Monday, August 4, 2008
Education / Politics / Woods NAACP Decries Rezoning Plan as 'Gallows'
Posted by Jeff Woods on Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 2:11 PM
Comments (8)
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We the taxpayers spend thousands of dollars per child per year, and they don't even have basic skills by the time they get to high school. If you think sending your black children across town to the white people's school is going to help you, you just aren't understanding the problem. In fact, you're part of the problem. If you have the desire to learn, you don't even need a school. You want good schools? Then make your schools better.
The other related problem is sending all these people to college, when they're just going to work in a call center when they graduate. They can't pay their student loans! It's a pipe dream. So put down the pipe, and realize that a lot of gifted people aren't motivated, and there's a lot of people who are just plain dumb. Let's stop wasting money on the dummies. We as a society need to say, if you aren't making good grades, you are out of there at eighth grade. Send these youngsters to vocational training, so they can make themselves useful.
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Cory: "They" aka "Those people" and "You people" would be anyone but you and yours, right?
Wow, Cory. Just. Wow.
I think your generalizations and perceptions reinforce why the NAACP has reason to be concerned. Evidence shows that desegregated schools have narrowed the gap between white and black. Further, interesting to note that the blackest high school in Metro just went off the state's "watch list," while 9 other high schools are still "in trouble."
Cory's comments and my own concerns about resegregation aside, let me add this: the NAACP doesn't want high poverty, high minority schools. Sorry but mnps isn't going to bus enough white kids to Pearl-Cohn to make it truly diverse; just not going to happen. (And I know we're talking about more than Pearl-Cohn here, but it's the primary high school affected) So, propose to the NAACP that we close Pearl-Cohn, we use the millions promised to P-C and transport those in the Pearl-Cohn zone to any one of the closest 3 or 4 high schools. Give the building to Dean for that community college he's looking into.
The NAACP seems to fear highly concentrated minority schools (rightfully so), they seem to think an offer of millions to the majority-minority schools is an insult, and, presumably call these schools "gallows." Fine: Propose to shut them down and see what the reaction is. Remember, Pearl-Cohn's original mission was supposed to be an integration of the Pearl (Black) and Cohn (White) HS communities and would create a truly integrated school.
But quite frankly, in the past two decades, plenty of Pearl-Cohn parents, African Americans, have solidified the school's identity as a "black school." Not all mind you, but some pretty outspoken and involved folks. So, which is it? Do we want P-C as a black school or is a segregated school a prison? If the NAACP is right, the only option is to shut down Pearl-Cohn because it will never be an integrated school. Somebody ask them and see what the response is.
I grew up in eastern NC, home to a much larger African American community and quite a bit more racial tension. I was 'bused' from K - 10th grade until I moved to Middle Tennesizzle.
I hated every damn minute of it: physical abuse, mental abuse, classes that couldn't stay on target, feeling unsafe to stay for afterschool activities because of the neighborhood. Hell, we had shootings at our school a decade before Columbine and nobody said a thing. I suffered broken bones, mental anguish, and more.
And yet, I don't regret it. I grew up with a street sense that my private-school counterparts will never have. I gained confidence from dealing with situations far outside my comfort zone. I can take a punch. I am completely at ease in a room where I am the only fair-skined individual, and I enjoy meaningful relationships with people from the top to the bottom of the socioeconomic spectrum.
Before the NAACP embarrasses itself anymore with talk of 'gallows,' (C'mon people - you'll get tons more respect if you drop the melodramatic crap) they need to stop and consider the sacrifice that others must make in order to achieve the balance they seek. And the other side of the debate needs to consider the advantages of integration. It makes for a tougher go, but a more well-rounded student. And maybe that's the first step to racial understanding.
The NAACP is not concerned about concentrations of minority kids. No one has been at all concerned about 100% black schools filled with middle class black kids. It's just that the parents of middle class black kids don't want poor black kids sent to those same schools. They would prefer for poor black kids to be sent to school with middle class white kids so the middle class black schools will be able to remain as they are.
That is what this is about.
The schools are already essentially segregated if you look at the MNPS figures. Now the NAACP, the SCENE and others are concerned? Where was this concern earlier, including the longtime members of the school board (Mr. Kimball and Mr. Thompson, take a bow) who sat around doing nothing all these years and now want to bellow to high heaven about injustice? I don't smell the aroma of mendacity but I do smell the aroma of hypocrisy.
It's just that the parents of middle class black kids don't want poor black kids sent to those same schools.
So, you believe the white middle class is exempt from that statement?
The schools are already essentially segregated if you look at the MNPS figures.
Uhm, I did. Did you, Bobby?
There are a handful of schools in Metro that have above 85% African American students, mainly in the Pearl Cohn and Maplewood clusters, the inner city. The vast majority of mnps schools have much more balance.
