Segragation Still Exists!- A Pennsylvania School Separates Black Children to Help?

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A Pennsylvania school is approaching their problems by separating their students.  The students are being taken away from the regular school population based on their race.  This system although well intentioned, raises many concerns.

The message being sent to students, the community and the world is black children need special help.  The problems the school district is trying to address are experienced throughout every demographic.  It would seem a separation would be based on need, not color.

Bringing together students based situational criteria would be an opportunity for students and the community to learn about each other.  Knowing different cultures have the same problems allows for understanding and creates harmony.  Not to mention years of civil rights battles fought for integrated and fair school systems. What are your thoughts?

Huh?  Pennsylvania High School Segregates Students by Race and Gender.
photo via: the-savvy-sista.com via Google images

Dr. Martin Luther King- I Have a Dream, Part 2

Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday has different meanings for different people.  For some it is just a day off from work.  Other people in the nation are touched in a more profound way.  Their conscious begins to reflect on that savage part of America's history, that is sometimes easier to forget.  They think on acts of racism that still cause pain and wonder if racism will ever end. 

African-Americans and Caucasian Americans share a mysterious connection.  They have an understanding between them that is unspoken.  Eyes and gestures demonstrate the pecking order that is to take place.  This order is not based on strength, but color.  Black and white people forget about the other minorities for a moment and quietly run through years of history with the blink of an eye.
photo via: mlkonline.net

The Isolation of Being Rejected by Your Own Race

Prejudice exists within minority groups towards their own races.  The most famous person to experience such discrimination is Whitney Huston.  She was rejected by many African-Americans because they viewed as "not black enough" during the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards.  Ironically this is the year she met her future husband Bobby Brown.  I speculate that Whitney felt she needed Bobby to get her soul card validated.  This event is a great example of the pressure felt to be accepted within one's own race.

A person can become offended by their own nationality based on stereotypes, wanting acceptance from other race groups and personal insecurities.  I often ask myself would Whitney have taken such a drastic turn if she felt love from within her own race. 

Things are becoming more complicated within The African-American race.  As more generations of African-Americans experience lifestyles within suburban communities the self-definition of blackness is blurring.  The same events are happening within Arabic and Indian families.  As multiple generations are raised in the American culture, traditions are becoming less important. 

What is the right amount of culture a minority needs to be accepted as genuine?  Who defines blackness or the real meaning of being a Latino?  These are important questions that need to be answered within individual nationalities, families and individuals.  Without solid answers or the relinquishing of these restrictive boundaries people will continue to feel this pressure. 

As a minority I feel rejecting others based on cultural difference within a race is detrimental.  There are numerous obstacles minorities face based on race.  Why create another one from within?  This is a form of internal genocide and eternal stagnation.  A person cannot excel if they are forced to conform to society's standard.  It is even more crippling to feel torn between self (singular) and self (plural group identity).  It is a stifling blow to one's Empowerment when a denial of one's self is inflicted for fear of group rejection. 

Minorities have predominately been subjected to the mentality of majority race(s).  The typical majority views a minority as subservient and themselves as superior.  The desire of minorities wanting to be accepted by the majority race has led to self-hated.  Even worse when a minority is accepted by the majority it causes jealously and rejection towards that individual.  The only problem with this illusion is the racism that individual experiences from both sides.  The majority and the minority refuse to fully accept this individual and they are left isolated and unsure in the middle. 

Biracial people feel the same dualism.  They are penalized for embracing part of their identity.  To live an Empowered Life it is crucial to fully accept yourself despite the acceptance or rejection of one's own race. 
photos via: theaterboy.typepad.com, gracegram.com, britishblogs.co.uk via Google images.

Michigan Roundtable Discusses The Effects of Fair Housing Discrimination in Michigan



Professor Brent Simmons and Abrahm Singer



Cooley Law School , in Auburn Hills, Michigan, was the location of a live reenactment of Milliken v. Bradley.  A case that impacted the Metro-Detroit area from 1970 to 1974 and continues to strain race relations in Michigan.  Fair housing and discrimination in Michigan were in many ways shaped by the judgment of this case.  I attended this event sponsored by Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion along with Cooley Law School.  This dynamic event was titled: "From Redling to White Flight, The History of Housing Segregation and the Importance of Regionalism." 



Milliken v. Bradley was a case that sought to desegregate Detroit Public Schools.  The NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) along with parents of Detroit school children fought to have busing take place within fifty-three metropolitan school districts, thus desegregating a dual school system.  In a 4 to 5 decision the court ruled against this stating segregation was the result of choice and not mandated by the Jim Crow laws of the south. 

This ruling had a devastating effect on fair housing discrimination and inclusion in Michigan.  Redlining and white flight have shaped distinct white and black communities throughout the region.  It is now the mission of Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion to create peaceful diverse communities in Metro Detroit.  The foundational oral histories, like the one I attended on 10/29/2010, is one of the three projects to establish fair housing, diversity and inclusion.  Here are the other two objectives:

1. "The recognition, reconciliation and renewal initiative... starting in the Plymouth-Canton area."
2. "Work with the diverse community of Southwest Detroit to build bridges among the many races, ethnicity and cultures in the area (Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion pamphlet)."

Michigan Roundtable and Cooley Law School coordinated very distinguished trail participants and panel members.  Kurt Metzger, Director of Data Driven Detroit was the Keynote speaker.  Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly, U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson, U.S. Judge Page Hood, District Court Judge Joseph Oster, 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James L. Ryan and Professor Dan Ray, Attorney Thomas M. Cooley Law School were trail participants. Abraham Singer, Partner Pepper Hamilton LLP and Professor Brent E. Simmons, Attorney, Thomas M. Cooley Law School were Advocates.

Judge Nathaniel R. Jones, Assistant U.S. Attorney Judy Levy, Clifford Schrupp, Executive Director, The Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit and Elliott S. Hall, Partner Dykema Gossett were the panel participants. 

Judy Levy stated "legal remedies cannot make people get to know each other.  Only create a space to buy a home where you want."  This fact is the bitter ingredient that spawns racism and hatred.  Finding Empowered Peace is a spiritual necessity living in a world of troubled truths.

You can learn more about the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion by visiting their website www.miroundtable.org or by phone 1-313-870-1500.

Resources

Miliken v. Bradley, Supreme Court of The United States

Miliken v. Bradley, Full Text 418 U.S. 717 (1974)

New York Times Article Collections on White Flight

Department of Justice, Redling Case

photos via Chaplain Donna