Public schools in Portland, Oregon have recently adopted a new curriculum for
eighth-graders which delves into the history of racism in Oregon.
The goals and purposes of this program are to better understand Oregon’s racial past,
examine biases, and provide a healing opportunity. Excuse me, but why do twelve and thirteen
year olds need healing opportunities for discrimination they’ve never
experienced that happened in 1886?
According to Keisha Edwards, co-author of Beyond the Oregon Trail: Oregon’s Untold History, “A lot of multicultural curriculum has dealt
with celebrating differences. We had the
element of going beyond celebrating differences, past that to the place where
the rub is — the racism, sexism, classism, homophobia. Oregon Uniting was
willing to go that extra step to push people to examine the biases that affect
them and provide a healing opportunity."
Oregon Uniting, developers of the curriculum, merged with The Understanding Racism Foundation in 2004, a group which believes that, “the
root cause of racial discrimination in the United States is the conduct of
white people.”
While the program harps upon the
evils of Manifest Destiny, and the treatment of minorities by white people,
supposedly, “everyone leaves with their dignity in tact,” according to
co-author Shauna Adams. Hard to believe
coming from a group that believes white people are the cause of all racism.
This curriculum is not a history
lesson for the good of education, but one meant to emphasize racism and cause
further divisions among the public.
Every child, I hope, still learns about the terrible history of slavery
in our country based upon racial superiority.
Oregon
seems to think that focusing special attention on just how terrible that time
was will somehow bring the youth together.
In truth, it serves only to divide children and create racial tension as
they turn into adults.
Another program highlighting the
racism of white people is up and running again at the University of Delaware. A mandatory residence hall program,
terminated last year when news broke that the program required students to
acknowledge that all white people are racists and that it would offer treatment
for any incorrect attitudes regarding class, gender, religion, culture
or sexuality they might hold upon entering the school, has now been revived at
the university.
Training documents stated: "A RACIST: A racist is one who is both privileged
and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The
term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in
the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality.
By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples
within the U.S.
system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or
acts of discrimination"
The program also stated that the
term "reverse racism" was “created and used by white people to
deny their white privilege. Those in
denial use the term reverse racism to refer to hostile behavior by people of
color toward whites, and to affirmative action policies, which allegedly give
‘preferential treatment’ to people of color over whites. In the U.S., there is no such thing as
“reverse racism.”
Really? I guess
that’s good news for Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Another reverend, who some would call controversial, happens
to disagree. Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson,
radio host, columnist, and founder of BOND,
has focused extensively on the “reverse racism” in this country. Rev. Peterson also happens to be a leader in
the Black Community.
If educators really care about getting beyond racial
divisions they should focus on teaching the harmonious ideals that used to be embedded
in our culture: virtue, morality, honor, personal responsibility, and Natural
Law. Without such ideals, the American
identity can never flourish, and the people will never be united.
It’s no wonder that most young black kids will never amount to anything. They are being taught from the youngest age that they cannot succeed because all the white people hate them. As a consequence they believe that the only way they can be successful is to play basket ball or sell drugs. It’s the sad reality of the failure our public school system has become.
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I experience reverse racism all the time living in Memphis, TN. It certainly exists, and it's a shame. I agree with the statement that racism can't exist without "Power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination," but people of all races and creeds have power in different situations.
Canoechick, saying that most young black kids will not amount to anything is wrecklessly ignorant. To say a large portion of inner-city youth might not be able to amount to anything would have merit, but qualifying all black kids as hopeless is absurd. Shame on you.
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I think most is a perfectly accurate word to describe the state of ignorance experienced by a large portion of the black youth, as a result of their government provided education. If my understanding is correct the majority of the black population, in this country, lives in the poverty stricken inner cities. My question to you is at what point does the stereotype become reality? How many times do I have to drive down MLK Blvd. in Baltimore and see people, all of whom are black, sitting on the street eating fried chicken and drinking malt liquor at three in the afternoon before I can think that a lot of black people don’t have jobs? How many times do I have to speak with my more affluent black colleagues and have them tell me they assume most white people are racist before I can assume that most black people are racist? And finally, how many times do I have to read that blacks make up approximately 45% of the prison population despite only being 13% of the population at large before I can say that most black kids will not amount anything?
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According to ICIC's analysis of U.S. Census Bureau statistics, African-Americans represent 42 percent of the inner-city population and 36 percent of all inner-city households. And almost 58 percent of African Americans lived in metropolitan areas in 2000. A far cry from "most all black kids." As far as the prison population statistic, that tends to go hand-in-hand with the metropolitan/inner-city statistic that I provided. Possibly because police make many more arrests in metropolitan areas, where a large portion of the population is African-American.
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I invite you to come and see the shit hole that is Baltimore and Prince George's County and then maybe you will feel differently.
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I live in Memphis. I imagine that it's about the same. Actually, we have a higher percentage of African Americans that you do. Must mean that more of our population is doomed to certain failure.
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