I went to my first Bar Mitzvah the other day, and, aside from observing the pure torture this young man had to go through – I realized that the Jews have pushed this one God thang to: a) keep their women under control; and, b) to give them the right to destroy any-and-all competition. Be-that-as-it-may – it was a very classy affair and I got to hear some interesting piano – reminiscent of my own style.
What does this have to do with my attempt to return to my current work-related theme and script more about the asshole of education? Working with those cast-a-ways of society – those juveniles who help themselves because no one else has known how to?? Hmmmmmm…yes…well…as I told Girlfriend Giti – American public education has been the domain of the White, middle class male since the Industrial Revolution – even though women were the mainstays of the profession for years – the theories and methods these female teachers dispensed were delivered by those White pioneering giants (Dewey & Co.).
And for awhile, things were grand! Those White farm boys at the turn of the century, and White girls from the cities made for a fairly homogeneous mix. But then slavery ended, circa 1972 (I know some folks want to say it ended earlier – but I feel like ‘bussing’ signaled the end of slavery [though some folks suggest that it still hasn’t ended]). Ed Ransford – it you are still listening – let me know what you think!
I can still remember going to campus protests against apartheid in 1975-76 fascinated that with the end of the Viet Nam War – the conscience drive White youth in the American universities (perhaps inspired by Jimmy Carter?) felt that apartheid was the appropriate target for the “devil without.” I encouraged these folks to look at the American South and Fort Wayne and the Native American genocide. The new centurions weren’t pleased. Hell! I even threw a little Jesus action in for good measure – the stuff about “logs and specks.”
And then Cesar Chavez started to make inroads for the Mexican American — and we suddenly had large urban school districts – with heterogeneous populations. The White middle class assumption was that African Americans and Mexican Americans should hit the ground running – just like Chinese, Japanese and Korean students – with their long history of teacher reverence and family fidelity. Yep. Slavery really maintained Black families as cohesive units and taught the American Black a reverence for all things White. Though the Catholic Church did a pretty good number on inculcating family fidelity on the Mexican American – the men of both colors were symbolically castrated by the White Man – and kept poor. Kept from that piece of the White American pie.
So, that is why the African American male disproportionately inhabits our prisons – juvenile and adult. And the Mexican American male drops out of school when he sees that he is destined to be a gardener or waiter or movie extra. These folks have seen the asshole that is White America – and have chosen to give up rather than play the White Man’s game – cuz you will lose your balls in the White Man’s game – and no one will be interested in getting them back to you. So when you get to play with the White Man’s cash – no matter how briefly, hell! Why not? Why not be a gangsta and go out with a bang – instead of under the yoke?