I have just a few pithy thoughts as we head into our Fourth of July weekends, the first Covid-constrained ones of our lives. Thor and I will be staying home, except for a neighborhood micro-demonstration for Black Lives Matter, and trips to lush Mt. Tabor park near our house. Warm thanks to my friend and colleague Lisa, who stepped forward to proofread this and future newsletters. We are both volunteers. Independent journalism lives!
In this issue:
- A reader pushed back on my last newsletter Electric Buses, “I Can’t Breathe!” and Muscular Advocacy
- Why is school bus (student transportation) culture more change-averse than public transit culture?
- Suggested listening and reading for the holiday weekend around racial justice.
The reader who wrote in, whom I’ll call Taylor (they/their), operates a medium-sized school bus fleet, and has worked 25-plus years in the industry. Like many of their colleagues, Taylor bleeds yellow, i.e., is passionately devoted to the mission of transporting children – safely – to and from the schools where they access education. Taylor embraces both anti-racism and the electrification of buses (we have so much in common!).
I initially cringed to learn that Taylor had a “punched-in-the-gut feeling” when reading my criticisms of diesel bus exhaust and its health impacts on kids. Then I accepted that their words sprang from passion (they bleed yellow), and were constructive feedback for this newsletter. I like Taylor’s suggestion that I could focus more on the benefits of electric buses, and less on the health hazards posed by existing diesel fleets. I will take this advice to heart. A positive vision of what we do want pulls us forward, working together for our common goal.
Why are school buses in some states currently prohibited from installing the pandemic-protective shields for drivers that would help protect them from coronavirus transmission?
Many public transit drivers have shields. I asked a veteran of the school bus culture about the resistance to what seems like a common-sense change. She told me matter-of-factly, “It’s not just a conservative industry. It’s a rigid industry. Any change happens very slowly”.
On the positive side, a person is less likely to die or be injured in a school bus crash than in any other vehicle, hands down. “It’s practically an armored tank,” one school bus driver told me at a conference last year (remember conferences and face-to-face chats over drinks?). On the less-positive side, that exact, hard-won safety record means any changes to tried-and-true school bus specifications may be seen as a risk, even a threat, to the safety that school bus culture promises and delivers daily.
In contrast to school bus culture, many of this newsletter’s 1,376 subscribers work in transportation electrification, a work culture that assumes change is good and necessary. It’s valuable to know about our work culture differences, and treat them with respect. Electrification is cultural shift, and racial justice has got to be part of our shift to electrification. Which leads us to Resmaa Menakem, who writes and teaches about cultural shift, and some listening/reading I suggest for the Fourth of July weekend.
Resmaa Menakem, author and therapist, latest book “My Grandmother’s Hands”.
Resmaa Menakem, pictured above, has engaged me and many others with his down to earth methods of healing racism and trauma. White people can learn, grow and create a cultural shift away from our country’s historic, entrenched racism, as in, the thing that killed George Floyd, but is way bigger than policing. Because we are 72% of the U.S. population, that cultural shift can only happen with white people, with folks like you and me. Here is the audio version of an interview with Resmaa called Notice The Rage, Notice The Silence, and the written version.
I especially like the way Resmaa warmly challenges what I will own as my fragility stuff, i.e., my turning-away habits and sensitive-me thinking. I am strong enough to face black pain, consider the case for reparations, read writers like the ones below, and work with others for systemic change, including in the electric bus world.
Choosing resiliency over fragility is patriotic. Happy Fourth.
Twelve books for whites (like me) wanting to work against racism. I’ve read and can personally recommend the ones by Maya Angelou, Ijeoma Oluo, Brittney Cooper and Ta-Nehisi Coates. If you enjoy discussing these types of readings via Zoom, please reach out, since I’m always looking for learning/discussion partners. Thanks!
Alison Wiley (she/her/hers)
I am on the ancestral lands of the Multnomah, Chinook and Cowlitz peoples.
Whose land are you on?