Prometheus 6

didn't want kids to miss a day of school to see "Malcolm X" or any other Black narrative that might liberate their minds. This assignment is simply a variation on a theme. Thomas Sowell has been studying this assignment his entire life. This is why Dr. Spence home schools. And it's why I'm thinking about it. 'Cause if it was my school, I guarantee I wouldn't be civil. Them cracka bastards would have to go - from the principal on down - and the school board would get hammered.

That this was the second year of the assignment suggests a few things - the school instructional staff lacks diversity - which means Black children can only be taught by advocates and apologists for white supremacy. The principal is not the instructional leader of the school - which means he's an operations manager. The school is probably not using a collaborative teaching approach which means there are limited checks and balances in instructional delivery. If they are using that approach, it suggests that more than these two teachers were aware of this assignment - and condoned its inclusion and framing. At the least, this sounds like a school in need of an overhaul. This is very likely the tip of the iceberg.

With that said, I like to hear from the teachers exactly how they contextualized the assignment - because I could teach the same lesson as a tool to teach kids how to sift thru the bullshit in the NY Times or some other white supremacist rag. I am sure, however, that these teachers were not setting the proper context for the discussion since the hands-off principal beat such a hasty retreat.

Get the rope!

I am sure, however, that these teachers were not setting the proper context for the discussion

If I really, really stretch, I can imagine what kind of context these teachers were trying to achieve. I'm guessing the intended purpose was to answer the question: Why was there ever slavery in the first place? (But to get there, I have to give the teachers the benefit of several doubts.)

But no matter how you frame it, that context not only fails--and it especially doesn't work forsixth graders--it just defies any justification. Would anyone ever, EVER propose the same exercise substituting clearing Native Americans from the southeast, the Holocaust, the 9-11 attacks, or any other atrocity for slavery? I can't imagine any teacher would consider any of these even for a second. 

In my eight grade history course, I was taught that black soldiers did not suffer discrimination during the Civil War.  In my eleventh grade history class, we were assigned to read portions of the Bell Curve and led to believe the conclusions were legitimate.       

A big obstacle to integration is that schools are more for socialization than education. And it's kind of disheartening to see the patent untruths children are taught as postulates.

To be honest, I don't think it is possible to alter the racial consciousness of a majority of white Americans; but it is possible to reach that "critical mass" of white folk who, although they may be a minority, can help bring about ripples in the system.  The majority of liberal-minded white people who lived through the Civil Rights Movement were gradualist at best. but, in the end, it was a minority of the population--both black and white--who deserve credit for achieving the ends of the movement.  The trouble is is that white people who would nominally claim to be members of the vanguard have trouble deciphering the contemporary battlegrounds.  Campaigning for Senator Obama is much more easier and self-gratifying than marching on behalf of the Jena 6.          

The trouble is is that white people who would nominally claim to be members of the vanguard have trouble deciphering the contemporary battlegrounds. 

Outstanding comment!

To be honest, I don't think it is possible to alter the racial consciousness of a majority of white Americans; but it is possible to reach that "critical mass" of white folk who, although they may be a minority, can help bring about ripples in the system. 

Also good stuff. I also think that significant changes in attitude are rare, especially after people reach adulthood. The real, lasting change can only happen through the experience of children as they're growing up. That's why de facto segregation brought about by private- and home-schooling, white flight to the suburbs, and erosion of affirmative action do us all harm, short-term and long-term.

it is possible to reach that "critical mass" of white folk who, although they may be a minority, can help bring about ripples in the system.

That's why I've started talking about that critical mass. But I'm feeling pessimistic. You know that book The Israel Lobby? A book along similar lines called The White Lobby could probably be written just as convincingly.

The trouble is is that white people who would nominally claim to be members of the vanguard have trouble deciphering the contemporary battlegrounds. 

Outstanding comment!

I think their problem is they are reasoning about the problem in terms designed to lead to a single end. They've internalized the NewSpeak...just like the Conservative folks whose Pavlovian reflex to "Democrat" is "They'll raise my taxes!" 

I think their problem is they are reasoning about the problem in terms designed to lead to a single end.

I think that's at least one of the right answers. I also see a lot of people who are so stuck in the fight that was that they can't see the fight that is. And that's why I think ubstu's comment is such a good one.

I also see a lot of people who are so stuck in the fight that was that they can't see the fight that is.

When you wrote that, were you thinking of white folks, Black folks or both?

The ones ubstu referred to above:

The trouble is is that white people who would nominally claim to be members of the vanguard have trouble deciphering the contemporary battlegrounds. 

Okay. Because I'm sure that's the first time I've heard of white folks living in the past (as it were).

On reflection, I agree. I think people who think "racism" = "KKK" qualify. 

And I think there are a lot of people who understand the how and why of the Civil Rights movement back in the 60s. They'll read the books and watch the TV shows and be all in favor of Black History Month down at the school.

But just like ubstu said: They can't see what needs doing now.

I think people who think "racism" = "KKK" qualify.

Oh, yeah. Hell, yes. In fact, I think right there is where there's a big blind spot in white attitudes about race. Plenty of people claim "I'm not a racist" because they don't go around beating people or calling names or trying to keep people from moving into their neighborhoods.

The young woman you posted about yesterday (the nursing student with the Facebook pics) actually thinks she's not a racist.

Not only do people suffer from racial myopia, but there are defectors like David Horowitz who after supporting progressive causes during the 60s grew more comfortable revealing his true feelings of black people.  There are countless conservative pundits who decry the "betrayal" of the ideals embedded in the Civil Rights Movement by those actively seeking to update the struggle for a new generation.  Joe Lieberman, while not as hysterical or mean-spirited as Horowitz, believes he is morally impervious to any criticism on race matters because he participated in a march 40 years ago.  If we go back a couple of generations earlier, we find that many prominent white Civil War veterans and abolitionists who revered the abolition of slavery had little concern for how far the country backslid during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and repeatedly blamed the sorry state of affairs on the racial inferiority of African Americans.  The way the Civil Rights Movement is interpreted by this crew is the same way the Civil War and Reconstruction were interpreted by southern apologists in the early 20th century who dominated learned understanding of this period until Du Bois's magnum opus, Black Reconstruction, published in 1935, began to turn the tide against racist opinion decades after it appeared.  In short, the struggle to fully realize the values of American democracy reached a high point with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and King "I Have a Dream" speech, but these ideals were perverted by "radicals" who had to be reigned in.  As it has been repeatedly stated to the extent that it has become a clique, Americans have little understanding of their history--which is by no means an accident--and are thus prone to repeating the ill deeds of their ancestors.                 

ubstu, I think the same dynamic is at work in the rise of conservatisim from the mid-90s til now.

At the heart of conservative politics (I'd say white conservative politics, but that would be redundant) is a fear that somebody will take away what I have and give it to somebody who doesn't deserve it. (And just to really raise the urgency, that undeserving "somebody" is always portrayed as black.)

So the conservative agenda is built around an attitude of "Mine! Mine! Mine! Better schools? Not if I have to pay for them. Medical care? You're on your own. Affordable housing? Not my problem. Criminal justice system? I haven't been arrested, so I don't care. Affirmative action? That's discrimination against ME!!"

If I had to look for a silver lining in all this, I'd say this: the rise of conservatism has made them bold. They're less afraid now than just a few years ago to say things right out loud and in public that reveal their character. Not much silver in that, I'll admit, but there it is.

Quaker, I would argue that the backlash began during the late 1960s and was instituted by Nixon and Reagan who reverted to the Southern Strategy in order to produce Republican presidential victories. I do argee, however, that they have grown bolder and are less hesitant about disguising their true feelings by claiming that they merely represent and support "law and order." I think there is a bit of silver lining to be found in their coming out party due to the fact that the Republican party is in shambles party because of it. Still, this state of events does not register with a majority of white Americans who lack a strong anti-racist perspective, and the future political course of this country is still any one's game as long as these blind-spots remain.

Americans have little understanding of their history--which is by no means an accident--and are thus prone to repeating the ill deeds of their ancestors.

The same thing should be said about Black America. For those of us among the "talented tenth" there is an absolute refusal to learn from our history. That is perhaps a greater sin than pure ignorance of it.