North Carolina's Bizarre Backslide to Segregated Schools
First Lady Michelle Obama announced Tuesday that the 2012 Democratic National Convention will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“Charlotte is a city marked by its southern charm, warm hospitality, and an ‘up by the bootstraps’ mentality that has propelled the city forward as one of the fastest-growing in the South,” Mrs. Obama wrote in an email to Democratic supporters explaining the decision.
There’s also the fact that in 2008 her husband narrowly defeated Senator John McCain in North Carolina, winning by 12,000 votes. The choice of Charlotte signals President Obama's intention to compete for the state again, and the South in general.
One can only hope that the Dems' focus on North Carolina will also draw attention to a disturbing trend in some of the state’s public schools. In 2002, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district responded to budget cuts by eliminating a longstanding busing program designed to ensure diversity. The move effectively re-segregated schools by race and income – and now another district is following suit.
In Wake County, which includes the city of Raleigh, the school board recently struck down its program of integrating schools based on socioeconomic status. By avoiding concentrations of poverty, Wake County schools have drawn high-quality teachers throughout the entire region. Supporters of the program note that its students, of all races, outperform state and national averages.
Backed by national Tea Party conservatives, the Wake County school board voted in January to eliminate the plan in favor of creating neighborhood schools. Portraying the program as unwanted "social engineering" that causes frequent school reassignments, board members argue that re-segregating schools will actually benefit poor students by making their problems easier to see.
“If we had a school that was, like, 80 percent high-poverty, the public would see the challenges, the need to make it successful,” board member John Tedesco told the Washington Post. “Right now we have diluted the problem, so we can ignore it.”
So, you see, concentrating poor kids in separate schools is for their own good!
Not so convinced is U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who, in a letter to the Washington Post, called the backslide to segregated schools troubling. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has also started an investigation of the Wake County school board action.
“In an increasingly diverse society like ours, racial isolation is not a positive outcome for children of any color or background,” wrote Duncan. “School is where children learn to appreciate, respect and collaborate with people different from themselves. I respectfully urge school boards across America to fully consider the consequences before taking such action. This is no time to go backward.
“Charlotte is a city marked by its southern charm, warm hospitality, and an ‘up by the bootstraps’ mentality that has propelled the city forward as one of the fastest-growing in the South,” Mrs. Obama wrote in an email to Democratic supporters explaining the decision.
There’s also the fact that in 2008 her husband narrowly defeated Senator John McCain in North Carolina, winning by 12,000 votes. The choice of Charlotte signals President Obama's intention to compete for the state again, and the South in general.
One can only hope that the Dems' focus on North Carolina will also draw attention to a disturbing trend in some of the state’s public schools. In 2002, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district responded to budget cuts by eliminating a longstanding busing program designed to ensure diversity. The move effectively re-segregated schools by race and income – and now another district is following suit.
In Wake County, which includes the city of Raleigh, the school board recently struck down its program of integrating schools based on socioeconomic status. By avoiding concentrations of poverty, Wake County schools have drawn high-quality teachers throughout the entire region. Supporters of the program note that its students, of all races, outperform state and national averages.
Backed by national Tea Party conservatives, the Wake County school board voted in January to eliminate the plan in favor of creating neighborhood schools. Portraying the program as unwanted "social engineering" that causes frequent school reassignments, board members argue that re-segregating schools will actually benefit poor students by making their problems easier to see.
“If we had a school that was, like, 80 percent high-poverty, the public would see the challenges, the need to make it successful,” board member John Tedesco told the Washington Post. “Right now we have diluted the problem, so we can ignore it.”
So, you see, concentrating poor kids in separate schools is for their own good!
Not so convinced is U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who, in a letter to the Washington Post, called the backslide to segregated schools troubling. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has also started an investigation of the Wake County school board action.
“In an increasingly diverse society like ours, racial isolation is not a positive outcome for children of any color or background,” wrote Duncan. “School is where children learn to appreciate, respect and collaborate with people different from themselves. I respectfully urge school boards across America to fully consider the consequences before taking such action. This is no time to go backward.
There's an ugly us vs. them element in our country that has always been there, but now that we have a Black President and a flagging economy, folks are a LOT more vocal about it. This us vs. them mentality is at the foundation of racism in America.
Obama won in large part b/c the majority of Americans who voted in the Presidental election embraced the concept of one country strengthened my diversity and evolved enough to break away from the status quo. That was the real concept behind Yes we can! As in yes, we can move forward together!
What disturbs me as a well-educated, successful African-American female, who went to school with white kids, asian kids, latino kids, Catholics, Protestants and Buddhists (without ever getting the short end of the stick) is the assumption among many White Americans that poverty and being black and poor are one in the same, and that the breakouts are simply exceptional. That is simply not true. It's also not true that everyone who is poor and black is lazy. That is a stereotype perpetuated by the media, and the majority of racists buy into because it reinforces their belief in the idea of "us vs. them," and makes them comfortable in the assumption that they are somehow superior.
News flash: with 10% unemployment in the U.S. poverty affects Americans of every race, creed, color, and age group. It's not that easy to be a good parent when you can't feed your kids or keep a roof over their heads. It's not that easy to do well in school when you are hungry or homeless. Many folks are now poor, not because they are lazy, but b/c of the economy, or Wall St, or the chronic and irresponsible overspending that most Americans have indulged in and still indulge in today.
Condeming a kid to poor neighborhood, decreases their chances of getting out, and getting into a school like Harvard. (Yes, there are bright kids and the hood, and no, they are not all drug dealers, but are the cards stacked against them - absolutely!) Look at the mother in Illinois who was arrested for trying to send her kid to a better school in a white neighborhood using her child's father's address! Would the same have happened if the child were white and poor? I doubt it. If the Tea Party has it's way, we will take a giant step backward and confirm to the rest of the world that we are not capable of moving forward, united as one nation.
Want to talk about education? Let's teach all Americans: kids and adults how to budget and save and manage their money, so that we can begin to reduce consumer debt. Let's teach our kids to value others despite their race or creed. Let's teach our kids about birth control, so that those trapped in the cycle of poverty can break it. And above all, let's stop passing along the lesson of us vs them. It's wrong and it doesn't help us to evolve as a nation or as human beings.