Guest MINDSETTER™ Dan Lawlor: Time to Think Beyond Reform
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The yearning for the past is very present in Rhode Island.
Many factories in the state have been shuttered for decades, yet people still speak of the mill cities. Suburbs from East Providence to Johnston are beset with political corruption and fiscal challenges. There is, among young people I know, a sense of a future stillborn - promises unkept and unlikely to be met.
The generation of the 90s grew up in a world where elite media and institutions promised us the world - follow your dreams, don't think too much, enjoy, eat, be merry...use the credit card. Yet, the world we lived in wasn't normal - it was an aberration. We grew up with Boy Meets World and Enron. The sitcom ended and the bubble burst.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTRoughly 10% official unemployment, nearly one third of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, massive student loan payments, a dysfunctional government. This is what we have. The political class in this state and this nation have, with notable exceptions, failed us. Yet, broadly speaking, we as a state have failed ourselves. We voted in the people, we return the people, we allowed our schools to become subpar, our roads to become second rate, our cities business culture and justice values to collapse.
There are many throughout Rhode Island living a revival of dignity - from farmer markets to artist entrepreneurship to union organizing hotel workers to small alternative schools like San Miguel and Paul Cuffee, there are people who are tired of the old ways of doing things. Yet, there are some people who want the old ways to stay.
There are many who want, understandably, the security that comes with "knowing someone" to get things done, and to keep your family and your connections safe. I'm not just speaking about "unions" - I'm also speaking about the wealth and connected. The tragedy is that the network that runs this state - the overwhelmingly white male cohort of business, union, and political figures who press the buttons - doesn't see the boat is taking on water. I know many people who bemoan the loss of the "old ways," the "old neighborhood," "back in the day" - yet the state they are missing was also a violent one, a racist one, and the same one which set the ground work for our current problems.
Political Culture Divisive
Most of the young, intelligent, energetic people I know - talented people opening restaurants, leading non-profits, in medical school or law school - have no desire to be part of Rhode Island's political culture. They certainly will vote. They might occasionally volunteer on campaign work. Yet, most find the state's political culture - both the elected variety and the behind the scenes advocacy- too dirty, too rotten, too venal. From petty crime to DUIs to bribery to domestic assault to adultery - surely we can do better. Some representatives, lobbyists and volunteer board members are quiet talented. We need more like them. The clubby ways of doing things - even among the activists trying to change things - limits who is involved, and how much change actually can happen.
Alongside the need for formal political engagement, there needs to be a revival of cultural engagement. This may seem odd - isn't Providence an arts mecca? For some, it certainly is. Yet, there are many city residents not connected to the culture of arts in Providence. There are many students in our public schools who have limited exposure to arts and whose auditoriums are leaky, moldy, and full of peeling (lead?) paints. There are many Rhode Islanders who don't know RISD exists, or at the least, have never set foot in it. Organizations need to push into new neighborhoods, and we as neighbors should find ways to support and expand the New Urban Arts, the City Arts, and the Community Music Works of the city.
The steps to improve our overburdened, underfunded public colleges, to relieve student debts, to make it easier to open small businesses, to support quality public schools, to eliminate the scourge of lead poisoning and its after effects, to consider our overcrowded prisons - these remain. D Just ask my friends, RI born and raised, living and working in DC, San Francisco and Boston...if they come back.
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