A degrading money grab for classroom supplies in South Dakota

I’ve been meaning to write about a December spectacle in South Dakota, whereby public school teachers participated in a wild grab for 5,000 $1 bills in the middle of a hockey rink, before cheering spectators. This “Dash for Cash” was organized to give the contestants a chance to collect money for badly needed schoolroom supplies. As reported by Julian Mark for The Washington Post (link here):

At a junior hockey game in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Saturday night, $5,000 in one-dollar bills was dumped onto a carpet in the middle of the ice as 10 local teachers readied themselves to shovel up as much of it as they could.

When the competition began, the teachers — all wearing hockey helmets — crawled into the pile of cash, frantically stuffing the bills into their shirts as an arena of spectators hollered and cheered until every dollar was snatched up.

…Critics said the image of teachers on their hands and knees, scrambling for low-denomination bills, was “dehumanizing” and even “dystopian,” especially as teachers are paid relatively small salaries in South Dakota and nationwide.

…The event was billed as an opportunity for teachers to gather money for their classroom needs…. Schools had to apply for the competition, and teachers had to explain how they would use the money they won….

Although the intentions of the event sponsor — a local junior hockey league club — may have been good, the optics were pretty awful: Low-paid teachers on their knees in a public arena, stuffing $1 bills into their pockets so they could buy supplies for their students. As anyone familiar with K-12 education knows, many dedicated teachers selflessly spend substantial amounts of their own money to stock their classrooms, thanks in large part to wholly inadequate funding for our schools.

I’m sure that the money has been put to good use. But given the overall circumstances, the event undermined the dignity of public educators. If you doubt this assertion, can you imagine offering those working in other vocations the “opportunity” to scramble for $1 bills on behalf of those they serve? Doctors? Social workers? Lawyers? Engineers?

Sharing insights about workplace bullying and mobbing in SafeHarbor, Part II

In my last post, I wrote about my visits to SafeHarbor (link here), the online site created by Dr. Gary Namie, co-founder of the Workplace Bullying Institute, to serve as “a community dedicated to the people affected by workplace bullying and those devoted to helping them.” I also shared some past blog pieces that I’ve posted for SafeHarbor members.

Creating safe online spaces surrounding difficult and sometimes painful topics is a challenge, and the success of SafeHarbor so far has been the generation of a spirit of support, understanding, and kindness. Gentle is the word I would use to describe the online voices of those serving as facilitators and discussion leaders. This does not preclude respectful differences of opinion. But it does set a peaceful vibe that runs counter to the experiences that brought many to the site.

Here are more past blog articles that I’ve posted to SafeHarbor:

• Workplace bullying and mobbing in academe: The hell of heaven? (2009, rev. 2014) (link here)
• How harmful thought patterns about workplace bullying and mobbing may accelerate the aging process (2019) (link here)
• When a prominent employee is fired for creating “an abusive work environment” (2018) (link here)
• We understand human dignity only if we also comprehend humiliation and abuse (2015) (link here)
• Workplace mistreatment: The importance of cross-situational empathy (2015) (link here)
• Shame-based organizations: When workplaces resemble dysfunctional families (2015) (link here)
• “Jerks at work” vs. workplace soul stalkers (2017) (link here)
• “Master and servant”: The roots of American employment law (2013) (link here)
• Life lessons from Dr. Edith Eger, Auschwitz survivor (2018) (link here)
• What separates the “best” workplace abusers from the rest? (2015, rev. 2019) (link here)

Sharing insights about workplace bullying and mobbing in SafeHarbor, Part I

During the past few months, I’ve become a regular visitor and contributor to SafeHarbor (link here), the online site created last year by Dr. Gary Namie, co-founder of the Workplace Bullying Institute, to serve as “a community dedicated to the people affected by workplace bullying and those devoted to helping them.” Especially for those who are experiencing or recovering from bullying or mobbing at work, I give this site my fulsome recommendation.

SafeHarbor has quickly grown into a respectful and supportive patch of the internet, with several hundred people becoming members. I have been impressed and downright touched by the depth of humanity demonstrated over and again by SafeHarbor participants. 

I’m going to say more about SafeHarbor in subsequent blog posts. For now, I’m also going to start sharing some of the pieces that I’ve posted for folks there, based on the tenor and subject matter of conversations that are occurring. Here’s the first round:

• Viktor Frankl on finding meaning in the face of great adversity (2016) (link here)
• Helping targets of workplace bullying: The need for an integrated counseling approach (2010, rev. 2021) (link here)
• When a promotion leads to a body snatching (2015) (link here)
• Professional schools as incubators for workplace bullying (2012; rev. 2019) (link here)
• Ruminating, problem solving, and coping in the midst of work abuse (2018) (link here)
• Workplace bullying: Acknowledging grief (2017) (link here)
• Captain Ahab of “Moby-Dick”: Workplace trauma sufferer, bullying boss, or both? (2020) (link here)
• Triple jeopardy: Workplace bullying at midlife (2013) (link here)
• Applying Psychological First Aid to workplace bullying and mobbing (2019) (link here)
• Lessons from “Spotlight” for combating interpersonal abuse (2017  ) (link here)
• On following evil orders at work (2019) (link here)
• “Should I stay or should I go?” Career insights from Seth Godin and The Clash (2011) (link here)

On moral courage and sacrificing privilege: When Betty White stood for inclusion in 1954

With Betty White’s passing at the age of 99, this internet meme about White refusing to ban Arthur Duncan, an African American dancer, from the cast of her television variety show in 1954, is getting wide circulation.

Of course, the social media world is full of distortions and fabrications. But this story is true.

In fact, amid the countless remembrances of White published upon her death, the Washington Post includes a deeper look into that 1954 episode, as reported by Gillian Brockell (link here):

White made a career playing sweet characters with hidden — and hilarious — grit, and that quality goes all the way back to her first televised variety show, where, as the host and producer, she defied racist demands to get rid of Duncan because he was Black.

Her response?

“Live with it.”

…“And all through the South, there was this whole ruckus,” White remembered in [a 2018 documentary about her life]. “They were going to take our show off the air if we didn’t get rid of Arthur, because he was Black.”

“People in the South resented me being on the show, and they wanted me thrown out,” Duncan agreed. “But there was never a question at all.”

And, as Brockell notes, this was a momentous time for civil rights:

This was in 1954. As in, the year the Supreme Court handed down the Brown vs. Board of Education decision banning segregated schools. As in, before the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Little Rock Nine and the Greensboro lunch-counter sit-ins.

On moral courage and sacrificing privilege

By the mid-1950s, Betty White was already a pioneer, a woman getting featured roles in an emerging medium, including a variety show bearing her name. But this was long before she was Betty White, a beloved figure to many generations. As a relatively young female host and producer in what was very much a white man’s world in terms of power and control, she had a lot to lose by resisting pressures to satisfy a large, if not admirable, demographic.

And yet she was willing to sacrifice some of her hard-earned and hardly secure privilege to stand for inclusion. That’s what moral courage is about in an everyday work setting. As I wrote some six years ago:

There are many scenarios in which positive social change can occur in society, including our workplaces. With virtually any of these possibilities, chances of success will be increased when supporters of change are willing to sacrifice some of their privilege in order to advance a cause.

By privilege I refer to some advantage, by virtue of wealth, demographic status, social standing or popularity, organizational rank, legal right, and/or inherited trait. And when I say sacrificing privilege, I mean being counted in a way that could jeopardize some of that advantage. It may mean speaking up in a meeting, intervening as a bystander, endorsing an unpopular yet principled position, or otherwise doing or saying something that potentially puts one at odds with supporters, sponsors, or the in-crowd.

Betty White’s eclectic talents, comic genius, and famous quips are being rightly celebrated now. In addition, let’s remember that she was willing to stand on principle, typically in a manner that was quick to the point without being overly preachy. Among other things, she also supported women’s rights and the LGBTQ community, and she passionately advocated for the well-being of animals. In a world where way too many privileged people are unwilling to jeopardize even the smallest bits of their comfortable standing for something bigger than themselves, Betty White modeled a different example of success.