Racism - an incidental post
Scroll down to Project Excite again and read both the post and the comment ZenPundit left.
Toward the end of a really, really tense conversation in the comments of Alas, A Blog I asked the conservative guy, Joe, what he thought of the project. He said:
Prometheus 6: Your citation to Project Excite looks like something I would definitely and excitedly support. Like I said above, I would support efforts to get black kids really learning and excelling at education from the very first. Then when they're 17, universities will be able to accept them on their own academic merit without having to spot them 300 points on the SAT.
Truthfully, I think anyone who expects the Connerlys and Scalias of the world to back
any program that
exclusively addresses minority issues has better weed than
I ever did back in the day.
I'm asking here a slightly modified version of what I asked at Ampersand's place.
Is there a problem excluding white kids from this program?
Let me tell you all what my problem with the anti-"AA" crowd is. It's all rhetoric and no alternative. The
fact is minorities are at a disadvantage because of the remnants of historical racism (no discussion about whether or not racism is a current problem because I don't want to get sidetracked).
Liberals have tried to address this. We called it affirmative action, (collective)you called it reverse racism. And the positions and actions taken by those in a position to affect things are based on rhetoric rather than reason. At the moment, the pendulum is in the extreme right position,
Conservative rhetoric has said, in effect, no consideration of race is to be taken into account. I say, how do you correct a problem afflicting a specific people without taking into account that which we all… from progressive to Republican extremist… use to identify the afflicted population?
Conservative rhetoric has been to deny all consideraton of race. And nothing about how to actually address the real, recognized problem, much as economically it's been all tax cuts and no programs to reduce. But from your answer, it seems there
are areas in which you feel it appropriate to consider race. Where are those areas? How would you do it?
I guarantee you, if (collective) you come up with a solid, workable plan for K12 development that addresses us minorities
and guarantee funding of it you will get not just agreement but acclaim.
Yes, guarantee funding. Because a large part of the problem is the physical plant in which kids must learn is decayed, overcrowded, understaffed and filled with outdated books which the children must accord with to pass… which means they must learn the
wrong information. And instead of help, we get crap like "No Child Left Behind" which is a
threat not a promise. So I also ask, how would you fund the program?
The problem of racism and its legacy will not be solved by pretending there's no problem. Everytime someone complains about 'focusing on the differences that divide us' all I can hear is "let's pretend there's no problem so that whatever makes you different from the mainstream withers from neglect." And I want to say, if Procrustes' bed looks so damn comfortable, why don't
YOU lay down in it?"
Which brings me to my final questions of this post: who among conservatives is willing to bring this to the fore? Who is willing to get to their elected officials and make them look at the problem honestly, make them bring forth a positive suggestion rather than just tearing down admittedly imperfect efforts? Who will give a
real response… and what will that response be?
posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/2/2003 05:30:30 PM |
Posted by P6 at July 2, 2003 05:30 PM
| Trackback URL: http://www.prometheus6.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/997
