by Irene Daniel
I used to be a Rotarian. Sometimes I miss it. I miss the weekly gathering of some of the most active members of the community. I miss learning something new every week from our speakers. I miss many of the individual members, and even some of those who got on my last nerve. I also miss feeling that I was a part of something larger, and something inherently good.
Rotary International is a service organization that is over 100 years old. You can find the familiar emblem along with the welcome signs in just about every town and city across America, as well as in most corners of the world. It is the only service organization of its kind with a seat at the United Nations, and boasts of millions of members world-wide; doing great things in communities large and small. It also maintains many youth programs and awards, among them -- my personal favorite -- RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award), a week-end leadership training camp for high school juniors, and the Rotary International Ambassador Scholarship Program, a post-graduate opportunity for college graduates. Rotarians also encourage and support community engagement in numerous and varied ways. RI has also been instrumental in eradicating polio world-wide, a job not quite yet done, but close. It is an opportunity for service, as well as to socialize with local leaders.
Another, and unfortunate, characteristic of Rotary, coming to be in a time of legalized sexism, racism and all manner of exploitation of the powerless, is that it is still predominantly white, male and conservative; or as some would say, "pale, male and stale." In noticing this more than obvious fact upon my arrival on the scene, being the egomaniac with an inferiority complex that I am, I thought to myself, here is someplace where I can make a difference. Maybe I can recruit others like me -- non-pale, non-male and, hopefully, non-stale. I took this fellowship seriously and participated whole-heartedly, serving on various committees and engaging with local youth. I was eventually nominated and elected to serve on the Board of Directors, a very humbling honor that I accepted, and for which I am still very grateful to this very day.
I used what influence I had to encourage adoption of new policies, or at least new attitudes, towards recruitment and retention of more black and brown and female faces. I had no illusions about turning a bastion of conservatism into a liberal stronghold. However, I had expected that a certain decorum would be honored, in light of it being the 21st century and all, and that community leaders of intelligence and compassion would know better than to permit off-color jokes and liberal-bashing (in southern California, no less) to run rampant. I was wrong. In fact, these incidents of lynching jokes, sexist innuendos and Tea Party vitriol, became greater in number and more vulgar in manner as time went on; and especially after the election of President Barack Obama.
I came to wonder why I was spending my resources at what were increasingly becoming mini-Republican conventions. It's funny, before joining Rotary, I was a lot more middle-of-the-road politically. I registered independent for awhile, and especially didn't want to feel beholden to my party just because I had always voted a particular way. After becoming a small business owner, I saw my tax liability sky-rocket, and had a different appreciation for tax issues. Although, I never really minded paying taxes, having benefitted so much from The Great Society, I was not resentful. But I did notice that it was a lot of flippin' money. And I can understand how some, not believing that "those programs" benefit them in any way, could be resentful. Of course, "those programs" really benefit us all in ways great and small, seen and unseen.
Spending the better part of a decade as a Rotarian, a few of them as a Director no less, brought me right back in touch with why I am so proud to be a bleeding-heart liberal Democrat. It's not that these Rotarians are bad people, or that they don't try to understand, albeit awkwardly manifested much of the time. The people I met in Rotary were, and are still, some of the most generous and most interesting people I have ever met, even some of those whose lack of 21st century social skills are sorely lacking. And while I feel no resentment or ill will toward any of my former fellow Rotarians. what I am left with now, more than anything else, is a very deep and unsatisfied curiosity about conservative thinking and logic. Why must they insist on persisting in old ways that are literally hurting them, their families, their businesses and their organizations?
I am reminded of Ghandi's sentiments about Christ and Christians. I like your Christ, he said, but not your Christians. I like Rotary, but Rotarians seem woefully unaware of how much they violate their very own 4-way test of truth, fairness to all, building better relationships, and activities that benefit ALL concerned, when they insist upon their old ways. Those of us who are not white, not male and not conservative are left to witness the byproducts of the ignorance that leads to bias. For example, when union-bashing or liberal-bashing are openly discussed, the leaders of this conservative coalition that prides itself on truth and fairness, seems unable to appreciate that this fodder is not my truth. It is not fair to me, or to my union copper-miner father, to treat unions like the scourge of the earth. They cannot see that by continuing to ostracize people like me by demeaning our values, they are not building good-will and better relationships; nor will the outcome of their 20th century bias be beneficial to all concerned. And what is missed in all of this is the fact that many of us non-whites come from working-class and union homes. Unlike most wealthy conservatives, we did not inherit anything but work ethic and respect for others. And so, we continue to feel unwelcome and/or misunderstood in places where conservatism abounds. We don't want to join an expensive fellowship just to be the butt of all their unfunny conservative jokes. And the Rotarian leadership continues to deny that it has a serious problem in attracting the non-pale, non-male, and non-stale. They simply do not know what they do not know. But even more troubling, they think they know everything they need to know, in their, at least subliminal, white male supremacy way of thinking.
My reasons for wanting to recruit more people like me to Rotary were not just to satisfy a self-interested ego, nor just to have some comaraderie. I saw what Rotary is only after several years of bashing my head against the wall. What I was seeing prior to that was my vision of what Rotary could be, and maybe still can be: a vibrant and alive organization full of people of all persuasions who are on fire to work together to make the world a better place, free of hunger, disease and illiteracy. What it is today is a largely older, whiter, more male and more conservative group, which prides itself on its charitable activities. And it is loosing members because it is unable to replace its staple demographic, i.e., the old, white, conservative male; with the new and coming demographics, i.e., Latinos, women and millennials. Thus, organizations like Rotary, and the Republican party, need people like me, more than people like me need Rotary or the Republican party.
And its not just the numbers, it's the attitudes that are changing too. Rotarians pride themselves on their charity -- and they are, indeed, very generous. Liberals pride themselves in making progress in social justice; because the more social justice you create, the less charity you need. The less charity needed, the less there are opportunities to give to those less fortunate because there are not as many of them; and hence, the loss of opportunity for the great white crusader to come in atop his white horse and save the day for the whole village. What conservatives can't seem to understand is that it is conservative policies of austerity for the poor and tax breaks for the wealthy, that create a continuation of unfairness and exploitation of the have-nots. The changing demographic knows this. What Rotarians, and their white conservative base everywhere, seem unable to understand is that many of us don't necessarily want what they have. Sure, we want educations and jobs; but many of us who did not inherit wealth, are not interested in joining clubs to be able to exclude others, or set ourselves apart from "the other." We are the other; those are our people who are still too often left behind. Most of us have no intention of forgetting where we came from, and how our experiences shaped our world view; a perspective that deserves just as much respect as a conservative one.
Latinos and women are not interested in going backwards. We want to move forward to create greater equality and opportunities for all, so that we won't need charity any longer. And millennials see through everybody's BS and they are simply not having the illogical exclusion of the country club mentality. The new demographic is not looking for ways to look down upon the little people. Nor is it necessary for them to hang out with older, whiter and more conservative people in order to access leadership and power. There was a time when all the power was concentrated in one specific type of individual in the land of the free: the white, propertied male. Those days are gone. Forever.
Besides the concept of charity and social justice juxtaposed, many Rotary clubs suffer from the same affliction that seems to be savaging the GOP of late, i.e., the inability to recruit and retain young people, women and non-whites. When all leadership roles, as well as all organizations like Rotary, were exclusively controlled by white men, women and non-whites could not access power without white men somewhere along the line. We needed to ask them for jobs, admission to schools, access to capital. and the like. Accordingly, in order to get their attention, we had to go where they were and perform at whatever level was prescribed by the white male leaders. We had to jump through their hoops and live up to their idea of "standards." Not only is this no longer true, but "standards" are not just defined by this one class of persons any longer.
I had intended to be a bridge-builder as a Director in my Rotary club. And then one day I realized that, in spite of all the wailing about losing 10% of their membership every year, and in spite of how much they talked about wanting to attract a crowd that was less of the pale, male and stale variety, most of these members -- at least the old white men -- really didn't want anything to change at all. And even since leaving the club, in discussing this matter with friends who are still Rotarians, their attitude seems lacking in urgency. One friend confided that they were just going to wait until all the old conservatives died off before making an effort to change their tone. Well, that's one strategy.
However, that just might be too late. The three largest growing demographics in the US today are women, Latinos and millennials. People in these groups are able to find ways of being of service, as well as accessing power and leadership, without the need to pay steep Rotary dues, and/or to hang out with people who do not understand and appreciate them. You see, by the time most of us, especially those over forty, have achieved any kind of success, we have been in many situations where a few white conservative men held the keys to our future. We've been in a lot of big rooms full of white people with money giving us scholarships or whatever. We don't hate them, but they pretty much underestimated us and often even insulted us most of the time, albeit unintentionally; so we are not anxious to hang out with people like that if we don't have to. Again, we don't hate white people or conservatives, but we have grown ever so weary of the inability of conservatives to treat us with some kind of dignity and respect. Why would anyone expect us to continue to show up at a place where we regularly get a pie in the face?
Why is it so hard for the white conservatives to see us as equals? Why must they insult us and our ancestry? Conservatives tend to see American culture as a white culture. I do not. I see it as many, many things, good and bad things; things that make us a better people, and bring us closer to that "more perfect union," that Abe envisioned.
There is no white standard to meet in order to be American. Or Rotarian. Or worthy of respect. There is only equality, and this is a concept yet un-embraced by conservatives. Unless and until white conservatives can surrender their need to be king of the mountain, both Republicans and Rotarians will continue to lose momentum and membership. It's not my fantasy. It's just math.
It is a shame that Rotary may just be letting the chance of century slip through its fingers.
No comments:
Post a Comment