Would They Be Proud?

Creator's Syndicate ^ | Aug 5, 2013 | Walter Williams

[Salman]

One can't imagine the fear in the hearts of the parents of those nine black students who walked past shouting placard-carrying mobs as they entered Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Each day, they were greeted with angry shouts of "Two, four, six, eight, we don't want to integrate." In some rural and urban areas, during the school desegregation era, parents escorted their 5- and 6-year-old children past crowds shouting threats and screaming racial epithets. Often there were Ku Klux Klan marches and cross burnings. Much of this protest was in the South, but Northern cities were by no means exempt from the turmoil and violence of school desegregation.

Most of the parents and civil rights leaders whose sacrifices and courage made today's educational opportunities possible are no longer with us. My question is: If they could know what many of today's black youngsters have done with the fruits of their sacrifice, would they be proud? Most schools identified as "persistently dangerous" are predominantly black schools. To have a modicum of safety, many schools are equipped with walk-through metal detectors, security cameras and conveyor belt X-ray machines that scan book bags and purses. Nationally, the black four-year high-school graduation rate is 52 percent. In some cities, such as Detroit and Philadelphia, it's considerably lower — 20 percent and 24 percent, respectively. In Rochester, N.Y., it's 9 percent.

[DoughtyOne]

I don't countenance KKK views.  The very idea of the KKK, bothers me.

That being said, take a look at inner city schools today, and tell me the folks who made predictions back in the 60s were wrong concerning what their fears were.

I could avoid this, and not say it.  That wouldn't be right.  Our inner city schools and students, are a blight on America.  For many of the kids trapped in that system, it's not their fault.

They are products of failed government programs from the bed they crawl out of in the morning, until they crawl back in it at night.

I feel very sorry for them.


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[Forrestfire]

Walter is spot on!!! As usual!

[Enterprise]

And look how well forced busing worked out!

[GenXteacher]

The article asks a question that needs to be asked. I read Frederick Douglass’ autobiography once. When you consider that he learned to read, at great risk to himself, as it was forbidden for slaves to be literate, and then you look at blacks today pissing away the opportunity to learn, not just to read, but things undreamed of 150 years ago, it is scarcely believable.

[Secret Agent Man]

screw the kkk and at the same time, screw the black racists and race-baiting prostitutes like sharpton and jackson.

if the black family hadn’t been destroyed by the libtards the last 50+ years, integration would have been a lot better. their plan all along was to take black men outside the home, and without male role models, the boys go feral and pack mentalities, and get into gangs and violence and crime.

integration as the liberals have done it has sucked for whites and blacks. whites are far less safe around your average urban blacks today, and blacks only identify with a culture of failure, violence, crime and govt handouts.

[Secret Agent Man]

they can’t even frame a basic sentence to shout epithets at you.

[DoughtyOne]

Not so good...

[Enterprise]

Would they be proud? I think NOT!

[Arm_Bears]

And don’t even mention Booker T. Washington to today’s Black “leaders.”

[Standing Wolf]

If they could know what many of today's black youngsters have done with the fruits of their sacrifice, would they be proud?

They'd probably tell kids today to sit down, shut up, and do their home work.

[kearnyirish2]

Frederick Douglas must be rolling over in his grave; what could he possibly think of the “black leaders” today?

[uncitizen]

Booker T. Washingtons autobiography is another great one showing the pains, trials and hard times blacks back then went thru. It’s such a shame it was all for naught.

[Vigilanteman]

I read Booker T. Washington's epic book Up From Slavery many years ago. One passage which particularly struck me was how many newly freed slaves headed for West Virginia, then the newest and closest state in the union.

Those with just a tiny amount of education (maybe as little as reading or writing at a 2nd grade level) would open up schools which would be quickly filled by the inflow of people so anxious to learn. Young Booker was one of those people and, once he progressed beyond the level of the teacher, he set out to look elsewhere for anyone willing to teach him without regard to their color.

Accordingly, a large percentage of his later and most influential teachers were white. Probably another reason a lot of modern self-appointed black leaders despise Booker T. Washington.

[Vigilanteman]

See my post #14.

[antidisestablishment]

He regularly disparaged teachers and pastors who were incompetent. He hated people who were just looking to avoid manual labor or take advantage of his people. His refusal to allow any of his students to avoid working was a testimony to this resolve. Many contemporaries hated him for this stand. He also trashed the entitlement mentality as equivalent to slavery.

His optimism in building an equal society based on merit was contagious, but Johnson’s Great Society proved to be the perfect vaccine.

[jimt]

As usual, Dr. Williams is straightfoward, directly on point, plain-spoken and just plain brilliant.

[M Kehoe]

Dr. Williams is making a valid argument using verifiable metrics. He will be labeled an Uncle Tom...

Oops, too late...

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