A
public schools demolition crew is in charge at the U.S. Department
of Education. As documented
by People for the American Way in their mid-November report, “Funding
a Movement,” in the last two years the department has doled
out more than $75 million to education privateers and pro-voucher
con artists hell-bent on subverting the very concept of public
education.
The
Bush men never had a public mandate for their privatizing mission,
so in the late
Nineties they invented a “movement” to create the illusion of
a “grassroots” groundswell for vouchers. Hard Right foundations
provided the seed money and infrastructure for a network of pro-voucher
front organizations whose maintenance has now been assumed by
the U.S. taxpayer. “The Bush men are determined to convert the
U.S. Department of Education into the incubator of a private
school system,” we wrote in last week’s Cover Story, “Bush’s
Phony ‘Grassroots’ Voucher ‘Movement’ – School Funds Diverted
to Subvert Public Education.”
It
is impossible to distinguish between these groups’ Hard Right
foundation-inspired political activities and the mandates of
the federal grants. “[S]ince many of the organizations benefiting
from Department of Education grants have a pro-voucher or education
privatization ideology,” the PFAW report concludes, “there
is no way of knowing whether federal tax dollars are in fact
being used to implement NCLB or to further the ideological
agenda of right-wing organizations.”
Bush
starves his own No Child Left Behind project, while his privateers
flourish
under Education Secretary Rod Paige, the former superintendent
of Houston’s schools. Paige orchestrated that system’s smoke-and-mirrors “miracle” – higher
test scores achieved by keeping thousands of “slow” students
in the ninth grade until they finally dropped out.
$75 million buys lots
of smoke and plenty of mirrors, when one considers that the
total yearly budget of the NAACP, a strong opponent of vouchers,
is just $28
million. Public funds now subsidize the voucher propaganda
activities of front organizations like the Black
Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO), which was created
out of whole cloth by the racist Bradley and Walton Foundations.
It is from these prefabricated fronts that the Right seeks “to
create an ‘alternative’ Black political leadership and to simultaneously
sunder the ties between African Americans and organized labor,
particularly teachers unions.”
Vouchers’ rich,
white roots
Despite
the “grassroots” masquerade,
one need only follow the money trail to establish the thoroughly
corporate nature of the voucher “movement.” MediaTransparency.org has
done excellent work in exposing the rich, white roots of the
BAEO and scores of other corporate foundation fronts.
Yusef
Mgeni, Director of the Office of Educational Equity for the
Saint Paul, Minnesota
public schools, sent us a link to an invaluable organizational
map of the pro-voucher network. We’re proud to pass along TeacherProfessionalism.com’s “Framework
for Understanding the Anti-Public School Movement.”
Mr. Yusef Mgeni also
had nice things to say about  :
I
enjoy your site immensely and find it provocative and real "Black." Remember, "A
man can't ride your back, unless it's bent. . ." Keep
up the good work.
It
is difficult to overstate the sheer mendacity and raw gall
of the Right’s voucher
advocates. The same forces that have historically starved public
education for African Americans now prescribe a private solution
to the ills of urban education, seeking to profit from the
misery they have helped to create. considers
vouchers to be the poison dart in the Right’s anti-Black arsenal,
the product of sadistic minds. In our July
11, 2002 issue, we wrote:
African
Americans, who possess little power and less money, and have
yet to experience the full fruits of democracy, now find themselves
ploys in the Hard Right's obscene and cynical war to destroy
public employee unions and privatize education for the benefit
of the rich. Fully aware that Black communities are in need
of, literally, everything, the ultra-conservatives dangle
vouchers. In return for these tokens of dubious value, we are
expected not only to jettison our few allies in the political
arena, but to purge our own leadership and principles, as well.
What Black America
needs is more democracy, more resources, and more power to
put those resources at the service of Black children. Instead,
the Right offers vouchers.
Yasmin
Hams, of Kansas City, Missouri, isn’t buying it.
The
article about "Bush's
Phony Vouchers Movement" is an eye opener. I witnessed
first hand the terrible condition that the KC School District
was in. In the public schools in the 60's and the 70's,
we received the worn, torn and ragged with missing pages "books" they
gave us to read and learn from. My heart was broken knowing
that white kids always had brand new books and we got their
2 year old editions. It broke my heart even more when
my son experienced similar situations: no books, wrong books,
books still in the warehouse, a brand new library with no
books, a computer room with no computers. Why? Because
there were white people who would not and did not send the
requisitions through so the schools could have all their
supplies.
It
was appalling to go to PTA meetings and see no books in the
classrooms – only a teacher (white) sitting there with a smirk
on his face. My son said "Mom all he does is sit there
and we just sit there." This is a blatant crime
to commit on our children, yet through all of our protest nothing
was done to improve the conditions. It has been 40 years and
I still see no great improvements. Now they come up with
another plan to deny the poorest the right to a free education. If
you do the math the capacity of private schools is much smaller
than public schools, so who is going to be at the bottom as
always? Us. I hope that one day we will have real democracy
when it comes to education because right now Black communities
are under siege and our education is one of the "Bush
regime's" targets. If Bush steals this upcoming
Presidential election, education as we know it will become
extinct to our own grand children. America needs some "Divine
Intervention" to save us from the grip of "Damnation."
John Sibley Butler
is a voucher proponent.
Let
us not forget that the most prestigious schools in America
are black private schools; they include Tuskegee, Morehouse,
Dillard University and a host of others. They carry the
load for leadership in black America. Also in southern
cities blacks are starting private schools by the truckloads,
a return to a tradition that was started at the turn of the
century. It would be great for black parents, not the
federal government, to make decisions about where children
go. Of course blacks with money have been sending their
children to private schools for years, especially in the north. It
is difficult to think and act like free people, but this is
required in a free society.
We join Mr. Butler
in appreciation of the historic contribution of Black private
schools, although that has nothing to do with efforts to privatize
public education. We then recalled that Butler had written
to us back in January,
touting the miraculous workings of the marketplace. “Who cares
who the President of the U.S. is?” Butler wrote. “You have
to work yourself into wealth and prosperity.”
He sounds very much
like the crowd assembled by rightwing foundations to form the
BAEO, many of whom are in the business of education
and hope to profit from privatization.
National Whitewash
Day
We
anticipated that our November 27 “holiday” Cover Story might
depress some readers, centered as it was on the extermination
of Native Americans
and enslavement of Africans. The U.S. holiday is a lethal,
merciless celebration, a monstrous whitewash of history whose
imposition cannot be allowed to pass without protest and truth
telling. We looked forward to “The
End of American Thanksgivings: A Cause for Universal Rejoicing.”
The
Thanksgiving story is an absolution of the Pilgrims, whose
brutal quest for absolute power in the New World is made to
seem both religiously motivated and eminently human. Most importantly,
the Pilgrims are depicted as victims – of harsh weather
and their own naïve yet wholesome visions of a new beginning.
In light of this carefully nurtured fable, whatever happened
to the Indians, from Plymouth to California and beyond, in
the aftermath of the 1621 dinner must be considered a mistake,
the result of misunderstandings – at worst, a series of lamentable
tragedies. The story provides the essential first frame of
the American saga. It is unalloyed racist propaganda, a tale
that endures because it served the purposes of a succession
of the Pilgrims’ political heirs, in much the same way that
Nazi-enhanced mythology of a glorious Aryan/German past advanced
another murderous, expansionist mission.
We were pleased to
learn that Dany Hartman appreciated the piece.
Your "thanksgiving" piece
was outstanding. Good work. I sent it on to all
of my friends. Please, by all means, keep up your good work. In
these dark days we need as many voices of reason and clarity
as possible.
Mahtowin
Munro was busy on the day in question. He’s Co-leader, United American
Indians of New England, the group that organized a “National
Day of Mourning” at the scene of Pilgrim crimes.
Thank
you for your impassioned article on the American "thanksgiving" holiday. You
and your readers might not be aware that there has been a Native-led
protest in Plymouth, Massachusetts on "thanksgiving Thursday" every
year since 1970. We talk about the true history
of the pilgrims and of thanksgiving, as well as about conditions
today in Indian Country. We also march through the streets
of Plymouth. Although only Native people speak at National
Day of Mourning (we think that there should be at least one
day a year when white people stop talking on our behalf and
when folks can stop and listen to us for a few hours), we sincerely
welcome our non-Native allies. For more information,
see our website at: http://home.earthlink.net/~uainendom/
Attack of
the soul snatchers
Some
aboriginal people are said to have avoided cameras, fearing
the contraptions
would capture their souls – a scary notion given the Bush White
House’s relentless Black photo and video trophy hunts. Freedom
Rider columnist Margaret Kimberley revealed the soul-snatching
truth in her December 4 piece, “Bush
to Central Casting: ‘Send Black People.’”
One
of the first things I noticed when George W. Bush campaigned
for the presidency was his obvious love of putting black people
in photo opportunities. How better to prove the compatibility
of conservatism and compassion than with a healthy dose of
contented black faces. I always imagined his advance team screaming
into their cell phones anxiously awaiting reconnaissance for
campaign events. “No black people? Find another place!” My
suspicions were proven correct on Thanksgiving when our President
pulled off yet another propaganda coup by flying to Iraq for
Thanksgiving dinner with the troops.
Ms.
Kimberley noted the gross photo-exploitation of Black GIs
during Bush’s Iraq
airport visit, although she is “hesitant to criticize a soldier
far from home who has a chance to pose for a photo with the
President of the United States.” It’s the political soul-sellers
she’s worried about – leaders of Black groups like the National
Medical Association and the National Black Chamber of Commerce,
who posed teethily as advertisements for Bush’s Medicare Bamboozlement
Plan. Kimberley fears there are more shameful photo-ops in
store.
What
will happen next year at the Republican convention? Will every
speaker be black instead of every other speaker as at the 2000
convention? If I turn on my television and see Aretha Franklin and Chaka
Khan I don’t know what I will do. Maybe that will finally push
me over the edge and send me to a nation that doesn’t rely
on imagery to make me feel good.
Toni Odom has a laugh
you can hear all the way from Chicago. She writes:
I
truly admire and love your writing and I couldn't agree
with you more regarding
the imagery used by the current administration. You hit the
nail on the head! I'm with you – if ReRe's boobs and Chaka's
Weave show up at the convention – I gotta go Rasta and head
for the Islands! LOLOLOL.
Proud of you my Sistah!
We’re
all quite proud of Toni
Odom, whose book of poetry, “Sistahs
N’ SistaHood,” is the perfect holiday gift.
A
fellow named David gives Kimberley stellar ratings.
It is not possible
to communicate to you here how much I enjoy your writings
on .
You
are incisive and brutally frank in expressing your views,
a trait which
is sadly missing in this country and especially missing among
the so-called "Black Political Leadership.” Your use
of the English Language is exhilarating and brilliant.
Congratulations,
keep up with the good work. I look forward to reading your
comments on the burning issues in Black society today.
Leutisha
Stills is tired of Black celebrities that smile for the highest
bidder. She writes from Oakland, California.
I
thought I would send you a note and let you know how much I
appreciate writing like yours that cuts to the chase. Whenever
I see Black divas performing for the Republican Party (aka
Vanessa Williams singing at Ah-nold Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial
inauguration) I want to hurl. As says
of such people: "They have stained Black people's honor,
voluntarily."
I'm
not for embracing our Black
celebrities who act like they
don't know us until they get
in trouble (ala O. J. and Kobe,
and now Michael). I've
often thought that our race
is probably the most forgiving
race on the planet, and that's
probably been our saving grace. My
argument is we probably shouldn't
be unwilling to forgive one's
transgressions; maybe just
not be so "quick-on-the-draw" in
issuing out forgiveness.
The
Republican National Committee
hasn't gotten the message that
African-Americans can't be
fooled because you parade Condi,
Colin, Ward, Rod, Armstrong
and those Blacks running think-tanks
that serve as a front for doling
out school vouchers, in front
of us to get us to accept them
or their message. Especially
when their actions speak much
louder than their words. Will
the Black "moderates" of
the Congressional Black Caucus
ever get the message and stop
the futility of trying to build
bridges with these mentally
deranged individuals? Or
are we doomed to forever be
sold out just so they can have
a comfortable life at our expense?
It
is writings like yours, and
publications like that
continue to remind me that
I'm not in the fight alone,
and it appears that those numbers
are increasing everyday. Some
day our message will be heard – I
just want to experience it
when it happens. Keep
writing.
By
coincidence – or possibly not – Harry Kendall also hails from
Oakland.
What
a wonderful piece of writing! It's really nice to read what
one is thinking. Especially those of us who always seem
to vote for the losing candidate or believe in the idea ridiculed
by the mainstream. Thank you!
And
here’s another one: Aaron Ledet is from Oakland, too. Let’s
call him Mr. Eclectic.
I'm
a grad student in the school of Public Policy and Administration
at USC. About twice a month, I frequent all the Black
political web sites I know of, from the "Policy 21" group
to the "Black Commentator." Whether partisan
or non-partisan, dem or rep, I enjoy reading and discussing
issues concerning my people with my people, whether we
always agree or not. I don't have a "party affiliation," for
as Malcolm X said, "The Democrats are foxes and the
Republicans are wolves."
I read your column
(and enjoyed its
raw cynicism) on
the Black Commentator
about "Bush to Central Casting." The following is a quote
from your article that caught my eye:
"The
Republicans express the worst kind of cynicism by using
black faces as a cover for their policies. They know that
black people, even those who want to meet a President,
are not going to vote for them. Colin, Condi and turkey
on Thanksgiving won’t change minds in voting booths. The
Democratic nominee, whoever that is, will get at least
90% of the black vote and Republicans know it."
I
agree with the first sentence in this statement (to a degree),
but Democrats do the same thing. I don't think that the
GOP is sacrificing Cabinet positions simply to recruit
the black vote because they've proven they don't need the
Black vote to win. I think the deciding factor for
Bush putting those people in their positions has to do
with their history of supporting him and his policies. No
president will put someone in power that they don't think
they have a handle on. Replacing Condi and Colin
with whites won't make anything better.
However, at the same
time, I do realize the
political significance
of any president putting
multiple blacks in visible
positions of influence
(an
incredibly recent trend in federal politics). And like you, I do
not assume that his intentions are completely admirable.
And as a non-partisan,
I see no difference in
Bush having Aretha sing
than if Gore had Aretha
sing. Neither one goes home at the end of the
night and dreams about how wonderful black people are. No matter
who was in power, Clinton or Bush, I can only remember my East Oakland
Neighborhood getting worse and worse and more young blacks pregnant or
in jail.
I think the brightest
political future for
blacks will show us casting
aside partisan politics and using our resources together for the improvement
of our people. Why should we be playing these same "political
games" (for the same reasons) whites play when our situation in this
country is so drastically different? We can take advantage of Bush just
like some of us took advantage of Clinton. But that's just my opinion.
Anyway, keep up the good work and I will keep reading it.
I
am glad you enjoyed reading my column but if you responded
to what you call "its raw cynicism" you missed
the point. It is our system that is cynical and confuses
persons like yourself so much you become incapable
of taking a political stance of any kind. No where in your
letter is it clear what you advocate. I find it interesting
that someone studying public policy would not have any
discernible political belief other than to call himself
non partisan. You only say what you are not (republican
or democrat) but you do not say what you are. Are you a
social democrat, anarchist, libertarian, communist, black
nationalist or adherent of some other political movement?
Where do you stand Mr. Ledet?
I
will accept that conditions in your hometown are unchanged
regardless of who is in the White House, but that makes
it all the more important for an educated person like yourself
to clearly formulate a political point of view. Your
graduate degree will be of little use to East Oakland if
you quote Malcolm X but have no ideas of your own to
offer.
The
terrible realities of life in America make it easy to throw
up our hands and say a pox on both your houses. As a student
of politics you should realize that the powers that be
rely on your frustration to create and sustain the conditions
that exist in your neighborhood. If our only response
is to say that there is no difference between a fox and
a wolf then they will be able to do what they want in East
Oakland and every other community in this country.
Good
luck with your studies.
Ms.
Kimberley last month called for fewer politicians and more
thought and discussion
in Black churches on the next MLK Day. “In 2004 they should
request the speakers who inundate their churches to address
the issues raised in the Riverside Church speech as they relate
to the war in Iraq,” she wrote, in “A
Time to Break the Silence: Reclaiming Dr. King.” The theme
should be ‘A Time to Break the Silence on Iraq.’”
Antonio Cutolo-Ring
is already rethinking the occasion.
Thank
you for your column in The Black Commentator on Martin
Luther King's foresight
and courage in speaking out against the Vietnam war in 1967. Your
linking this speech to the current situation in Iraq is timely
and absolutely relevant.
I
was unaware of Dr. King's specific words in objecting to the
Vietnam War. Your quotes from his speech show how the
same forces that pushed us into Vietnam are currently at play
in Iraq. I will keep this in mind as we approach Dr.
King's next birthday celebration, an election year and the
continued tragedy being played out in Iraq. Again, thank you
for your column.
Kudos for
Tim Wise
has
been known to have strange effects on people. Luckily, our
impact on Mr. M.L. Mosley has been beneficial, overall.
Just
want to let you know I enjoy your website. Came across
it about nine months ago and my Thursdays have never been the
same. A lot of times I know I should be in bed, because I get
up early. But, I'm glued to my computer screen reading
the great and truthful articles in your Commentary.
People just don't know they're not getting real news from the mainstream
(corporate) media.
I like the articles written by Tim Wise a lot. Its good to know some white
people think like he does and express it. Keep up the excellent work.
You
published the link to Amnesty USA several times in the articles. I
was hoping you might publish a link to Amnesty International’s
Tulsa Chapter as well.
So, here it is:
http://www.AmnestyTulsa.org
”Tarbaby” General
African
American federal workers at the Army’s Redstone Arsenal call him the “Tarbaby” General.
On December 16, the top brass will throw a party for Larry
Dodgen to celebrate his promotion to commanding general of
the hyper-security Space and Missile Defense Command installation,
outside Huntsville, Alabama. According to a statement by the Redstone
Area Minority Employees Association (RAMEA), Gen. Dodgen
is a habitual user of the racial epithet.
“MG
Dodgen admitted to the Birmingham, AL press and in his sworn
testimony this year that he used the racial epithet in the
past. He was called as an Army EEO witness after one his managers
used the term in an official email to allegedly insult Dr.
Clara West, a black AMCOM engineer. MG Dodgen also admitted
in his testimony that ‘Tarbaby’ is used at the Pentagon. Dr.
West is the Class Agent in a Title VII complaint filed last
August in the Northern District of Alabama by nearly 50 minority
workers alleging racial discrimination and harassment at AMCOM.”
“The Pentagon is the
eyes and ears for dedicated US military personnel who are dying
in Iraq and around the world,” said Matthew Fogg, executive
director of RAMEA. “’Tarbaby’ has historical racially hostile
implications and now, a possible ‘Three Star’ General has given
all black US Army personnel something to really be concerned
about inside the high command headquarters around Washington
DC.” Gen. Dodgen’s promotion party will be held at Fort Myer,
in suburban Virginia.
Longtime readers of should
be familiar with the controversy at Redstone. In our fourth
issue, June 7, 2002, we investigated the “Tar
Baby Outrage: Racism and Corruption at Redstone Arsenal.”
White
managers at one of the nation’s most sensitive military installations
routinely assault Black employees with an archaic racial
epithet, undermining even the pretense of unified national
resolve in the “War on Terror.” At Huntsville, Alabama’s
Redstone Arsenal, a military and civilian culture holds sway
that seems to revel in the language of unrelenting war against
the humanity and dignity of African Americans.
What
do they call a Black Ph.D. at Redstone? Tar Baby.
Never, ever
forget
Dehumanization
is a necessary prelude to genocide. Once the dehumanization
project
has been accomplished, there is no limit to the crimes that
can be committed against the victims. In the not so long ago
United States, Blacks often found no sanctuary from ritual,
murderous assaults by racist fiends – frequently including
hundreds and even thousands of the “best white citizens” of
the neighborhood.
We
recommend the photo-film of James Allen’s exhibit, “Without Sanctuary: Photographs and
Postcards of Lynching in America.” The pictures are the
Truth. View the film and click on the Forum page.
Without Sanctuary
http://www.musarium.com/withoutsanctuary/main.html
Keep Writing.
gratefully
acknowledges the following organizations for sending visitors
our way during the past week:
All
Facts and Opinions
Black
Electorate
Liberal
Oasis
Black
Planet
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