The Wisdom of Sitting Bull
By Albert B. Kelly
“These people have made
many rules that the rich may break, but the poor may not...they even take
tithes of the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule”- Chief
Sitting Bull; Powder River Council 1877.
It was ironic; watching
news coverage of the protests and riots in Baltimore, I stumbled across an
article from the NY Times entitled “Workers Seeking Productivity in a Pill Are
Abusing A.D.H.D. Drugs”. I wouldn’t have seen the irony, but for Baltimore.
To most, the riots in
Baltimore were caused by the death of Freddie Gray, an African-American in
police custody. No surprise here, since 2011 Baltimore has had to pay out $11
million in settlements and legal fees on such cases.
I abhor the rioting and
looting; without the rule of law, we’re nothing. But the rage was more than just Freddie Gray;
it’s countless indignities fueled by poverty and bigotry with a hypocrisy
chaser.
Space won’t allow for a full
airing, but the article was like the “small sampling” in the manner of a
pollster and as I held the headline up against the newscast, the contrast
seemed to capture the two Americas that make the tip of this spear.
The story behind the headline
talked about the abuse of A.D.H.D. drugs like Adderall, Vyvanse, and Concerta
among white collar professionals. Abusing these drugs is all the rage in Ivy
League schools and universities across the country and its now seeping into the
white collar ranks at alarming rates.
According to the article,
these amphetamine-like drugs, a favorite among 25-45 year-olds allows users to “concentrate
better” and crank out ungodly amounts of work. Beyond college, the first real waves
of users are now hitting corporate America.
I tried to imagine what
would happen if law enforcement did “stop and frisk” on these Ivy League
campuses, in universities, and among the white collar power elite the way they
do in places like west Baltimore. I tried to imagine “zero tolerance” playing
out in the lives of these folks.
It doesn’t go down that
way among these budding masters of the universe but if it did, they might feel
some rage ala west Baltimore or anywhere else that qualifies as the underbelly
of America.
Obtaining or distributing
stimulants without a prescription is a federal crime, but the war on drugs
never really gets fought in the upper tax brackets. I imagine that if busted,
they would get a sympathetic ear, sentenced to treatment, and the benefit of
the doubt as they explained that they were just trying to gain an edge on the
American Dream. Here’s corporate America’s version of PED’s.
Ah yes, upward mobility through
pharmaceuticals. Would the white collar Adderall junkies have to be tested for
everything they get? Would they have to list their convictions on the resume
next to their hobbies? Would they get a second chance because both they and
their dealer had Ivy League degrees?
These sorts of questions
won’t be answered because in that article, it wasn’t the “druggie-burn out-
junkie-addict” stereotype presented here, but the sympathetic “these-people-are-
worth- saving”. All they need is treatment and a fresh start.
I’m all for fresh starts,
but it should be everywhere, not just the higher tax brackets. Hence the
refrain “black lives matter”; and because all lives matter, they need the same
benefit of the doubt that an Adderall-addicted professional or an Ivy Leaguer gets
every day in this country.
A Baltimore happens in
part because there’s little hope that the double standard will change; it
hasn’t since 1877. The folks who took to the street know that the folks downing
the Adderall are playing with house money and they also know that the house
always wins…the deck is stacked.
If there’s going to be
change and improvement, it will first be the obvious stuff like investing in
education and equipping people to succeed in the relevant industries today and
tomorrow. It will also include concurrent revitalization and economic
development in these neighborhoods.
But if that’s all we do,
it might not be enough. A failure to address indignities like predatory
lending, “stop and frisk”, “zero tolerance”, bail and fees as punishment
instead of to ensure a court appearance, credit scores to measure job
worthiness, and similar such things; is basically saying that there will be no
second chance- no benefit of any doubt.
Crush hope, sidestep equal
application of the law, and eventually you get rage.