Help solve segregation by addressing education and class

Don’t believe the hype; segregation is very much alive in America. All of us have grown up… Don’t believe the hype; segregation is very much alive in America. All of us have grown up with it. In middle school, in high school and now in college, we’ve experienced de facto segregation. This kind of separation is a modern segregation by which races are segregated not by law, but by other non-judicial factors, such as income.

While schools were desegregated more than 50 years ago, it seems that we as Americans still have some integrating to do. More than 63 percent of white students attend schools that are 90 to 100 percent white.

When observing the public school systems in each state, this becomes very apparent. Predominantly black schools in this country generally receive three to four times less funding than their white counterparts.

While this new segregation is no longer attributed to law, as was the case before the decision in 1954, it is still a very obvious violation of the principles behind that decision. The purpose for the ruling was the integration of not only our education, but also our society. It is an abomination that our schools seem to be more segregated now than they were 20 years ago.

Minority students are not being offered the same opportunities as whites. In America, black people are still the most highly segregated minority group. Just look at the Hill District in Oakland, or any other urban areas in the United States that are commonly referred to as “the hood.”

Urban projects and ghettos only contribute to the problem of segregation, as many of the residents in these tenements are black. By no means am I condemning public housing, as I understand it’s a means for survival for many people who could not afford housing in any other way.

I am, however, asking that we recognize the shift it creates in property taxes and revenues generated in any given area. On the most basic level, housing projects do not generate the amount of property taxes necessary to pay for a community’s most basic function. They also do not house residents capable of reviving local businesses.

For instance, any metropolitan area with a housing project is already more than likely a low-income area. Low property values, as well as the availability of unwanted space – in the form of decrepit buildings – make it easy and practical for the government to place these housing projects in such areas.

Another problem with housing projects is that so many people are confined to one place. These areas become dead space because not nearly enough money is coming in. Thus, the people are financially trapped, and this only hinders economic mobility.

Because the American school system’s funding is based on property taxes and other local initiatives, it is imperative that drastic measures be taken to ensure proper funding to low-income areas. Honestly, for Americans to claim that our school system is no longer segregated is, again, an absurdity.

The problem is bigger than just funding education. These low-income areas are receiving less funding for all of their public functions and programs. That means less funding for after-school care at the schools, less funding for clean-up programs throughout the neighborhood and, ultimately, less interest and attraction for new residents.

By allowing this type of segregation to continue, we are doing a disservice to the nation, as we lose many bright and talented individuals to a lack of education and a poor home environment. While 92 percent of whites finish high school, only a disappointing 86 percent of blacks will, and an even more frightening 61 percent of Latinos will.

The 1966 federally sponsored Coleman Report explains “the point is not that blacks magically benefit from sitting next to whites, but that poverty concentrations, whether in public schools or public housing, have consistently been found to perpetuate failure.”

Not only is it an institutional issue, modern segregation is a problem for this country on many other levels. Socially, even in the institutions that are more adequately diversified, the white and black students rarely interact.

Today, in cafeterias all over the country – including our very own Schenley Cafe – the black kids will eat with other blacks, and the whites with other whites. With the races not interacting, it becomes harder to believe that societal factors could possibly contribute to many of the statistics just named.

It’s us, our society, who are not only the problem, but also the solution. It’s our opting for tolerance instead of acceptance. It’s our way of acknowledging the little black kid in the back of the class but not really getting to know him. And it’s the zoning system regarding the appropriation of property taxes and how money is distributed throughout a given school system.

Most Americans would rather believe that minorities are poor because they are lazy and lack ambition. This is not the case. As a junior in college at a top-ranked university, I had trouble finding work this past summer. Imagine if I hadn’t been formally educated. Imagine that you grew up in public housing and attended poorly funded public schools. Imagine if you did not have the resources to attend this or any other institution for secondary education. If it’s hard for us as college students and graduates to attain meaningful work, i.e. jobs capable of supporting our families and ourselves, can you imagine how hard it must be for those without proper education?

As a country, we are failing to prepare our minorities for success. In order for us to truly build a stronger nation, where all men are able to pursue happiness and prosperity, the inequities within our most basic institutions must be addressed.

E-mail Brandon at ble34@hotmail.com.