Integration. Separation. Segregation. Does any of it matter?

[brianold]

Brandi Wrote:I understand the want to integrate because White schools have more money, more resources, better teachers, and the list can go on. What I do not understand is the devotion to fighting for integrated school as opposed to working to perfect or even simply improve Black schools.

brandi i think we are seeing eye-to-eye here.. u seem to be saying that both of them might be important issues but that working on ourselves is a priority. would you agree?

would you also agree that sometimes issues like integration might seem more immediate? like during "brown v. board of education?"

and surely it is more romantic to "fight" a galient battle for something than to find it in yourself, no?

so we can see how we so easily fall into that trap.

then there is the fact that we feel we deserve to be "given" SOMETHING!

i guess for me i recognize that fact... but like you hinted at... it's a matter of how much energy to we put into fighting for that when the other side doesnt want to give it?

i would consede that we should give some energy to it, but surely not as much as we have been given to it and surely not as much hope as we have been placing in it... right now the ratio is like:

80% fight for things we feel we are owed
20% concentrate that energy inwardly toward identity (educational, cultural, economic, spiritual... etc)

where perhaps it should be flipped around. but when it gets flipped around we have to be clear that when we say "concentrate inwardly" we are not talking about bill cosby's statements or sentiments that black women need to just stop having babies, etc... rather we are challenging cosby too and saying that he too is not living up to his dilligent search to find identity (one not attached to this structure)... because he's done jello commercials... so-called "color blind" comedy, etc... surely that doesnt make him a living example for the youth of how to discover who we are... and when we say that we should reduce the amount of energy that we are spending on fighting for things we are owed... we are stating the obvious argument that we should not put too much hope in that anything we are "granted" or "given" will actually solve the foundations of our problems.

agreed?

Quote:Why are we always begging to get what White people have? Of course there is so much more that Black people as a whole need to work on, but even if those issues aren’t fixed do you really think that integration into a White school for Black children is going be affective for all(everyone of them) when they go back home to their crazy hoods after school? It’s not, because going to school with White kids isn’t the answer to the problem. Community repair, ethical repair, self repair and solidarity among Black folks are the solution. That is a lot to ask, but it’s real.

i agree... i think we are in agreeance here, to what i said above.

Quote:In all, I think that Black people spend so much time concentrating on what we don’t have or rather what White people have taken away that we forget to ask ourselves what it is that we aren’t doing so that we can alleviate some of the issues within our communities.

well we have to be careful here becuase if what we need to do is concentrate on rediscovering our identities so that we can conceive alternatives based on that historical identity... the first step is to realize that our identities WERE TAKEN... and just as historical lesson, we should be truthful and identify WHO TOOK WHAT.

so just want to note that. i agree with you though that we dont need to get caught up on it and that is the problem i see.

Quote:I’m working on a report and I came across an article that I think is somewhat relative to post. This article touches on the gaps between Black and White students SAT Scores. It also brushes over some of the why questions we may have. Looking at these scores and stats should make you think about the current state of Black education and how much work we really need to invest in our children. This is so serious. We can send our children to White schools, but I don’t think that is going to deal with deep rooted issues that exist. It just brushes over the surface. What do you all think some solutions are?

i think the identity issues is paramount... it requires motivation for a student to see value in education...

the money motivation (good career, lawyer, doctor, celebrity actor/artist, etc..) motivates some but even that is not properly grounded in anything substantial... and for others for whom money comes through different fields (perhaps illegal ones) it really throw education out the door as something necessary...

so what should the motivation be? the motivation has to be that there is a need to build and contribute to the maintenence of a way of life that is a viable alternative for people ("our" people, whoever that students people are, be she black, native, latino, etc...)

that starts with simply informing people that this system is destructive and cannot be maintained (thus illustrating the need for an alternative)... i'd argue most kids in the hood can sense this instinctively tho...

then we empower ourselves with a knowledge of self... an identity in a historical context that says this is the alternative way of life from which you come... and pointing out how it is distinctly different in that it is not destructive and it is sustainable...

in review: money and materialism have captured the immaginations of our kids... rather than the persuit of justice, balance, oneness with nature, community, etc... and so our kids are motivated by them.

simply put, you dont need education to get money (at least that's the perception that we have bought)

so the logical follows... why do i need to pass the SAT?

and for those who do pass the SAT, they too are doing it money and materialism... so are they really any better then the kid on the street selling dope?

both of these issues are rooted in lack of identity... being our of touch with the measures of "success" that are NOT money and materialism...

right now... nothing but money and materialism means success... and that plagues the kid on the corner and the kid who just graduated from college.