Monday, May 06, 2013

The Hard Truth From Orlando

                            NAACP: The Ostrich Organization


The NAACP President Bill Gary has filed a formal complaint against Brevard Public Schools. That's just so productive.

Brevard County Schools have come under fire from the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) because of statistics that show black students make up a disproportionate number of disciplinary suspensions compared to the actual black students numbers in the school population. Golly, since when is that news to the NAACP? Black citizens also make up a disproportionate number of the prison population compared to the population at large. Black men and women make up a disproportionate number of persons under legal supervision compared to the demographics of the general community as well. Black men and women are disproportionately represented in the national poverty statistics, too. Why is that?

Are black students being singled out, or does their own behavior and lack of family cohesion and social integration automatically make them incapable of complying with academic rules and regulations -- heck, with normal codes of behavior outside of their insular black neighborhoods? Is this more of that "well, they're black, we have to make allowances for that" logic that somehow implies black kids can't help how they act because of their color?

 It's too easy to blame "the system" for all their failures, when all any student has to do is come to school, be on time, keep their mouth shut, leave the other students alone, and do the work. The schools have bent over backwards to get counseling, guidance, special needs teachers, lunch programs, tutoring, medical assistance, clothing assistance, for students with a myriad of personal problems and family situations. The schools can't make up for crappy parents who can't be bothered to make sure their kids are dressed, fed and to school on time. The schools can't make up for parents who refuse to acknowledge that their own misbehavior is reflected in their children's anti-social dysfunction and failure to apply. The schools can't allow a belligerent, dangerous, disruptive child to continually take away the opportunities and safety of other students all in the name of "tolerance."

And I don't want to hear about "we're poor, we ain't got" clothes or food. Almost every school now has breakfast programs, lunch programs, take-home food programs for children, clothes closets for the needy. But the kids have to show up on time and be ready to participate. Poverty is not an excuse for lousy, disrespectful, non-compliant behavior. The color of your skin is not an excuse to act stupid, mean or lazy. But that's the message most of these kids have received in their community and from their parents. They can't behave in school, they can't find a decent paying job because they can't finish school, they walk the walk their parents did -- with the same results. And their children, born in poverty to parents with the same poor self-discipline and set of excuses, will do the same. Education is the way out -- if the student can put his head down, shut up, and work.

If the NAACP wants to see the problem with their youths, just come to the juvenile courthouse and watch how many of black children come before a judge on CRIMINAL charges and no parent can be bothered to show up. They can come watch how many black children are entirely on their own, even in a house with adults, and no one is supervising them -- much less attending the child's basic needs, even with every scrap of tax-payer funded and not-for-profit subsidy that can be thrown their way. Come watch how many black parents stand beside their child and excuse even the most egregious, vicious actions and turn a blind eye to their child's predictable slide into the prison system, or worse still, a quick trip to the morgue. I think they'll find the demographic of crappy black parenting rather disproportionate to the general crappy parent population as well.

There used to be rampant, in-your-face institutional discrimination. Every agency is hyper-vigilant of it and fighting to correct discrepancies. Now I think it's just a case of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Maybe the black communities embrace failure because it's so much easier than trying to integrate into regular non-black society. It's been observed before and it will again, if the black community insists on being counted separately, then they will be counted last. Maybe the NAACP needs to fund its own program for students who can't toe the mark in public schools. Let's see how critical they are of "the system" when these kids are their problem instead of the schools system's. Maybe they'll begin to recognize that it's the black community's culture of embracing failure and blaming others that's the real issue.
 
 
     Florida Cracker

No comments: