Today\’s quote comes to us from First Lady Michelle Obama.
Ms. Obama was speaking at a gathering of high school seniors and their families in Topeka, Kansas – her speech being an alternative to the one she was dissuaded from making at their commencement exercises because it would overshadow the students\’ big day.
Much of her speech was based on the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court\’s Brown v Board Of Education ruling, which, based on a suit filed about the Topeka school system, held that racially “separate but equal” schools (which never actually ran that way) were unconstitutional.
And her point – which happens to be a very good one – is that now, 60 years later, a good many schools (albeit under different legal circumstances) are effectively re-segregating.
Here is what Ms. Obama had to say:
“Today,by some measures, our schools are as segregated as they were backwhen Dr. King gave his final speech. Many districts in this countryhave actually pulled back on efforts to integrate their schools, andmany communities have become less diverse. And too often, thoseschools aren\’t equal, especially ones attended by students of colorwhich too often lag behind.”
To which I would reply, yep. True enough…as it goes. But there is a bit more to this story.
I wish Ms. Obama had not stopped there. I wish she had talked, among other things, about how much of this “re-segregation” is voluntary….and I don\’t mean only among Whites, but among Blacks as well. I wish she had also talked about how many colleges and universities, which proudly talk about their “diversity”, allow Black orientiation, Black dorm areas, and Black graduation ceremonies.
Please note that none of this is forced on Blacks by the school or by non-Blacks, it is a) an intentionally created segregation which enables Black students to go through those colleges and universities having as little contact with non-Blacks as possible which b) seems to be just fine with the schools themselves.
Is that “diversity” to you? Is it “diversity” to the colleges and universities? Is it “diversity” to Michelle Obama?
I award Quote Of The Day honors to Ms. Obama for making points about racial re-segregation that should be heard, discussed, and thought about…..along with the unspoken points I have referenced above, which she did not bring up – but are every bit as necessary to be out there in the public domain, rather than hidden and never talked about at all.
