Racial Discussions Emerge from Local School Board Elections

Posted by: Noël Jones

Related to our local Region II school board race, whose primary ended yesterday, and interesting discussion on race emerged in the comments to my post. The candidates running were Frank Pintabone, Bill Timmann, and Ronnie DelBacco. To get the back-story on this

discussion and understand the references, I encourage everyone to read the transcript from the Region II candidates’ forum here.

DelBacco made a couple of gaffs in the forum, that drew criticism from some members of the audience, so discussion ensued in which DelBacco pretty much took the heat for his views, which primarily came out of an exchange between Pintabone and DelBacco about the question of why minority students in our district are performing far below white students.

I received an email from a supporter of DelBacco, with a photo of a black supporter carrying a DelBacco sign for the election. The suggestion being that if a black man will carry a campaign sign for a candidate, that candidate cannot possibly be racist, as if one person of color represents the views of all people of all races concerned with racism in our culture, and validates the innocence of a candidate.

I wrote a lengthy response last night, part of which I have pasted below. By the end of the night, Pintabone had won the Democratic nomination, and DelBacco had won the Republican nomination. This morning, Bill Timmann decided to post a comment and let everybody really know where he stands on racial issues, saying, "I would like to add one thought that I avoided during the debate, for fear that I might be labeled the same as Ron Delbacco."

For all those who like to say that issues of race are a thing of the past in America, here is yet another proof that the issues not only still exist, but are alive and kicking. The problem is, when we try to suppress something within us that is alive and kicking, it tends to cause us as a society to go through some pretty animated contortions to try to keep it under wraps. Racism is a topic that cannot be held effectively on a national level in the world of media spin and sound bites. The meaningful conversations happen here, in local communities, between regular people. That is why I am dedicating a post to this topic and opening it up for an earnest discussion. 

As a conversation like this can easily get dicey, I want to encourage everyone first of all, to at least take a moniker, if not posting your name to your comments, rather than posting as Anonymous, so that even if readers do not know who you are, they can at least follow your thoughts and voice in the conversation. So please think of a name to call yourself when you post. Secondly, I want to remind everyone that while I enthusiastically encourage you to disagree with me, and with each other, please avoid making lame insults that have no point, as I reserve the right to delete comments that are not actually contributing to the discussion. Here goes:

Being a writer, I have a great respect for the power of words, which is why honoring their definitions is so critical to productive dialogue. I think that part of the problem with having productive discussions about race in our country is that "racist" has morphed in meaning in our society into "bad person" instead of its actual meaning. The actual definition of racism (from Dictionary.com) is:

–noun

1.

a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races  determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

2.

a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.

3.

hatred or intolerance of another race  or other races.

So then in Easton’s Region II election scenario:

1. believing that the children of one's race outperform children of another race statistically, not because of the results of white privilege, institutionalized racism in society or discriminatory practices in a school district, but because white parents are superior parents to black parents is, by definition, racism.

2. asserting that a lack of diversity in hiring in a community as diverse as Easton's, or the outright racial discrimination of our present administration (hence the 7 pending lawsuits) is not an important issue to focus on, therefore a offering tacit complicity with the status quo that tolerates and employs racism, is racism.

3. not wanting articles to be translated into Spanish for citizens whose first language is Spanish, not wanting people not fluent in Spanish to vote, etc. is also racism (actually, it is also a bit of xenophobia). Also, the comment that "obviously, my daughter is white," is troubling, as it suggests that someone frowns on interracial relationships--it has a similar ring to the old "not with my daughter," line that comes from a lot of white parents (often liberal) who brag about their children having friends of color in school, but then throw a holy fit if they want to date.

Also, this definition demonstrates why the term 'reverse racism' is an oxymoron--an invention of white people who don't like being the only ones accused of being “bad people,” and are privileged to think that no one has a right to get angry with the negative manifestations of growing up nonwhite in a white-dominated (as in the people who holding the vast majority of power in this country) society.

Hating racist white individuals, or the institutionalized racism of a white-dominated society, is not the same as thinking one's race is inherently superior to another's. The only semantic possibility for the term "reverse racism" with regard to black people that I can imagine, would be, for instance, black jazz musicians asserting that they naturally play better than white jazz musicians. But even for that analogy to work, all the record labels would need to be owned by black people, and denying white musicians the chance to record, which is not the case in our music industry. But a nonwhite person hating white people because he has endured racial slurs and discrimination throughout his life, is not "reverse racism." The phrase is a term white people made up as a means of exonerating themselves via accusing minorities of the racism that they are guilty of themselves, and it is an entitlement, a psychological projection onto another person, and a symptom of white privilege—feeling entitled to not be judged for racist behavior. It is saying, “you don’t have the right to judge or get mad at me. You are the bad person.”

A lot of liberals don't realize that they are racist as well, i.e., always wanting to rush to the aid of nonwhite people--to be the savior, the martyr--many social service nonprofits are based on this kind of racism because their very existence depends on the idea of the need of minorities for their particular brand of "help." Conservatives get fighting mad when they are called racists. Liberals? They cry. They go red in the face and their eyes bulge with righteous indignation. They go to great lengths to parade out every black person they've ever known to prove the injustice that has been done to them by even suggesting such a thing.

I think this is because a lot of conservatives kind of know that they have racist tendencies, they just don't want to be called out on it, because it makes them look bad in public (i.e, Timmann not wanting to be known for agreeing with DelBacco’s views until after the election). But liberals have it all buried so deep down and under wraps as to be completely steeped in denial, which is why instead of just snapping angry comments back at you, they will wreak an all-out shock-and-awe attack on you.

Beware the wrath of the self-proclaimed martyr! If our government wants to kill Qaddafi, they could honestly just drop some liberal self-proclaimed martyrs accused of racism on Qaddafi and be done with it. No one would make it out alive.

The reality is that racism is alive and well in our society, and most of us have ingested that toxin to various degrees during our developmental years. Any of us who are sincere about rooting out racism in our culture need to always be vigilant and willing to call ourselves on it when we slip, rather than cursing out anyone else who does.

"Racist" does not mean "bad person"--anyone who thinks they're being accused a being a bad person is going to fight the accusation tooth and nail, even if they know they are racist.

"Racist," among other things, is believing that your race outperforms another because it is inherently superior, and that no other social obstacles or variables weigh into the equation of performance.

And many people believe this. But very few people have the guts to be honest about being racist, because they know that they will be shunned by a lot of people--especially voters. You hardly ever hear anyone say, "Yep, I'm a racist--I think our kids get the highest scores because their minds are superior and our parenting skills are superior," and yet, that is precisely what they will describe as their position, just in more politically-correct inferences like "parental engagement" and "individualism."

A definition, is a definition. Please see the definition again. Most people defending themselves from accusations of racism believe that only #3 is the definition, but it is #1 and #2 that we wrestle with most consistently in our administration and school board, who together set policy, agree on who to hire,  and decide whether or not racial issues are important to consider with regard to student performance statistics.

And whether anyone in this school district that is reading this agrees with me or not, the fact remains that we have SEVEN pending lawsuits for racial discrimination by our administration, and these cases include depositions full racial slurs and other discriminatory practices. These people will likely all win settlements that we the taxpayers will have to pay for, all because we refuse to address diversity in hiring as a problem, and because our administrators don't know how to behave in the 21st Century, and our district has tolerated racist behavior that has gotten us into this mess. The bottom line is that insisting on holding on to backwards views and illegal behavior is costing us a LOT of money. For that reason alone, even racists should feel that this is an issue worth addressing in our district.

I welcome all comments from all perspectives, as long as they are not insulting and continue to make points that contribute something worthwhile to the discussion. Please either post your name and own your words, or pick a nickname to post with anonymously, so that readers can follow your thread in the conversation.