Racism / Classism on DCurbanmom trolls or true?
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Anonymous
There were plenty of magnets around, this was different. There were plenty of classes (arts, music, electives) where everyone mixed. Nothing ( Despite no separation, the school was very cliquey and groups didn't mesh well, but there were enough people to find your own group. If the whole school was 15% (and small) I wouldn't send my kid there, because of the social aspect. Tween/teens years are hard enough socially, I don't need to add to it. |
Anonymous
Perhaps this is not a major point that moves the current discussion forward, but just as an aside, it's mildly irritating when all of EOTP is painted with the same huge brush. My kid is currently at a NW EOTP elementary where none of the above characterizations are true of my kid or her friends. After three years at the school, from what I can tell, all of her classmates are excited about learning, and are coming to school prepared. I've seen a couple of behavioral and learning problems, but those have actually been transient issues among of the more affluent families in our upper 16th St. neighborhood. There are also several OOB (of various races/ethnicities) kids who are well-spoken, early readers, and kind kids who are wonderful additions to the class. A neighbor recently relayed how his kid who goes to Deal was called "poor" by a WOTP classmate. The dad sort of just rolled his eyes and laughed it off, because this kid is from an upper middle class, well-educated AA family. Because this kid lives EOTP and is black, I'm guessing the assumption was that she was from a modest background. The problem with simply referring to EOTP as if it is one big, disadvantaged swath of the city is that it paints all kids here--many of whom are AA or Latino--with the same broad brush. And the concern of many parents (including my own AA family) is that our kids are sometimes treated as "less than" or as potential problem kids by peers and teachers, particularly WOTP. |
Anonymous
Don't worry I'm not sending my kid to a Title 1 school that's not racist or classist that's called commonsense |
Anonymous
yes I don't think it has anything to do with race. It's 2017 there is a very vibrant African American middle and upper middle class. There is also a lower/under class. Why don't you ask some of the middle and upper class blacks what they did differently There are loads of factors one of the biggest is whether or not the father plays a role in the childs life |
Anonymous
Black women are the most highly educated group in the United States. And one of the worst paid (only Hispanic women are paid worse). http://www.theroot.com/black-women-now-the-most-educated-group-in-us-1790855540 |
Anonymous
Well, it basically blows their chance at being top of the class. |
Anonymous
I know you're pleased with your high school debate-level logic, but there actually are differences between racism and classism, and the race of the actor does matter. But more important, the impact on DC schools is not due to that relatively small group of affluent black parents. |
Anonymous
you live in a fantasy world. even highly educated black people are at a significant disadvantage. |
Anonymous
lol really most fortune 500 companies are begging for more diverse talent elite schools are doing the same thing well unless you are asian..... |
Anonymous
what colleges are they going to what are their majors how many hours are they working where do they live etc etc etc If black women were really paid so much less for equal work every company would only hire black women |
Anonymous
No doubt there are differences between racism and classism, although they intersect pretty naturally in DC. But my frustration is that you and others on this thread are too quick to label the actions and decisions of white parents as racism, without making any effort to listen to their actual motivations. That hair-trigger approach to charging racism does nothing to advance the discussion and only breeds more resentment on both sides. And when you hold black parents to a different standard, and make excuses for them when they make the exact same choices for the same reasons as their neighbors who are white, you are revealing the hypocrisy and further eroding trust. By the way, your random insults ("high school debate logic") may make you feel better, but they don't make your point any more effective, so you can stow them. |
Anonymous
I have SEEN this play out in my own neighborhood where white parents actively refused to even consider integrating "their" school. I am 100% positive they would claim their motives are other than race. But your express motive doesn't really matter if the result is segregation. I am sure that well meaning whites during Jim Crow sincerely believed that separate but equal was ok, black people were fine, but they just shouldn't mix. I know my Hill neighbors are not KKK. That does not make their refusal to integrate any less racially discriminatory. |
Anonymous
DP. Why do you presume that black parents make choices for the same reason as white parents? We are a black family, and our choices re: education largely overlap but are not entirely for the same reasons as white families. |
Anonymous
and PS it does not matter what some theoretical wealthy black parent would do. The actual events were that wealthy supposedly liberal white parents lost their shit at the idea of integrating with a black school. |
Anonymous
That's what Samantha Bee and her husband did in NYC schools. It happens all the time. I find that a bit different (and much worse) than pursuing options to go OOB because a better school is available. |