I am falling between two stools

On one stool sits John Thompson, a giant of a man, physically and on the sidelines of the Georgetown University Division I basketball team, “Hoyas”, that he paced as the team was playing in the finals of the so-called Final Four in 1984, which the team won.

On the other, sits the professor of geology at Imperial College (London) Chris Jackson with a much lighter body frame. Both stools are deeply anchored to the floor. By the way, professorship at Imperial College is conferred upon a teacher-cum-researcher through an open and honest vetting process, more structured, severe and wider competition than the primaries of the two mainstream parties for nominating the candidate for the president of the US to be elected (I had to put in that, which does not add to my narrative, after my total disenchantment with the process when the GOP selected DJT in 2016).

Thompson said in 1984, I am paraphrasing, that if he became the first black head coach to win the national championship, it is only because blacks (in those days, it was blacks and not Blacks) were not hired as head coaches in Division I schools. They could at best be (and indeed there were) assistant coaches, to help in recruiting black athletes (systemic racism wore different hats then). He just waved off such leading questions, having made his point crystal clear.

I do not need to paraphrase anything Prof. Chris Jackson said. You can read it for yourself here. The point of interest is in the heading itself: “I’m up for the fight”. He says, “There’s clearly been black scientists in the past who could have given these lectures”. But the portraits that hang in the prestigious institutions are white, and as an aside, male.

Don’t immediately start on me by saying that I have sidelined equally deserving female scientists. The first female scientist to give a Christmas Lecture was in 1994, while these lectures were instituted by Michael Faraday in 1825. Do your math; it took 171 years for the audience to hear a female white scientist. It was only in 2015, a non-white’s lecture was hosted. It is another 5 years for a distinguished black professor to be heard in the forum, Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. A white male to a white female – 171 years. A white-female to a non-white male – 21 years. A white female to a black male – 5 years. A near geometric progression. What should be expected in the years to come? You decide.

While coach Thompson and professor Jackson sit on different stools, I am falling between the stools because I cannot decide which I would celebrate more – a lecture that is TRULY color-blind, sex-blind (by the way, I am of the old school, gender is a term of grammar and not a social categorization, which is sex and sex alone; don’t be prudish – it is sex-education and not gender education), sexual-orientation blind, race blind, caste blind, nationality blind (to change the charter if need be), indeed, blind to everything other than the accomplishment of the chosen individual but not make an issue of it, or bringing awareness of one more blindness being cast off.

I truly believe in the conviction behind the statements of professor Jackson and coach Thompson. I am falling between the stools.

What will catch me as I am falling? A blindingly brilliant burst of a choice that would clear the cataracts of all types of blindness.

Raghuram Ekambaram