The role of race in public education has been a hot and contentious subject since the Civil Rights Era. After desegregation, at the university level segregation remained for a bit longer mostly by choice as many black students preferred to go to historically black universities and colleges. Once affirmative action forced the other universities in the country to meet a quota of minority students, they had to find ways to attract black students to enter their institutions. Public elementary, middle, and secondary schools, however, have been a very different story. In the more modern era, due to requirements of students to attend the schools in the districts in which they live, many schools seem to either be predominantly black or predominantly white causing what people refer to as “de facto segregation”. There is no question that there are major issues with this scenario and due to disparities in income and funding in these neighborhoods that are split by race, it is extremely convenient to label this as “institutional racism”. Doing this, however, glosses over much of the finer details and nuance of the situation. This post will not be dedicated to discussing those details; perhaps I will delve into that at a later date. This post is dedicated to the victimhood mentality with which people approach this “de facto segregation” and the danger that accompanies it.
I recently came across an article from 2013 entitled “Forbidden Conversations on Race, Privacy, and Community” by Charles R. Lawrence III. Nothing about this title indicates the topics of race and education, and frankly what is discussed therein is not “forbidden conversations” as much as “fabricated conversations”. Lawrence begins his diatribe of victimhood and false allegations of racism with an anecdote of an innocuous conversation he had with his colleague. Since Lawrence is a member of the DC area school board, his white colleague asks him about a possible good school to which he could send his approaching-school-aged child. Immediately Lawrence insinuates that by asking this question, his white neighbor is racist. “I know that [my children’s] school is not the school he envisions when he asks me about ‘good schools’. For one thing, it’s too black… Part of me is resenting my colleague’s question and judging his reason for asking…” As if this is not ridiculous enough, Lawrence follows this up with, “I do not speak of these things because we have an unspoken agreement that we will not speak of racism and its consequences…” So let’s get this straight. By asking an honest question about a topic that Lawrence has insider knowledge about, this man is labeled a racist in Lawrence’s mind, AND the man cannot even defend himself because the asinine insinuation and assumption goes unspoken. This line of reasoning has no basis in reality and stems directly from a victimhood that has been exacerbated by progressivism and things like critical race theory. And the fact that these thoughts go unspoken, breeds nothing but resentment between the races, and it is leading to dangerous and disastrous results as we have seen by the race fueled riots over the summer.
In Lawrence’s long discussion of his neighborhood school that his daughter attends, he describes it as dilapidated and lacking in many regards. The white people in the neighborhood, as a result, choose to send their children to private schools to ensure that they receive a better education. Lawrence admits to understanding this choice although he insinuates it is a racist one as these white people clearly “fear” blackness. He further states that while he has the means to send his daughter to a private school, he has chosen to have her attend the majority black school out of principle. Yes, Lawrence is actively undermining his daughter’s education in preference of playing a race game. I hate to make value judgements on one’s parenting skills, but it seems to me that Lawrence is a pretty shitty father. He has also clearly not thought this scenario through to its completion. In not giving his daughter the best education he can, he is undercutting his daughter’s future potential and removing the opportunity for another black woman to succeed in this country further destroying the stereotypes and illusions of institutional racism. By taking a stand on principle in solidarity with his race, he is actively fighting against it. THIS is the unforeseen end and consequence of racial victimhood.