So says Rev. Jesse Peterson, author of SCAM: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America. How true is it? Read this story in the Washington Times about the state of schools in D.C. and the fierce resistance to change by black “leaders” in D.C. government, Congress and the teachers union.
“If you’re not committed to the school system, then you propose things like taking the schools over, which isn’t a real solution,” said D.C. Council member Adrian Fenty, Ward 4 Democrat.
“The solution is not to shift who’s on top,” he said. “We just changed the structure of the school system three years ago. Now the mayor wants to come back three years later and do it again, when there’s been no real progress in between.”
James Brocks, head of the Washington Teachers Union’s political committee, agrees. He said Mr. Williams has wanted to take over the school “since Day One.”
“The mayor hasn’t proven he can run his own agencies, so now he wants to take over the schools?” he asked. “It’s not going to work.”
Fenty is right about one thing: There is no real progress in shifting those on top. The solution is to allow parents to leave the school system if they choose, but he doesn’t agree with that either! The Washington Post published a piece I wrote on school vouchers in D.C. back in February, “What’s so liberal about keeping children in dreadful schools?”
This is Adrian Fenty’s response to my article in which he calls me…a conservative! For more on school choice, check Casey Lartigue’s blog. Casey is a much-sought after speaker and education policy analyst at the Cato Institute.
At this point I have to mention an e-mail I received from an angry liberal (aren’t they all?). He said he’d read my column archives and thought that my work was “pitiful.” He said black issues dominated my columns and that I was no better than the black liberals I was writing about.
I admit he had a point. It was never my intention to write on “black issues” so often. I’m just drawn to it. Every single issue out there has a “black” slant to it, and I would be remiss in not pointing it out.
I wrote back to this person and told him not to read my column anymore if he thought it was so pitiful. I added that writing about the black community was my niche, and my natural tendency is to point out illogic and irrationality when it comes to the things so-called black leaders say.
How can you, in 2003, blame racism on every ill in the black community? It’s obviously ridiculous. The advantage I have over white conservative columnists is that I cannot be called a racist. More importantly I am not afraid of offending black people, “my” people (not all whites have this fear, of course). After all, the truth is often offensive.
For instance, as a Christian I know that the Gospel is an offensive message. When I share the Gospel with unbelievers, I am asserting the condition of the hearer (they are a sinner in need of a Savior) and the exclusivity of the message (the only way to God the Father is through the Son Jesus Christ). Most people do not want to hear that they are sinners. Most people do not want to hear that God is not whoever they want him to be. Most people don’t want to be told what they must do.
Black liberals don’t want to hear that they’re the source of most of their own problems. It’s human nature to deflect blame from ourselves, a survival mechanism, so to speak. That’s understandable. But in order to be decent and dignified human beings, we must rise above our nature, even if it’s painful.
