Mike Madison, the principal of Dicken Elementary School in Ann Arbor, Mich., is under fire for a field trip to visit a rocket scientist that was limited to black students. He insisted that he was just trying to improve the lower performance of black students through the special race-based program.
In a letter to parents, Madison wrote “In hindsight, this field trip could have been approached and arranged in a better way.” However, he insisted that “[i]t was not a wasted venture for I know one day they might want to aspire to be the first astronaut or scientist standing on the Planet Mars.” It could also inspire some less admirable interests like racial segregation and discrimination. Of course, he could go with the Louisiana’s approach and just eliminate Fs generally, here.
Not one is questioning the good intentions of Madison but the road to segregation can be paved with good intentions. There is a trend toward segregation in our schools, for prior columns click here and here.
For the story, click here.
“Just another daily FLAGRANT display of anti-whit racism that allways gets overlooked.”
Mac,
Why are you guys always so gutless? White people totally control this country, always have and yet it is so important for people like you to reverse the situation so as to hide your true feelings. Let’s face it Mac, you don’t like black people, one might even say you hate them. Your words and ideas prove it. Why can’t you at least be honest about your feelings?
Is it because somewhere deep down you know you’re a bigot and on some level of decency it shames you?
Seriously, if you were honest about your pre-judgments someone could at least respect your honesty, instead of seeing you as both a bigot and a hypocrite.
Principal Mike Madison(Michigan) meet Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez(California) … you boys think a lot alike.
Just another daily FLAGRANT display of anti-whit racism that allways gets overlooked. I think everyone got a better education when it was SEGREGATED, less distractions from actual learning!
Do the blacks want whites to be their slaves now? Do they want us to be like they have lived in Africa for 2000 years? I believe a civil war here is likely just due to all the hidden hatred. I never owned anyone!!
“Older blacks are going to have to acquire a new framework in which to work; discriminating against whites is something they were taught by white democrats/liberals”
Tootie,
Either you’re joking or you have not a clue as to American History, especially involving people of color. Propaganda does not a logical argument make.
Older blacks are going to have to acquire a new framework in which to work; discriminating against whites is something they were taught by white democrats/liberals and it won’t fly anymore especially with the advent of the new media where, I believe, our ethics and morals develop more quickly.
Discrimination is discrimination. Period. Where are Rev Al and Rev Jesse? I guess they aren’t interested in citizens who aren’t of a certain color. Oh, I forgot. Rev Al is in Arizona helping to organize a boycott for people who are here illegally. I don’t think they are interested in the blacks only field trip or students wearing the American flag on shirts in America. Come to think of it, where is the ACLU?
There’s a good debate about affirmative action here:
http://intelligencesquaredus.org/index.php/past-debates/its-time-to-end-affirmative-action/
Unfortunately, the side supporting the continuation of aa too often presumes to know the (racist, devious) motivations of their opponents, while those opposing rightly tend to focus on measurable results. Well worth watching/listening/reading.
Perhaps I need to make my point more clearly. When I use the term “discriminate”, I am not using it in a pejorative sense but rather as describe a filtering process. I do not think that the Special Olympics should allow non handicapped contestants at all, even though some might point out that their ‘discrimination’ process precludes those people with a certain handicap designation (the NON handicapped).
The reason that we do not criticize the S.O. as an organization which practices unconstitutional ‘discrimination’ against the non handicapped is the same reason that we deem Affirmative Action to be a beneficial, not pernicious, program. And that is basically because helping the disadvantaged has benefits beyond the trivial amount of harm it may do to the undisadvantaged majority.
Discrimination per se, it seems to me, is therefore not inherently pernicious; its merits depend on its application.
So, I am inclined to see the actions of the school principal as beneficial, and for the same reasons that I feel Affirmative Action is beneficial.
“Affirmative Action” has become a right wing curse word, the better to hide true intent. The issue in the US is civil rights for people of color and people with diverse sexuality. At the same time we must look at the bigotry inherent in many of our people.
The enemy of most Americans is a Corporate run state, that uses bigotry as a trick to keep people from seeing the real game being played.
In the UK this is known as “positive discrimination” and has been used for some years as a way of getting more black and asian recruits into the Police by setting lower qualifying marks for them in entrance tests.
To my simple mind there is either discrimination or there isn’t. All should have the same opportunity to make the same grade upon merit.
Ginger, I don’t agree with you regarding the Special Olympics – it would lead to some pretty odd scenarios if we were to mix (for instance) wheelchair bound athletes with able bodied. Please don’t think that I do not have respect for disabled athletes – quite the opposite, I find them truly inspirational.
What does affirmative action have to do with children going on a field trip.
Affirmative Action disagrees with that, if I am not mistaken.
Being disadvantaged is not exclusive to any race.
I’m not sure (just woke up) that I see much of a difference between what Mike Madison the school principal did here and what Affirmative Action hopes to accomplish. Or the Special Olympics, for that matter.
Both A.A. and the S.O are exclusionary, and both have membership criteria that discriminate along lines that could be considered anti constitutional. But they are not, because programs that exist to help disadvantaged minorities are deemed to be sufficiently restorative for the groups they benefit, and it is difficult to see how offering additional programs to help the disadvantage harms the larger advantaged group.
So, yes, the principal here (presumably) discriminated between blacks and whites in his selection criteria. But since blacks were the (presumably) disadvantaged group, I’m not sure that that qualifies as pejoratively racist.
AY,
there are just some things that happen South of the Border that I will just never understand I think!
What was often forgotten during the Civil Rights Movement days and in context of Brown v. Board of Ed., was that black people weren’t so much fighting for the privilege of associating with whites, but had proven that when segregation exists in schools Black people would get short-changed. The powers that be, back then, may have eschewed racism but in fact believed in it as much as any southern cracker, but refused to acknowledge their own bigotry. Their solution was to invent “bussing,” which accomplished many purposes, the least of which being educational equality.
AY is correct in his suspicions that racism is hidden in the North. While seemingly for equality the policies implemented then actually exacerbated the issue. Black children were “bussed” into middle class and poor white school districts, which themselves were underfunded causing chaos and continuing the old racist policies of setting the lower socio/economic classes against each other. This diminished overall support for the aims of civil rights and also aided in the beginnings of the new “conservative” movement (i.e. Southern Strategy)which is a thin disguise for bigotry.
A lack of understanding of this dynamic leads to the false steps of even well-meaning people like Mr. Madison. I’m definitely not a Marxist in context of socio/political analysis, but what we have in this country is the usage of racism and bigotry, in the service of “class warfare.” Those pushing it want to extend the range of their plutocracy to the point where their “superiority”
is out in the open. Their vehicle for this is the common human xenophobic trait, cunningly disguised. As an enemy give me the
admitted bigot any time, the most dangerous enemies are those pretending to be friends.
CE,
Ann Arbor is where the University of Michigan sits. It could have coincided with what is known as the MEAP. Michigan Educational Assessment Plan in which schools, teacher and administrators are evaluated. If they are not in school for that test and they are truly under achievers rather than just plain assed slackers like me, then the result of that test is skewed.
Without know when the trip was or more information it is hard to really say what the motivation was.
If the intent of the trip was to improve lower performance of students why was it limited to only black students? I am sure that the school has it’s fair share of underaceiving students from other races as well!
Ann Arbor is traditionally as Liberal as you can get. How ever it is my contention that Racism exist in the North but it is hidden. There are so many HYPOCRITES when it comes to racism is enough to make one sick.
At least here in the South like it or not. People, most people ain’t gonna be friends with you just to stab you while you walk away. Either we like you or we don’t. There is very little gray area.
If the person responsible is allowed to maintain his position I will be surprised. But then again the Union is either MEA or AFT in that area so he may keep his job. Who knows bu this sucks.
Racist is as racist does, Mikey in MI.