It's 2010: Miss. School Determines Class Officers by Race
This past weekend marked the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Apparently, those in the Nettleton, Mississippi, school district didn't get the memo on King's message of equality. Read the original memo.
Pic source: msnbc
Brandy Springer, a mother of four mixed-race children, was horrified to find out that her 12-year-old daughter could not run for class reporter because she was not of the "right" race. MSNBC reports that a memo sent home with her daughter described a system of student elections wherein race determined whether or not a candidate could run for certain class positions. Because Springer's daughter was not white, she could not submit her name as a candidate for class reporter.
The school has since revoked the controversial election rules, stating that they came from a policy set in place 30 years ago that aimed to promote racial equality. Per the rules, the race of the students allowed to run for certain positions would alternate each year (blacks, then whites, then blacks again, and so on).
That meant that this year, a black student couldn't run for class president, while next year, only a black student could run for class president. Springer, who had recently moved from Florida to Nettleton, was so outraged that she pulled her kids out of the school the next day.
Springer told MSNBC that even if the policy was an attempt to ensure black and white participation, diversity is no longer a black-and-white issue because a growing number of mixed-race and Hispanic children (as well as kids of other ethnicities) attend school together.
The NAACP is calling for a Justice Department investigation, and the ACLU is conducting one of its own.
Moms, what do you think of this racially charged middle-school policy?
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likability-popularity or whatever but not by race classification. They dismantled the school based rule already after all this came out. Seems like the back roads of Mississippi in the early 50's.
Under the policy, blacks, which make up around 13% of the population, would be guaranteed a spot 50% of the time.
If the argument is that affirmative action policies should be abandoned, I agree. Let everyone compete based solely on merit and let the best man or woman win. No doubt that too would result in the usual suspects eating sour grapes, with the usual playing of race cards, and the usual related loudmouthism, but at least it'd be fair.
Because in Nettleton, 32.5% of the population is black, which makes the difference between the guaranteed proportion and the population much less drastic than you suggest.
Source: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=nettleton&_cityTown=nettleton&_state=&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&show_2003_tab=&redirect=Y
By the same token, whether 32% or 13%, it's not a level playing field.
I remain of the view that anything intended to be awarded on merit should be based on merit. It strikes me as condesending as hell to tell someone that because they're not as good as everyone else, they require some form of charity to be competitive.
Wouldn't the better message be to tell everyone they're just as good as everyone else, and if they strive to be the best they can be, they can be winners?
It demands fairness for certain classes while refusing fairness for others.
I don't how people can even say the phrase social justice with a straight face.
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
I can't imagine anything much more demeaning than being the token anything. It starts looking like a scavenger hunt where everyone is handed a list of minorities to collect. How would a kid feel if someone came up to them and said, "Well, we've got two blacks, a Native American, a Mexican and a homosexual. According to our racial profile, you appear to be Asian. Since you're the only Asian in the school, how would you like to be class president?"
Maybe I'm mistaken, but it seems to me that by the tenth or hundredth time the question was asked, a kid would be feeling pretty unhappy, i.e. "No one cares about the kind of person I am. It's all about my race .".
Go hand in hand, you're right.
Solutions? The simple answer would be to focus on electing conservatives and libertarians locally.
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
this battle. I have just about given up on even reading this site anymore. I really do not believe, no matter which side of the fence you are on that making your feelings known matters.
I find that I end up arguing with someone instead of expressing views and all it does is make my blood pressure go up. Nothing changes.
Earlier this week, I think. I tried to have a little fun with J Jammer about Paris Hilton and he didnt even make sense when he responded.
It is either someone who will not even consider a different opinion or they dont make any damn sense at all. At the very least when I dont agree with you, you do usually make sense and I can see your view.
Do you not ever reach the opinion that, like prostitution, an issue is never going to stop or change. Can actually justify the emotional effort it takes to continue to discuss something that is and has always been an issue?
I find that I learn more than I explain. So I keep explaining my positions, and they sometimes become cemented but other times they evolve.
Everyone has their motivations. Mine is learning.
Granted, sometimes I encounter a useful idiot and have even been known to just blow off steam. I'll chalk that up to being human.
It is good to see you. Hope you are well.
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
Wow, it is odd to think that such a rule could linger on 30 years later.