The inextricable linkage between education and self-empowerment or freedom is the primary reason despots have always opposed education for the masses. Education was lauded by the founders, but the hypocrisy was apparent.
The diffusion of knowledge among the people is the only sure foundation for the preservation of freedom and happiness. –Thomas Jefferson
Today’s educators had no need to title their educational responsibilities DEI; they simply had to provide high quality/high quantity education to all students — pre-K-college. But Americans like to label stuff! Unfortunately, labels affixed to very complex, controversial concepts – education above all — too often fail to stimulate greater understanding, but instead result in oversimplification and obfuscation.
The DEI label– under which White Supremacists couched and employed their weapons of misogyny, heteropatriarchy, theocracy and particularly racism — gave Trumpists a convenient, delineated target for a stepped-up assault on Democratic Principles, as well as on America.
The history of education for Black Americans is THE classic example of how quality education can be withheld with widespread support, because of DETRIMENTAL RELIANCE.
DETRIMENTAL RELIANCE and BROWN V. THE BOARD OF EDUCATION: A “glowing” promise was made; relying on the promise seemed rational; opposers were chastised; justice would have ensued only if the promise had been fulfilled; and reliance led to detrimental outcomes.
There are three means by which educational excellence can be withheld from children. The first is the legal separation of children into different schools with different missions, lower standards and inadequate resources. The second is where children are admitted into the same school buildings but placed into classes with drastically different levels of course content — college prep to worthless. The third is to treat students in the same classroom in ways that enhance learning in some and discourage learning in others; e.g., teacher attitudes, expectations, and behavior. The third means was exposed in an MIT study that found that white teachers thought Black children were genetically incapable of academic excellence.
Brown — widely touted during debates to be of significant educational benefit for Black children — exemplified all three means of preventing children from gaining access to high quality educational resources because of preventative strategies employed by racists leaders.
When I graduated from Black Lucy Addison High School, I did not understand what Brown intended for Black students. By the time I understood – allegedly to provide K-12 education equal to mine — I was delighted because of my achievements in “white” colleges – inducted into three academic honor societies including Phi Beta Kappa, and free education.
My college experiences during the revolving-door era, which saw massive college failures of Black students, made me aware of Brown’s broken promise long before Jack Greenburg, fifty years after enactment, said that Brown had been a failure for poor Black school children.
Lingering Negative Consequences: Currently, huge percentages of African-American students do not meet any of the American College Testing’s (ACT) benchmarks that assess college readiness.
The most striking ACT statistic in 2021 was that only 6% of all Black test takers were rated ready for college-level courses in English, mathematics, science, and reading. Whites were more than five times as likely as Blacks to be prepared for college-level work in all four areas. (The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 2022)
Don’t be deceived by college admissions data -attend to graduation rates.
The correlation between the quantity and quality of education and success in America is incontrovertible.
In 2018, a study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that there had been “no progress” for African Americans on homeownership, unemployment, incarceration/Criminal Justice and poverty in 50 years.
“Education makes a people impossible to enslave.” – Henry Peter Brougham
Anyone who interferes with citizens’ access to high quality education is a Traitor — a Domestic Enemy of the highest possible order to individual citizens and, therefore, to America. The Fascists who control the GOP have made their intentions clear with respect to education for the masses and the fostering of a Trump Monarchy and they must be thwarted.
The DNC must understand that Advocates for Democratic Principles wear all of the party labels, 111 million of whom self-disenfranchised in 2024, or even voted for Trump, but are now disaffected. The continuing DNC “insistence” that people affix the Democratic Party label to themselves IS going to lead to a squandering of alienated Republicans’ votes. NB: 190 million eligible voters did not chose Trump in 2024.
Given Trump’s ownership of SCOTUS/JOHN ROBERTS and his cowards in congress, the only sure way to stop the attacks on American Democracy is to vote to unseat Trump’s congressional allies on November 3, 2026, and November 7, 2028.
If there is not a resounding defeat in 2026, 2028 could very well be irrelevant.
