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Republicans have been fighting public school integration since before former Governor George C. Wallaces' infamous stand in the school house door. They are still fighting to keep them there Negroes and Hispanics out of their schools, today, tomorrow, and probably forever, if people of good will continue let them.
In modern America we believe racism to be the property of the uniquely villainous and morally deformed, the ideology of trolls, gorgons and orcs. We believe this even when we are actually being racist.
My post, The Truth about the ALGOP School Flex Bill, and nothing but the truth , generated the following response from a member of Pam's List serve which I believe illustrates this point. Emphasis mine with names redacted.
I have a problem with calling a school a failing school. When we say a school is failing, we are saying the teachers are failing, the Principal is failing, the parents are failing, and the community is failing. If this is the case, any student transferring to a Successful school from a failing school will eventually result into a failing school. Let me say this, I transferred my son and daughter from Xxxxxx High school to Xxxxxxxxxx High, not to avoid a failing school. The Principal and the teachers at Butler were great teachers. I met them at every PTA meeting.
No! No! No! Racism not only exists but is perpetuated because we would rather pretend it doesn't.I transferred my kids from Xxxxx High to remove my kids from the students attending Xxxxx High, not the staff. What was failing at Butler High was the parenting of a majority of the students. I attended school in the 1960's, through some of the worst times for blacks to get an education, but a majority of blacks back then were committed to get an education regardless of racism.It is my opinion that today, parenting is failing not only education in the United States, parents are failing their children. It is my opinion, and please don't get angry, that if all the students at a failing school were bussed to a non-failing school, and the students from the non-failing school were bussed to the failing school, leaving all staff at both schools in place, the failing schools would be reversed!No teacher can educate a student! Teachers provide an educational environment for learning, and they provide the proper instruction. If the parents and students are not committed to an education, it will not happen! Regardless of the racist Republicans and their racist attitudes, if blacks, whites, poor blacks, and poor whites commit themselves to an education, it will happen!Alabama will always have racist, Alabama will always have Republicans that wish the negro was still cooking in their kitchens and plowing their fields with no hope of wealth or education. What parents today have to do is, regardless of which school their children attend, commit themselves to their children's education, involve themselves in their children's educational endeavors, and commit their children to learn how to read, and write, and to learn arithmetic in grade school. They must commit their children to the joys of learning!If a child today can't read in the 8th grade it is not the teachers fault. Parents must stop looking for someone to blame. The blame starts at home. The blame starts at home. When the next PTA meeting occurs, go to one of those failing schools and count the parents attending. I have, and it is a sad sight! I feel sorry for the kids whose parents are failing them. Successful public schools are the result of involved parents. They use the same books, they have the same quality teachers and they are supervised under the same superintendent. In the 18 years my children attended school, never, ever, have I had to say a teacher was poorly educated! Not once!The difference between my children and others was that there was study time in our home during the week, and With limited TV and play time. I removed my son from the basketball team at Huntsville High because he was too tired from practice to study. Today he is Xx. Xxxxxx (name redacted) with a PhD from Xxxxxx.Yes, racism exist, but lets not pull the race card as a trump card so quickly.My solution: take any failing school and institute a program to get more parental involvement in the children's classwork and homework. Make it a law that some guardian is required at PTA meetings from 1st through 8th grade. Make it a law that if a child is not bringing in homework, a Child Development Agency is notified to visit the child's home. Do this and watch this failing school turn into a oasis of education and learning!Racism can only exist where there is fertile soil for it to grow and to flourish! But even racism can't overcome the personal commitment to get an education!
Its long past time for us to redefine racism based not on the intent of the sender but on the experience of the receiver. As someone said during a blog conversation I participated in on this topic long ago...if I accidentally dropped an anvil on your toe, the fact that I didn't mean to doesn't make it hurt any less.So where is the hidden racism in the response above? Let's start with this;
I transferred my kids from Xxxxxx High to remove my kids from the students attending Xxxxxx High, not the staff. What was failing at Xxxxxx High was the parenting of a majority of the students.What proof does the writer have to support this assertion other than media enabled stereotypes that black parents are not actively involved in their child education? Are they are dysfunctional just because they are black?
Hidden racism #2
It's easy to accuse and blame some anonymous parents than address the real reason Alabama schools are failing. I have a problem with blaming tax payers, because that's what parents are, for the failure of the school system just because they are convenient scapegoats. If the ALGOP really cared about students attending failing schools they would try and fix them instead of bankrupting them.It is my opinion that today, parenting is failing not only education in the United States, parents are failing their children. It is my opinion, and please don't get angry, that if all the students at a failing school were bussed to a non-failing school, and the students from the non-failing school were bussed to the failing school, leaving all staff at both schools in place, the failing schools would be reversed!
Hidden racism #3
If a child today can't read in the 8th grade it is not the teachers fault. Parents must stop looking for someone to blame. The blame starts at home. When the next PTA meeting occurs, go to one of those failing schools and count the parents attending. I have, and it is a sad sight! I feel sorry for the kids whose parents are failing them. Successful public schools are the result of involved parents. They use the same books, they have the same quality teachers and they are supervised under the same superintendent. In the 18 years my children attended school, never, ever, have I had to say a teacher was poorly educated! Not once!Oh, really? So if a parent sends their child to school every day to learn how to read and their child can't read it's their fault because they don't go to PTA meeting? I didn't now they trained parents how to teach at PTA meetings. I didn't know parents decided to replace text books with IPads and laptops at PTA meetings. I didn't know parents hired and fired Superintendents/principals/ teachers/ support personnel or granted tenure. Snark If parents are going to teach their children everything at home what do we need schools for? The teachers may not be poorly educated, but what if the parents are? Should their child also be doomed to a life of ignorance and poverty?
Hidden racism #4
My solution: take any failing school and institute a program to get more parental involvement in the children's classwork and homework. Make it a law that some guardian is required at PTA meetings from 1st through 8th grade. Make it a law that if a child is not bringing in homework, a Child Development Agency is notified to visit the child's home. Do this and watch this failing school turn into a oasis of education and learning!
The government can't require parents to attend PTA meetings, or home visits by Child Development Agencies because a child is not bringing in homework. What if parents have to work or have other obligations? If children aren't turning in their home work teachers should stop assigning it, or make them do it at school. In my day we had study hall with trained teachers to assist us if necessary. Students aren't failing classwork, they are failing homework. Again, if they are going to do all the work at home why do we need schools. How about the government requiring principals and teachers to make home visits?
Hidden racism #5
Alabama will always have racist, Alabama will always have Republicans that wish the negro was still cooking in their kitchens and plowing their fields with no hope of wealth or education.True, but when this point is made by non whites we are accused of playing the "race card".
Contrary to popular belief, black parents realize the value of an education, and black children want to learn. Silence helps the oppressor oppress the oppressed.In the less critical sense, the phrase is commonly used in two contexts. In the first, and more common context, it alleges that someone has deliberately and falsely accused another person of being a racist in order to gain some sort of advantage.[1] An example of this use of the term occurred during the O. J. Simpson murder trial, when critics accused the defense of "playing the race card"[2] in presenting Mark Fuhrman's past (e.g., his recorded use of the word "nigger" in addition to his being accused of tampering with murder evidence in prior cases, as well as his use of the Fifth Amendment to avoid potential self-incrimination upon questioning) as a reason to draw his credibility as a witness into question.
In the second context, it refers to someone exploiting prejudice against another race for political or some other advantage. The use of the southern strategy by a political candidate is said by some to be a version of playing the race card, such as when former Senator Jesse Helms, during his 1990 North Carolina Senate campaign, ran an ad showing a black man taking a white man's job, intended as a criticism of the idea of racial quotas. The ad was interpreted by many people as trying to play to racist fears among white voters.
The idea that racism lives in the heart of particularly evil individuals, as opposed to the heart of a democratic society, is reinforcing to anyone who might, from time to time, find their tongue sprinting ahead of their discretion.
"It's pretty obvious the Ala-repubs are trying to re-segregate the schools without calling it that." The question is, are good people going continue to let then get away with it?
There are plenty of valid criticisms to make about last week's hijacking of the legislative process by Republicans to pass the Alabama Accountability Act. Wouldn't take much work, either. But leave it to Moore to get that simple task wrong, too.No Mister "highest ranking African-American in the state GOP" (who knew?), it means you are part of the problem.
Moore, after the Republicans passed the Accountability Act over Democratic and other objections, said this, as reported by AL.com's Kim Chandler: "Welcome to the new confederacy where a bunch of white men are now going to take over black schools."
Criticize Republican sleaziness or secrecy or deception or betrayal. But Moore's statement crosses the line, and it was intercepted by Alabama Republican Party senior vice-chairman George Williams, the highest ranking African-American in the state GOP.
"I am astonished at Rep. Moore for making such a racist statement about our leaders in Montgomery," Williams, from Bay Minette, said in a GOP press release. "I am an African-American, Vietnam War Vet, a leader in the Alabama Republican Party, and I support this legislation. Does that mean I am part of the 'new confederacy'?"
America lives under the interesting premise that a racist can't be black. That's like believing that a man can't hate his sibling, or that a woman can't advocate for a man to beat his wife (as Whoopi did to Oprah in "The Color Purple"). The truth is that racism is typically most effective when you put a black face on it, and Herman Cain has volunteered to become the cute little political puppet which allows white America to say the things that they are afraid to say.
The hidden racism is eating away at the future of our country. It's time to call it out and end it once and for all.
RedEye
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