News Center - Media Buzz

Online Article Post Titled: "Out of Alignment"

Interviewer: Deborah Weiner,
Journalist - News Anchor, Works at WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore
Posted on Saturday, March 2, 2019

OUT OF ALIGNMENT

(This week’s post asks can the insensitive truly be trained and ultimately fixed?)

On a normal day, as if there is normal anymore, I dodge more than a dozen potholes—that dare to swallow me up, blow a tire or at least throw the car out of alignment. But as hard as I am trying to avoid landing in an asphalt crater, it sure seems like a lot of people are driving right into them with reckless abandon. These aren’t just potholes on the parkway, these are potholes of their own making-- And damn, if that hasn’t thrown all of us out of alignment.

Maybe in your house, or at your job, you have had discussions or debate about the state delegate who colleagues say used the n-word and was censured by the Maryland House of Delegates-- and now some are calling for her expulsion. It is the latest wrangle about race and we have had a lot of them in February- which of course was Black History Month. Imagine the mania of our newscasts—daily, thought-provoking pieces on Black History—paired with stories about blackface, fashion designers nixing clothes that are offensive and race baiting, revelations that Liam Neeson wanted to kill a black person, any black person, the drama and disaster of Jussie Smollett, or the Baltimore man sentenced in New York for a racist homicide, and so many other stories that made you check the calendar. This is 2019, right?

Yes, it is 2019, and a 51-year-old delegate is trying to hold on to her seat representing Harford County. This situation/disaster is ripe for analysis for so many reasons. But, I want to focus on one of the things she has been ordered to do, and that is, to undergo sensitivity training. Or some would contend the de-programming of insensitivity. I am fascinated by the notion that this has to be taught and I wonder, can it really be taught?

I reached out to a very prolific sensitivity trainer named Ty Howard, a veteran of Desert Storm, helping clients navigate out of their own sensitivity storms. He conducts workshops in a number of Baltimore settings and provides intense one on one sessions for, as his literature states, “key people for whom other training has not been effective.” Yes, that person. Ty is not working with the state delegate, but he has worked closely with corporate folk, members of the military, law enforcement, a high school coach. White people, black people, Asian people, you name it, ranging in age from 32 to 87. A judge would surely qualify Ty Howard as an expert on sensitivity.

Ty says his approach is to listen and not judge. He says some of his clients tell him the world has become overly sensitive. Others are reluctant to be guided, and say, they will basically play along, but go back to work and keep their head down to stay out of trouble. Ty doesn’t like that, he knows that won’t last. He also knows you can’t “fix” a person, as he says. But, he is convinced you can increase someone’s ability to be mindful and act with sensitivity. He wants people to remain their authentic self but wants them to be more aware of their actions. There you go, totally what we need, right?

So, the money question. Is everyone salvageable? Please say yes, Ty, please say yes. I will just give you the statistics. While Ty has conducted dozens of workshops, he has worked closely and intensely with 27 people. He told me that 3 of those were, his word, unchangeable- completely unable to adjust their thinking and behavior. But the people he has reached thank him for treating them like they are a human with value and increasing their ability to see others as humans with value.

The world according to Ty, the sensitivity trainer, makes me feel better about things. I know we can’t have a Black History Month do over, though I kind of wish we could, but I feel hopeful that people who need help, and get it, can and will do better. And just in case, you were wondering, March is Irish-American Heritage Month, National Kidney Month and National Noodle Month. Can we all just use our noodles and behave, please? Because we know that these metaphorical potholes, can become sinkholes really quickly. And it's awfully hard to get out of them.

- End -

For more information about Ty Howard or InspiraGen Institute, call (443) 982-7582.

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