The Imaginary Numbers Don't Add Up

The Imaginary Numbers Don’t Add Up

John Paul Derryberry

There is one crucial question every non-minority, male, straight person should be asking themselves today. Would I have the life I have if I were black, gay, female? The math, and it's hard to argue with math, says probably not. It would be amazing to be able to say, yes. I would love to say that I would have achieved the job of executive director at a non-profit.  I would like to be able to tell you that the biological mom, who chose my wife and I to adopt her baby, would still have picked us if I was black.  There is no way of knowing and doing mathematical gymnastics to figure out how to solve it for X isn't an option. 

It reminded me of my one college undergrad math course when they said (i) stands for imaginary numbers. Because anyone who asks themselves the question, would I have the same life if I were black, and says yes, is lying to themselves. They are in fact playing in their imaginary land. There are too many stats on incarceration rates to claim that. There are also too many studies on discipline in our schools to claim that. There are too many findings in the field of public health refuting the claim that all things are equal. 

I'm loud. I challenged authority and broke the rules, in high school and in college. I got labeled passionate, a wayward soul just needing guidance, and was given multiple chances to turn things around. I'm thankful for all those opportunities, and I believe I paid those back with the life I lead. How many black men sit in jail today because they weren't afforded the length of the system's patience to figure things out?  

I've grown to lean into math because, while data can be construed to bend the way the person compiling the data wants, it's better than relying on anecdotal stories. There is something honest and authentic about math. Two plus two equals four. We can count the number of minorities in jail and the number of Caucasians and see that it's skewed the wrong way. We know this because the color of skin has no bearing on the ability to commit a crime. Yet we have set up a system that continually skews leniency to white people, not black. The people who deny this riff in American culture have stories that don't add up, their math doesn't add up, and their continued moral outrage is out of step with reality.  I have no clue where I would be if I were a black man. That mathematical fact alone is enough for me to understand the seriousness of this situation.  No imaginary number can change that math, but we can.