Tag: school segregation

Categories
Blog

Segregation in Education: Reading Between the Lines

According to the national civil rights organization, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, students in the U.S. continue to attend schools organized by race. 69.9% of Asian American students, 85.2% of Black students, and 88.1% of Latino students attend schools that are majority non-white. Meanwhile, 29.7%, or less than a third, of white students attend majority non-white schools. This statistic matters, and not just because of what it tells us about the persistence of racial segregation 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education.

School segregation matters because $733 more will be spent per student at schools that are … Read more “Segregation in Education: Reading Between the Lines”

Categories
Blog

Still Dreaming About Jobs and Freedom

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom is probably best remembered today for Martin Luther King, Jr’s march address, “I Have A Dream.” That speech, along with dramatic media accounts of black struggle inspired a generation to take action, including LGBT activists, feminists, immigration reform advocates, and anti-imperialists, each of whom would also make their mark on society.

But, 50 years later, the economic demands of the marchers, including for decent housing, educational equity and school integration, full employment, and a livable national minimum wage, remain little more than dreams. Meanwhile, a growing percentage of whites believe … Read more “Still Dreaming About Jobs and Freedom”

Categories
Blog

And the Supreme Court Punted…

In the continuing drama surrounding the case of Fisher v. University of Texas, the suit challenging Texas’s race conscious college admissions policy, the Supreme Court punted. In a 7-1 decision, SCOTUS decided against the University of Texas, but also put off deciding on the constitutionality of affirmative action. Instead, SCOTUS decided the lower court failed to apply strict scrutiny to the Texas program and asked it to try again.

So affirmative action in higher ed is safe for the moment, but the fight isn’t over.

The Fisher case is important. I know many have argued that the case looks weak … Read more “And the Supreme Court Punted…”

Categories
Blog

Johnson: The Movie

I just returned from a week of vacation. That means I’m just catching up on the Oscars.

I was surprised to return to find that Lincoln didn’t do as well as many entertainment media pundits predicted. After all, even the likes of Senator Barbara Boxer claim to have seen it twice, and once in a White House movie night apparently intended to remind members of Congress of the nobility of compromise. Movies with that kind of gravitas generally do well in the Oscars race. But not this time. Good from my point of view because I frankly hated Lincoln…the movie, … Read more “Johnson: The Movie”

Categories
Blog

Whitewashing History at the Democratic National Convention

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines the word whitewash as,

to gloss over or cover up (as vices or crimes), or

to exonerate by means of a perfunctory investigation or through biased presentation of data.  

I got to thinking about whitewash, and whitewashing history in particular, during the Democratic National Convention. At the convention, a whole lot of whitewash was slopped around.
But what got me writing was the recent news of a bump in the polls for U.S. Senate candidate, Elizabeth Warren. That bump is being attributed to her speech at that convention, and I remembered that speech as very good example
… Read more “Whitewashing History at the Democratic National Convention”