The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations

The bigotry may be soft, but the results are anything but:

While New York’s Mayor Bloomberg sees racism in the campaign of Bill deBlasio and Jay Z finds racism in the Trayvon Martin decision, I perceive racism in these jobs figures.    Blacks are increasingly left behind, at least in part because their leaders do not demand better schools. The greatest source of “disparate impact” in this country, to borrow a phrase currently popular with the Justice Department, is that most black kids can’t read or write. Upward mobility for the African-American community, tenuous at best, is squashed the minute they enter kindergarten...

To their shame, the leaders of the African-American community tolerate the educational status quo. In New York City’s mayoral contest, candidate Bill Thompson – the only black in the race--has won backing from the UFT, one of the nation’s largest union locals.

Union leaders stated that Thompson would “address the needs of teachers,” according to The New York Times, including “reducing standardized testing and ending the city’s practice of closing low-performing schools.” Why would anyone want to preserve our worst schools? To keep teachers on the payroll; it’s all about the money...

Until our African-American leaders target the terrible bigotry of allowing black children to grow up ignorant and often illiterate, their community will continue to suffer.