Nebraska's 'New Apartheid' Signed into Law for Omaha Schools
Wow. This is segregation revisited, but judging from what Omaha schools are doing as a result of a new Nebraska state law, there might be some benefits.
The Omaha school districts will be divided into a predominately black, predominately Hispanic and predominately Caucasian sections. In this way, the respective school boards can make decisions that better suit these ethnic populations.
This might seem OK in theory, but how scary is it to revisit a philosophy that frighteningly resembles, say, South African apartheid or Southern segregation in the 1950s before the Supreme Court put a stop to it?
But, realistically, look around. Don't most school districts align themselves in this fashion unofficially? Seems that way to me.
Nobody seems that alarmed at the Nebraska approach and most parents and community leaders seem to be pushing the diea.
One thing is certain: Test scores will be measurably better in the white district, and the longer the policy is in place, the more that gap will grow.
Project Seek: Onassis, Kennedy and the Gemstone Thesis
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segregation
Of course it's segregation. The ploy is to make everyone think once again that "Seperate" is "Equal". The lion's share of available money will always go to the white districts. This is inevitable and without fail. It shows how far we've actually come on all side of the racial divide. With this type of thinking, this country will never bridge the racial divide.
Let's examine how this happens! The argument is first pushed by the predominantly white agenda. Not wanting to be where they are not felt to be appreciated--the minority factions will always support the original agenda simply out of hurt--and then pride. It will seem like a good thing at first. The Blacks and the Asians will of course imagine that a better standard of education will follow over time. But what will invariably happen--is that the white majority will began to pump an uneven (percentage wise) amount of financing into the white school districts. The remaining districts will suffer, and by that time, integration will be a memory of the past.
Sports will rise to the level of a black team, battling a white team, who battles an Asian team.
In the white group is where the racist agenda has its conception.
Nancy J I may be wrong, but
Nancy J
I may be wrong, but I don't see how this is progress. We have been through the gamut with this subject. Segregation, desegregation, bussing, redistricting, separate, but equal....and here we are again, it seems like full circle.
There is another thing "for certain." The 3 to 4 percent of these schools' students who are Asians....will do better than everyone, no matter which school they are in. Why is that? After spending billions of wasted dollars on education, maybe it's time to answer that question. The common denominator is.....culture. The Asian parents EXPECT and DEMAND excellence. They nurture it. Respect and honor are also big words in that culture....along with integrity, honesty, perseverance, and hard work. Duhhhhh!
Right on target NANCY!
The common denominator is culture. But, there is an extrordinary thing that happens to all cultures that become second and third generation in this country. They all become Americanized! They think, act, move, and have their being in what the American Culture is!
It would suprise a lot of people to know that the rap culture/music is supported, sanctioned, run, and managed predominantly by White Americans. So then, much of the negativity asssociated is from such a phenomenon.
I'll share another thought. The mind is an wonderful thing as we all know. There are some extraordinarily bright minds at the top of their game who are aware---that with the right advertising---day in and day out--a great deal of racism could be elminated in this country overnight. We believe what we are made to constantly see!
The Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearing produced an interesting affect on everyone. I'll share a story. I was sitting in a dealership waiting to have repairs done on my car. There was a white female in the room who was waiting as well...and clearly racist. (Careful, the assumption will arise that I'm African American---I could be, or I may not be!..it's not important. Here in the matrix I am anything I choose to be) The point is that she made no attempt to hide the fact.
What I noticed, is that over a 2 hour period of watching brilliant, accomplished, and extremely articulate African Americans, one by one parade before the hearing committe.---she made the statement, "I have never seen so many beautiful Black people in my life."
Now, I'll share another statement that may be controversial. The powers that be don't want America (especially white America) to discover what "she" immediately became aware of. There is too much money to be made on "Black Misery" in America. Black Misery is a billion dollar industry--and is growing exponentially.
I should ask the Maestro
the rap culture/music is supported, sanctioned, run, and managed predominantly by White Americans
Doesn't surprise me. Is this any different from the history of jazz, or R&B, or reggae? where it got started in the streets, the ghettos, and largely stayed there until the white impresarios thought it could be sold to white audiences? Raking cash off of Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club while denying the Duke and his musicians exit from second-class citizenship? And waiting for white copies? Eminem is nothing more than Benny Goodman redux - though at least Benny, in the later stages of his career, had blacks in his groups.
There is too much money to be made on "Black Misery" in America.
I have not yet had a chance to read Michael Eric Dyson's book more or less on this subject. Wonder if you've seen it, and if so what your take on it is.
And my thanks for your kind comments.
Note on Eminem
Just a quick on Eminem. Eminem's group D12 is composed of all black members, other than eminem. Also all the people signed to his label are also all Black.
School districts
It's not that school districts do this intentionally, it's just that this is just how neighborhoods are usually aligned. The only way this would work (and public education as a whole) is if each school district gets the same amount of money and resources.
I say this because I know here in NY the amount of money a school district gets is dependent on the amount of property taxes the residents in that district pay. So if Nebraska is true to form then Whites make more money than Blacks and Hispanics and therefore pay more in taxes.
So if this is the case in Nebraska then Blacks and Hispanics are starting at a disadvantage (this is the case anyway). The thing is for a state to make this an official practice is absolutely wrong.
If it's natural ...
... then why is is condemned?
a catch-22 situation
The catch-22 is something that will keep poor neighborhoods poor for a long time. It's the ability to assess property and raise taxes. Imgine if you will, what would happen in the neighborhoods that are poor and debased, it all of a sudden everyone cleaned up the properties and made improvements. The value of the property would immediately escalate! How many people would be able to pay the rising propery taxes? The incentive is to make no improvements---thus keeping the tax base low---thus the ability to create and maintain disctricts based on property taxes remains in perpetual motion.
Nancy, you're spot on. So are you, moor.
Asian parents EXPECT and DEMAND excellence. They nurture it. Respect and honor are also big words in that culture....along with integrity, honesty, perseverance, and hard work.
A great shame in Japanese culture is to be the parent of a "failed child". And shame is big news. It was the principal worry of a Japanese colleague who brought his family to Ohio for a year's sabbatical at Ohio State. He was dead scared that a year in American schools would lose his son so much ground that he would never catch up. Where the [deleted] is OUR shame??!!? God knows we have plenty of cause.
We have been through the "separate but equal" fallacy in this country already, in the years following the Civil War and Reconstruction. In 1870, any schooling for blacks was better than no schooling - or haven't you learned that, in slave states before the Civil War, it was a crime to teach a slave to read? But the ideal behind "separate but equal", as the best way to start the process of integrating former slaves into American culture, collapsed. Under the pressure of racism. And the respective cultures that evolved under that pressure, which in turn evolved from the pressures of phenomenon of Negro slavery that We the People permitted. So that any person of color who achieves becomes an "Uncle Tom" (a racist image that does a cruel injustice to the "Uncle Tom" of Harriet Beecher Stowe's book).
We forget, too, that many states in the pre-Civil War North banned slavery. And slaves. And blacks of any condition. Yes, many states especially in the Midwest had "Negro exclusion laws" banning the immigration of any black, slave or free. Many speeches of that era speak of banning slavery "to preserve America for the white race". Present-day de facto segregation, in schools and elsewhere, operates on the same principle. And now in Nebraska, we read it has become de jure again.
E. R. M. G.. But first, buy a mirror.
Is that why ...
... a good number of Japanese kids commit suicide if their admission test scores are low?
extraordinary mind:)
Hats off to your extraordinary insight--and the ability to convey it to the common man:) You are correct that "separate but equal", is a fallacy that has its roots in the bowels of racism. The system will always collapse because of that same racism that set it in motion to begin with. A sane mind would know that being seperated, can never bring anyone or any culture to a point of competing on a level playing field. But then, that's the intent.
The next level is that of the "uncle tom" snydrone. It causes the seperated culture to "cave in" on itself--thus enforcing and justifying the need of the majority culture to continue to seek a safe distance.
You're a scientist, and as I live and breathe, I know that what is causing the African Amerian to self destruct is the same phenomenon that a caged animal will always experience.
The phenomenon also has its roots in the concept of "Accidental Necessity." The structure of racism is firmly in place. No one need be fully concious of it at this point except those for whom it works for silently. The framing conditions (which are firmly in place) will continue to produce the same results---over and over and over and over.
That's Carrying Things Too Far
Don't parents understand that the child is the REAL joy? If my son or daughter cleaned the streets I would love them the same. Success is jsut one more uselss hurdle.....what's wrong with the simple life? what's wrong with family enjoying family without all of the barriers of trying to keep up with the Joneses, the Lees, the Suzukis,the Steins, the Mustafas? Just love your kids and enjoy them!
You would never make it in Asia ...
... because they get the message that success IS joy. In a crowded society with limited resources, as are most of the Asian nations and especially Japan, with its multimillions of people and and mostly vertical, rocky landmass, the wages of failure are death. The strict parent is doing the child the only favor that matters. Granting her life. It is only spacious, resource-rich America that can indulge its spoiled brats in the manner you describe. Those days are coming to an end. As this attitude must, or we will be on the trash heap of history. If we aren't already.
Yes, Rad, that's why the suicide rates are so high.
Asia? I live Here
You do have a point. To get to College you have to show good grades because YOU KNOW that your parents are slaving to get you to College. After that, you HAVE to take care of your siblings and contribute to your household ID you are a decent person. Here, parents are strict, yes, but they're not unreasonable at all. They are usually loving and extremely protective but part of the culture is to get an education YOU have a sense of grategulness and you show that best when you have good grades and try and be a decent sucessful human being.
"strict" and "unreasonable" are not synonyms
Thanks for pointing this out, bugsey. "Spare the rod and spoil the child" is NOT a license to beat the kid, but an expression of the discipline that parents must have, and children must learn, to make it in society. This often means the SUPPRESSION of DESIRES in both adults and children, in order to focus on what are needed for SURVIVAL, never mind PROSPERITY. There are few greater loves than to forsake something you enjoy because you know it will give the wrong message to a young person.
For my take on the real motivation of the old person who tells a young one to "stop and smell the roses", see my sardonic definition of Work.
Saw your Devils dictionary LOL
When I was in High School, I felt it was "normal" to work while you study because almost everyone was doing it.When I was in College I did the same. I also got a job and I did have to contribute to my parents but I never FELT obligated - It was the most decent thing because people do not leave their parents at 18, they contribute what they can and help the younger kids.
Strict and reasonable are not synonymous but my understanding is "strict" is NOT BAD and that "strict" is reasonable because I had GOOD parents and grandparents and grandaunts. It's one whole HUGE family and they do help you when you need them.
No one spanked or even beat anyone as far as I can recall. But you are EXPECTED to be decent and to STUDy and make good grades because .. that's the way life is! I think also you show your gratefulness by being as "good" as you can be, makes your parents and grandparents proud...
I live close enough that I
I live close enough that I see the Legistlator who proposed this on the news nearly every other night. So let me point out a few things that are not making the national news.
Senator Ernie Chambers is the ONLY African-American legistlator in Nebraska. He is being forced into retirement, and he is WELL known for his unique and unusual tactics that he uses. For example, when a bill concerning concealed weapons and a constitutional amendment concerning the right to hunt was before the Senate, he attached a lot of riders to the bills. These riders would have also protected things such as “creating, recreating, conversating and procreating,
Ernie Chambers!
Chambes had no power or control over the thoughts and actions of others. He did however unkowingly call for something that the powers that be were all to happy to endorse.
That is the only issue at hand. They could have called for his resignation on the basis of him being a man out of touch with reality.
This was a golden opportunity for the white majority to get something done they've always wanted to do.
Control- no. Power- yes.
Control- no. Power- yes. He has changed their minds before, and I have no doubt he can and has done it again. Also, I do not believe for a second that he "unknowingly" called for anything. There are some people who sit down to play a chess game, and they already know every move and every countermove before you make it. Let's just say I think Ernie Chambers would be a helluva chess player.
Furthermore, that is FAR from being the only issue at hand. There are a hundred seemingly insignificant happenings, some of which have been playing out for about a hundred years, and they all came together and formed this issue. To ignore any one of them is to not fully understand this issue, and if you cannot understand it, you cannot fix it. Furthermore, he is an elected Senator. Calling for his resignation is VASTLY oversimplifying it. Besides, part of me suspects Chambers would have told them to get knotted if they had.
Was this, as you say, "a golden opportunity for the white majority to get something done they've always wanted to do?" Probably. That doesn't mean this is the end of the story. I think those rich, white boys are in for a big surprise when this is all said and done. He has denounced segregation in the past. None of his actions up until this point have said that he has strayed from that view. So do I think he supports segregation, or do I think this is a political tactic? I firmly believe this is a tactic.
Wow. I don't think I have ever ...
... read a better set of comments on anything. Thanx and best regards to all.