In a message dated 10/19/2003 2:11:30 PM Central Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes (quoting a Star-Tribune editorial): > > When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that separation of the Races is > inherently unequal, they were talking about a government that systematically > gave more resources to the White school than the Black school. In that > culture of White supremacy, the justices were right - separation of the > Races would always result in lower educational resources for the Black > schools. The NAACP has turned that ruling into gospel. To them integration > is a cure for all that ails. Any attempt to improve education, if it also > increases racial segregation as a by-product, is not acceptable. So they > won't give community education a chance. > Is the culture of white supremacy a thing of the past? I think it's different but it's not gone.
The community school plan was a plan for racial separation. The goal was racial separation, not closing the gap. The racial learning gap widened in part because of a widening teacher expertise gap between the predominantly white and black schools, already a pretty big gap in 1995 because of how the class size reduction program was carried out in the early 1990s. The "closing the gap" resolution gave assurances that the district was committed to minimizing the segregative effect of the plan, but the resolution also contained a few well worn arguments against racial integration, such as "integration causes white flight." As I have said before, I never liked the controlled "choice" plan and it was unpopular with a lot of parents and students due to the long bus rides it entailed. I had no problem with "community schools" with guaranteed attendance areas that would eliminate and shorten bus rides. But the district went out of its way to made the schools less diverse racially. The district spent hundreds of millions of dollars on projects like the conversion to K-8 schools, which made the schools less diverse racially, but contributed nothing toward closing the racial learning gap. Why am I member of the NAACP? I am basically white, mostly of European extraction. However, I became a partisan of the Civil Right movement at an early age, in the early 1960s. My parents were fairly well known as civil rights activists locally. I have also experienced some hostility from white racists on account of my "race." I am part Romano (gypsy) and apparently look Jewish to some, judging by the hostile behavior and Jew-baiting from complete strangers (always whites, never blacks). I have also faced discrimination on a regular basis (mostly being refused service at restaurants) due to my associations with African-Americans, such as a female companion, a male running partner, and a child to whom I was a primary, custodial parental unit for several years (of course that was back in the 1980s when there was still a culture of white supremacy). -Doug Mann http://educationright.tripod.com REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
