It has been 60 years since the U.S. Supreme Court decision of
Brown V. Board of Education. That decision outlawed legalized segregated schools in
America. Yet, we have a paradox. Today, we witness a re-segregation that has
increased since the late 1980’s. Eliminating segregated schools has nothing to
do with calling black teachers inferior. We know that there are tons of
excellent, qualified black teachers back then and now. It has to do with human beings having the
right to be educated in any public school without regard to race, class, or
color. That is the point. It is about any student regardless of class having
the right to receive a strong, adequate education. Millions of African
Americans migrated into the North and Midwest (including the West Coast) from
the South as a means for people to gain economic & political rights.
They wanted children to have a better education. Many black people were forced
into crowded ghettoes and they sent their children to segregated schools via design. Back
then, segregation was legal in the South, but in the North it was heavily custom.
Black people in the North suffered racism in their housing and school options
(backed up by the government agencies and the force of law). Black people
fought to end segregated schooling. Even from 1920s to the 1950s, large
desegregation battles took place in Northern suburbs and industrial towns in
Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, New York and Michigan. The NAACP supported
lawsuits against segregated schooling. In 1951, Barbara Johns, a high school
junior, organized a student strike at her all-Black high school in Virginia to
protest poor conditions and overcrowding. Students contacted the NAACP for
help, but its lawyers advised them against striking. The strikers'
determination won the lawyers over, however, and their claim became part of the
basis of the Brown case. Brown did not immediately end segregation, but it was
a turning point. It gave black people confidence to struggle for black liberation.
We also must see that residential segregation and lax resources should end as
well. Separate schools based on race in a racist society will never be
progressive at all. Also, activists back then wanted desegregation to not
integrate into a white supremacist society. They wanted black people to have
access to better resources that many white schools had. That is the point of
black liberation. We wanted to free economically, socially, and politically
(and not allow the government to discriminate against us based on skin color).
We wanted liberation and the best resources possible as white people have had. We wanted justice. As Detroit parent Vera Bradley put it: "We were upset because they weren't
getting as many materials as some other schools. We figured if it was desegregated,
we would get the same." The psychological angle of Brown had the perverse
effect of falsely & immorally stigmatizing Black schools (and consequently, Black teachers) as
necessarily inferior. Black kids were to be "integrated" into white
schools--but never vice versa. There was no timeline for desegregation from the
Brown decision.
The Brown II ruling caused desegregation
to come with all deliberate speed. In the opinion of one NAACP lawyer, this
really meant "movement toward compliance on terms that the white South
could accept." Stiff resistance to these court rulings came from white
reactionaries. There were harassment, firings, and evictions. In 1956, Alabama outlawed the NAACP
altogether. In 1957, when the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth tried to enroll his
children in an all-white school, he and they narrowly escaped with their lives.
Famously, when Black students tried to integrate Little Rock Central High
School in September 1957, they were driven back by the Texas Rangers and by
racist mobs. President Dwight Eisenhower tried to avoid the conflict, but
eventually was forced to send U.S. troops to escort the students--the first
time federal troops had been sent into the South since the Reconstruction era
following the Civil War. Southern racists were not giving up their Jim Crow
system without a fight. Brothers and Sisters fought back. A decade after Brown,
90.7 percent of the South's Black children still attended all-Black
schools--400,000 more than in 1956. Schools in the North like in Harlem fought
against segregation and inferior education. In New York, Viola Waddy was a part
of a group of Harlem parents who, defying the law, kept their children out of
school in 1958. The "Harlem Nine" won an important victory when a
judge ruled that the New York City Board of Education was offering inferior
education to Black children. Boston leaders fought against racial segregation
too. Similar efforts existed in Chicago in the 1960’s too. Institutionalized
racism and other policies contribute to massive Northern segregation. The
busing issue was always a canard. In 1970, half of students in the U.S. went to
school by bus, but fewer than 5 percent of those students did so because of
desegregation plans. Now, American schools are massively resegregated. Brown caused many
positive changes and demographic changes have made full desegregation with
whites more difficult. At the end of the day, schools need self-determination
and resources. These items relate to desegregation. We don’t need to sit next
to a white student to learn information. Yet, we do need small class sizes,
qualified including experienced teachers, and rich plus stimulating curricula
that are readily found in richer, whiter communities. Black communities need
these resources too. Predominantly white suburban schools often spend twice
what urban school districts do and three times what poorer rural areas spend.
And when they find government funding insufficient, donors in wealthier areas
shell out the cash for reading specialists, music and arts, science labs and
computers as well as the extracurricular field trips and activities that make
for a quality learning environment. Education ought to be universal and not
discriminatory based on class or race. Only a genuine movement of parents,
teachers, and students can wrest the kind of redistribution of resources that
we deserve. Desegregation should be used to end the structure of racism placed
in society. Desegregation is about legitimately ending racial apartheid since
we are all human beings. Racial apartheid in any form is evil point blank period. The economic system benefits the evil system. Black
education can never be improved without addressing black unemployment, the
prison industrial complex, environmental racism, and the housing crisis. We
have to find ways to end the harsh conditions in the ghettos and the barrios
nationwide. Race and class inequality woven in schools must be dismantled if we
want to be free.
The Indian elections are finished. The
U.S. wants to press for greater support for the pivot to Asia agenda. India is the
most populous nation that calls itself a democracy. India is an ally of
Washington. India wants to have more economic power than China. The West wants
India to be used as a means to surround China geopolitically. Narenda Modi is a
reactionary who lead his right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its
National Democratic Alliance to power in New Delhi, according to exit poll
results. However, a State Department spokesman later said that were Modi to
become India’s prime minister, he would be welcome in Washington. Ironically,
America revoked Modi’s visa back in 2005, because of his role in instigating
the 2002 Gujarat anti-Muslim pogrom. For eight years since, its diplomats
shunned the Gujarat Chief Minister. In early 2014, however, the U.S. Ambassador
to India Nancy Powell made a very public trip to Gujarat to meet with Modi,
signaling that the United States is ready to work with him. The U.S. is
starting a new relationship with Modi. Powell said that she was retiring. There
is a growing U.S. and India relationship business wise. The 2008 Indo-US
nuclear accord was meant not only to underpin the Indo-US “strategic
partnership;” it was also meant to blaze the trail for the US nuclear industry
securing lucrative contracts. But to the chagrin of the US nuclear industry,
India—after protests driven by the memory of how Union Carbide’s US owners
escaped providing any compensation for the 1984 Bhopal disaster—refused to
tailor a liability law to US stipulations. India’s ruling elite has issues with
U.S. having relations with Pakistan, Iran, etc. India for the most part has
allied with America in the 20th and 21st centuries. India has worked with the
U.S. in expanding military and strategic ties with the U.S. knowing that
Washington wants to use India as a strategic counterweight to China. Japan is
partnering with India too. Japan is allied with America’s pivot to Asia agenda.
Japanese imperialism has its own ambitions to use India to develop an
alternative cheap labor supply network to that now centered on China. China is
expanding its resources globally. So, India is having a historic time indeed.
It would be courageous if LeBron James
boycotted the League until Sterling was removed as an owner. I will wait to see
what the League will do. Sterling continues to make offensive comments. His
actions and his words blatantly violate rules from the NBA Constitution
(according to NBA officials). I still respect LeBron James as a man, because he
at least was one of the first men who condemned the evil words said by that
racist Donald Sterling. LeBron James greatly loves and takes care of his family
like any real father would. The bigger question is where do we go from here? We
can’t acquiesce to the status quo. We should definitely use our economic and
political power to fight back against racism. When an owner prejudges our
people, then all of us are attacked not just NBA Players. It is important to
make sure that we defend our dignity heroically against any injustice. It is a
shame that many from the local NAACP (found in Los Angeles) knew about
Sterling’s ways and still allied with a man with lax character. Our heroes from
the past were involved in not only sit-ins and protests. They used groups of
people to protect civil rights workers and other folks in our communities from
racists. Sometimes we have to sacrifice in order to gain something. Too many of
our people desire a "comfortable" lifestyle instead of sacrificing
truly for their dignity and self-respect. It is very disappointing for the President
to support a nominee that desires to place an evil emblem (which relates to the
oppression, harm, and murder of our people) on the state of Georgia flag. With
the recent reactionary Supreme Court decisions ranging from corporations to
voting rights, we should always stand up for our principles. He should
immediately withdrawal the nominee and pick a human being that is qualified and
that will show respect for the interests of black human beings. Yes, sometimes
the suit and tie wearers are even more bigoted than a poor Klans person. With
the current sorry state of our judicial system, we can't afford to see more
extremist judges at the bench at all. It is a shame that many doctors refused
to help her. Many doctors have to show a little more compassion since she is
experiencing a massive tumor that created a massive burden in her life or Doris
Davis. I am glad that one doctor will give her the necessary surgery that she
needs and desires. Hopefully, she will be fine without massive complications
after the procedure. This event proves that we can't have the status quo
involving our health care system. We still have a way to go to make sure that
universal health care is instituted for all Americans. We have the right to
advance our economic rights and our health care rights too.
We are learning more about the Nigerian
situation. There is more to the violence in Nigeria than what the mainstream
media is showing. I express sympathy to the mothers and fathers who are missing
their precious daughters. More than 200 schoolgirls being abducted is a huge tragedy.
The viral spread of the "#BringBackOurGirls" campaign has cast a
spotlight on a terrible crime and horrific social conditions in a
long-neglected part of the world. Now, we should use this event as a means to
support militarist actions that benefit the Nigerian ruling class and the
world’s imperial powers at all. That will make the violence and injustice worse.
Boko Haram is a theocratic terrorist group. The families of the victims have
every right to protest in Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja at the end of April
2014. The abductions came in the northern Nigeria town of Chibok. The U.S. and
British government will assist the Nigerian government in their operations
against Boko Haram. The Nigerian government of President Goodluck Jonathan
bears some responsibility in this affair. He has used violence in Northern
Nigeria. He has delayed in responding to this tragedy. We should support the
working and all other peoples of Nigeria, who struggled against tyranny.
Multinational corporations and powerful government benefit from the injustice
in Nigeria. Boko Haram has killed Christians and males too. Last week, the
purported leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, took responsibility for the
abductions in Chibok whose age ranged as young as 9. We know that the Nigerian
security forces have been killing, torturing, illegally detaining, and raping
civilians according to the June 2013 Nigeria’s own National Human Rights
Commission report. Some Nigerian government forces are killing people without making
a difference between militants and innocents. Africa is filled with U.S.
military bases using covert and overt operations in Africa. Nigeria has big
economic inequality. Many Western multinational companies have exported oil
from Nigeria and caused environmental destruction too. As the Nigerian-American
writer Teju Cole wrote on Twitter, "Terrorism is not a natural
disaster." Nigeria's history of colonial exploitation and the plundering
of the country's natural resources by multinational corporations set the stage
for "[c]riminal negligence by successive Nigerian governments [that]
created ideal conditions for Boko Haram," Cole wrote. Nigeria’s government
policies must be challenged. The solution is for the girls to be found via
non-imperialist international means. Also, grassroots people in Nigeria have
the right to confront poverty wages, unemployment, government repression, and
sectarian divisions.
By Timothy
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