Status Quo - The O-Rena
- Details
- Category: Politics
- Published: Wednesday, 13 November 2013 03:53
Written by Lawrence A. Robinson
Challenging the status quo is always a daunting task. The status quo appears to be stable and everyone has accepted it for what it is. When the leader of a social organization or group, such as the Orange County NAACP the Orange County Urban League or the African American Chamber of Commerce, has set himself or herself up in a status quo situation, it is near impossible to change or even alter that status. Inertia just won't allow it.
Take the Orlando O-rena for instance. The City officials, County officials and Tourism and other authority, promised to use Black and minority contractors in certain percentages to build the structure. At completion when asked why there were so few Black construction leaders on the job, 'It's impossible to find qualified Blacks to do the work' was their response.
Twenty years later when building the new Amway Arena, the promise was the same from the same agencies and organizations and the results were the same. They even used the same excuse since it worked so well twenty years earlier.
This is status quo in full effect. All systems working in concert to ensure that no permanent altering changes to the all important economic flow of the bureaucracy are made. The government agencies made the promises, the school system cut apprentice programs guaranteeing there would be no qualified Blacks, social organization told the citizens to accept the results because this is the best they could do. These organizations all worked together to maintain the status quo.
Related story: OCPS: School DAZE
Before you can change the status quo, you have to educate the people who are associated with the situation, the people on the inside and the people on the outside. They all should know the truth and how the system works. Again, a near impossible task especially when the educational system and mainstream media communications are controlled by the ones who want to maintain the status quo. It is almost always easier to make those kind of changes from the inside. Still, informing the people is key.