Case in Point: Three stories, one in Michigan, one in California and the third in New York.
Dateline Ann Arbor:
An Ann Arbor elementary school principal used a letter home to parents tonight to defend a field trip for black students as part of his school’s efforts to close the achievement gap between white and black students.
“I also think it’s important that you know that I have talked to the children who did not go on the field trip, and I think they have a better understanding of the purpose of the AA Lunch Bunch now, as I hope you do. I’m sorry if any kids were upset by the field trip or my discussion afterwards with them, and I have let them know that.
“The intent of our field trip was not to segregate or exclude students as has been reported, but rather to address the societal issues, roadblocks and challenges that our African American children will face as they pursue a successful academic education here in our community.”
So he wants to address societal issues...byyyyyyyy segregating them from society. Oh, but Dicken Elementary School Principal Mike Madison was not done there.
District spokeswoman Liz Margolis said after the trip was over, those who went returned to their fifth-grade class and were greeted by boos by those who didn’t go on the trip. Margolis said Madison, who is black, heard the boos, and went to talk to the class. She said he and the class had a “discussion” about race issues.
“He wasn’t yelling at them. He was very passionate about it,” Margolis said.
Being "very passionate" is Jim Crow code talk for yelling at white students who were disappointed at being segregated. This whole thing was an offshoot of the "African American lunch bunch" program started by Mr. Madison.
Dateline Morgan Hill California.
Five students wearing t-shirts representing the US flag in one form or another were sent home on May 5th. Their crime? Wearing an "American" shirt on a Mexican holiday. In America. The school administrators deemed the American garb "incendiary" in an American school.
Administrators at a California high school sent five students home on Wednesday after they refused to remove their American flag T-shirts and bandannas -- garments the school officials deemed "incendiary" on Cinco de Mayo.
The five teens were sitting at a table outside Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Wednesday morning when Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez asked two of them to remove their American flag bandannas, one of their parents told FoxNews.com. The boys complied, but were asked to accompany Rodriguez to the principal's office.
The five students -- Daniel Galli, Austin Carvalho, Matt Dariano, Dominic Maciel and Clayton Howard -- were then told they must turn their T-shirts inside-out or be sent home, though it would not be considered a suspension. Rodriguez told the students he did not want any fights to break out between Mexican-American students celebrating their heritage and those wearing American flags.
Cinco used to be a cool holiday. Eat nachos, drink overpriced Mexican swill and puke that third shot of 1800 you shouldn't have done on the way home. For the longest time, I thought Cinco was just another "fun" holiday, just like St. Patricks day.
Then ol' Jim Crow came along and now the boss-man says we gots to shows our respects or a beatin' is sure to come. That is Jim Crow talk for having proper deference for your master.
Back to the story,
The boys told Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez and Principal Nick Boden that turning their shirts inside-out was disrespectful, so their parents decided to take them home.
In the end, the school district will dole out an "unnamed" level of discipline for the school administration, and untold numbers will be forced to watch a two hour re-education/sensitivity video.
Dateline New York City.
The situation: Within a day of the discovery of the truck bomb in Times Square, Mayor Bloomberg went on TV to discuss what he knew at that point. For sure much could have been suspected. New York. Car bomb. Terrorism...and on and on. Chief Wiggam of the Simpsons could have had a profile of the suspect in minutes.
But not today. After getting briefed by Homeland Security, Mayor Bloomberg had these prescient words with Katie Couric.
Bloomberg: If I had to guess 25 cents, this would be exactly that. Somebody….
Couric: A homegrown….
Bloomberg: A homegrown, maybe a mentally deranged person or somebody with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care bill or something. It could be anything.
Homegrown...upset about healthcare... Yup, code talking again. The conversation they were really having is, "find me a white man in his 40's, probably a Tea Party type, and I'll show you the scumbag that did this thing."
But wait. Bloomberg did not stop there. After he was forced to admid it was not Whitey McTeabagger, he had another warning about those damned Teabaggers:
“The fact that so many people are out and about in Times Square today, where I just came from, really shows that, and I want to make clear that we will not tolerate any bias or backlash against Pakistani or Muslim New Yorkers.”
Backlash. That's part of the new Jim Crow too. It takes the place of "don't let 'em 'round your womenfolk." Cause everybody knows you can't trust a whitey, but especially a teabaggin' whitey.
All taken together, these incidents this week exemplify the reinstitution of Jim Crow. Not the fire-hoses and attack dogs. Rather the insidious and institutional belittlement of a people who, by birth, are of the wrong color to enjoy a life free from instant accusation and simultaneous conviction. A people who are set-aside by race and barely tolerated by the same government that professes to be the gatekeeper of their rights and liberties.
But hey, I hear the president is now using the term "tea baggers." It has been a long time since ol' Jim Crow had a place at the table in the White House. Yes sir missr. Yes sir.
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