Michael Bell
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The Few Prejudiced MCPS Teachers and Their Herd Immunity
Read more: The Few Prejudiced MCPS Teachers and Their Herd ImmunityWe, the veterans and survivors of COVID, learned quite clearly the meaning of “herd immunity.” Enough people are vaccinated against a disease, so the few who actually contract the disease do not infect everyone else. It’s a strategy that has served us well since the 1930s. After seeing a few MCPS teachers get busted, and…
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Jawando’s Seven Black Fathers: Conclusion—Who JW is and who he could be
Read more: Jawando’s Seven Black Fathers: Conclusion—Who JW is and who he could beThe date is December 3, 2018. The inauguration ceremony for the new County Council and County Executive is under way. Among the honorees is new council member Will Jawando wearing a West African boubou and kufi. People snickered. I snickered. “This is grandstanding. This is demographic baiting.” How wrong I was; how wrong we all…
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Stop More Housing N.O.W. / ZTA 25-02!! – It Doesn’t Do What it Promises to Do
Read more: Stop More Housing N.O.W. / ZTA 25-02!! – It Doesn’t Do What it Promises to DoA growing number of County residents and community groups are speaking out against the “More Housing N.O.W.” legislation, specifically Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 25-02 scheduled to be taken up by the County Council in July. Some Council Members are promoting the bill as a step toward increasing affordable housing options for teachers, firefighters, nurses, and…
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Jawando’s Seven Black Fathers: Part 6—Identity and Race
Read more: Jawando’s Seven Black Fathers: Part 6—Identity and RaceOf the seven installments in this series, this one is the most difficult to write (and hopefully the most difficult to read). Before continuing, I’d like to propose a difference between “identity” and “race.” Many people emphasize one aspect or another of their physical and emotional makeup as an identity. Some people identify as conservative,…
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Jawando’s Seven Black Fathers: Part 5—Law Enforcement and SROs
Read more: Jawando’s Seven Black Fathers: Part 5—Law Enforcement and SROsLaw enforcement does not have a prominent place in My Seven Black Fathers, certainly not to the extent of race and education, but the picture Will Jawando paints for us is very discouraging (p. 114–115): In 2001, the year of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when my love of country had never been stronger, and while…
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Jawando’s Seven Black Fathers: Part 4—Catholic University vs. NAACP
Read more: Jawando’s Seven Black Fathers: Part 4—Catholic University vs. NAACPIn chapter 6 of My Seven Black Fathers, Will Jawando describes his struggle to improve the lot of service workers at Catholic University. He noticed how terribly the service workers were treated—by students, managers, and administration. He sought to open a chapter of the NAACP that would represent those workers. A social-justice sociology professor, Dean…
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Unions, conference centers, and Michael Bell’s three steps of local policy grief
Read more: Unions, conference centers, and Michael Bell’s three steps of local policy griefIn On Death and Dying, Swiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross describes what has become a useful model for the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. While not universally accepted, this model quite remarkably describes my recovery from two difficult losses, one emotional, another financial. The best part of Dr. Ross’s model is…
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Jawando’s Seven Black Fathers: Part 3—Education Reform (or not)
Read more: Jawando’s Seven Black Fathers: Part 3—Education Reform (or not)Throughout My Seven Black Fathers, Will Jawando returns several times to his experiences (good and bad) in school, as well as the differential treatment between white and black school children. In Chapter 2, Jawando relates horrific treatment at the hands of a teacher’s assistant at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic school. Being falsely accused of…
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Affordable housing: We need bulldozers, not corridors
Read more: Affordable housing: We need bulldozers, not corridorsGo to the soft-drink aisle of the supermarket, stand in front of the display for 16.9 oz Coca Cola bottles, and you will see something absolutely amazing. The level of the beverage inside the bottles is almost identical. You’ll probably never find a bottle with exactly 16.9 ounces, but all of them—millions of them—will be…
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Jawando’s Seven Black Fathers: Part 2—Choked Housing
Read more: Jawando’s Seven Black Fathers: Part 2—Choked HousingIn the lead-up to the vote on his 2023 rent control bill, Will Jawando mentioned that as a child he experienced what it’s like to live in sub-standard housing. How did that happen, and what was it like? He describes the deplorable situation in My Seven Black Fathers (p. 20–21): Dad paid child support when…