Are School Closings Racist?
Sunday, 14 April 2013 10:24By Curtis Black, Community Media Workshop | News Analysis
Students are dismissed after school is let out at Robert Emmert Elementary School, which is scheduled to close, in Chicago, March 21, 2013. After weeks of uncertainty, principals at 54 public schools in Chicago officially learned from city officials Thursday that their schools would close, representing the largest group of campuses to be shut down at one time by a city in recent memory. (Photo: Nathan Weber / The New York Times)Some people think so.At the most basic level, there’s the fact that decisions about African American communities are being made without their consent.
Of 54 school closings proposed by CPS, 51 are in low-income African American areas; 90 percent of students being impacted are black.
“If you look at the people making the decisions and the communities they’re talking about, you have white males saying they know what’s best for African American students,” said Austin schools activist Dwayne Truss.
“Barbara Byrd-Bennett is not calling the shots,” he said. “Mayor Emanuel and David Vitale and Tim Cawley are calling the shots. She’s just an expert in closing schools who they brought in to do that. She’s just the messenger.”
Comments Elce Redmond of the South Austin Coalition, “She’s put in place to implement these policies so they can hide behind her.”
Byrd-Bennett “would not have been hired if she was not on board with [Emanuel's school closing agenda] — and with the priority of providing opportunities for private educational interests to make money bringing in mediocre interventions for black