[Nfb-editors] Blacklisting

[Steve Jacobson]

Joe,

Why are you using such loaded terms?  There is nothing unsavary about expelling a member if that member violates a 
policy they knowingly accepted when they joined.  There is nothing arcane about wanting to actually be "of the 
blind" and not just saying we are?  You think that somehow human beings have gone through some huge change 
during the past twenty-five years.  There have been changes, but humans haven't changed all that much.  One 
doesn't have bylaws to guide everyday activities, one has them to guide during the difficult times.  is there some huge 
group of sighted persons just waiting to join and do our bidding if we only changed our constitution?  If there are, and 
that group became the majority, would we still be "of the blind?"  You seem to forget that we are an imperfect 
organization because we are made up of imperfect beings living within an imperfect society, and this can result in 
situations that don't have perfect solutions.  Show me amn example where people who wish to be members are being 
kept out and we'll help come up with a way to work it out.  I have always been supportive of equal rights for women.  
However, if a group of men claimed they should be able to form a voting block within a women's civil rights 
organization and be a majority, I would have to ask why?  Even if such a group had noble goals, a group of men 
should not be deciding 
the direction that women should take as a majority.  The same is, in my opinion, true for us.  It isn't that having a 
majority of sighted voting members necessarily means that each of those members is anything but well-intentioned, but 
it means that the direction is being set by people who are not truly stakeholders.  This is the kind of thing I would think 
you would understand.

I feel strongly about some of these things because I was the chapter president who had to deal with the take-over that 
Tom Scanlan mentioned earlier.  I also was present when a couple of our members made a point to say they were are 
members while testifying against us in our state legislature.  I don't want to come together and hash out positions and 
finally come to a vote and then all go home and do our own thing as if we never adopted a policy.  Some 
organizations do function that way but I'm glad we don't.  This means I do sometimes support others on issues that I 
may feel are not what I would want, but it also means I have their support on issues I think are important even when 
they may feel otherwise.  If the day comes that I feel I am compromising my positions more often than I am being 
supported, then it will be time for me to leave.  However, often I find there is a benefit in understanding a position I 
didn't support.  It can be broadening.

I think that too often some think that 
this is all some sort of intellectual exercise rather than being real life.  We are too small a minority to come together and 
ageree on a position and then go home and ignore them.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:10:23 -0400, Joe Orozco wrote:

>Blacklisting doesn't exist in the NFB?  Now now, if it be black and white
>and says "moo," it ain't a chicken.  It's okay if the NFB blacklists people.
>It certainly wouldn't be the first organization to do so, but please let's
>not paint a rosy color here, not after we established that our membership
>enrollment has restrictions for reasons that are arcane at best and paranoid
>at worse.  If we did not blacklist people, expulsion would not be outlined
>in our constitution, and affiliates and chapters would not practice it,
>however informally.  Bottom line:  I don't mind putting my shoulder to the
>wheel of an imperfect organization, given it is an organization made up of
>imperfect individuals by nature, but let's not be so bold as to claim we are
>so noble as to be above such unsavory behavior.  It is because the community
>is so small that such behavior inevitably occurs.  I'm just saying, keep it
>real...

>Regards,

>Joe

>"Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
>some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing


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