The Bethesda Name-Game

by Joseph Hawkins

A black guy defending white women—what’s the world coming to! 

As a long-time county resident, I have no problems with the county’s Smart Growth initiatives.  And as a Bethesda resident since 1984, I’m enjoying what downtown Bethesda has become. 

As a black person living in Bethesda, I have to admit I’m totally intrigued by the Bethesda Magazine-Rollin Stanley uproar.  Rich white people calling each other rich white people.  Who knew that could even be newsworthy or controversial?

You can find the original Bethesda Magazine piece here:

http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/March-April-2012/

You can find a Washington Post editorial defense of Rollin Stanley’s behavior here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-misguided-call-for-rollin-stanleys-firing/2012/03/19/gIQAl8tBOS_story.html

You can find a Washington Post article reporting on Mr. Stanley’s retraction and apology here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/todays_paper/Metro/2012-03-22/B/3/36.2.2419941217_epaper.html

So, now that we have concluded that Mr. Stanley was indeed behaving in a sexist manner when he called his critics “rich white women,” I thought I’d revisit the issue from a slightly different angle.  I believe Mr. Stanley also was behaving in a racist manner.

I don’t know the players involved in the Stanley controversy, but I doubt that they are rich in a trust-fund or Dan Snyder kind of way.  But of course, I’ve learned that by just living in Bethesda you are automatically assumed to be rich.  There also is the assumption you are white.  I wish I had a dollar for every time I opened my front door and the person on the other side of the door seemed surprised that I—a black person—lived on Wilson Lane.

“Rich white women,” “rich people from Bethesda,” or “Bethesda elite,” it is all the same name-game.  I’m going out on a limb here, but as a black person, I actually believe that this Bethesda name-game is used in a very clever and round-about way to call Bethesda residents racists.  And once you put Bethesda residents in that racist box, nothing they support, criticize, or say has merit.  Let’s face it—no one in progressive, liberal Montgomery County respects racists.

Let’s go back 10 years to 2002 for a real example of how this name-game thing works.

Back in 2002, I was the co-president of the Jamie Escalante Public Charter School, Inc., Montgomery County’s first organized attempt to bring a public charter school to the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).  If Escalante had opened, which it did not, it would have been located in east Silver Spring.  It would have been the smallest MCPS secondary school, with 400 students enrolled in grades 7-12.

Honestly, Escalante failed for a number of legitimate reasons: lack of a school building, hostile Board of Education, anxieties over change, and the unknowns associated with charter schools.  But then the Bethesda name-game also played a significant role in its demise. 

Some of the Escalante organizers lived in Bethesda, but the majority did not.  Regardless, some Escalante opponents quickly seized on the Bethesda name-game and boxed us in.  Escalante became known as the school that “white Bethesda parents and teachers” wanted for their children.  In a public meeting, a Board of Education member even claimed that we were Bethesda elitists with a hidden agenda to open a private school.  In short, we were straight-out evil rich people from Bethesda!

Some of the original Escalante organizers were indeed white people from Bethesda, but the other Escalante co-president was a brown-skinned Latina from east Silver Spring.  And, Escalante was partnering with the National Council of La Raza (click here to learn more about NCLR:http://www.nclr.org/), which has never been known as an organization for “rich white people.”  Nonetheless, what I learned from Escalante is that if you put people into the “white rich Bethesda” box it doesn’t really take a lot more energy to push people to believe that whatever you stand for is offensive and not worthy of support because basically either you are a racist or your intentions are racist.  Again, in progressive liberal Montgomery County there is no respect, honor, or room for racists. 

I have no magical powers to get into the head of Mr. Stanley, but I actually believe he was attempting to box in his activist-critics.  In short, his “rich white women” don’t want Montgomery County to change because they’re old-school white racists who hate it when more people of color move next door.

The truly sad aspect of the Bethesda name-game is that it really is never necessary.  There is no stopping Smart Growth in this county or more people of color moving in next door (although they avoid Bethesda).  Smart Growth is here to stay, and frankly when done properly—including community input and support—we eventually become a better place to live because of it.

There also is no stopping Montgomery County activists from doing what they do—agitating for the right kinds of change.   I count myself in as one of these agitators.  I know I’ve tossed “bombs” at county employees like Mr. Stanley—and hope to toss more in the future.  Change is never easy, nor should it be.  However, on the way to a changed future, those we hire to lead ought to be respectful of everyone involved in the process, including my rich white Bethesda neighbors.  And if that isn’t possible, then let’s help pack Mr. Stanley’s bags and put him on an airplane back to his home country Canada.