Garbanzo Toons: Playing Hooky

Monday, December 04, 2006

Playing Hooky

One bright spot in the recent elections was Michigan's voters rejection of Affirmative Action. Both before and since then, letters to editors and various op-eds have referred to Affirmative actions opponents as knuckle-dragging racists and worse. Now there are two cases in front of the Supreme Court on school segregation. People from Michigan are, of course, interested in the outcome.

Activists, teachers and union members left Detroit for Washington, D.C., on Sunday to rally against two cases involving segregation in public schools that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear today.

The cases involve parents in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., who say their children didn't get into the public schools of their choice because they are white.

Those making the trek to Washington say they fear that if these parents win their cases, the Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., which outlawed segregation in public schools, will be reversed, leading to more segregation and inequality nationwide.

That's fine. They certainly have that right. However,

Heather Miller, an organizer with the civil rights group By Any Means Necessary, said five buses of about 250 people -- mostly high school students -- left for Washington on Sunday night.

Detroit schools already suffer from a negative reputation, and now 250 students are skipping school, missing days of education that they need, to attend a rally. Some will try to spin this into students learning about politics first hand. That's a crock. Marching and carrying a sign because you didn't get your way in an election is the stuff of third-world mob rule. Better they should be in school learning how the American political process works so that they can properly take part in it. The adults in charge of these students should be ashamed of themselves. They are insuring that these students continue to be marginalized.

Labels: Affirmative Action, education