of privilege....Oppression is traumatizing to everyone involved. Being on the “up” side of privilege thwarts our natural human impulses to empathize and connect with others."
Therefore, I am pursuing a strategy of
Tackling Complex Social Problems with Collective Impact. (2 minute video) If you wish to support or join with the growing numbers of allies to this cause,
contact me.
The homelessness issue is a challenging opportunity for testing the
Spreading Kindness Campaign. If kindness is based on empathetic, right relationship, then unconscious bias, as a classism similar to racism, has the potential to sabotage any top-down legal or institutional remedies to homelessness. On the other hand, horizontally shared awareness of bias has the potential to restore community security, prosperity and quality of life.
Experiences of empathy in small group settings could be an efficient strategy for gentle exposure and dissolution of bias, thereby restoring social cohesion through the collective impact of friends, both old and new. If successful, we can expect long-term improvement in such measures as the
Hate and Bias Crime and Incident Report, the
point-in-time count, and data provided by
Live Healthy Lane: percentage of cost burdened households, kindergarten assessment, alcohol & substance abuse screening, depression screening, etc.
I just saw an excellent video that explains my hopes very well in 6 minutes:
On the issue of poverty, using a Collective Impact approach: "You have to go slow to go fast”
To read more about collective impact, visit
these resources.
Here’s an update on the homeless vs. business owners confrontation:
- The homeless and business advocates spoke to City Council on Nov. 12 in a tragic ventilation of verbal abuse.
- I am meeting Nov. 19 with the steering committee of the Spreading Kindness Campaign, asking for their support of a collective impact campaign.
- I am planning on attending the next meeting of the Wake Up Eugene group on Wed., Nov. 20, to also solicit their support .
