Racial tensions are heightened in North Carolina over efforts to end a diversity policy within the public school system. The head of the state NAACP chapter was also among those who were arrested in a protest about the new initiative.
"We know that our cause is right," the Rev.
William Barber told the Associated Press.
After protestors tried to disrupt a meeting by gathering around the podium, police stepped in and asked them to disburse. This led to several arrests, and even the only black member of the school board claims that he was treated harshly by police after trying to calm things down.
The Wake County School Board is under fire after they voted to end the diversity policy of the district, which mixes students together based on socioeconomic status. They prefer a system which allows children to attend schools in their own neighborhoods.
The protestors are correct in their assertion that separate continues to imply inequality in our nation. Educational inequality is one of the great human rights violations committed by our country in the 21st century. Children attending inadequately-funded inner city schools find their opportunities and resources limited, while those attending suburban schools are given more than what they need to succeed.
This disparity in funding is due to imbalances in wealth levels between black and white communities, which is a legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. So, while most of us do not deliberately discriminate on the basis of race any longer, many American citizens continue to passively allow the clearly discriminatory motivations of their ancestors to haunt our way of life. By not cleaning up the mess of racial inequality, we are committing ourselves to having a racially divided country.
The position of those in the suburbs can be understood: they don't want their kids to go to school across town. I would argue that many of them are not trying to be racist and could care less if their children are attending school with black kids. The problem is that they are involuntary accessories to a racist agenda by leaving less prosperous communities out in the cold when it comes to having a chance to get a good education.
The solution is that our federal government must find ways to equalize funding for inner city and suburban schools. Separate is not always a bad thing, as long as there is equality. Even in baseball, many players would not have left the Negro Leagues if they'd had the same economic opportunities that they had in the major leagues. The point is that by not aggressively addressing inequality, we are opening the door to even greater racial divisions in our nation. That is not going to be good for any of us.
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Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. 
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Comments: (13)
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By: BillSchrier on 7/21/2010 5:12PM
Here it is 50 years since "Jim Crow" and you are still blaming black underachievement in schools and wealth gap versus whites on that. The wealth gap has actually INCREASED in the last 30 years, despite government mandated quotas for blacks.
There will ALWAYS be this achievement gap with whites higher than blacks. That's because the real root of the gap is GENETIC and can't be government mandated away ... it is a FACT that blacks consistently score one standard deviation less than whites on IQ tests.
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By: The Cynic on 7/22/2010 9:58AM
Oh lord... I just knew some misinformed fool would bring up the topic of race & intelligence.
Look people oppressed minorities scoring lower on IQ test is NOTHING new or unique. Take for instance the Burakumin of Japan. They are no different ethnically or racially than the Japanese majority, but a 35yr study showed that even when in the same school they averaged 16pts. lower on intelligence tests than the majority Japanese. Why is this so? Because their struggles parallel those of other minority groups around the world. The gap was not due to genetics, which we know because when Burakumin immigrate to the U.S. the gap completely disappears.
http://books.google.com/books?id=QS_sw7AfVDMC&pg=PA318&lpg=PA318&dq=Burakumin+IQ&source=bl&ots=2JsFXRkI2U&sig=Fd25KTQOS5jLQj7t4E97Banc7Ow&hl=en&ei=BXwcTNujLIT7lwellMT2DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Burakumin%20IQ&f=false
I'd read from page 315-319
More IQ gaps of traditionally oppressed minorities.
http://books.google.com/books?id=t9OdPPLIgMAC&pg=PA270&lpg=PA270&dq=Burakumin+IQ&source=bl&ots=Llw-ER932p&sig=BQxJaLq4zZ73fpp6h_RPqv-H14c&hl=en&ei=BXwcTNujLIT7lwellMT2DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CCUQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Burakumin%20IQ&f=false
All brains are the same people. Stop attempting to push racist theories.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/opinion/09nisbett.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1
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By: BillSchrier on 7/21/2010 5:15PM
Whites do not want their children attending schools with blacks because blacks pull down everyone else's achievement levels and because black schools are VIOLENT just as majority black cities have the highest crime rates in America.
Why do you think whites moved out of the inner cities in the first place?
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By: The Cynic on 7/22/2010 10:08AM
Look at the demographics of Hawaii
Asians make up the majority(with East Asians making up most of the Asian/Pacific Islander groups), Whites are a quarter of the population, and Blacks only make up 1%.
Why is it that when it comes to IQ by state, smartest states lists, educational rankings, & SAT/ACT scores they come in nowhere near 1st place?
http://www.top50states.com/average-iq-score.html
http://www.morganquitno.com/edrank.htm
http://blog.bestandworststates.com/2009/08/25/state-sat-scores-2009.aspx
In fact on a lot of these list they come in at the bottom ten. The only IQ list they came in at with a high ranking was a Red state v. Blue state lists which ended up being a hoax(you can search for yourself). Though their have been articles that have found liberals tend to score higher than conservatives. Gays and atheist also tend to score higher. Do you honestly believe they are inherently more intelligent. Some things are simply based on opportunity and culture. Why is that so hard to understand?
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By: BillSchrier on 7/21/2010 5:24PM
The link is to an essay "What it's like to try and teach black students." The essay starts a few paragraphs down. READ IT.
http://martynemko.blogspot.com/2009/06/white-teacher-speaks-out-what-is-it.html
White parents do not want their children attending school with violent black underachievers. If you try to force them to, there will be a revolution in this country. No white parent should have to put up with having their children's childhood ruined by having to suffer black violence and underachievement.
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By: rh on 7/23/2010 3:48PM
The welfare and education cycle go hand in hand in inner city schools, for most black kids whose parents,educational level is mediocre. You can find this same problem in the Ozarks and the Appalachians mountains where poor whites reside for centuries.Being black,I always felt that violent kids should be seperated or expelled from schools,that stop a conducive learning enviroment from taking place.When my kids were in school I refused to send them, if violence,guns,drugs were the issue.
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By: wha-up on 7/21/2010 5:59PM
until black parents are around to help the black child, it will never get any better, asians attend these inner city schools and they do just fine. you gotta have parents involved in their kids lives first, believe me i went to an all black high school for two years, and then to a mostly white school, their is a behavioral difference, in both cases the teachers were doing their best to educate, but in one school the students did not want to learn, obama needs to step up and take hold of this race issue, it is gettin worst not better, he needs to point out that he is both white and black
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By: Kimberly on 7/21/2010 7:02PM
What in the world can Pres. Obama do to this situation? This is a problem with the local schools and if Black parents want change they must step up to the plate and do their job. I was a substitute teacher in Georgia, and one year there was a class room that did not have a teacher. She was there, but she had been a way for at least 2 weeks when I had the class. This was the beginning of the school year, when you "set" the atmosphere for your classroom. They could have gotten a long-term sub, but the school didn't. I told one student's mother that she needs to inquire in the office with the principal as to what is going on. I told her "your child is being rob of their education". Whether she inquired, I don't know. But as a sub I have seen things and it is Black parents that MUST STEP TO THE PLATE OR EITHER SIT DOWN AND GO WITH YOUR CHILD'S EDUCATION BEING SQUANDERED! This business about funding of education is a serious matter and believe me the powers that be know exactly what the heck they are doing. It is not coincidental that the areas that have the most African American students get the less funding. This has been going on since Blacks were "allowed" to be educated. And to Bill Schrier, personally I think you are black and trying to start something. Because if Blacks were as stupid, dumb and ignorant as you believe you wouldn't be wasting your time on this sight. I will not try to educate you because you need to hold on to your ignorance because that makes you feel like you are the superior one. Sad, sad, sad!
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By: Sharon on 7/21/2010 6:16PM
BASED UPON BILL SHCHRIER'S CONSISTENT NEGATIVE AND RACIALLY CHARGED COMMENTS ON AOL BLACK VOICE, I HAVE COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT HE MUST BE AN AOL EMPLOYEE DUE TO THE FACT THAT HE HAS NOT BEEN BANNED FROM THE WEBSITE.
AS A RESULT, I AM ENGAGING MY OFFSHORE COLLEAGUES WITH IT BACKGROUNDS TO DO RESEARCH TO FIND OUT WHERE HE IS LOCATED.
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By: JoAnne on 7/27/2010 7:52PM
Sharon, I agree with you and believe that AOL selectively monitors what they want to monitor. Some of these comments should not only be removed, but the authors of hateful sputum, should be blocked from participating.
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