Race Relations

I was going to write about Harry Reid's racism, but Ward Connerly did it better than I could have, and now, because I am quoting a negro, it will be harder to call me a racist. (Except for the fact that I have used that well-known racist epithet: "negro".) 
 
Here is what Mr. Connerly said:
 

For my part, I am having a difficult time determining what it was that Mr. Reid said that was so offensive.
Was it because he suggested that lighter-skinned blacks fare better in American life than their darker brothers and sisters? If so, ask blacks whether they find this to be true. Even the lighter-skinned ones, if they are honest with themselves, will agree that there is a different level of acceptance.
Was it because he used the politically incorrect term "negro"? If so, it should be noted that there are many blacks of my generation who continue to embrace this term. In fact, "negro" is an option along with "black" and "African-American" on the 2010 Census.
Was it because he implied that Mr. Obama might be cut some political slack because of his oratorical skills or his looks? If so, that fact was not harmful to Joe Biden, who was elected vice president after praising Mr. Obama as "articulate" and "clean-looking."
Or, finally, could it be viewed as offensive that Mr. Reid suggested that blacks often have a distinctive way of speaking? If that is, indeed, the offense, then I will offend a lot of individuals when I assert that I can tell in probably 90% of the cases whether an individual is black merely by talking to him on the telephone.

 
Senator Reid’s statements can and should be parsed differently. What Reid was clearly saying is that those voters most likely to vote Democrat are also more likely to vote for someone with light skin (among other things). As more of an expert on non-racism than racism, I will defer to the Senator in his assessment of the Democrat rank and file. He was clearly not speaking about Republicans, as he presumably knew that Republicans were not going to vote for Obama no matter how clean, articulate and light he was.
 
As always, we should be dismayed by the readiness of the left to vilify even obvious non-racism. I, however, am more dismayed by the right’s willingness to join right in. Virtually the entire pantheon of right-wing commentators has parsed Harry Reid’s statements in terms of racism. This includes Rush, my favorite, who has good reason to know better. In fact, Rush and the Senator were both called racists for, in effect, calling other people racists.
 
Is anyone else surprised by this lightness issue? While I was aware that skin tone has some importance in the black community, I have never heard it discussed among whites. I suppose I could have dredged up the observation that in public life, Sidney Poitier is darker than Andrew Young, but other than noting that Michael Jackson and Bill Clinton were mighty odd looking negroes, it is simply of no importance to me. Why is it so important to the left, and why does the left’s second most powerful spokesman think the Democrat rank and file won’t like a dark candidate?

I keep hearing that State's Attorney Julia Rietz will both meet with the Carrington family and release their report mid-morning today.

The Federal Lord Judge has finally signed off on the negotiated end to the Consent Decree.

The Champaign school district’s consent decree case is officially over.

Federal District Court Judge Joe Billy McDade entered an order Wednesday afternoon approving the proposed settlement agreement reached by the school district and the plaintiffs this summer.

"The Consent Decree is hereby terminated in its entirety."  Yea!

Three stories from the NG:

More questions, few answers in Champaign death

"Everybody is edgy. There are more questions than there are answers," said Champaign County NAACP President Jerome Chambers. "How do we stop our black boys from dying where the authorities are the ones in question?"

Activist Terry Townsend said relations between Champaign police and the black community were at a breaking point.

"Our relations are no good after today," Townsend said.

Home renter: 15-year-old who was shot lived there

On Monday, Thomas pointed out the spot where the scuffle took place. A few feet away was a plywood-covered back-door opening. The damage was done by Champaign police, not burglars, Thomas said. She said the boys were confronted by police in the backyard, before they could enter the house.

Thomas said a neighbor told her the police had used a battering ram on the back door. When she returned from a Parkland College class later that day, she said, Illinois State Police investigators said the damage had been done by Champaign police.

Champaign police Deputy Chief Troy Daniels did not return calls about the damage, and Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Reitz said she would not comment about any aspect of the investigation.

In the attic, two doors to unused storage spaces were also broken in by police, Thomas added.

"They pretty much ransacked the house," said Thomas, whose family had to vacate the home for two days during the investigation while the front door was sealed.

Separate investigation will look into officers' actions

Champaign Deputy Chief Troy Daniels told more than 40 people Monday at an emergency meeting of the Champaign Community and Police Partnership that the investigation of last week's incident is in the hands of the Champaign County Multi-Jurisdictional Investigative Team, which includes representatives from the state police, the University of Illinois, Urbana and Rantoul police and the Champaign County sheriff's office, with the state police serving as the lead agency.

Daniels told the partnership that he anticipates it will take 30 days for the team to send its final report to the Champaign County state's attorney's office.

"We hope they will act as quickly as they can, but we also want them to be as thorough as they can in the investigation," Nearing said.

State's Attorney Julia Rietz will determine when the report can be released to the public, Daniels said.

Daily Illini: Community left questioning death

During the press conference, family and community members said there has been a lack of communication between the Champaign Police Department and the family, despite many attempts by family members to gain information.

“We did have contact with some family members on the day of the incident,” said Troy Daniels, deputy chief for the department.

Those in attendance at the press conference said they are still waiting to hear the full story from the police department.

“These are the kinds of things that no family should have to endure. That your loved one has been murdered and you don’t have answers why,” said Terry Townsend, self-described community activist.

Townsend also said he believed the basis of the conflict was race.

“There’s something going wrong with the policing in this community that we don’t see in Urbana and we don’t see with the sheriff. We need to get at that,” he said.

After the incident on Friday the department released a statement saying that the “Champaign Police Department reached out to several African American community leaders.”

I thought this might be interesting, given Champaign Unit 4's current machinations to get out from under a Consent Decree:

A federal judge has ended the desegregation consent decree for Chicago's Public Schools, 29 years to the day after the federal government sued the district for discriminating against black and Hispanic students.

Under the decree, white students were allowed a maximum of 35 percent of seats at the city's top schools. The elimination of the decree also frees the district from requirements regarding bilingual students.

CPS had argued the district should no longer be bound by the order. The district says it no longer operates a system that favors white students, who now make up only 8 percent of the system.

I'll keep looking for a full copy of the ruling.

UPDATE:  And the NG has this today:

Many people are concerned the new committee – to be called the "Education Equity Excellence" committee – will not adequately represent the interests of black students, or allow the black community the same voice it has had through PIC.

The school board had its first look at administrative regulations for the new committee earlier this month. They call for 10 committee members, including Superintendent Arthur Culver and another central office administrator, a school board member, a principal, a representative of the teachers' union, and five community members representing a "diverse cross-section of the community" reflecting the district's student enrollment.

"That's code for, we're now going to have people on the committee who don't necessarily have a relationship with the plaintiff class," – the black students in the district, Bazzell said.

Discuss.

Today's (morning!) News-Gazette:

The school district spends, on average, about $150,000 per month on consent decree-related fees, for its own lawyer, the plaintiffs' lawyer, and all consultants doing work on consent decree issues, said Gene Logas, the chief financial officer for the district.

That's nearly $2 million per year.

Logas anticipates that expense will decrease by about $1 million in the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1, and he's budgeted that much less in the proposed 2010 budget.

Logas noted the legal fees will continue in July and August, as the district prepares for the Aug. 3 court hearing. And some bills from the current fiscal year will come in for a few more months, he said.

Also, both sides can appeal whatever ruling the court makes, Scott said.

"It's likely to be tied up in litigation for some time," she said.

Ugh.  This is the gift that just keeps on giving.

Today's NG:

A federal judge has denied a request for a comprehensive good faith hearing before the Champaign school district’s consent decree case ends.

District Judge Joe Billy McDade issued his order Monday afternoon. It states the consent decree does not require a good faith hearing at its termination. McDade also said such a hearing isn’t necessary to decide the pending motions to extend the consent decree.

Discuss.

Today's NG:

The district filed its objection last week to both proposed hearings, saying they are not necessary and would be a waste of judicial and district resources.

In the document filed Wednesday, Ashley said the court has the authority at any time to look at the district's good faith and compliance with the consent decree, and it did so in public hearingsa in 2002 and 2006.

The district's objection to a public hearing even on the court monitor's final report "suggests a troubling insensitivity on the part of the district to its minority constituents and to the community as a whole," Ashley wrote. She said the failure to provide a public forum for milestone events in public interest consent decree cases "shuts out the community and threatens to undermine the legitimacy of the decree."

Ashley also claimed the district suggested, in 2005, that a good faith inquiry would take place prior to the end of the consent decree. She said that admission is binding now.

Discuss.

Today's NG:

The plaintiffs in the Champaign school district's consent-decree case have filed a second motion seeking to extend the consent decree, in the areas of special education and alternative education.

The motion was filed Monday afternoon, the day before the two sides in the case appear in federal district court in Peoria to argue on a previous motion to extend the decree.

The motion, filed by plaintiffs' attorney Carol Ashley, says the district has not made progress in the area of special education.

"No other area of the district's operations boasts such a comprehensive absence of progress over the course of the last seven years," it states. "The racial disparity in referral rates for special education has not budged over the life of the Decree."

The goal of the consent decree is to eliminate unwarranted disparities between black and white students in assignment to special education, along with achievement, discipline, attendance and enrollment in gifted and honors classes, among other things.

Well, at least the plaintiffs are conceding significant progress in many areas.

And here's another story about today's hearings, regarding school assignments using socio-economic status instead of race.

UPDATED and BUMPED:  An email sent by Superintendent Arthur Culver to Board Members and Staff:

From: Arthur Culver
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 3:45 PM
To: u4staff
Cc: u4boe
Subject: Update on April 28th Consent Decree Hearing
 
This morning, I accompanied our attorneys, other district administrators, and Board members to federal court in Peoria to hear Judge McDade’s opinion on Plaintiffs’ request for a Limited Extension of the Consent Decree in the areas of student assignment and the addition of two strands of seats north of University Avenue. We were very pleased that Judge McDade agreed that the District could proceed with our new process of student assignment that replaces the use of race as an assignment criteria with the use of socioeconomic status. Our kindergarten lottery has been run using socioeconomic status, and we will be sending placement letters next week. We are extremely proud of the fact that the 2009 kindergarten lottery had the largest number of participants in district history.
 
Also at today’s hearing, Judge McDade discussed two additional motions filed by Plaintiffs yesterday. In addition to the earlier motion regarding student assignment and the addition of seats north of University, Plaintiffs filed a motion seeking a Limited Extension of the Consent Decree relating to Special Education and Alternative Education. The second motion filed by Plaintiffs yesterday asks for a Comprehensive Good Faith Hearing and a Request for Consolidation of Hearings.
 
By Friday, our attorneys will respond to the Plaintiffs’ request to combine the hearings for Limited Extensions to the Consent Decree and to the motion for a Good Faith Hearing. Plaintiffs will have 3 days to reply after receipt of our response.
 
We have 14 days to respond specifically to Plaintiffs’ motions for a Limited Extension of the Consent Decree in the areas of special education and alternative education. During this same time period, the District was directed to meet and confer with Plaintiffs regarding a limited discovery plan and hearing schedule. We have previously responded to the motion for a Limited Extension of the Consent Decree in the areas of student assignment and seats north of University Avenue.
 
I will provide additional updates regarding the expiration of the Consent Decree as they become available.
 
I am sharing this information with each of you for two reasons. First, I want to keep you apprised of the process leading to the expiration of the Consent Decree on June 30, 2009. Second, I want you to know how much I appreciate all that you have done for the past seven years and before to meet the goals of the Consent Decree. We have all worked diligently on the legal and reporting requirements of the Consent Decree. We can all take pride in what we have accomplished for students. Plaintiffs and the Monitoring Team have acknowledged our success in many areas. We have acknowledged areas where we continue to seek improvement. Today, and always, I want to acknowledge the unbelievable talent, commitment, and hard work of our teachers, administrators and support staff. You give your best every day, and I will make sure that your efforts are recognized. Thank you for all that you do.
 
Arthur
 
Arthur R. Culver, Superintendent
Champaign Unit #4
703 S. New Street
Champaign, IL 61820

Encouraging:

In his last visit to the Champaign school district before a federal consent decree is scheduled to expire, court monitor Robert Peterkin said the district has made changes in the last couple of years that have made a difference for students and that have "enormous potential" for the future.

"I think they are in the best position they've been in to attack the problems brought up in the consent decree," Peterkin said, "but they can't claim total victory."

Peterkin, a Boston-based consultant who has been working with the district on equity issues for 12 years, spent the last three days meeting with administrators, teachers and students and visiting schools. He meets quarterly with district administrators and plaintiffs' representatives to monitor the district's progress on meeting the goals of the consent decree.

Discuss.

I'm late posting this, but I was out of town all weekend. 

The plaintiffs in the Champaign school district's consent decree case are seeking to either extend the consent decree, or to vacate it and have a trial on what they say are discriminatory student assignment practices.

The motion was filed Thursday in federal district court in Peoria. The consent decree is scheduled to expire June 30.

"This was expected," said school board President Dave Tomlinson. "We were hoping we'd be able to work things out without the plaintiffs seeking an extension, but we continue to believe we're on the right track."

Plaintiffs' attorney Carol Ashley said she will continue to try to work with the district, but "We are counsel to the African-American students in Champaign, and we don't believe all the elements of the consent decree have been met, and we're going to pursue those interests on behalf of our clients."

This request was expected, but it's also disappointing.  I'm at a loss for words as to how anyone can think the District hasn't made a good faith effort to address the space needs north of University.  And am I now left to hope for passage of the countywide sales tax in April in order to reduce the liklihood that the Consent Decree is allowed to expire?

I also wonder how much the plaintiffs' attorneys pushed for an extension simply to keep the cash from the District flowing into their law firm.  The millions of dollars paid over the years could have been put to much better use, not the least of which is funding new strands north of University.

There are School Board elections in six weeks.  Every candidate for Unit 4's Board should be asked whether or not they support an extension of the Consent Decree.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/19/chimp.cartoon.apology/index.html

Col Allan, the Post's editor-in-chief, said Wednesday that the cartoon "is a clear parody of a current news event."

"It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist," Allan said in a written statement.

But Sharpton was not alone in his criticism. Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said The Post showed a "serious lapse in judgment" by running the cartoon.

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=6905255&page=1

The United States is "a nation of cowards" when it comes to race relations, the country's newly minted attorney general said today.

Discuss....unless you are a chicken

This is from the weekend, but I was saving it until Monday in the hopes that there might be more discussion of it.

The change in the schools of choice program comes as the district anticipates the end of its federal consent decree, which is scheduled to expire at the end of June.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2007 declared use of race in school assignments unconstitutional. Once the consent decree ends, the school district will no longer be allowed to use race as a factor in school assignments.

Alves said many schools around the country are using economic status for school assignment, including Cambridge, Mass.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; and Berkeley, Calif.

Parents in Champaign will see virtually no change in the choice process, Alves said. They won't have to produce any documentation of their income level. The district will use data on children receiving free or reduced price lunches as the measure of economic status for the choice program.

And, in a related note, interest in running for Unit 4 School Board seems to be awfully low.  School Board is one of the most thankless jobs in government, FWIW.

This is from yesterday's News-Gazette:

The league, which closed Nov. 14 amid mounting financial problems, helped low-income families buy homes, ex-felons find jobs and young adults hone their work skills. For families on hard times, it was a hub for services throughout the community.

But, particularly under former president Tracy Parsons, the league also spoke out on civic issues, pushing for educational equity in Champaign-Urbana schools, working to open minority business opportunities, and brokering disputes between police and the black community.

Who will take on that role now?

Most likely a combination of organizations and individuals, community members and civic leaders said last week.

The league's programs have been parceled off to other groups, and several government agencies and nonprofits do similar work. But it leaves a "huge void" no one agency can fill, said former county board Chairwoman Patricia Avery.

"We have a lot of good people doing good work. But no one has the mission statement of the league," Gipson said.

Discuss.

Today's News-Gazette:

The Champaign school district is well-positioned to make its case that it has improved the education of its black students, said Robert Peterkin, the court monitor for the consent decree case.

Peterkin – who is based in Boston and has been working with the district on equity issues for 10 years – has been in Champaign the last two days, meeting with district officials and plaintiffs' representatives. He meets quarterly with the district to look at the progress it is making toward the goals outlined in the consent decree.

They aim to eliminate unwarranted disparities between black and white students in achievement, discipline, assignment to special education, inclusion in gifted and honors classes and attendance, among other things. The consent decree is scheduled to end in June 2009.

"We left thinking (Peterkin) felt like things were going real well, and there's hope we may be doing things in a high enough quality that could lead to us being released from the consent decree at its conclusion," said Superintendent Arthur Culver of the quarterly meeting.

While Peterkin said he would not speculate on whether the district will have met all the goals of the consent decree by next June, "I'm optimistic."

"But in the end, the proof will be in our outcomes," he said. "If we're still looking at the same disparities in special education and a gap in graduation rates, I think they will not have demonstrated they can improve the destinies of some of these kids. What I see and what I hear is the intent to get it done as best they can.

That's encouraging.

I am looking at the Champaign Demographic Study, and am very confused why the 2006 Tax Referendum was so strongly opposed by the Consent Decree Plaintiff Class and (rumor has it) black churches in general. I am very curious if some of the decisions that were made at that point in time were merely lacking in hard numbers, like those provided by the Demographic Study. If I understand the arguments correctly, the Plaintiff Class opposed a Boulder Ridge school because they felt like it did not address the spirit of the Consent Decree, while it did adhere to the letter of the Consent Decree. I understand that there were some 11th hour negotiations and things were happening very quickly right up until the time of the election. But in retrospect, I am curious.

The Facts

Page 34 of the Study shows that the black population has increased significantly in "Planning Area 3", which covers Boulder Ridge all the way to Springfield and Mattis. Granted, populations for all races have grown significantly in the Boulder Ridge area as families move in. A similar story is true for "Planning Area 7", directly south of "Area 3", stretching from Springfield to Windsor Road.

Page 35 shows that the Hispanic population has increased across the board north of University, and also in "Planning Area 7".

I might be able to understand some of the reasoning if the focus was on socio-economic status; while I have no hard evidence on hand, it seems quite reasonable that the average income per household for the Boulder Ridge area is higher than the same for households farther east along Bradley (between Prospect and Lincoln, for example).

Another confusing point is that the Demographic Study clearly shows that Hispanic populations are growing rather quickly as well. But my understanding of the Consent Decree is that this group is aggregated into the "non-black" group. Along with Asians. If this is a correct understanding, it would be extremely difficult to plan effectively through the lens of the Consent Decree (if we dare call it a lens at all).

Please note that it is not my intent to trash the Plaintiff class. I have not used any inflammatory language, nor is it my objective to point an accusatory finger. I fully believe that Consent Decree came about in the first place because of horrible inequities, and there is, no doubt, lingering traces of that. I am merely confused and would like answers. I have attempted to contact Carol Ashley without success, as well as Tracy Parsons. Who else can I talk to?

To clarify why I even posted this note, I very much want to understand how Unit 4 can best serve all students. Not just white, black, Hispanic, Asian or "other". Not just poor, middle-class, or filthy rich. The path to answering that question will inevitably cross several bridges, the first being "what are the needs of all students in the school district?" And "where are the most severe unmet needs?"

The Demographic Study, much like the Center for Tax & Budget Accountability, is an example of some excellent statistical analysis. But where are the action items? Where are the answers for questions like "so what" and "now what"? If there were another referedum just like the 2006 one tomorrow, would the Plaintiff Class agree?

Urbana's Mayor Prussing's proposal raises new issues about Property Rights in Urbana--

Article from today's News Gazette (link here) -

(EDITED by IP to remove full article.  Please link and excerpt to articles from other sites, rather than posting full articles.  The other sites depend on the traffic for ad revenues, for example, and sometimes charge for archives.)

My post yesterday about the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Act highlights what many consider to be an important point about Barack Obama.  In three years in the Senate, he’s left virtually no footprint.  But it goes beyond that because of the choices that Obama has made in that short Senate career.

The  Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Act is intended to stop people from using nefarious tactics to keep people from voting.  It passed without dissent in the House while basically being killed by Obama’s inaction in the Senate. 

But it’s not as if Obama hasn’t done anything in his Senate career regarding the voting rights of minorities.  In June of this year, right in the middle of his campaign, he managed to find time to get Senate Resolution 600 passed.

A resolution commemorating the 44th anniversary of the deaths of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner in Philadelphia, Mississippi, while working in the name of American democracy to register voters and secure civil rights during the summer of 1964, which has become known as "Freedom Summer".

If, as Obama claims, there are thousands of voters who are kept from voting this election because of intimidation, this Senate Resolution is filled with bitter irony.  Obama takes the time to honor three men on the 44th anniversary of their deaths in the name of voting rights and doesn’t take the time to call a bill to protect voting rights of people alive today.

“Don’t tell me words don’t matter” was the theme of one of those great Obama speeches.  Perhaps.  But one thing is certain.  Senate Resolutions honoring civil rights workers mean little if you aren’t willing to take action as well.

From today's Tribune:

The 2007 statewide data show that compared with whites, police agencies searched blacks three times more often and Hispanics more than twice as often. But police discovered illicit goods roughly twice as often when whites agreed to searches.

"Officers are more trusting of whites than they are of blacks, and they are particularly suspicious of Hispanics," Grossman said of state police. "It's clear from the data that officers require less certainty when they ask Latinos to be searched than they do whites, there are more stringent standards for whites."

Key points to take away from the study and its background:

1. The study is based on police data.
2. The study clearly shows a disparity in who is asked to be searched and in the opposite direction who is caught carrying contraband.
3. The study shows insignificant difference in rate of agreement to being searched.
4. Even if you are uninterested in racial issues, it demonstrates a clear inefficiency in policing--it wastes resources when we unnecessarily search people who do not have contraband in their cars.
5. If the police had not been compelled by law to compile this data, we probably wouldn't have know about this problem.
6. It does not demonstrate intentional bias on the part of law enforcement officers.
7. The study was made possible by the sponsorship of legislation by a particular state senator.

Instapundit:

I can think of no better reason to vote against Obama than the prospect of an administration where any criticism of the President is treated as racism.

Well, yeah.

Of course, the fact that some of the people opposed to Obama actually are racists isn't helping, as they will be the subject of much attention (and much deserved criticism) from our friends on the left and/or in the media. 

Unmentioned by those same folks will be the fact that some of the people supporting Obama are doing so primarily because of race, too.  Also unmentioned will be this larger campaign by Obama's supporters to delegitimze criticism of him by labeling critics as racist.

It's Hope and Change and Unity and all that.