Before I jump into the meat of this interview - just a little background for our non-American friends on the board, such as Britbox.
When it comes to issues relating to the poor in the United States, what is considerably different than in other Western countries is the racially obsessed political dimension attached to it. On that note, there are certain "landmark" moments in American history celebrated by the education system and the dominant media that supposedly show "how far we have come". (The phrase "how far we have come" has to be one of the most stupidly used expressions in the entire world, as the videos below demonstrate.) But the particular "landmark moment" in question here is the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954 (one which the excellent black writer Zora Neale Hurston took great issue with). In popular mythology (mythology I was taught in school and once believed), this decision "ended racial segregation in America" and paved the way for a brighter future. Furthermore - for our non-American friends - the Brown v. Board decision is presented as the appropriate response to an 1896 decision of the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson, which maintained that public schools could be racially separate so long as they were equal. Brown v. Board came along and decreed that, no, racially segregated schools were inherently unequal and were therefore no longer permissible.
Well, so does the story stop there? Is the United States now a splendid post-racial utopia with a half-white president now because of "landmark moments" such as Brown v. Board? Many white leftists - whose denial of basic realities is utterly astonishing - contend that it is. Unfortunately, they have no idea what they are talking about.
Which brings us to this wonderful interview with Jonathan Kozol. Mr. Kozol graduated from Harvard with a degree in English literature. He was once very active in the original Civil Rights Movement. He is a leftist who believes in ever more government funding to solve society's problems. Most of all, he is known as an education activist on behalf of inner-city schools and minority children in America.
Now, I happen to disagree with Kozol politically, but I do have immense respect for the work he has done and the fact that, before spouting off about racism in America, he has actually gone into the rougher areas and spent time looking at reality. He also has a clear love of children and educating the young. This is all to be commended. Anyone who respects hard work and candor should respect Jonathan Kozol. He has spent many honest hours in the trenches.
But why am I bringing this up? Among other reasons, Britbox asked me to "provide solutions" instead of just assigning blame. Well, I would contend that accurately assigning blame is necessary to "providing solutions". In the United States, denial of basic reality is the norm and gains one prestige and acceptability. If you lie about bad situations and make people feel good, then you are considered progressive. If you tell it like it is, people are turned off. Such is the case with this matter.
The significance of this interview is that Kozol admits (implicitly) that white leftist-Democrats of the Northeast are reality-denying hypocrites of the highest magnitude. Their perceptions are a mixture of silliness, wishful thinking, and outright dishonesty. This starts with their bashing of the South as a backwater - among other things, they allege that the South (going back to the completely misrepresented and misunderstood "Civil War") is much more "racist" than the North.
Well, take a look at what Kozol has to say about that. He pretty much says that this notion is a load of hogwash, right off the bat. Here are some of the gems (these quotes are not always exactly verbatim, but close enough):
- "Racial segregation has come back with a vengeance in America's schools"
- "The most segregated state for minority children in America today is not in the South, it's New York"; after New York, the most segregated states education-wise are Illinois (because of Chicago), Michigan (because of Detroit), and California (because of Los Angeles); Kozol also states that Washington, D.C. would be included with those 4 if it was a state
- "Inner-city schools in America today are as segregated as schools in Mississippi in 1925"
- "In the neighborhood I know best, the South Bronx of New York, there are 11,000 elementary school children, and only 26 are white"
- "At a 5,000-student high school in Los Angeles, I did not see one white kid"
- "Inner-city schools exhibit a panorama of total racial isolation"
- "Only two-tenths of one percent separate the legal apartheid of the South 50 years ago and the reality in Northern inner-city schools today"
- "America today suffers from apartheid schooling"
And then, to the point about the Brown decision, Kozol says:
- "We have ripped the guts out of the Brown decision"
- "We haven't even lived up to the tarnished promise of Plessy v. Ferguson, an 1896 decision that said at least if schools are separate they would be equal"
So everyone - let's get this clear. I can't stress enough to our non-American friends that the degree of Southern-bashing in the North, especially among Democrats, is constant and ruthless. Being a native Northerner myself who has been around university people constantly, I have heard it non-stop. The South is racist, the South is too religious, the South is dumb, the South is why we still have guns, the South has held back progress in this country, blah blah blah blah. And here we have a Harvard leftist who has researched schooling in America his entire professional career pointing out that the most segregated state in the United States for minority children is NEW YORK - Hillary Clinton's state. Following New York are Illinois (Obama's state), Michigan (Detroit being the poster-city of the Great Society and social welfare programs), California (being the supposedly enlightened Hollywood state), and Washington, D.C. (home of our non-racist politicians).
These realities illustrate the dark and depressing hypocrisy of politics in America today. White leftists are all about helping out minorities in their official political pronouncements - until they have to decide where they are sending their kids to school. It certainly won't be to any elementary schools in the South Bronx; we know that. They will just say what makes them feel good about THEMSELVES and WITHIN THEMSELVES, without actually addressing reality in any sort of meaningful or positive fashion.
This interview was from 2006 - 50 years after the Brown decision. And Kozol said in it, basically, that we have gotten nowhere.
[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR6yFsGMrqc[/video]
[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxjmehzWR9w[/video]
[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dQe983ypvk[/video]
When it comes to issues relating to the poor in the United States, what is considerably different than in other Western countries is the racially obsessed political dimension attached to it. On that note, there are certain "landmark" moments in American history celebrated by the education system and the dominant media that supposedly show "how far we have come". (The phrase "how far we have come" has to be one of the most stupidly used expressions in the entire world, as the videos below demonstrate.) But the particular "landmark moment" in question here is the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954 (one which the excellent black writer Zora Neale Hurston took great issue with). In popular mythology (mythology I was taught in school and once believed), this decision "ended racial segregation in America" and paved the way for a brighter future. Furthermore - for our non-American friends - the Brown v. Board decision is presented as the appropriate response to an 1896 decision of the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson, which maintained that public schools could be racially separate so long as they were equal. Brown v. Board came along and decreed that, no, racially segregated schools were inherently unequal and were therefore no longer permissible.
Well, so does the story stop there? Is the United States now a splendid post-racial utopia with a half-white president now because of "landmark moments" such as Brown v. Board? Many white leftists - whose denial of basic realities is utterly astonishing - contend that it is. Unfortunately, they have no idea what they are talking about.
Which brings us to this wonderful interview with Jonathan Kozol. Mr. Kozol graduated from Harvard with a degree in English literature. He was once very active in the original Civil Rights Movement. He is a leftist who believes in ever more government funding to solve society's problems. Most of all, he is known as an education activist on behalf of inner-city schools and minority children in America.
Now, I happen to disagree with Kozol politically, but I do have immense respect for the work he has done and the fact that, before spouting off about racism in America, he has actually gone into the rougher areas and spent time looking at reality. He also has a clear love of children and educating the young. This is all to be commended. Anyone who respects hard work and candor should respect Jonathan Kozol. He has spent many honest hours in the trenches.
But why am I bringing this up? Among other reasons, Britbox asked me to "provide solutions" instead of just assigning blame. Well, I would contend that accurately assigning blame is necessary to "providing solutions". In the United States, denial of basic reality is the norm and gains one prestige and acceptability. If you lie about bad situations and make people feel good, then you are considered progressive. If you tell it like it is, people are turned off. Such is the case with this matter.
The significance of this interview is that Kozol admits (implicitly) that white leftist-Democrats of the Northeast are reality-denying hypocrites of the highest magnitude. Their perceptions are a mixture of silliness, wishful thinking, and outright dishonesty. This starts with their bashing of the South as a backwater - among other things, they allege that the South (going back to the completely misrepresented and misunderstood "Civil War") is much more "racist" than the North.
Well, take a look at what Kozol has to say about that. He pretty much says that this notion is a load of hogwash, right off the bat. Here are some of the gems (these quotes are not always exactly verbatim, but close enough):
- "Racial segregation has come back with a vengeance in America's schools"
- "The most segregated state for minority children in America today is not in the South, it's New York"; after New York, the most segregated states education-wise are Illinois (because of Chicago), Michigan (because of Detroit), and California (because of Los Angeles); Kozol also states that Washington, D.C. would be included with those 4 if it was a state
- "Inner-city schools in America today are as segregated as schools in Mississippi in 1925"
- "In the neighborhood I know best, the South Bronx of New York, there are 11,000 elementary school children, and only 26 are white"
- "At a 5,000-student high school in Los Angeles, I did not see one white kid"
- "Inner-city schools exhibit a panorama of total racial isolation"
- "Only two-tenths of one percent separate the legal apartheid of the South 50 years ago and the reality in Northern inner-city schools today"
- "America today suffers from apartheid schooling"
And then, to the point about the Brown decision, Kozol says:
- "We have ripped the guts out of the Brown decision"
- "We haven't even lived up to the tarnished promise of Plessy v. Ferguson, an 1896 decision that said at least if schools are separate they would be equal"
So everyone - let's get this clear. I can't stress enough to our non-American friends that the degree of Southern-bashing in the North, especially among Democrats, is constant and ruthless. Being a native Northerner myself who has been around university people constantly, I have heard it non-stop. The South is racist, the South is too religious, the South is dumb, the South is why we still have guns, the South has held back progress in this country, blah blah blah blah. And here we have a Harvard leftist who has researched schooling in America his entire professional career pointing out that the most segregated state in the United States for minority children is NEW YORK - Hillary Clinton's state. Following New York are Illinois (Obama's state), Michigan (Detroit being the poster-city of the Great Society and social welfare programs), California (being the supposedly enlightened Hollywood state), and Washington, D.C. (home of our non-racist politicians).
These realities illustrate the dark and depressing hypocrisy of politics in America today. White leftists are all about helping out minorities in their official political pronouncements - until they have to decide where they are sending their kids to school. It certainly won't be to any elementary schools in the South Bronx; we know that. They will just say what makes them feel good about THEMSELVES and WITHIN THEMSELVES, without actually addressing reality in any sort of meaningful or positive fashion.
This interview was from 2006 - 50 years after the Brown decision. And Kozol said in it, basically, that we have gotten nowhere.
[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR6yFsGMrqc[/video]
[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxjmehzWR9w[/video]
[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dQe983ypvk[/video]
