Do not make the mistake of thinking that because my conclusion is the same as another person's that my reasoning is the same
A Good Cause or Two
nbuf_button.gif bootbush.jpg
Click for more info

The Best of P6
The Racism Series The Reparations Series Installing a negro in your head Identity Blogging Where We Stand The LimbaughDiscussion That has Nothing To Do With Limbaugh
Updated when I write something really cool

Search
Local Links
The Attack on Civil Rights Corporate Influence on Government The Development of Race Basic Laws of Human Stupidity Blogger Archives
EMAIL ME AT
email.gif
Blogroll Me!
Blog-related mail may be published

The Public Library
The Black Experience in America The Souls of Black Folks My Bondage and My Freedom The Martin Luther King Jr. Collection Walker's AppealThe Shaping of Black America, Ch. 3
Updated as frequently as possible

Archives
May 16, 2004 - May 22, 2004 May 09, 2004 - May 15, 2004 May 02, 2004 - May 08, 2004 April 25, 2004 - May 01, 2004 April 18, 2004 - April 24, 2004 April 11, 2004 - April 17, 2004 April 04, 2004 - April 10, 2004 March 28, 2004 - April 03, 2004 March 21, 2004 - March 27, 2004 March 14, 2004 - March 20, 2004 March 07, 2004 - March 13, 2004 February 29, 2004 - March 06, 2004 February 22, 2004 - February 28, 2004 February 15, 2004 - February 21, 2004 February 08, 2004 - February 14, 2004 February 01, 2004 - February 07, 2004 January 25, 2004 - January 31, 2004 January 18, 2004 - January 24, 2004 January 11, 2004 - January 17, 2004 January 11, 2004 - January 17, 2004January 04, 2004 - January 10, 2004December 28, 2003 - January 03, 2004December 21, 2003 - December 27, 2003December 14, 2003 - December 20, 2003December 07, 2003 - December 13, 2003November 30, 2003 - December 06, 2003November 23, 2003 - November 29, 2003November 16, 2003 - November 22, 2003November 09, 2003 - November 15, 2003November 02, 2003 - November 08, 2003October 26, 2003 - November 01, 2003October 19, 2003 - October 25, 2003October 12, 2003 - October 18, 2003October 05, 2003 - October 11, 2003September 28, 2003 - October 04, 2003September 21, 2003 - September 27, 2003September 14, 2003 - September 20, 2003September 07, 2003 - September 13, 2003August 31, 2003 - September 06, 2003August 24, 2003 - August 30, 2003August 17, 2003 - August 23, 2003August 10, 2003 - August 16, 2003August 03, 2003 - August 09, 2003 July 27, 2003 - August 02, 2003 July 20, 2003 - July 26, 2003 July 13, 2003 - July 19, 2003 July 06, 2003 - July 12, 2003 June 29, 2003 - July 05, 2003 June 22, 2003 - June 28, 2003 June 15, 2003 - June 21, 2003 June 08, 2003 - June 14, 2003 June 01, 2003 - June 07, 2003 May 25, 2003 - May 31, 2003 May 18, 2003 - May 24, 2003 May 11, 2003 - May 17, 2003 May 04, 2003 - May 10, 2003 April 27, 2003 - May 03, 2003 April 20, 2003 - April 26, 2003 April 13, 2003 - April 19, 2003 April 06, 2003 - April 12, 2003
« The romance is over and I want my ring back | Main | The Leadership Council on Civil Rights on improving post-Brown education »

May 20, 2004
Brown vs. Defacto Segregation 

I have to give Mr. Guillermo props for honesty and principles.



On Brown And Our Taste For Segregation
Emil Guillermo, Special to SF Gate
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
�2004 SF Gate

If only Brown vs. Board of Education had been decided in an era of real diversity, instead of during a time when America was black and white.

Then, maybe, I'd have no conflicts with the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed the notion of "separate but equal" in the public schools.

But, as I consider the impacts of Brown, I wonder whether my efforts to integrate America put me on the side of the segregationists.

Let me clarify: I'm a believer in integration. But there was only one way for me, an Asian American of Filipino descent, to really guarantee it in my lifetime.

I married a white woman.

…White flight to the suburbs is perhaps the most notorious of all the reactions toward Brown. But what you don't often hear about is Asian flight as well.

Check the census figures, and Asian Americans are always the next-largest group in more affluent communities, sometimes breaching the 10 percent barrier. In Palo Alto, Asian Americans constitute more than 17 percent of the population, versus whites, at 75.8 percent.

But the general pattern is for whites to dominate a given town's population with 80-90 percent of the population, with Asian Americans being the only people of color to significantly show up on the census radar.

Take former President Clinton's home of Chappaqua, N.Y., a nice Westchester County suburb of New York. Chappaqua is 91.5 percent white. The second-most-populous group is Asian Americans, at 5.6 percent. Blacks? They're at 0.9 percent. All 89 of them.

No wonder Clinton put his office in Harlem. He had to in order to feel like an egalitarian.

I'm dealing with census numbers, but I have no doubt the ethnicity statistics for public schools reflect the community demographics in the aforementioned cities.

Add it all together, and you have the segregation Brown hasn't been able to fend off -- the natural "economic" segregation of people and the flight to a decent education.

In a black-and-white context, where does it put Asian Americans? As the new whites? Yet ask Asian Americans in Orinda, and they'll say they aren't segregationists, or separatists. I know I wasn't. We were the "integration" factor.

But can you call entering a community that is 80 percent white real integration?



Posted by P6 at May 20, 2004 06:17 PM
Trackback URL: http://www.niggerati.net/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1937
Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?