We have the answer, we choose to ignore it

There is a version of American history that I was taught in school. You were probably taught it too: America was founded, there were Indians, we had slavery--slavery was bad. Andrew Jackson screwed the Indians and they vanished. We had a Civil War and then Lincoln freed the slaves. After the war black people were still subjugated, but only in the South. Then there were two World Wars, with a Great Depression in between, and then Martin Luther King led some protests, had a Dream, died, and now we are all equal.

This version of history yadda-yaddas through decades of struggle and intentionally obscures decades of laws and policies that helped construct and codify segregation in local, state and federal law. Segregation is not an accident of American history. It is the story of American history.

We have the power and tools to dismantle segregated schools. To do so, we must disabuse ourselves of the notion that somehow, organically, in every major urban area in our nation, a uniform pattern of segregated housing, segregated schools, and disproportionate policing practices simultaneously arose. That is, at best, magical thinking. Segregation was constructed by the government, at the behest of the people (for more on that construction see here, here and especially here). It something we chose to build; it is no different than the transcontinental railroad or the Washington Monument.

We make a choice, we make it everyday. When young, white professionals, live in a working class, mixed race neighborhood as long as they must, but flee to whiter wealthier confines, as soon as they can or when it’s time to have children, they serve as the foot-soldiers of neighborhood and school segregation. Most urban segregation is the result of the absence of white families--white flight. Put differently, people of color do not choose to live in segregation. Segregation is created by white families when they make the choice, conscious or otherwise, to leave communities, en masse. This framing is essential in understanding and solving the problem.

The hallways of my school tell this tale all too clearly. Abraham Lincoln High School was built in 1913 and we have portraits of every graduating class from 1914 through the near present. These are amazing historical markers. I often walk my students through the pictures. I point out famous grads, we discuss how the senior classes in 1942-45 were smaller because so many males enlisted. We note the appearance of the first afros. Every year the same question comes up… “What happened to all the white students?”

The photos are nearly uniformly white until the late 60s (there are a few Japanese students in the late 30s photos, but they vanish after the internment). And then poof somewhere between 1968 and 1972 everything changed. Lincoln is now 75% students of color; it is situated in a city that is 65% white, in state that is 77% white--nearly the perfect inverse. These figures are neither organic nor an accident. 

School segregation is the result of intentional policy choices and governmental interventions. It was constructed, and to end it we must deconstruct it through further interventions. We also must acknowledge that segregation was created at the behest of middle class white voters and business leaders and it can only be undone at their behest.

Frankly, I am not hopeful about that happening, longtime readers may recall my response to the Fusco letter--I think his views are more mainstream than we care to admit. When Seattle began busing, 3,000 white students vanished from the district. Today 30% of the students in Seattle attend private schools. Those Venn Diagrams overlap. 

These are all choices. We choose to live and teach our children this way, but we don’t have to. There is a better way.

A Syllabus for Students When Dealing with Law Enforcement

I have a complicated relationship with law enforcement...

When I was a kid, growing up in Tacoma, I was often stopped and harassed by law enforcement while riding bikes with my friends. It got to the point where I started to carry the receipt for the bike my parents gave me, because police stopped me and accused me of stealing it so often.

In my sophomore year, I was riding with a white female friend. We were driving through Fircrest, a suburban town that abuts Tacoma. An officer pulled my friend over and whispered “are you okay?” as if I had kidnapped her and her mom’s VW Vanagon. She flipped TF out, on my behalf. It was my first conscious experience with ally-ship.

When I was 15 years-old, while standing on the bus stop by myself, after watching that terrible George Clooney  Batman Movie. I was rushed, thrown to the ground, and had a gun pointed in my face by an officer because, like countless other black men "I matched the description..."

To this day, as a now 36 year-old, I get pulled over multiple times per year.

On the other hand, I have always loved the idea of police work. My favorite TV genre, by far, is the police procedural. I have an older brother who is an officer in Seattle. When I was in high school one my mentors was our SRO. He saw potential in me that I didn’t see--he constantly gave me life advice and kept tabs on me. To this day, whenever he sees me with my wife, he stops and tells embarrassing stories about how big of a dork I was in high school.

In 2004, I heavily considered applying to the Washington State Patrol, rather than going into teaching. I often think about the similarities between teaching and law enforcement. When I watch videos of law enforcement using force, I often think about the de-escalation skills that are essential in both careers. Teachers who can’t de-escalate conflict, set kids off, have chaotic classrooms and suffer frequent discipline issues. Officers who can’t de-escalate, tend to use force with more frequency and receive the most community complaints. The best teachers I know, value and immerse themselves in the communities they serve--much like how community policing has been one of the most effective reforms within law enforcement over the last 30 years. 

There are good teachers and bad teachers; there are good police and bad police. Students know they have a bad teacher after a few days of class and can change their schedules or otherwise find ways to cope. But they won’t know they’ve encountered a bad officer until it’s far, far too late. Because of this, when teaching civil liberties, I do a workshop for my students on their rights when dealing with law enforcement, particularly the 4th, 5th and 6th Amendments. This workshop is the most important lesson I teach each year. I offer this handout that I created for my students here for your feedback, additions, contributions and if you’re so inclined, sharing.

A Syllabus for Students When Dealing with Law Enforcement

The stakes are high for my students. Whenever I give a talk about teaching, I talk about the lack of predictability and danger that children of color and those in poverty face, on a daily basis. Never is that lack of predictability more dangerous than when it comes to encounters with those who are sworn to protect them. I know that no amount of “respectability” can keep people of color safe in America; Sandra Bland, Henry Louis Gates and James Blake have taught us so, but my hope is that I can increase the odds for my students and yours.

Just in Case Things Weren't Clear

My recent post on the importance of effective teaching, school segregation and equitable school funding touched a nerve. On this site it received over 250,000 views. Additionally, it was republished in the Seattle Times, Washington Post, Hechinger Report, New York Observer and the Huffington Post.

The vast majority of the feedback, even from dissenters, was thoughtful and brought up points that I hadn’t considered, or angles I had contemplated but (for reasons of brevity) chose to leave out. The responses pushed me to reconsider some of the things I said in the piece. That is the Internet at its best.

However, one piece of feedback, a letter, stuck out to me. It arrived in the mail at my school this week and I want to share it with you. It reinforces much of what I said in the original piece about the contempt that many people in America have for people of color, and especially for black America.  It was dictated by its author, Ralph Fusco (probably to his paralegal), and I present it here to you as is, unedited and unredacted.

Letter from Ralph Fusco

In many ways the letter speaks for itself.

The casualness with which Mr. Fusco denigrates the whole of black America is breathtaking.

Although I disagree with almost every single word Mr. Fusco wrote, I appreciate his honesty and willingness to share his point-of-view. I am guessing, if asked, he would claim “I am not a racist.” As Ta-Nehisi Coates has jested previously, there no racists anymore. It’s apparent Fusco has (probably by choice) had very little interaction with actual black people (he is missing out, we are pretty awesome!).

Mr. Fusco isn’t some unhinged, hood wearing or toothless Confederate flag waver, nor is he a white-supremacist, from a compound in the Far West. He is probably an upstanding member of his community and active member of all the usual community organizations: Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, etc.

I do not believe his views are atypical, only his willingness to put them to paper. Many of our current social ills: un(der)employment, segregated housing patterns, mass incarceration, inequitable school funding, and disparate educational outcomes are underpinned by this type of thinking. It must be combated and public education is the best way forward. This is the work. This is the challenge.

I am glad that Mr. Fusco put it all out there.