SJC: CONTROLLED CHOICE O.K.
Ten White students and their families
remain disappointed 3-1/2 years after filing a lawsuit against the Boston
School system claiming that its school choice program discriminated against
them by considering race as a factor in student placement. Two things happened
on the way to the SJC’s April finding that the Boston
Schools’ Controlled Choice program--that allows 50% of the seats in a school
for children within walking distance and the other 50% to those outside of the
neighborhood--is legal. First, immediately after parents of the White students
filed the lawsuit, the Boston School Committee eliminated race as a declared
factor in school selection and instituted the current controlled choice
program. Second, and central to the SJC decision, although the White parents
showed that White students were denied seats in three schools that would have
been their seats if all students in the neighborhood had been given the choice
to attend, the court determined that the White parents did not show that the
denial was caused by discrimination, since minority students were not receiving
preferential treatment.
AMERICAN JUSTICE: BETTER TO MURDER A BLACK MAN
If you intend to murder someone in
America, and this column does not recommend it, you would be wise to select a
Black victim. A recent report by Amnesty International revealed that those who
murder Whites are much more likely to be executed than killers of Blacks.
Amnesty reported that 80% of 749 people executed since 1977 were convicted of
killing a White person. The report also noted that a disproportionate number of
those convicted were Black, many of whom were convicted by juries containing no
Blacks.
2004 HOUSE BUDGET CUTS RUN DEEP
Proposed House budget cuts threaten to
cause losses of up to 5000 state jobs, 150 million dollars in state aid to
public schools, 76 million dollars in aid to cities and towns, 170 million
dollars in aid to higher education, and an end to the Prescription Advantage
program for 80,000 elderly and disabled patients. Co-payments for Medicaid recipients would
increase and 60,000 recipients will be involuntarily shifted to cheaper managed
care programs. The cuts would eliminate the methadone drug treatment program entirely
as well as the state’s anti-smoking campaign…and much more!
QUALIFIED BUT BLACK
38 year-old John Bingham had worked with
concrete as his father’s apprentice since 16, spent four years as an Army
construction engineer, and had nearly 20 years experience driving trucks as
large as 50 tons. So, he was quite surprised in the early 1990’s to be rejected
for a well-paid job driving a concrete truck on the Big Dig in Boston. 10 years later, the company that rejected
him, Lynn Sand and Stone, was also surprised when the Massachusetts Commission
Against Discrimination determined that it had not hired a Black driver for
twenty years and that it had hired White drivers for the Big Dig job who were
less qualified than Bingham, including a former garbage man and a former
delivery man. The company was more than
surprised when the MCAD ordered it to pay Bingham $505,000.00 in discrimination
damages.
CANCER DISCRIMINATES?
Noting that Black Americans are more
likely to die of cancer than Whites, the American Cancer Society pointed to a
variety of contributing causes but emphasized the need for Afro-Americans to
get checkups earlier and to learn about the relationship of lifestyle choices
to cancer. 132,700 Blacks will get
cancer in 2003 and 63,100 will die of it. The report did not underestimate the
impact of socioeconomic disparities and unequal access to medical treatment,
while pointing out that lung cancer is caused almost exclusively by smoking,
which is an avoidable life-style choice.
AL SHARPTON’S FUNDRAISING SECRETS
Leave it to Al Sharpton to split
hairs and anger White folks over a transient issue that will resolve itself if Sharpton runs for President. He is the only one of nine
presidential candidates not filing a presidential campaign finance report. His
critics say he is violating the campaign finance law that requires declared
candidates who spend at least $5000.00 to file. Candidates do not have to
report as long as they are simply exploring whether it would be worthwhile to
run. Taking advantage of this exception, Sharpton,
who some say has done everything to declare himself a candidate except be
elected President, says that he is in an exploratory period and will not be
making his candidacy official until
sometime this spring.
CLARENCE THOMAS DIGS DEEP
Clarence Thomas finally remembered where
he came from as he joined the majority of the Supreme Court in support of a
Virginia law banning burning of the cross. He recalls cross burning in the
segregated Georgia of his childhood as “… a symbol of [a] reign of terror” and,
he wrote, “Those who hate cannot terrorize and intimidate to make their
point.” Thomas made no promise in his
opinion to continue working on his memory.
WAGERS OF THE YEAR:
…That
the French will surpass Afro-Americans and Arabs as the most
abused minority in America;
…That
White America will lynch anyone who reminds it that the Orangeburg Massacre at
the all-Black South Carolina University, not Kent State University, is where
the National Guard and state police first killed protesting college students;
…That
Springfield, Massachusetts will have three different mayors within the next six years;
…That
Oprah Winfrey will become a multi-billionaire by year’s end;
…That
the National Republican Party will renounce bigotry;
…That
the State Republican Party will reaffirm its support of bigotry;
…That
Wall Street brokerage firms will never return the money they stole from
…That
bank robbers and other small-time thieves will join the more lucrative
Wall Street brokerage firms in droves;
…That
the National Democratic Party will
seriously consider rewarding Afro-Americans for their loyalty;
…That the Massachusetts Democratic Party will reconsider the “pet”
status it has historically assigned to Afro-Americans.