TIME KEEPS TICKING AWAY
It is hard to believe I am entering my tenth month of living in Germany of which half of that time now has been under the cloud of Covid-19. I know Germany more as a locked down and masked society than the deeply cultured and warm community it is known for. What is wearing on me a little bit is my inability to travel home and see all of my family and friends. I don’t think I have explicitly expressed it yet in my writings, but I am sure you can gather from previous commentary that I am no fan of Donald J. Trump. Well now it is personal, and I am pissed at him. There are many factors that have gone into the spread of this virus, but I blame him as the leader of our country for the current rise in cases in the US and then the understandable rejection of US travelers into the EU. Yes, as an American citizen I could travel back but re-entering Germany is problematic. So, to vent I will make this strong statement about Trump: he MUST go. I will be nice and use the euphemism that his presidency has been an experiment and it is now time to wrap it up.
I have been thinking worse case I can travel back to the U.S. by Christmas, but if he continues with his tone and whatever strategy he is using, it might be late spring of next year. By then Biden could be in office and a more serious team will have been in place for a couple months to reverse the trend. We can argue about what the testing and case numbers all mean but Germany has 300 – 600 new cases each day and the U.S. is over 40,000. I would say things are a bit more out of control in the U.S.
My dad commented on my last edition that it lacked the normal warmth, which is interesting because as I was writing it, I felt that lacking as well. I am not sure if it was because of this Covid-19 situation or maybe the honeymoon of my move to Germany has come to an end. I do think it is the former and even though I continue to see and feel many beautiful things in life here, I am afraid this edition will be of a serious manner in a couple sections. Sometimes I have tried to write this newsletter by keeping conscious of how the tone flows and create a narrative. And other times I have treated it more as a newspaper with definite sections that simply step through all my experiences. This edition will have to be of the later since I have lots to tell you about and tying it all together would be challenging.
PROST!
When we last spoke on the first of June it was another state holiday and the sun was brightly shining. After hitting the send button on that edition, I tightened the screws on my bike and went for an afternoon ride. It took me again out to Schloss Nymphenberg where I strolled around the palace grounds and enjoyed the scenery. That late afternoon I was determined to treat myself to some tasty local food since I had been eating the same boring stuff at home all week. I ventured south from the palace into the tony neighborhood of Neuhausen and found the Königlicher Hirschgarten, which is one of the larger Biergarten’s in Munich. Upon entering, like all restaurants, you must don the mask while moving about, but once you are seated it may be removed. I found my seat in the lively crowd and it became clear that once the summer months arrive the lederhosen come out in full force. I rarely have seen the ladies in their dirndls, which is a disappointment, but the guys like to strap on the leather shorts to revel in the Bavarian culture. I ordered my Wienerschnitzel with roasted potatoes and a small bottle of water. As I waited for my food and sipped my water, I grabbed the menu again to evaluate having a non- alcoholic (alkoholfrei) beer.
This idea has slowly grown after all the stories of friends here drinking alkoholfrei bier and the constant advertising around town. I am not much of gastronomic pioneer so now with enough affirmation from people I signaled the server and said “Ich möchte ein Clausthaler Helle alkoholfrie Bier, bitte.” With a quick nod from my server he swiftly delivered a tall sweaty glass of bright, ice cold, and sudsy beer. I didn’t even hesitate in grabbing it and took a nice big gulp. At that moment a wave of joy and euphoria passed through me. It tasted amazing and it seriously brought tears to my eyes because I was so happy. Now normally, I would have inhaled my food, washed it down with some water, paid my tab and left. This afternoon though, I leaned back and actually relaxed for a while and soaked up the scene.
This happiness also drew on the realization that I can now join in on the great German craft of beer making. Because it is a highly competitive sector, all the breweries are striving to perfect the alkoholfrei bier. In addition to the Clausthaler, I have tried N-A beers from Paulaner, Schneider, Franziskaner and Hofbräu. Now when you all come visit me we can journey to these breweries and discover the great beers of Germany together. I am also excited again for that midday beer on the slopes or at the 19th hole. Not only does it quench your thirst but alkoholfrei Weißbier (wheat beer) is considered a good liquid after an endurance workout to replenish your fluids and nutrients.
Another Bavarian tradition is the Weißwurstfrühstück (white sausage breakfast) which I enjoyed with a fellow classmate one Saturday brunch. Looking at the main dish I did not find the bloated white and soft sausage, floating in a porcelain pot, filled with a light broth, very appealing but I was pleasantly surprised after spreading some delicious sweet mustard on it. My friend showed me the Bavarian way of skinning the sausage which you enjoy with soft pretzels, cream cheeses and a Schneiders Alkoholfrei Weisse bier.
Reintroducing beer into my life did not go without pause and thoughtfulness after abstaining from alcohol for five and a half years and still counting. There is no wavering in maintaining this stance as I love my life without alcohol. I am aware I stated in an earlier edition that I swore off even N-A beer but I guess you need to try new things and not be super rigid on everything. Admittingly the main reason I resisted was the vain potential of gaining weight from drinking even N-A beer. Considering the level of activity I do on a daily basis and my otherwise healthy habits I think I can give a little bit on this. More problematic are the number of pretzels and jars of peanut butter I eat per month!
TRIP TO NÜRNBERG
It had been over three months since I had been outside the Munich area and was itching to jump on a train now that intra-German travel had opened up. I had never been north of Munich and decided on visiting Nürnberg one Saturday. There was light rain in the forecast but I didn’t want that to hold me back so I bought a Bayern Ticket which allows you for an entire day to travel throughout all of Bavaria and a little bit of Austria for €25. It is a heck of a deal because this ticket also lets you jump on and off subways, buses and trams in the cities you are visiting. (FYI, they get even cheaper for families on a per person basis)
Once I landed in Nürnberg I immediately headed to the site of the Nuremberg Trials or Memorium Nürnberger Prozesse. I took advantage of being a student and entered for a token fee of €1.50 and headed up to the 2nd floor. (FYI on German floor numbering: what the U.S. considers the 1st floor (i.e. ground floor) is the EG or Erdgeschoss in Germany and the actual 1st floor (1. Stock) is one floor up. So when I say I was on the 2nd floor in the U.S. I would be on the 3rd floor in Germany! I suppose I see the logic behind this since I am only two levels above the ground not three.)
I entered the courtroom and found a simple and relatively small room considering the gravity of what happened there. The layout shown in the picture is close to how things were set up during the trials with less seating though. Interesting how there is today a large crucifix hanging at the far end which I could not find in pictures from the actual trials. One floor up is a museum but in 99% German, which I know lots of words but not too meaningful yet. I reflected on how such treachery could ever occur at the hands of our fellow humans and what stood out were the rows and rows of men pictured (185 total people were indicted) and found but one woman. I wondered...if there had been more women at the table, would things have gotten so out of control and inhumane?
I then wandered around the city center and visited the main castle up on the bluff. Nürnberg is a much more medieval city than Munich with the stucco and wood beam façades. There is a charming river that winds through the city and it almost transports you to a different time. From there I took the streetcar out to the Kongresshalle which Hitler started in the 1930s but halted its construction once the war began. Even though Munich was the headquarters for the Nazis, Hitler found that Nürnberg was the most German of German cities and chose it as a rallying point for the party. His plan was to build a 50,000-seat hall for him to stand on a pedestal and proclaim his evil. The city today utilizes parts of it for the symphony and arts but otherwise it is letting the structure simply decay. The roof was never installed so the inside is totally exposed. As I walked around the exterior it definitely had the feel of a more modern version of Rome’s Colosseum.
Nürnberg is an easy hour train ride from Munich so I decided to keep other sights for next time and headed back home shortly thereafter.
KEEPING BUSY
Here are some random experiences from this past month. I went on a bike ride that took me the furthest south and east I have ever gone and suddenly found myself at an abandoned airstrip that was converted to a city park in 2001. As you can imagine Landschaftspark Hachinger Tal is a vast area and that evening the park was teaming with bikers, walkers and rollerbladers. It is a landing spot for skydivers and a portion of it is gated off for basketball, sand volleyball and skateboarding. Munich does a great job reusing obsolete venues and really capitalizes on what it has built in the past.
I wish I could have gotten a picture of this but there was group of ladies training their horses to galop through a stream in Englisher Garten one afternoon. There is an elite riding school on the western side of the park wedged in between the office buildings for the holding companies of Allianz Insurance and Munich Reinsurance. And not too far from there on the southern end you will find surfers hitting a natural wake on the stream that runs through the park. Just this past week there was a gal in a wetsuit riding the subway with a surfboard. A totally gnarly dudette!
Another interesting observation is how parents act with their kids around crosswalks and busy streets. We hold onto our kids for dear life in America but here it is alarming for me to see how loose parents are around intersections. I am also surprised to see kids (guessing around 10 years old and up) riding solo on the subway and buses to school. This is probably not specific to just Germany but overall in Europe where parenting let’s go a bit more. Of course, this is the same culture where people walk around naked in the park so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised!
This past month I have worn a light sweater or jacket many times which is a huge change from the onslaught of the Midwest summer heat. My apartment does not have A/C and thus far it has been mild enough, especially at night, to keep my place comfortable. I do miss that blast of cold air one gets after coming home from the pool, but this is one of the many little things I have given up by moving here. Speaking of pools, I finally dove into one for the first time in since January. Felt great not to pound my body on the pavement and enjoyed a full body workout. I noticed again there were no lifeguards, which has been the case for every pool I have visited. Normally there are a couple staff members strolling around but certainly not observing any safety protocols. Not sure why this is the case and the US pools are loaded up with guards. A plausible reason would be that the population here are better swimmers in general, but I think it is because Germany is less litigious. Cities are not worried about getting sued if their kid drowns. I remember going through lifeguard training as a late teenager and had a feeling, which was probably true, that I was legally liable if something bad happened. On this same note of less litigiousness, my apartment lease was only 3 pages long and primarily made up of simple bullet point terms and no legal jargon. I assume this is the case because you just cannot sue very easily in this country and therefore landlords do not need to factor in all the potential pitfalls in a contract.
WORK & SCHOOL
As reported last month, I began talks with leadership here to find some fresh work and it has all gone well. I am still pushing some research topics for the group but I am also now involved in a global initiative to explore the future of real estate at the firm. Nothing moves fast here but I have been able to express my own thoughts on the industry and learn more about the firm’s services. I certainly come from a different perspective being a transaction guy and not necessarily into the real estate organizational structure and processes. I am all about the real estate, the players and the deal. I think it will certainly do me some good to open my eyes to more IT and management practices around the business but I also think the firm will benefit from a true real estate guy to help talk through how deals get done. Time will tell if I really get to make my mark on this initiative as I have to keep in mind I am a part-time working student.
The office did open back up to people who wanted to return and I immediately jumped on board. Similar to restaurants, if you move around the office you must wear the mask. It was extremely quiet early in the month but each week it seems like more and more people are returning. It has been good for my mental state to leave the apartment each day and I now commute to work more than half the time by bike. Never thought I would ride a bike while wearing Italian loafers and a sport coat!
There were no classes this past month but tomorrow we start back up again. This module is Change Management, which should be very interesting considering the above work I just described at KPMG. I can also happily report that my letter to the school administration had its intended effect. Even though Bavaria now allows classes with 30 people, the school was maintaining a blanket rule of no classes. I would like to think our letter gave the program’s managers some firepower to go to the school’s leadership to seek an exception. The program will be opening its doors to those of us (though limited to 30 but with a class of 33, it should not be a problem) who would like to attend the classes onsite. I of course signed up. Only caveat is the module will still be held online so to be fair to those who either cannot make it to Munich for travel reasons or for personal health concerns. Those of us at the center will still need to view the professor through a screen but we will get to socialize at breaks, lunches and happy hours. Our hope is that the September module will be back to normal.
FORE!!!
One beautiful Friday morning I went golfing for the first time in Germany with two friends from school. We ventured north of the city to play at Golfanlage Hallerdau. (Hallerdau is the global epicenter for hops growing. Over a quarter of the world’s hops are grown here.) Now we played here specifically because it turns out the family of another one of my classmates owns the operations and got us on for free!!
As I understand it Germany does not really have courses where you can simply pay a greens fee and play with no questions asked. Generally speaking, you have to be a member at a club anywhere in Germany (and probably the World for that matter) to technically be able to book tee times. It is obviously preferred that you become a member at a course you frequently play at but it is not required. By example, my classmate Kim pays about €200 per year for a membership at a club next to the North Sea. She has never played it but it gives her a membership to have access to other courses. Some courses are more sticklers on preferred tee-times when a non-member is booking. Also, it sounds like clubs around Munich are about €1,500 to €3,000 per year and that is it, play all you want. There are pricier ones but nothing like the dollars you can pay in the States. Also, you need to hold a license of sorts showing that you know how to play and understand the rules of the game. I personally could play the foreigner card for a while but if I want to make this a frequent activity I will probably need to take care of these things.
The course was considered a good one and I would put the quality of the grounds at the level of Swope Memorial. There are regulations now with use of fertilizers so everything is natural. The cart paths are gravel but well maintained along with very simple amenities. I think the theory is to keep the grass cut and everything tidy and maintain low costs so greens fees and memberships are affordable.
I had not picked up a club since last July when I played in Montana and I am still pushing my drives to the right and hooding my club. Very typical of me, I hit my first tee shot straight and long but quickly disappointed my golf mates with a pathetic chunky second shot. Front nine I stunk it up but very unlike me I posted some decent scores on the back nine.
One interesting thing is the ubiquitous use of pull carts. In the States these are reserved for the old folks (sorry dad and Roy) but here everybody uses them. Also, I found that approximately 80% of the golfers walked with the terrain being even steeper than Swope. Since I didn’t make it back for Easter to grab my clubs I used some loaners with a little bag and of course the American male in me rejected the pull cart. It seems practical to use these carts and not torture ourselves but I guess that is what makes us Americans special.
REVIEW
At my local English bookstore I picked up Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War Against Hitler by Mark Riebling, which tells the story of how the Catholic Church ran a network of spies against the Nazis before and during WWII. Many of the characters and settings hailed from the Munich area so I thought this would be an interesting read. There has been much criticism of Pope Pius XII for his silence during the war as Nazi’s ratcheted up their persecution of Jews and other atrocities. The general defense was if the Pope/Vatican spoke out too loudly it would expose many of the faith’s followers to Nazi persecutions. From this perspective the Pope was protecting his flock. The flip side of this is to wonder if the Catholics of Germany would not have been so blind to Hitler’s growing power and violence if the Pope had spoken up and therefore rejected Hitler and the Nazis early on in his ascendance to power. We will never know but in hindsight I think a more outspoken Pope would have been worth the risk considering the outcome.
The Pope, many Catholic priests and people of the faith were involved in a number of plots that collaborated with certain military leaders who quietly opposed Hitler. The first major attempt to take him down stalled out after Germany easily took over Norway. It was clear then that the military leaders were not as committed because they saw such an easy and relatively bloodless victory to justify their continued march. The second major attempt lost its momentum when America entered the war. And the third attempt actually had a bomb explode but Hitler survived because it was in a wooden structure that allowed the blast to spread-out versus in a cement structure that would have kept the force very centralized. The Jesuits are highly praised throughout the book because of their courage and unlike the Protestants of Germany, Jesuits were able to justify through their understanding of scripture to assassinate Hitler. Also, Catholic priests were good spies because they lacked wives and children to be used as blackmail. (Though this should not be used today as a justification for not allowing priests to marry....)
And while I am again on this subject, I am compelled to address the Catholic Church’s recent actions once again. One of my best pals recently pointed me to a New York Times article about a Catholic diocese blatantly firing a lesbian teacher days before last month’s historic Supreme Court ruling that protects gays from workplace discrimination. I am conflicted, disappointed and frustrated with the Catholic Church. It is indefensible and we need to continue to root out these ideologies of this religion. Can’t we just focus on love and helping the needy? I think that is what Jesus would want from us.
LAKE TIME!
I am going to break up all this seriousness for a moment because after this it’s gonna get heavy again. A well- known fact is the superb lake scene during the summers here in Bavaria. A couple Saturdays ago I bought a €3 pass for my bike to join me on the S-Bahn south to Starnberg. This is the last stop on the S6 and with my metro card I can get there for no extra charge. Another one of my little goals was to wake up in the morning, take a train south, grab an FT and sit waterside sipping an espresso. Well it did not disappoint in Starnberg. I found a fantastic spot with a view of the Alps in the distance and soaked it all up. With my bike I traveled south along the shoreline and packed a suit for later in the day. I found a little grassy patch along the lake, got myself warmed up in the sun then braved the cold water of this Alpine lake. Scheiße es war kalt!
I only lasted a couple minutes and quickly settled back into the sun. Starnberg is nice, extremely convenient but just last weekend I went for the third time down to Tegernsee and it is totally worth the extra 30 minutes in distance and €25 Bayern Ticket. Again, with my bike on board I was able to venture around the lake and get to an even more exquisite area.
Tegernsee is truly in the foothills of the Alps so the scenery is much more dramatic and the architecture is very Bavarian. It was another sunny day and came more mentally prepared for the cold water. I also want to get over my fear of open water swimming, so I brought my goggles as well to give it a try. Water was just as cold but I took a 20 minute swim along the shoreline. I still could not get comfortable swimming in the lake. I am so conditioned to stare at a black line and know exactly how many strokes it takes to swim 50 meters (right now between 41 – 44 strokes with paddles depending on my energy) to enjoy the unknown territory of a lake. But it should be noted, I can easily get over it if there is money on the line...just ask my old boss how he lost $100 last summer over my swim at Lake Lotawana!
BLACK LIVES MATTER
When Black Lives Matter first entered the scene in 2013 I brushed it off because it all seemed to simple and obvious. I probably thought, of course Black lives matter, all lives matter, so what is all the fuss about and went about my life in ignorance. Our country’s older Black civil rights organizations like Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Southern Poverty Law Center have a nice sophisticated ring to it and did a lot of good, and movements like the Black Panthers certainly created action. But maybe the point in Black Lives Matter is its bluntness to finally hammer home the reality of a Black person’s inequalities.
This current movement finally hit me on Sunday, June 7th and I came to terms with three things that day. The first was admitting how I have really felt about America these past several years, and my emotions swung to both ends of the spectrum. When I woke up that morning I had a number of texts from pals back in the States exalting that this movement is for real and that we might actually be approaching a tipping point that shoots us to a more equal society. I opened up the news sites and it seemed like the tone had shifted and that this moment is different. For the first time, in a long time, I had hope in America and saw a brighter future. I was excited for my country and wanted to be there and march with the protestors.
Later that morning I was at a café reading the FT Weekend’s main essay by Natasha Trethewey concerning America’s racism and came to grips finally with my attitudes toward America. When I read the following passage, I welled up with emotion:
“... there are too many who are willfully so, rejecting anything that contradicts the narrative of themselves as wholly committed to freedom, to democracy, and justice for all, to anything that contradicts the notion of the American dream, and the as-yet unrealized tenets of our national creed.”
We are raised to proclaim and believe America is the greatest country in the world but over the years my doubts kept growing. I have never been a chest thumping American but always ended any criticism of the country by saying I love America and it is great. I got emotional because I finally said out loud that I am not proud, I am frustrated and do not liking where America is heading. Even writing this I have struggled to find the right words because there are many conflicting emotions. There are many wonderful things about America and I care about my country but love it the way you may toward a family member that creates havoc in your life. America has deeply troubled me for a long time but similar to facing addictions or personal conflicts, once you finally face up to the situation only then can you start improving things, which is where I am now with America.
My second revelation that Sunday was my housing privilege. Right now, almost every statistical measure like poverty, education, income, healthcare, and wealth suggests that Blacks in America are still at a major disadvantage. It is not politically feasible to address all of these at once but the most important one and where we should direct our efforts is addressing the overwhelming advantages whites have in housing. This of course is not new and we have passed many laws but I believe this is the key policy measure to create an equal society. I came to this conclusion after considering my own housing experience. When I sold my house in Kansas City it created some wealth that has allowed me to pursue my MBA and all these wonderful new experiences. I fortunately have a little income to live my life but that could go away especially in these uncertain economic times. I can sleep at night because of the proceeds from my house is sitting there as a safety net if things take a turn for the worse. And this is not unique to me. I have to use my large family as an example because they are all I have but I am going to say with confidence every single one of us has a secure place to live and have created a decent amount of wealth through our homes. We have been able to accomplish this not because we are real estate geniuses but because we simply go through the normal motions of home ownership and not make terrible decisions. Now a similar sized Black family will likely experience lots of informal stays and few firmly rooted homes. And if just one or two members made similar profits as I did from the sale of my house, they would have felt like they won the lottery and a party would have been thrown to celebrate. The other side of this coin for housing is the surrounding community. The housing I grew up in was surrounded by good roads, sidewalks, schools, libraries, pools and grocery stores. Addressing all these gets into more policy decisions but housing is at the root.
We are past the point of arguing why this exists, but rather we need to fully recognize this inequality and fix it immediately. And here I am going to wade into apolicy idea which looks something like this: 1) Any person can buy and sell their first personal residence (which includes both single family and condominiums) and not be taxed on any capital gains. 2) The current rules for taxing gains on personal residences of over $250,000 for singles and $500,000 for couples will still in be effect. 3) If one spouse in a marriage has owned a house, but the other has not, they could still realize all gains, with of course item 2 still in effect. (Idea is to not introduce an early marriage engagement conflict. Maybe this will become a new Bumble/Tinder question: Have you owned a house yet?) 4) Any personal house sales after the first, an individual can only realize a 3% annually compounded appreciation since they bought it and anything over it is taxed 100%. 5) LLCs, corporations, partnerships, etc will be taxed 100% above the 3% annual appreciation when selling a single family home or condominium unit. No first-time acquisition exception like personal residences. 6) All parties will be able to increase the basis with proper accounting of dollars put into the home. 7) Tax proceeds will be dedicated to infrastructure, services and lending programs for disadvantage neighborhoods. We can piggyback on the Opportunity Zone districts created from the 2017 federal tax law to streamline the process in identifying the neighborhoods.
This will likely slow the churn of house sales drastically so to counter this a federal mandate will require cities to do away with all residential building restrictions. We need to start imagining the housing in our inner suburban neighborhoods in a much more dynamic and dense way. If you can pick up a Prairie Village split-level or ranch and build a four-plex on the lot because you think the market will rent/buy it, then more power to you! Only two limiting factors: 1) the structure has to be of high quality and sustainable design; and 2) all properties need to maintain the existing setbacks for the street. I don’t care if it is four stories high and made of some ugly metal façade, having a random house jut out past everything else would be really unsightly and probably screw up the infrastructure. And this has to happen in the inner suburbs because we cannot spend any more money on new major thoroughfares to the exurbs! You can find the rational behind less roads in The Munich Times Vol.1 No.6.
The overall idea here is to remove much of the speculative nature of house buying that inflates prices, shift those extreme profits to underprivileged areas and create an economic engine through an unprecedented era of housing construction. This all may sound too extreme but David Brooks recently wrote: “I’m a moderate guy, but the evidence doesn’t support moderation when it comes to racial equity.” I personally have always tried to be moderate, but it is time to get radical.
Lastly, as I continued to ponder things that Sunday I thought of this publication and everyone that receives it and realized my own personal failings. I quickly found that not one person of color is on my email distribution list which consists of well over a hundred people. After almost thirty-eight years of living a very social life in a diverse country I cannot claim one minority as a true friend. My life has not been devoid of Black relationships but generally they have been acquittances or a couple long ago friendships that did not last. This hit me like a ton of bricks and it told me that there is something about America’s society that has created such a stark reality. But I cannot just blame America’s structural issues for such a homogeneous network. I admitted and started to see that I have a deep bias in surrounding myself with people who look like me. Now I believe there is a certain human quality that pushes us to prefer those that look like ourselves but I also believe that such a severe case is not what God intended. I can say full heartedly there has been nothing sinister behind my actions, but I believe it has been driven to simply be in comfortable surroundings.
In these comfortable places I enjoy coffees on beautiful terraces next to the water, dine at trendy restaurants, roll up my sleeves in glittering office buildings, ski majestic mountains and play lush golf courses almost exclusively with white people. This is bad, because in theory these things are all part of “the good life” and even though the door might technically be open to Blacks, it is clear society does not welcome them. And I reject the idea that Blacks don’t want to enjoy these same things. A good example of this was expressed in a recent Financial Times article that talks with Julia Coney, who is a Black woman from D.C that writes about wine and travel, and she explains it this way: “I have had winemakers meet me and when I introduce myself say, ‘I didn’t expect you to be black.’ My reply is usually, ‘I didn’t expect you to be an asshole.’” Or when she attended a Napa Valley wine tasting event a woman next to her said: “I didn’t know you people drank wine.”
Other than my own personal small insecurities I am able to walk into all of the finest establishments knowing that I am welcomed and belong. I cannot empathize with how Blacks feel in public but just try to imagine how exhausting it would be if even half the time you wondered if you are welcomed. That is no way to live in a supposedly equal society.
Last week I listened in on a NYU sponsored webinar titled The Black Experience in Real Estate, which was moderated by Craig Robinson who I worked with at Cushman. The discussion amongst the group was very good but in Craig’s opening message he boiled it down to one really simple thing: “We just want to be included.” And here is our challenge and why I think a lot of the past government policies and programs have not gotten us to an equal society. Let’s first consider the history of mankind. I found a book review that discusses the origins of white European power which of course is relevant to America’s heritage. Approximately 50,000 years ago, people started migrating north into Europe and for various genetic reason became whiter than those in Africa. Then starting about 12,000 years ago, strong independent tribes (think of all the different languages that still exist within Europe) began forming and unlike other parts of the world the simple geography of Europe created bloody conflicts. These wars and battles created the need to innovate defensive and political powers. With these new skills Europeans became more advanced rulers and so for 12,000 years white Europeans and its decedents have ruled the West and beyond. I wanted this explanation so I could at least understand why whites have had the power and not Blacks. Now moving to America, our European decedents first landed in 1492 and since then more than 545 million people have lived in America. (Per my source, that population number goes back to 1790 technically so we could add maybe another 10 million people for the years prior but I think the point will be made.) Today, America is approximately 73% white which we are getting browner every year so assuming a blended average since 1492 brings us to a historically 80% white nation. And let’s also say that 10% of us over America’s history have been overtly or criminally racist and 10% have been at the other end of the spectrum. Therefore, for over 500 years, 348 million people have been acting on their little human biases and creating a system and society that does not include people of color. Think of how calcified these barriers have become overtime. More than needing new government policies we simply need to change how we include Blacks in our daily lives. I believe it now needs to be with intent and goal driven. Therefore, after this edition, I will be reaching out to some of my past Black friends and acquaintances to get their emails and add them to this list so we can start sharing a life together.