I am heartily sick of this shit. Why, in order to make equality in educational opportunity a real thing, is the answer always to degrade the schools that are offering high quality education rather than using them as the standard and bringing the poorer schools up to that standard? I know, I know, it’s the expense… But these are our children, our future!! How can we leave a significant chunk of them to rot in vastly substandard schools? I am very aware of the “tilting at windmills” nature of this post, but DAMN!!! the frustration is eating at my liver!
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Yes, because people who could afford to (overwhelmingly white, middle and upper class people) pulled their children out of public schools after integration and then revolted against paying taxes that funded public school systems.
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I’m getting real tired of the willful denial of some people of privilege that systemic racism does and always has played a huge role in the decline of readily accessible, quality public education.
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Yeah, it’s not hard to make that case, given the breadth of evidence to support it. Some people just are willfully blind to things that make them feel uncomfortable.
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As Lexicat was saying upthread, it’s utterly irrelevant if someone is personally ‘not a bigot’; the fact of the matter is that the US was founded on the exploitation, denigration, and subjugation of People of Color, for the advancement and perpetuation of the White, male, hetero, cisgendered, and supposedly ‘Xtain’ supremacy.
The systemic racial bigotry has been ‘baked in’ since the very beginning… and TPTB have been working ceaselessly ever since to ensure that the status quo remains that way.
There is not a single person who was born in the US who is not affected by that reality: if you’re White, you’ve unwittingly benefited from systemic racism at some point, whether you were aware of it or not, whether you actively wanted to or not.
If you’re a Person of Color in the US, (natural born, or otherwise) at some point, you have been stigmatized and/or had your progress impeded in some way by systemic racism, whether you consciously realize it, or not.
(And that’s not even taking into account the individual personal biases and preconceived notions that each person may hold, which also influences their everyday thoughts and behavior.)
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i’ve only ever experienced unified school systems with multiple elementary and/or middle schools that all feed into one high school. a lot of the districts i’ve experienced have only had one elementary, one intermediate, etc without any nearby private schools, except for a couple with catholic schools in town. it blew my mind that one large east texas city had two high schools, one predominately white which is named for a confederate general, another predominately hispanic and black which is named for a president of the u.s.
i’m partial to complete integration of schools because that was the experience i grew up in and while it didn’t result in a racial utopia it is my observation over the years that people who went through most of their schooling in my hometown have ended up with a lot better mindset on racial matters than people of similar age groups from places around my hometown who didn’t experience that.
edited to note that as the sex scandals have increased in intensity and prevalence, the enrollment at the catholic schools around here have dropped off precipitately with 2 out of 5 parochial school systems i know about shuttering for lack of students.
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I, for one, did not deny that upthread. I said that I selfishly want readily accessible, quality, mandatory public education because I do not want my life to be governed by a stupid electorate. I recognize that some of my countrymen think the correct approach to that problem is voter suppression, rather than educating the public to become less stupid voters. They’re wrong.
I also selfishly want a more equal society, because I see trouble on the horizon (if not closer), and people like me (Cis, straight, nominally-Christian, relatively wealthy thanks to a sound STEM education, Old White Man) will be first up against the wall. What I think or do personally will not save me - nor should it, I must bear the same of enjoying the privilege that society thrusts on me whether I want it or not. And I have Absolutely No Idea how to get to that more just society - which only compounds the shame. (I do the obvious things like pro-bono work, and charitable donations, but for every cause that I support, there are ten more that I neglect.)In short, yes, people like me will be first up against the wall, and I have no idea how not to deserve it.
Instead of immediately going #Not all ----! perhaps take a moment to consider that maybe I was not talking about YOU, specifically.
Thank you for perfectly illustrating the point both @Lexicat and I have made repeatedly in this thread, and good day.
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Oh, no, no. Some of us are on the list, but there are a whole bunch of other groups that will be against the wall long before they get around to us. That’s what the relatively privileged guy in the Niemoller poem didn’t understand until it was too late.
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Conceded. But … is there any way to say, “how can I help?” without getting the answer, “you’re damned already”?
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The first step to truly being an ally is always actively LISTENING; not making it all about oneself, not trying to dominate the conversation and telling marginalized people what they “should be” doing to effect change and how they “should be” doing it.
That’s a great place to start.
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Gaw’ frickin’ damn… next time I am in Oakland espresso + goodies at Timeless Cafe are on me.
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I’m sorry. I spoke out of turn.
Is it that hard to listen to the experiences of others on issues that have real world impacts on their daily lives without acting offended? Is it really such a dreadful chore?
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Yes, that’s right. In my state, Joe Biden’s state. It has been frequently demonstrated to me that my knowledge is local, and other places can have different problems, or additional problems.
Using the word “overwhelmingly” was probably unnecessarily kind to Delaware’s wealthy non-white citizens, particularly to our Asian Indian citizenry. But it’s quite factually correct.
It’s important to acknowledge that the generation that pulled their children out of public school due to forced busing are quite old now, and not a significant economic or political faction; they are in their 80s or dead. The people who are powering economic segregation and discrimination in the public schools today share some characteristics with them (many are their children, and they financially support Delaware’s Democratic Party) but they aren’t the same people.
Then Theodore Parker was wrong, and we are all doomed to an Orwellian, Malthusian future where each faction that gains power conspires to harm the others while brainwashing itself to believe it is righteous, an endless cycle of revenge and hatred.
Consider the lesson of the hornets and the bees. The largest mob that acts altruistically wins - those who work to divide, to categorize, to destroy alliance, lose. A hornet can kill forty bees a minute. Ten hornets can destroy a hive of thousands of bees. And no bee has a chance against a hornet - whichever bee attacks first, will die. The bees all attack, altruistically - nobody waits for someone else to go first - and the bees win. At great cost, and unavoidably so, but they win.
What you do personally is vitally important - unite, strengthen, support, vote, teach the lesson of the bee - and it’s the only thing that can truly save you. Our species is on the brink of extinction.
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Yes, because they run the state, I’m sure. I’m sure they’ve never been attacked or stereotyped or been met with any form of discrimination, especially after 9/11…
That’s literally in fevered imagination of the majority who claim to have no clue about systemic oppression, but imagine they themselves are the primary victims of such things.
We’re not fucking insects. We’re human beings.
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I apologize again. (Moreover, I had already flagged my original posts for moderation, so that nobody who had not yet read them should have to. I am aware that it is too little and too late.)
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No apology is necessary, as far as I’m concerned; I’m just saying that the path towards the redemption of our nation requires real honesty about our ugly past and present, some empathy for the struggle of others, and a genuine willingness to put aside our personal mythology, at least temporarily.
ETA:
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