The pompous fear humor. It’s a pin in their balloon factory. —Fred Smith

Wrong thinking reared its ugly head on the front page of the Springfield Business Journal recently. An article in the September 13, edition entitled Diversity in Development and subtitled A 92-percent-white Springfield poses problems for economic development demonstrates just how weak-minded even strong and well-respected leaders can be. The article posits that Springfield is the second least diverse metropolitan area exceeding 400,000 in population (in the nation, presumably) and that companies that have diversity as a corporate value see Springfield as a “non-competitor.”

Let’s stop and think about “diversity” as a corporate value. Hmmm. What economic value is there in diversity? How does diversity result in the creation of more or better widgets or whatever your company produces? How does diversity increase the level of service your company provides to customers? How does diversity make you a better corporate citizen? How does diversity increase your company’s return to shareholders? How does being more diverse make you better?

If diversity is better, shouldn’t the NBA diversify and sign some short guys, and shouldn’t the NFL sign some skinny guys, and shouldn’t the football team have more girls and shouldn’t the volleyball team have more boys?

This notion that diversity is a value to be cherished or pursued is weak-minded. It comes from the elite who relish lecturing us on what’s wrong with us, but who really have no idea what our significant issues are and have even less notion about how to solve problems. In most all areas of human endeavor, diversity simply isn’t a problem—except in the minds of those who want to remake everywhere into their superior notion of what utopia should look like.

Springfield is mostly white. The 2008 census says its 92.4% white. That’s just a fact. The corporate elitists and Chamber of Commerce members who want to make it a problem are engaging in anti-white prejudice. They are saying “too much white” and “too little color.” They’ll be the first to tell you that we shouldn’t judge a man by the color of his skin but by the content of his character. Why then does the fact that Springfield is 92.4% white matter?

It doesn’t.

Can you imagine the Chamber of Commerce in Detroit saying “The problem in Detroit is that our population is 87.7% black—-we need more white folks to increase our diversity.” Can you imagine going to Laredo, Texas and saying “The fact that Laredo is 94% Hispanic poses problems.” The uproar would be instantaneous and vociferous! And you’d be called a “racist” for your suggestion. But when the shoe is on the other foot and a similar thing is said about our Springfield, we yawn and look the other way. Why? That’s the genius of freedom that makes Springfield work! You can say whatever you want here, and many lunatics do. Its a freedom that should be replicated, not denigrated.

I don’t know why Springfield is so WASPy. Other parts of Missouri aren’t. The Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas have significant non-white populations. Many parts of North Missouri have black residents. I’d venture to guess that the southern part of Missouri is white because our ancestors were independent minded rebels, loners, hunters, fishermen, and trappers. In the Mississippi and Missouri River watersheds the soil is better for farming and thus entrepreneurial-minded agriculturalists established large farms and plantations empowered—at one point in our history—by slave labor. The ease of river travel brought racial and cultural diversity to the state’s two major cities that didn’t happen in the isolated and rugged terrain that is the Missouri Ozarks. Instead, much of the lower half of the state was wooded frontier land. It was settled by folks who just wanted to be left alone, and to subsist. They didn’t settle large parcels, but small tracts of land. They ate off the land. For the most part they didn’t have jobs, they had lives—meager ones at that—supported by what they could scrape together. It made for a hard, rugged, life of individualism and freedom. There was virtually no economy. No employment. Not much for anyone to do except get by. The people were called hillbilly. They didn’t have slaves. Who’d have wanted another mouth to feed? (If they could have figured out why their women kept turning up pregnant and creating all those additional mouths to feed on such meager rations, they might have even stopped having sex.)

Though improvements in transportation and technology have opened the doors of our parochial enclave to the rest of the world, the belligerently independent mindset of this region remains ingrained in our politics. Taxes are fiercely low. Most of us who live here are suspect of those who don’t, particularly those who work in Washington, D.C.

Missouri’s 7th congressional district (bordering Arkansas, Oklahoma & Kansas) hasn’t sent a Democrat to congress in over 50 years, and the 8th district which extends across the south-central and south-eastern parts of the state has a similarly Republican tendency. For better or worse, this is Bush-McCain country. Clinton, Kerry & Obama aren’t at home here. Sarah Palin is a heroine and some think Hillary Clinton is the devil. That’s not a political statement. It’s a fact. Just like its a fact that 92% of the population of Springfield is white. It’s not something to be cured. It’s not a disease. It’s not a problem. Its an “is.”

I grew up in a very backwoods part of the world in Stone County, Missouri in the 1960’s and 70’s. There were no Jews in our county. Our neighbor, also the local Sheriff, made sure black folks knew to be across the county line before dark. There was only one Catholic family in our town and we were all suspect of them. So I come by my rednecked-ness honestly. Lest you think that prejudices me today read my blog post of June 9, 2010 entitled London: Thoughts on Race and Prejudice. And, you need to know that just this morning my pew at church was “taken” by a group of Chinese students (how dare they…everybody knows I sit on the middle aisle, row 2, stage right) and that one young Chinese woman shared a wonderful testimony of what God was doing in her life after which I thanked her in my very limited Chinese “Xie Xie” (SHAY SHAY—-for you hillbillies). She laughed and replied in Chinese and I quickly had to tell her in English that I was “out of words.” But I did appreciate her story and wanted to greet her in a way that was human, loving, and emotionally engaging. What better for her 10,000 miles from home to hear a big, white, hillbilly speaking to her in her native tongue?

You should know that the company I own has employed minorities. I can only think of three that ever applied, and two were hired. One still works for us today. That’s 66% of minorities who applied that got hired. White folks don’t have nearly that good a record with our company, so maybe I am prejudiced against them. Who knew?

My next door neighbor is from Korea. I can’t understand much he says, but he’s a good guy and we share a bit together. He asks me what treatment to give his livestock when they have “juicy poop.” (I wish you could hear him say that with an Asian accent. It’s a riot!)

I’m not all lathered up about protecting the white man’s spot. I am all lathered up about people missing the point and failing to understand what does and doesn’t matter, what should and shouldn’t be our priorities.

My point in all of this my friends, is to say that Martin Luther King was RIGHT! It’s NOT about the color of your skin. It IS about the content of your character. It’s NOT about the accent with which you speak. It IS about the values you affirm including individual freedom and self-determination in an atmosphere of right behavior and right thinking. Where we disagree on the definitions of “right” in terms of behavior and thinking it is about persuasive reasoning and passionate logic articulated amid respectable dialogue.

If diversity means welcoming, then I’m for diversity. If diversity means recruiting and posturing to assuage our guilt for the great life with which we’ve been blessed, if diversity means being different for different’s sake, then I think we leave well enough alone.

Does Springfield need to be better. Undoubtedly. Everyone can improve, and so can everywhere. But does Springfield need to be “less white”? Not necessarily. Those who think so have been sucked in by wrong thinking, and they’ve all together missed the point.

I know of a nurse whose daughter-in-law had breast cancer. Unfortunately, its now metastasized and barring a miracle, her life is likely to be shortened. But that’s not the story.

After her mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, this young lady made and wore a t-shirt that said “Heck yes they are fake. My real ones tried to kill me!”

I loved that!!! What a wonderful sense of humor. God bless her!

Success is the ratio of talents received compared to talents used. Now that is a brilliant definition! Thanks to my mentor from across the chasm, Fred Smith (who would have turned 95 on the day I wrote this, September 1, 2010) for that word.

Success is using what you have.