The New Segregation
School systems are more segregated than ever in this time of racial tension.
The racial tension and violence that roiled the country this month left politicians, policymakers and protesters of every stripe shocked and exasperated.
Two separate incidents caught on video of white police officers shooting and killing black men, one in Baton Rouge and the other in Minneapolis, resulted in the killing of five Dallas police officers during a Black Lives Matter protest and most recently the killing of three Baton Rouge law enforcement officers – all in a two week span.
“Faced with this violence, we wonder if the divides of race in America can ever be bridged,” President Barack Obama said during the funeral for the Dallas officers. “We wonder if an African-American community that feels unfairly targeted by police, and police departments that feel unfairly maligned for doing their jobs, can ever understand each other's experience.”
As the month’s tragedies rearranged life into a heightened racialized context, the president’s sentiments have been echoed many times over.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the GOP’s lone black senator, took to the chamber floor to deliver a moving speech about the number of times he’s been stopped by police for driving a new car in the wrong neighborhood.
“I do not know many African-American men who do not have a very similar story to tell no matter their profession,” he said. “No matter their income, no matter their disposition in life."
"We are in the midst of a lynching crisis," charged NAACP President and CEO Cornell Brooks during the organization’s annual conference.
Randi Weingarten, the president of the 1.5 million member American Federation of Teachers, underscored that “the United States has not come to grips with pervasive racism – not even close.”
And perhaps that pervasive racism starts early, in schools.
After all, in some parts of the country schools are more segregated – and white students and students of color more isolated – than they’ve ever been.
A recent report from the Government Accountability Office shows that from school year 2000-2001 to 2013-2014, the percentage of K-12 public schools that were high poverty and comprised of mostly black or Hispanic students grew significantly, from 9 percent to 16 percent. And the number of students attending those schools more than doubled, from 4.1 million to 8.4 million.Racial Tensions Flare as Schools Resegregate | US News: