Were We Truly Created Equal?

Martin Luther King, MLK, Dream, #TeamKJ, #KevinJackson

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Those 35 words are likely among the most memorable in our nation’s history. Delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, they echo his innate desire for his children to live in a society where character, not skin color, was the determination of merit. Though this has become true for Black people in America by-and-large, there are those that seek not only to “beat a dead horse,” but to bring it back to life and ride it.

It is clear to many of us that adolescence carries with it its own set of trials and challenges, hormonal concerns notwithstanding. Discovering where you fit into the universal scheme of things can often be difficult, and that difficulty increases when those challenges are not based on intellect or skill, but rather an aspect of yourself that you have no control over. Your race.

Defining Disparities

As far back as 2012, long before the critical race theories became mainstream talking points, an Education Department study revealed disparities between Black and White students. Rather than consider other factors such as behavior history or violent past activities, these results were immediately attributed to race. Based on these beliefs, students are increasingly being disciplined simply due to the color of their skin.

Case in point:

In an article published by Educationpost.org concerning school disciplinary procedures, it revealed how this focus is trending more and more. While stating actual stats dealing with the disproportionate number of incidents involving Black students, the piece only offered what such research would “suggest,” rather than what the findings actually conclude. However, only a short time before in the Wall Street Journal, as columnist Jason Riley’s article, “Classroom Chaos in the Name of Racial Equity Is a Bad Lesson Plan” explains, the equity component clearly does more harm than good. This plan to ‘level the playing field’ now operates in many schools similarly
to how affirmative action initiatives in the 70’s were once implemented in the workplace.

“The sad irony,” writes Riley, “is that Black students, in whose name this was done, were the ones most hurt by racial quotas in school discipline. A 2017 federal survey of school safety by the National Center for Education
Statistics found that 25% of Black students nationwide reported being
bullied, the highest percentage of any racial or ethnic group.”

“To its credit,” Riley adds, “the Trump administration revoked these policies in 2018 under the direction of then Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who understood the strong link between violent school settings and poor academic performance in a way that seems lost on progressives. Going easy on troublemakers makes life much more difficult for the kids who are in school to get an education.”