September 2013

A parent in North Carolina did not think Ralph Ellison’s classic “Invisible Man” suitable for her teenager and wrote the school board who promptly banned the book from the whole county schools and libraries. Not far in Tennessee, a stepfather complained that a proposed field trip to a mosque favored “Islamic tolerance”. Although the field trip, also including a visit to a Hindu Temple, had taken place for several years, it was cancelled. As incidents they may be anecdotal but seem to reveal something disturbing about a segment of the American public. Suppose a parent had written in to suggest a given book or a visit to a mosque, the requests would have been noted but no action would have been taken. Does it mean that the narrow minded among us, those who believe intolerance is justified have undue sway? The incident in North Carolina, however, created such a backlash, that within 9 days the school board was forced to reverse itself. This time it took many emails, calls and letters, not just one, but then it succeeded in not only leading to a reversal but also make a valuable point— that several open hearted people are stronger than one narrow minded one.

Starbuck’s CEO Howard Schultz sent a letter “respectfully requesting customers” to refrain from bringing guns into the stores. He had been associated with the ‘open carry’ laws wherever they are legal allowing customers to display guns in public. Now Starbucks follows Peets Coffee & Tea, California Pizza Kitchens and Buffalo Wild Wings in not allowing the display of guns. The Moms Demands Action Group which had been pressuring Starbucks hailed the move saying the coffee chain example will help send gun-totting the way of smoking in airplanes or unprosecuted drunk driving. While six states prohibit the open-carrying of guns in public places, some states encourage it, and 32 allow open carrying without a permit. On Thursday at the Langtry Café in Browsdale, Minn, for instance, there’s a 25% discount if you do. For those of us who favor limits on guns and who realize how very far we have to go, Howard Schultz’s letter is a first step–small yes, but as all first steps putting us on the right road.

Something big happened in Malawi, a small African country. It sold the $22m jet that had been purchased by former president Bingu wa Mutharika, for $15m to Virgin Islands company, Bohnoc Enterprise Ltd, and will use the money for food.”It was a collective government decision that the money realized from the sale of the jet will be used to purchase maize locally and some for legume production,” said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance. Ten percent of the country’s 13 million people face food shortages. President Joyce Banda, who instituted many cost cutting measures since taking office last year, decided to sell the jet given that it takes $300,000 a year to run it and use commercial airlines instead. Britain, one of Malawi’s most important donors had reduced aid after the 14-passenger aircraft was purchased. What’s also noteworthy is that this story was reported by Aljazeera—maybe they are doing what they said they would and report news that is not celebrity based.