Simply Corrupt
The US Justice Department is using decades-old anti-discrimination law to stop poor black families from escaping crappy schools via a school choice program. The awesome Clint Bolick of Goldwater has the details:
Despite reports of compromise or capitulation, the U.S. Justice Department is continuing its legal assault on the Louisiana school-voucher program—wielding a 40-year-old court order against racial discrimination to stymie the aspirations of black parents to get their children the best education.
The Louisiana Scholarship Program began in 2012. It provides full-tuition scholarships to children from families with incomes below 250% of the poverty level, whose children were assigned to public schools rated C, D or F by the state, or who were enrolling in kindergarten. In the current year, 12,000 children applied for scholarships and nearly 5,000 are using them to attend private schools. Roughly 90% are used by black children.
Parental satisfaction is off the charts. A 2013 survey by the Louisiana chapter of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, a national school-choice organization, found that 93.6% of scholarship families are pleased with their children's academic progress and 99.3% believe the schools are safe—a far cry from the dismal public schools to which the children were previously consigned.
But last August, the Justice Department filed a motion to enjoin the program in dozens of school districts that still have desegregation orders from generations ago. It claimed that any change in racial composition would violate the orders. After a tremendous public backlash, Justice withdrew its motion for an injunction, insisting it did not intend to remove kids from the program....
In fact, the children are very much in danger of losing their opportunities. The Justice Department is demanding detailed annual information, including the racial composition of the public schools the voucher students are leaving and the private and parochial schools the students are selecting. If it objects to the award of individual vouchers based on those statistics, the department will challenge them.
If I had to make a list of the top 10 things we could do to actually help African-American families (as opposed to the garbage programs in place now to supposedly help them), #1 would be decriminalization of narcotics and in general stopping the incarceration of black youth for non-violent victim-less offenses. But #2 would be school choice programs like the one in Louisiana.
PS- I am thinking about what the rest of the top 10 list would be. #3 would likely be putting real teeth in police department accountability programs, as I think that police departments tend to be the last bastions of true institutionalized racial discrimination. #4 might be some sort of starter wage program that gives a lower minimum wage for long-term unemployed. If I weren't a pacifist and committed to free speech and association, I might say #5 was shutting down half the supposed advocacy groups that claim to be working for the benefit of African-Americans but instead merely lock them into dependency.
kidmugsy:
It might just be enough to investigate the finances of those advocacy groups: no doubt there's plenty of rape and pillage going on.
March 4, 2014, 3:40 ammlhouse:
Yeah, even more drug addiction will help the black community.
March 4, 2014, 7:15 amAnother_Brian:
Growing up in North Carolina, I remember our government schools were redistricted every couple of years to ensure they got as close to a 50/50 split of white and black students.
March 4, 2014, 7:28 amskhpcola:
What we need is a "mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy" to prod black culture into civilization. Err, wait...that didn't work out so well. Ozero is a lazy, evil, racist bastard that has encouraged lawlessness by blacks. He's only a Halfrican, but he's 100% ghetto trash.
March 4, 2014, 8:03 amA Friend:
Funny to advocate decriminalization to help drug dealers. It will kill their pricing power and bring in much better financed and more sophisticated competitors. Moonshiners were killed by the repeal of prohibition.
March 4, 2014, 8:17 ammahtso:
Is Coke or Pepsi in charge of DOJ?
March 4, 2014, 10:16 amCTD:
Drug addiction among the African-American community was a fairly manageable public health problem. The War of Drugs is a social and economic catastrophe for it.
March 4, 2014, 11:35 ammesocyclone:
Number one would have to be ending all the race based programs that are supposed to help blacks, but don't. Affirmative action, disparate impact policies, etc. End them. Shut down the *-studies programs.
Equality under the law has to be the number one priority for everyone.
March 4, 2014, 11:45 pmJoe_Da:
"#5 was shutting down half the supposed advocacy groups that claim to be working for the benefit of African-Americans but instead merely lock them into dependency."
But #2 would be school choice programs like the one in Louisiana.
#5 was quite evident during the Clinton administration and "ending welfare as we know it"
March 5, 2014, 6:25 amThe largest opposition was from groups who benefited from a larger welfare recipient rolls. Same type opposition on school voucher programs.
bigmaq1980:
"#3 would likely be putting real teeth in police department accountability programs, as I think that police departments tend to be the last bastions of true institutionalized racial discrimination."
I don't know about "the last bastions..." part, but it is increasingly looking like this would be a benefit to all, regardless. There are enough bad eggs that hide behind the Blue Code of Silence that something official like this is needed.
But, this speaks to a bigger issue. To what extent do we tolerate abuse from authorities? We see it all over, police at the local level, NSA at the federal level, just to name a couple examples.
Is it that our institutions are losing respect for the rights of the citizens, or is it that with a more diverse media we are hearing a larger share of those issues than we ever did with a narrow MSM oligopoly, say 20 years ago?
March 5, 2014, 7:16 ambigmaq1980:
"#5 was shutting down half the supposed advocacy groups..."
Probably don't need to shut them down, just eliminate any funding they received from the governments.
March 5, 2014, 7:17 amSam L.:
Holder is a "Race Traitor"!
March 5, 2014, 9:07 am