“We need to preserve diversity and mitigate the projected whitening of the feeder pattern”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 3 parent here- I have zero problem with the language. In fact, I applaud it.

I assume that you send your child EOTR for school so that you can be part of the solution

The solution is to have good schools in every neighborhood so no kid has travel across the city to get a good education. Do you disagree?

That is a platitude, not a solution.

It’s like saying “I want clean air”.

It’s not a platitude; it’s a goal - like clean air.

What’s your goal?

[Anonymous]

using a term like "whitening" is reckless and wrong. It just is. Replace it with any other term representing skin color of another race and this would make the national news.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It's interesting how people view whiteness as a race. The very fact that people believe this is the very reason that white supremacy continues to thrive.
To be classified as 'white' one must have certain characteristics absent, it is not an actual ethnic group. Many East Asians used to be considered white too until racism change the standard.

If this language bothers you take a deeper dive in what it means to be white in this country and not British, Russian, Greek, etc.

Because I can assure you, there is no white culture. White is the absence of characteristics. Unlike Black or 'African American,' which is the presence of characteristics. Same thing with Asian.

Slide 7 assumes "white" is a demographic group to be managed. It's DCPS's language, not mine.

Here's the 2020 Census, which lists "white" as race:
https://2020census.gov/en/about-questions/2020-census-questions-race.html

Clearly the government views that categorization through a racial lens.

The government has also sanctioned the killing of innocent lives. It has certainly upholded the foundation of white supremacy.

I'll say it again, white is not a race.

Go ahead and tell me, what is white culture? I'll wait. Oh and by the way, if you say Starbucks and anything of the like you're sorely mistaken about what culture is.

ok ... then what does “projected whitening” mean to you?

Well, in DC it means anyone who is not Black. Strangely, here, anyone Asian or Middle Eastern or mixed race or even biracial gets lumped into “white.”

You see it all the time here on DCUM when posters talk about POC and then their context belies that they actually mean only Black.

No, it does not. Basing reality on this forum is a poor assumption. Again white is the absence of certain characteristics.

A good example we all know is Obama, who is half white but continuously is called the first BLACK president, rather than partially Black. No one accepted him as white, because white is the absence of characteristics and he doesn't meet the criteria.

What are the characteristics absent in white people?

You tell me, what makes someone a white person?

can you tell me what makes someone a black person?

Oh boy, you can't answer the question can you?

But I'll bite because I know you won't.
This is a FULL black person, not Kamala Harris.

1. Skin darker than a brown paper bag
2. Curly kinky or afro textured hair
3. A wide nose and/or full lips

[Anonymous]

Here is the thing, population wise, DC is still growing and becoming more white and less black every year. the black population has dropped 15% in less than 20 years and the white population has gone up 12%, both are are in the high 40% range. There is no "majority" in DC. So DCPS can float this language but the reality is that city is continuing to change as are schools in neighborhoods other than upper NW. Its not racial, its just a demographic reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:using a term like "whitening" is reckless and wrong. It just is. Replace it with any other term representing skin color of another race and this would make the national news.

Ah see? You automatically assumed Whitening meant European Americans, yet Asians, Mexicans, mixed people, etc. skin color can be white.

No it's not reckless or wrong, it's the truth and I'm surprised they didn't give a more PC title.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the thing, population wise, DC is still growing and becoming more white and less black every year. the black population has dropped 15% in less than 20 years and the white population has gone up 12%, both are are in the high 40% range. There is no "majority" in DC. So DCPS can float this language but the reality is that city is continuing to change as are schools in neighborhoods other than upper NW. Its not racial, its just a demographic reality.

I think the point is white people do not deserve to only go to those schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:using a term like "whitening" is reckless and wrong. It just is. Replace it with any other term representing skin color of another race and this would make the national news.

But it's not the same as using another term representing another race, which is why it's not making the national news and why many white people who live in the area that the document is discussing have said in this thread that we aren't offended by it. This whole "aha, what if they said BLACKENING!" line of thought is silly; putting literally any amount of thought into the context of race and power in this country makes it clear that this is a side conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:using a term like "whitening" is reckless and wrong. It just is. Replace it with any other term representing skin color of another race and this would make the national news.

I have a feeling this will make the national news and some heads are gonna roll. It is reckless and wrong.

And DCPS is trying to social engineer a demographic freight train 10 years too late. They should've listened to WoTP parents 10 years ago about overcrowding; they've have a lot more OOB seats to work with right now.

They are trying to get these new schools off-the-ground in record time - talking about fall 2022 for launching them after announcing them in 2020. That's crazy ambitious by DCPS standards. It feels frantic.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Maybe the issue is the word whitening. I’ve never heard that and it does sound hostile or just offensive even if trie. You’d never be caught dead saying blackening that’s for sure.

Right — concentration of white students would have been less awkward

But the problem isn’t the white students (who are IB and just following the rules and attending thei IB schools.) The problem is that black kids’ IB schools are failing.

What if “the rules” were changed to be less inclined to increasing levels of segregation? Eg, end by right high school, real set asides, synchronized middle and high school entry years. Would that fix every failing school? No. But it would address the inequalities that are unavoidable with segregated schools in America.

if it was persistent enough, you'd just see a new generation of white flight schools. No parent in Chevy Chase is sending their kid to Ballou

100%. Families will move out of the city or go private. I don't want to schlep across the city for a GREAT school and I definitely wouldn't put up with it for a poorly rated school. We want a school we can walk to, who's proximity makes it easy to be an active participant/parent, who's population is largely in the neighborhood (for easy after school socialization). If by right schools go away, we'd move to MoCo.

I'm okay with tightening up the boundaries to make room for at risk OOB students, but I think preserving neighborhood schools is extremely important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the thing, population wise, DC is still growing and becoming more white and less black every year. the black population has dropped 15% in less than 20 years and the white population has gone up 12%, both are are in the high 40% range. There is no "majority" in DC. So DCPS can float this language but the reality is that city is continuing to change as are schools in neighborhoods other than upper NW. Its not racial, its just a demographic reality.

I think the point is white people do not deserve to only go to those schools.

Of course not. The schools are prioritized for anyone who lives in the boundary. And any leftover or set-aside seats should be prioritized for At-Risk kids and DCPS should adequately fund & staff related services for that population.

But well-to-do kids from other parts of the city do not have a right to schools in other neighborhoods. They should go to schools near their homes, which are already under-enrolled. The problem is that DCPS wants to turn elementary schools into the size of high schools in order to placate wealthy families in Wards 1, 3, 4, and 5 who refuse to attend their neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the issue is the word whitening. I’ve never heard that and it does sound hostile or just offensive even if trie. You’d never be caught dead saying blackening that’s for sure.

Right — concentration of white students would have been less awkward

But the problem isn’t the white students (who are IB and just following the rules and attending thei IB schools.) The problem is that black kids’ IB schools are failing.

What if “the rules” were changed to be less inclined to increasing levels of segregation? Eg, end by right high school, real set asides, synchronized middle and high school entry years. Would that fix every failing school? No. But it would address the inequalities that are unavoidable with segregated schools in America.

if it was persistent enough, you'd just see a new generation of white flight schools. No parent in Chevy Chase is sending their kid to Ballou

100%. Families will move out of the city or go private. I don't want to schlep across the city for a GREAT school and I definitely wouldn't put up with it for a poorly rated school. We want a school we can walk to, who's proximity makes it easy to be an active participant/parent, who's population is largely in the neighborhood (for easy after school socialization). If by right schools go away, we'd move to MoCo.

I'm okay with tightening up the boundaries to make room for at risk OOB students, but I think preserving neighborhood schools is extremely important.

I don't know why you guys bring up whites leaving. DCPS has made it very clear they don't care. They DO care about donors whose kids are already in private leaving or their childless donors. Not white families like yours, DCPS is actually interested in serving low SES families most of the time and they tend to not be white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:White people don’t like it when people say ‘too white’.

But they have no problem saying ‘too Black’ or ‘too Asian’.

Yes isn't that the case!!!!

No it really isn’t. What I object to is defining people by skin color rather than the content of their character. Hmm, where have I heard that before?

In a country that systematically discriminates against POC in literally every arena of life, PP objects to DCPS looking out for the interests of students of color. Hmmm... there's a name for that attitude. What is it again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 3 parent here- I have zero problem with the language. In fact, I applaud it.

I assume that you send your child EOTR for school so that you can be part of the solution

The solution is to have good schools in every neighborhood so no kid has travel across the city to get a good education. Do you disagree?

can you point to any good high schools that draw from extremely poor populations? Good schools everywhere is another way of saying 'not my problem' from people who know that the biggest factor in whether or not a school is good is the level of education of the students' parents.

DCPS *has* to find a way because it does have enough students with educated parents to go around.

exactly. what kind of magical thinking is it to posit that distributing white people equally throughout schools would fix everything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 3 parent here- I have zero problem with the language. In fact, I applaud it.

I assume that you send your child EOTR for school so that you can be part of the solution

The solution is to have good schools in every neighborhood so no kid has travel across the city to get a good education. Do you disagree?

can you point to any good high schools that draw from extremely poor populations? Good schools everywhere is another way of saying 'not my problem' from people who know that the biggest factor in whether or not a school is good is the level of education of the students' parents.

DCPS *has* to find a way because it does have enough students with educated parents to go around.

exactly. what kind of magical thinking is it to posit that distributing white people equally throughout schools would fix everything?

Hmmm how many poor white people move here? Hmmmm what do high SES parents give and do for schools?
Or is it just you want those resources to mostly benefit white children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 3 parent here- I have zero problem with the language. In fact, I applaud it.

I assume that you send your child EOTR for school so that you can be part of the solution

The solution is to have good schools in every neighborhood so no kid has travel across the city to get a good education. Do you disagree?

can you point to any good high schools that draw from extremely poor populations? Good schools everywhere is another way of saying 'not my problem' from people who know that the biggest factor in whether or not a school is good is the level of education of the students' parents.

Are you saying there is no point to having schools in poor neighborhoods because they are doomed to fail? Should we just shut them down?