Wake County: Books Busing and Bigots

Wake County: Books, Busing and Bigots


Paul Scott




My first brush with racism occurred when I was five years old. I was playing with a little white girl at a beach in White Lake, NC when her grandmother motioned for her to get out of the water. "Sally" came back a few minutes later to inform me that she was not allowed to play with (insert "N word" here), as the old hag sat mean muggin' me under her beach umbrella. In retrospect, at least Granny was honest about her feelings, which is more than I can be say about the folks in Wake County.

There has been a big brouhaha brewing in Wake County over the last year. Seems like some folks (mostly white) are fighting for "community schools", while other folks (mostly black) are condemning it as an attempt at re-segregation. The conflict came to a boiling point last week when school board chairman, Ron Margiotta , made a statement about "animals let out of cages," allegedly referring to the anti-segregation protesters.

Of course, most of the good hearted Wake County citizens are saying that there is nothing racist about the anti-busing efforts, they are merely trying to protect the ecosystem by conserving gas. Also, even though Margiotta's statement is committed to the Youtube viral universe, what he really said was " the way those Tar Heels are playing is outrageous."

I'm not sure what ticks me off the most, the Wake County School Board's racial insensitivity or their attempts to insult my intelligence.

I'm sure that Margiotta and the rest of his homies on the school board know that "community schools" is the modern day PC translation of "no Blacks allowed."

Then again, I bet ol' Ron has never been dissed at the beach by an old lady while wearing swimming trunks decorated with dolphins and starfish.

Let's keep it real. For many of the community schools folks in Wake County, it's not really about Lil' Molly sitting next to Tyrone Jackson in homeroom but the idea of her bringing him home for cookies and milk; the age old fear of miscegenation. So, the whole argument is not really about education but the fear of contracting "colored cooties."

Desegregation of public schools has been a controversial issue in this country since the end of the Civil War.

According to Harold Cruse in his book, "Plural but Equal," during the 1880's there was an unsuccessful attempt to pass a bill by Senator Henry Blair that would have required the government to provide $77 million dollars to be spent "equally for the education of all children, without distinction of race or color, " making "separate but equal" a reality.

In 1954, the Supreme Court rendered its Brown vs the Board of Education decision that put in motion the process of integrating school systems across the United States.

It can be argued that if the Blair Bill would have passed, desegregation would not have even been necessary. However, during that period, some black folks believed that integration was some sort of magic elixir to cure all of the black community''s ills. As if, by some sort of telekinetic osmosis black kids would become smarter by simply being in the same classroom with white kids.

It must be noted that not all African Americans have favored integration. According to Dr. Noliwe Rooks in her book, "White Money, Black Power," in 1968, African Americans in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville section of Brooklyn attempted their own version of community control of schools courtesy of a $59,000 grant from the Ford foundation.

Also, black leaders such as Haki Madhubuti have long championed the cause of the creation of independent black educational institutions.

All of these efforts have one thing in common; better educational opportunities for black children.

It must be understood that even within an integrated school system, there still can be educational segregation in the classroom. As the late black psychologist, Dr. Bobby Wright wrote in his essay, "The Black Child: A Destination in Jeopardy," "even sitting in the same classroom, white children will be 'educated' and black children will be 'trained.' "

Many in the black community would have no problem with community schools if it meant that they would be funded, equally. Unfortunately, there is a well founded concern that the lion's share of the resources would go to the more affluent, predominately white schools.

As the controversy rages on, we must be careful not to give black children the false impression that the ultimate goal of desegregation is to earn the love and respect of the white parents of Wake County. It is about securing the necessary resources to insure that they obtain a first class education so they won't be treated as second class citizens; nothing more, nothing less.

Our ultimate goal must be to teach black children how to love and respect themselves and to instill in them the self confidence to know that their self worth does not have to be validated by white America.

No child should feel the way I did on that hot summer day back in 1972.

A boy and his beach ball, standing in the middle of a lake wondering what was wrong with him.


Courtesy of No Warning Shots Fired.com. For more information contact (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com
"No Warning Shots Fired.com, bringing you the issues that the mainstream media are afraid to touch."

Prelude to a Race War

Prelude to a Race War

Min. Paul Scott

Durham may have its problems but the one thing that we really don't have to worry about is being shot because of the color of our skin.

The color of our baseball caps, maybe. But not the color of skin.

Not yet anyway...

For the last few weeks, the Durham Herald Sun has been on overdrive promoting the idea that black folks are targeting Latinos for robbery because of race.

While anyone, with any knowledge of Durham's history or a fair amount of plain old common sense, would immediately write this off as hogwash, as it is said, if you tell a lie long enough....

First, it is problematic to insinuate that black people can be "racist."

To quote writer Neely Fuller, author of "The United Independent Compensatory Code/System/Concept,"

"The only form of functional racism that exists anywhere in the known universe is white supremacy."

To suggest that African Americans have the social, economic or political ability to be "racist" is just evidence of those who have the power to define reality though their media organs to spread false propaganda.

In recent weeks, the Durham Herald Sun has published two articles in which members of the Latino community have been quoted as saying that they are being targeted for robbery because of "racism" via "blacks."

In the 1/22 issue under the caption "Hispanics fear rash of crimes is racism: String of robberies committed mostly by black men", it was reported by Dan Way (metro editor of the Herald Sun) that several Hispanic Durham residents were raising the question whether the 30 robberies of against Hispanics during the first two weeks of January were "racist hate crimes."

A few weeks later in an article written, again, by Dan Way, a Mexican woman is quoted as saying,

"The problem in this neighborhood is with the blacks."

Also a "Honduran national" is quoted as saying,

"The "gringo's" don't bother you The Hispanics don't bother you. It's the blacks."

He later says that while his sandwich truck serves black customers, both attempts to break into his vehicle were by black men.

The article ends with the quote,

"How are we going to defend ourselves ? We don't have any help."

http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-922593.cfm

Now, there are several things that are very problematic about these two articles.

The first being that both of these articles were not written by some college intern or some kid fresh out of journalism school. These articles were written by the metro editor of the Herald Sun who should know better than to spread these accusations.

Secondly, the terms being used. As stated earlier "racism" would not be the proper term here nor would "hate crimes." When you use these terms you are alleging that those black men who are robbing Latinos are doing it strictly to deny Latinos of their rights. You also assume that these thieves only rob Latinos and have no prior histories robbing any other race, including other African Americans.

The term "gringo" is also used. In the article there is no attempt to define the Spanish term "gringo." Even, when researching the word via other sources the term is hard to define. Taken out of the context of the story, one can assume that the interviewee is using the the term to differentiate European Americans from African Americans, which is disturbing in and of itself. Since most English speaking people, including African Americans, do not use the term "gringo" it can be rightly stated that the article was only meant for a community that understands the lingo or code word.

Also, one cannot help but notice that no African Americans were interviewed in either article to refute the charges of racism. It must be noted that the way the stories are written, it is not a condemnation of a few black thieves but an indictment of the entire black community.

Not only does the Herald Sun's coverage defy logic, the assertion of black racism against Latinos goes against studies such as the one started a few years ago by Duke professor Paula McClain.

In her study "Racial Distancing in a Southern City: Latino Immigrants Views of African Americans" it is said that Latinos have a more negative view of blacks than blacks have of Latinos. According to news reports her study said that 59% of Latino immigrants felt that few or almost no blacks are hard working, one third said that blacks are hard to get along with and 57% said that few or no blacks could be trusted."

http://www.diversityinc.com/public/2967.cfm

Yet, this local study by a local professor was not used in either Herald Sun story.

One must, of course, question the motives for promoting brown on black violence.

A strong argument could be made that Durham is experiencing a strong surge in gentrification. What better way to rid the community of "undesirables" than to have them kill each other off. The out of town business developers could then come in and buy what is left of the neighborhoods dirt cheap and put up high dollar developments. Also, there has been a lot of attention in the national media lately over the political divide between African Americans and Latinos.

This is not the first time that a local newspaper has been accused of inciting violence against African Americans. Josephus Daniels, former owner of the News and Observer has been accused of using the paper to encourage violence against African Americans and he was, also, accused of helping to incite the Wilmington Race Riots of 1898.

http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/1898-wrrc/report/report.htm

It could also be argued that the Herald Sun played a major role in the popularization of local street gangs because of the extensive coverage which it has given the issue over the last decade.

http://www.heraldsun.com/hottopics/topicpage.cfm?topicID=21

Durham does not have a major brown on black race problem yet, that is still a problem that plagues West Coast cities such as Los Angeles. One cannot help but wonder what role the LA media played in promoting the tensions and if the same could happen in Durham, NC.

Columnists like the LA Time's Gregory Rodriguez bemoaned the media's exploitation on the black vs brown conflict. His 10/7 column, "The Fantasy of LA's Race War " ends with the chilling words:

"I can't help thinking that there is some sort of wish fulfillment in the black-versus-brown fixation."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rodriguez1oct01,0,1767378.column

The Durham community must rise up and stop the spread of this false propaganda before it escalates into a conflict that will neither benefit the black nor Latino community.

We must heed the words of the late great Malcolm X when he said :

"The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make a criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal…. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

Min. Paul Scott's blog is http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com/ He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 info@nowarningshotsfired.com

Community in Crisis Town Hall Meeting

A room full of people gathering at the Know Book Store on Fayetteville St in Durham, yesterday, with a clear message...

"Or community is in a crisis and black folks must find the solution."

The meeting, moderated by Cimerron Bandele of the African Diasporin Nationalist Society, featured a panel discussion by area activists such as Larry and Denise Hester, discussing solutions to the problems facing Durham.

One of the issues that was dicussed was the history and future of Fayetteville St, which according to Larry Hester is the only black historic district in Durham. The Hesters, who own the popular Phoenix Square shopping area are concerened that with the influx of outside developers and the expansion plans of North Carolina Central University, not only wil elderly residents be deplaced but the entire historic district is under assault.

The meeting also discussed the drought problem and its effect on the black community.

As one speaker put it, if Durham runs out of water who do you think is going to be the last one to get a drink?

Other topics included the the incarceration of black males, the need for afrocentric educational reform and the recent attempts by the media to promote brown on black violence.

The gathering was just the first of several town hall meetings and events planned in areas throughout Durham.

As Bandele put it,

"Today, we're behind four walls but tomorrow we're in the streets.

Min. Paul Scott's blog is http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com/ He can be reached at (919) 451-8283