[Wally_Kalbacken]

Slavery was such a colossal error for Colonial America and for the early United States. Not just as an absolute moral failure, but for all the difficulty it generates 200 years later, even with de jure equality. Although southern economic development wouldn't have been what it was - just try to imagine the continent today with a small or negligible black population.

Here in Georgia - the state suffers from the reputation of being 49th or 50th, depending on the year, in the SAT performance of its students. That South Carolina is either 49th to GA's 50th or 50th to GA's 49th is the subject of a lot of humor - but it looks past the truth that each state has a nearly 30% black population. When you look at white (non-Hispanic) SAT scores, compared on an equal basis with other states - you see that there is very little difference (a small standard deviation) among states. Yet politicians rage about the poor performance of the schools here. It's not the poor performance of the schools - it's the poor performance of one very large segment of the school population. But that's the elephant in the living room that no one can talk about. Event he State Department of Education releases annual SAT information - but conspicuously not broken down by race. Late they quietly release the race segmented results and the results are...well, you know.

 

[Hattori_Hanzo]

I have spent an awful lot of time in your state recently, and both of the Carolinas too. If there is one state in the union that has completely bent over backwards and prostrated its collective self in atonement for sins of the past, it is the great state of Georgia. Take a cruise through the terminal walkway at ATL sometime. Yet the oppressed, victim mentality still prevails. Any change to that fact must come from within those who hold on so dearly to it. It isn't happening.

Nor is it happening here in California either. A very good friend of mine is a teacher here. He is a walking dichotomy. He was an Army combat para-trooper in Vietnam, yet he went on to graduate from UC Berkeley, of all places. He has actually sat and shown me many examples of downright fraud in the state testing that allows for special accomodations and exceptions that have been granted for black students, in a futile attempt to get the aggregated scores up.

Again... until it comes from within, it isn't going to happen. Bill Cosby's comments, and even some from comedian Chris Rock are a step in the right direction. Let us hope this is the start of something good.