Race baiting by charter school advocates
Bertha Lewis, President of the Black Institute
From Politico:
“They found a way to make money and profit off little black boys and girls,” she said. “They act as if they are here to save us.”
A coalition of elected officials, community organizations and union-allied groups criticized a new Families for Excellent Schools ad Friday, accusing the pro-charter group of “race-baiting” in order to advance its political agenda.
The ad, first reported by POLITICO New York, is called “Tale of Two Boys” and argues that Mayor Bill de Blasio is forcing minority students into failing schools. It began running Friday, though it was not publicly promoted by FES.
The ad buy will cost FES about half a million dollars this week and will become a multimillion-dollar ad buy over the next few weeks, according to a source.
The ad contrasted the educations of a young white boy and a black boy in New York City, saying the white child would attend a good school and go to college while the black child would be trapped in a struggling school and never make it to college.
Bertha Lewis, the president of the Black Institute, called it “the most racist ad I’ve seen in my life.”
“They found a way to make money and profit off little black boys and girls,” she said. “They act as if they are here to save us.
Zakiyah Ansari, the advocacy director of the Alliance for Quality Education, made a similar argument. AQE is partially funded by city and state teachers’ unions.
“They are using a black face to push their political agenda, and they make the assumption that all black people are poor,” she said. “They used our children in a race-baiting commercial.”
Some called on FES to remove the ad on Friday.
Brooklyn Assemblyman N. Nick Perry called on FES to “do the right thing” and pull the Race baiting by charter school advocates | Seattle Education: