“That Stain Is On Our Soul”

Posted on October 14, 2020 by Scott Smith

As mentioned in the intro to this series, I woke up with a chip on my shoulder the morning following George Floyd’s death. I sat at my desk,  ready to pick a fight with Sanford, Florida, though I only lived there for a few years.

So, I started Googling.

I was actually looking some articles from 2012, that immediately following Trayvon’s Martins’ death in Sanford, also described Jackie Robinson’s experience with the city.

I found something I wasn’t  expecting; an apology from Sanford’s  city government to Robinson. I eventually found this article from the Orlando Sentinel ;  dateline: Sanford, Florida, April 16, 1997.

The article is about a City of Sanford meeting in which a City Commissioner  speaks to that  blemish on the Sanford’s  past: when its police chief  refused  to allow Robinson, and Wright to take the field, under threat of arrest.

Commissioner Eckstein had this to to say. “We need to apologize for what happened because as long as that stain is on our soul, it hurts the city of Sanford.”

Commissioner Eckstein (“Mr. Eckstein as I knew him) had been a teacher at my high school. I was never in his class, but he was the type of person, who said hello to, shook hands with, or  smiled at, just about everybody, in the hallways (which were outside in my school…because, Florida).

It was common for people grab lunch from the cafeteria and stand in the hallways, while eating, talking, laughing, yelling, swearing a bit. We’d see Mr. Eckstein coming from the distance. He was hard to miss. He had  hair that was so light, it would be a stretch to call it blonde. You could see the (not quite) blonde hair from quite a distance. His nickname, since childhood, of course was…..Whitey.

Occasionally, he used to stop and talk with my football teammates. I think primarily because a some  of my friends were star players, and some had been students in  his class (I was neither ). I’m not sure if he knew my name, or what position I played, but he treated me like he knew me well.

I remember some Friday nights,  moments before kickoff, he’d  ducked into our locker room before we took the field and wish the team luck. He sometimes had one or two of his young children with him.

Once, I remember seeing him after a game, on my way back to the locker room, he told me “good game.”  We’d lost, I’d  missed some key blocks, and I had two penalties; I hadn’t had a good game. Still, it was uplifting to hear somebody tell me that I had.

It was  good thing for Sanford to engage in some self-examination of its past. Yes, it had taken 50 years, but they addressed their problematic past.  While  the City of Sanford’s  resolution surprised me. Though, it is unsurprising that this resolution had originated with Mr.  Eckstein.

Good game.

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Digital Pandemic

Posted on September 23, 2020 by Scott Smith

(Note: In this alternate-reality tale, it is not my intent to minimize the human suffering caused by Covid-19,  on the world, though am trying to call attention to out how ludicrous it is that the negligence of selected leaders is  given a pass by many media vehicles and voters.

I’ve used Jeff Bezos and Amazon in this example solely because of their name recognition.  I am not a customer of Amazon Prime or Amazon Web Services, though I  have no intent to malign either. )

I suspect that I am not alone in that I am dumbfounded a lot lately by  the disregard given to the elephant in the room which, ironically, is and infinitesimally tiny virus.

I can’t go into every aspect, but it’s especially perplexing that people in a  country that has not been able to safely manage Covid-19 (or novel coronavirus, or (SARS-CoV-2) for the past seven months (despite advanced notice of its severity) are blaming other countries.

I pondered this for a few minutes and thought of a few possible possible analogous scenarios before settling on an example of a digital pandemic and reactions by a computer industry titan.

This is meant as a thought exercise. It is unlikely that anything of this scale would happen in real life. Though it not out of the realm of possibility.

(As Rod Serling used to say)
You’r Next Stop, The Twilight Zone:

  • That in late 2019, a computer  virus, that had begun to wreak havoc on digital infrastructure around the world, was determined to have originated in China.
  • And that by April of 2020, many of  the major players in the cloud-service space—Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Amazon… were to be infected and suffered data losses.
  • And by May of 2020, that Microsoft, Apple and Google were  able to contain the virus and to restore most their customers’ lost data. Furthermore they tightened their security and disaster-mitigation plans.
  • And throughout the summer of 2020, Amazon continued to experience daily infections of its own infrastructure that were passed on to tens of thousands of Amazon Prime, and Amazon Web Services (AWS)  customers every day.
  • And every day, several hundred to several thousand Prime customers had their profiles wiped, or worse yet, their personal information stolen.
  • And AWS customers such as Disney, Samsung, Adobe, Dow Jones, had all of their AWS data deleted, or were subject to ransomware attacks…resulting in US job losses in the tens of millions, and substantial damage the US gross domestic product.
  • And beginning in March 2020, and frequently throughout the year, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos heaped praise on himself at the “amazing job” he had done in addressing the “China virus”, while each day hundreds-to-thousands of customers learn that their  data is lost forever.

Now ask yourself:

  • Would Jeff Bezos have any credibility if, after a year of failing to publicly acknowledge the risk of the virus,  he referred to the malware as the “China virus?”
  • How many  consumers, or large businesses would  remain a Prime, or AWS customer, respectively?
  • Would Amazon win any new customers?
  • Would the Amazon’s board allow Bezos to remain in the CEO position?

 

 

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Woke Barber

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Scott Smith

The Old Redhead

Red Barber was a legendary baseball announcer for radio and television, who worked for three major league teams: the Reds, Dodgers and Yankees.

Some years after his sports broadcast career, Barber enjoyed renewed fame as a regular public radio contributor. For 12 years, he conversed, every Friday,  with Bob Edwards longtime host of NPR’s Morning Edition on an array of topics, which included sports, gardening  and nearly everything else.

During that period,  I moved to Tallahassee, Florida, where Barber lived at the time. Shortly afterward, I was surprised to learn that he and I had gone to the same high school (many, many,  many, many ….weeks apart).

High School Baseball Team Photo (circa 2020)

Barber Top Row, 2nd from left
(Photo from University of Florida Smathers Libraries)

For real, the team nickname in his day was The Celery Feds.

It was peculiar that I didn’t know that Barber and I shared an alma mater. I was really into baseball when I was young; therefore it seems unlikely that I’d never heard, or read this, information before. Rather, I suspect that it never registered with me. Unlike with players, they don’t keep stats on the play-by-play  broadcasters.

Barber was the Dodgers announcer when Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut in 1947. Until fairly recently, I’d never considered what Barber thought of the decision by Dodgers’ owner, Branch Rickey to sign a Black player.

It turns out, that he wasn’t a fan of the idea.

“Report!”

In  Barber’s book 1947 When All Hell Broke Loose in Baseball,  he described his reaction to Robinson’s signing. Barber recalled life in the segregated South  which included  seeing Black men, who had been tarred and feathered, forced to walk the streets of Sanford, Florida,  by Ku Klux Klansmen.

Barber also wrote that one his youthful aspirations was to perform in minstrel shows. Tarring and feathering black men, minstrel shows, segregated schools and businesses… was the normal that Barber knew.

Months before Rickey signed Jackie Robinson, he informed Barber of his intent break baseball’s color line. Barber would write later: “I believe he  (Rickey) told me about it so far in advance so that I could have time to wrestle with the problem, live with it, solve it.”

Upon hearing the news, Barber’s solution was to quit. He told his wife, Lyla that day, a Friday, that he would resign Monday.  Her response was “You don’t have to quit today, let’s have a Martini.”

Here is a short video in which Barber explains the decision.

As the video points out  Barber realized that the news Rickey gave him required Barber to examine himself. In the video he recalls remarkably empathetic thoughts (about that it was chance that he was born white).  Barber said that he admired Robinson’s athleticism,  and spirituality.

Barber also  mentions hearing the voice  of  (Baseball’s first commissioner )  Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis echo from the grave with a simple directive  “Report.”

Barber was able to compartmentalize;  separating his professional obligations as an announcer from his biases that were due to his  upbringing in the Jim Crow South.

During the course of their time together with the Dodgers (Barber left the team for the Yankees after the 1953 season), Barber and Robinson became friends.

In modern times, people might claim Barber “got woke”  Perhaps. I didn’t know Barber, so I can’t say how he’d feel about that.

It is impressive howBarber’s life changed for the better, when  Rickey put him in an uncomfortable situation and he was thus forced into some deep self-examination. I suspect he  would have made the right decision, even without a Martini.

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Scaling Mount Dora

Posted on August 21, 2020 by Scott Smith

In the Navy

My friend’s father, was a retired Naval aviator who had been stationed in, and later retired to  the Central Florida town where I spent my high school years.

Naval Air Station Sanford, Fl circa 1968
(Photo by: Lt. Wade USN)

The military base was later decommissioned and now known as the Orlando-Sanford International Airport.

At my friend’s house one evening, The Commander told me a story of a Navy buddy  who in his first post-military interview was asked this question:

“Do you have experience flying over mountainous terrain?”

The man’s  response was this: “I have flown numerous missions over Mount Dora.”

He told the truth.

“Mount” Dora

Mount Dora is a small town, about 30 miles NW of Orlando. If you’d like, you can become acquainted with Mount Dora in this 3-minute video:

If you’re perplexed by the absence of mountainous terrain, there is a very simple reason for that: there is none. Central Florida is pancake-flat.

Mount Dora’s peak elevation is 182 ft. It wouldn’t be that hard for a toddler to reach Mount Dora’s peak on a tricycle.

However, the candidate had given a truthful response, even if it didn’t address the question.

And it sounded great.

The man was offered the job shortly after the  interview.

Is Truth Enough?

I don’t know anything the man’s skill in flying a plane, or the job’s responsibilities or experience requirements.

Nor do I know anything about the context of the question, the “Mount Dora” line might have been a joke.  I wasn’t there.

Though I’ve occasionally thought of being in a similar interview scenario and wondered how I might answer.

If somebody were to ask if I’d ever scaled a high-altitude peak? I could say  “I climbed  Mount Dora.” and that would be true. If pressed further, I could provide a vivid, truthful account:

“I was 16. We set up a  base camp–in a municipal parking garage where we left my brother-in-law’s Volaré–and reached the peak 2 minutes later. The view of gift shops, bakeries and shuffleboard courts was absolutely stunning.”

Except it wouldn’t answer the interviewer’s question. I’d likely  just say no.

Though it’s probably  a moot point in modern times. A hiring manager might react with “Whoa, if true.” but could see how flimsy my answer was in a few seconds after a damn good Googling.

 

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