Some real talk about education.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! High poverty rates affect school performance.

"In schools where less than 10 percent of students get free or reduced lunch, the reading score is 551. That would place those U.S. students at No. 2 on the international ranking for reading, just behind Shanghai, China which topped the ranking with a score of 556.

 In schools where 75 percent or more of the students get free or reduced lunch, the reading score was 446. That’s off the bottom of the charts, below last-place Greece’s 483.

Money matters and countless studies have demonstrated a link between parents’ income and students’ test scores.

“These data remind us that U.S. schools do rather well by students who come to school ready to learn, but it’s impossible to ignore the persistent correlation between poverty and performance." [Source]

Yes, I suppose it's hard to learn when you are hungry. Or, when you see your parent (or parents) struggling every day to make ends meet. But I think that most of us already knew this. Most of us.

I have friends who are lifelong residence of this city. They love Philadelphia and everything it has to offer, but after the birth of their first child that all changes, because the one thing that they do not love about Philadelphia is the public school system. With the birth of a child come tough choices down the road. Now you must consider paying for private school if your child can't get into one of the elite public schools. Now you must consider moving to the burbs (in some cases this means giving up your job) and pay higher property taxes to have the privilege of putting your child in one of the suburban public schools.

Those of us who support public education understand this problem. We realize that it's not the teachers or their unions, or the lack of funds that's allocated to individual students; it's bigger than that. We understand that a foundation for a good student starts at home. Most of the children in the public school system are from poor dysfunctional homes, and teaching them is a challenge. It's why we will never truly address the problem with public education in this country until we start being honest with ourselves about the root causes of most of these problems.

The homes are broken, there is a lack of parental involvement, and there is a generational disconnect about the value of a good education which is passed on from parent to child. I don't care how many great teachers you put in a class room or how much money you spend, the situation will not get fixed until those more complex and nuanced issues are addressed.

A friend of mine grew up in the projects of North Philadelphia to a single mother. He grew up poor with the same handicaps and disadvantages I mentioned earlier. But that did not stop him from getting Ivy League degrees and becoming a very successful attorney in South Jersey. His story is the one that we would like to celebrate as the norm, but sadly, he is an outlier, and one great story does not a trend make.

For what it's worth he said that he was never one to give in to peer pressure and outside influences. He always wanted more for himself, and he took it upon himself to spend his days reading and preparing himself for school even when his mother could not. He was self motivated, and something made the light come on.

For most of the young men in inner city Philadelphia and other cities across the country, that light will never come on. They will do poorly in poor schools, and they will be handed degrees that they do not deserve. They will spend their lives doing menial jobs, and, if they are lucky, they will avoid the criminal justice system. (Statistics tell us that most of these young men will not.)

For the women the prospects are not much better. They, too, will be doomed to a life of failure and underachievement. Statistics tell us that they will have a child out of wedlock, and more than likely it will be with someone who cannot care for that child.

Their life will be made that much harder of having the burden of raising a family without emotional and financial support, and unfortunately they will start the cycle of hopelessness all over again.

"As National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel explained:

The PISA test can still tell us many things, says NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, but the results are certainly not proof that we need to accelerate voucher programs, continue ineffective high-stakes testing, and scapegoat teachers. U.S. students won't rank higher on PISA, Van Roekel explains, until the nation properly addresses poverty and its effect on students. 

"Our students from well-to-do families have consistently done well on the PISA assessments. For students who live in poverty, however, it's a different story. Socioeconomic factors influence students' performance in the United States more than they do in all but few of the other PISA countries," says Van Roekel."

Yes we have to address poverty and "socioeconomic factors", but we are also going to need some real talk along the way.

This is getting ugly....

Oh lord! This intra- racial fighting is getting ugly. Now my man Cornel is calling out half of Rev. Inc. and declaring him to be a "house negro of the Barack Obama plantation." (Isn't it amazing how far just one diss can go? O, next time send that man an invitation to your party.)

"Public intellectual Cornel West tore into many of this week’s speeches surrounding the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s “I Have a Dream” speech, accusing everyone from President Obama to Rev. Al Sharpton of “sanitizing” Dr. King’s vision.

“Brother Martin himself, I think, would’ve been turning over in his grave,” West said of the event. “[King would have wanted] people to talk about Wall Street criminality, he wants people to talk about war crimes, or drones dropping bombs on innocent people,” he asserted.

“Instead,” he lamented, “we saw the coronation of the bonafide house negro of the Barack Obama plantation, our dear brother Al Sharpton.” West went further declaring that Sharpton’s decline was “supported by [MSNBC analyst] Michael Dyson and others who’ve prostituted themselves in a very ugly and vicious way.”

West and Tavis Smiley both lamented that black leadership has become “so sold-out” so as not to have the courage to be a “bull in the china shop,” break rank, and talk about “racism, poverty, and militarism” at an otherwise “bought-out” event." [Source]

Now I understand some of frustration that Brother West is feeling. We do need to be talking more about things such as "racism, poverty, and militarism". But  what country does Cornel West believe that he is living in? Negroes getting upset because Barack Obama didn't get into the White House and go all Huey P. Newton are as crazy as the republicans who foam at the mouth over the sound of his name. Just what the hell did you expect?

Let me repeat this again: Barack Obama is a politician, and he happens to be a damn good one. Politicians know how to raise money, run the government, and push all the right buttons to make Americans feel like their country is the greatest in the history of the world. That's it. The fact that this president happens to be black should be celebrated for its imagery and what it can mean for the future aspirations of young black boys watching him, but that's about it.
It's not going to change how business is done in this country and who gets the spoils.

If you Negroes want things to change, stop depending on poli-trick-sters like Barack Obama and start grass roots efforts to change things in your own neighborhoods. Start organizing locally to try and better the lives of people around you. Change is not going to come from Washington; it's going to come from your homes.  

Again, I am not sure what some of you Negroes were expecting, but I have news for you; it's not going to get any better for your agenda when Barack Obama leaves and when the next presidents come after him. Americans don't want to talk about things like "racism" and "poverty", and when they do, it makes them very uncomfortable. Look what happened when this president tried to address the elephant in the room. "If I had a son he would look like Trayvon".

Anyway, Barack Obama does need to have real folks in his ears-- besides his wife Michelle--- from time to time. It's just that when Negroes like Tavis and Cornel do the criticizing, it comes off more like sour grapes than constructive criticism and speaking truth to power.

  

 

The Reality Of Hopelessness.

"Got my glock cocked, runnin this thing, ya understand We be steamin.. blazin.. nines, pumps, and K's, and Holly Grove 17th, (what) tha hood where I (what) was raised in (what)Niggaz bustin heads and, runnin duckin Feds and rocks under they tongues and, ki's under they beds and Hood fulla real niggaz, twenty-four seven hustlers EHHH, until we shove a barrel down ya pipe suckers Ain't no love for no busta, no fear for no coward No respect from no stunt, and no money without power" ~ Lil Wayne~

"You ever been hungry lawyer man?"

I had to think about the question for a minute....no, I had never been hungry. Not unless I chose to be. But I have met people who were. I lived in a Third World country, so I saw real poverty first hand. The truth of the matter is, I never really imagined real hunger being a problem in A-merry-ca. And I never imagined poverty here in A-merry-ca being real poverty. Poverty, after all, is a relative term.

But as I looked around this Southwest Philly neighborhood, I could never have imagined that a place like this could exist in the land of the free. It was, in a word, hell. Every other house was boarded up, graffiti was on damn near every wall, and I am thinking that when Bob Marley sang about "concrete jungle", this is exactly the type of neighborhood he was talking about.

Still, I felt somewhat comfortable here. I had done wills and other forms of transactional legal work for quite a few grandmothers in the area. And I had represented a few of the grandsons with criminal cases; including the young buck who was running this particular set a few years ago.

I was leaving the home of a client, when, as is always the case, I was approached by one of the young heads from the area. They always like to mess with me, and pick my brain about legal issues. I, in turn, try to counsel them about life, and quiz them about school and getting their life in order. It's a shaky truce that we have, and everyone knows the rules. I won't charge them for legal advice, and they will (at least pretend to) listen to me.

"Naw man, I don't think I have ever been hungry". "I have". He said. "I remember when I was in foster care back in the day. Man I used to put toothpaste on writing paper and chew it for candy. I swear some nights I would go to bed and my gut would feel like it was going to explode. I don't ever want to feel that shit again."

Why was he telling me this? I knew there was a point, but I couldn't figure it out. Was he trying to confess to a crime, and justify why he did it because he was hungry? "Well you not hungry anymore right?" "Naw, Mr. Lawyer man, I can eat now. And I got a young jawn (That's Philly speak for any pronoun you want it to be. In this case he was talking about his child) I gotta feed too. I ain't trying to go to child support court." I knew what the answer was going to be but I asked the question anyway: "Do you have a job?" "Naw Mr. Lawyer, not no nine to five jawn, but I do alright." At this point he was laughing with me , but I didn't feel like laughing back. "You know you are probably going to be calling me one day right." "Naw lawyer man, not unless you do federal work." I couldn't resist. "Oh that's the kind of weight you moving around here?" "Naw not yet, but soon. I mean you cool and all lawyer man, but when I go down it will be for some big chumpy (another one of those Philly words) type shit. I will need a lawyer that stays up in federal court." ....I started to try and preach to young blood, but what was the point . Besides, it was starting to get late, and while some folks in the neighborhood might have some love for the field, it's still Southwest Philly.

"Alright young blood. I am out. Try to settle down with your shorty though and think about your little one. You won't grow old and get a pension running these streets. " "Yeah but I am young lawyer man, I got time."

Amazing, his ambition in life was to get a lawyer who specializes in federal cases, because he plans to move enough drugs to get the federal government on his case. But he was hungry once, and he doesn't ever want to feel that way again. To him, selling drugs and living a life on the street is the only way to keep money in his pocket. Most of us know that it won't last, and he probably does too. But to him, tomorrow doesn't matter. There is no future. And that little "jawn" he just brought into the world, will have to live the vicious cycle all over again.

President Obama. It has a nice ring to it. I wonder if he will come to Southwest Philly?

Can we trust him?

"I want to assure the people of the 9th Ward, the people of New Orleans, the people of this country: Never again will a disaster of this nature be handled in the terrible and disgraceful way that it was handled, never again." ~~~John Mccain on Katrina~~

Ouch! That was Mr. Morton giving the frat boy his ass to kiss today in the "Big Easy". Remember South Carolina motherfucker?

So the poverty, I really do love black people tour continues, and Mr. Morton headed straight to our ground zero, New Orleans. Of course the dumbocrats are crying foul. This is dirty politics, he has his fingers crossed, He is just like George Bush, he doesn't care about black people. But I think it's falling on deaf ears. Did you see those old black ladies dancing with McCain? One thing about us black folks, we are a forgiving group of people, and if we think you really care about us, we have no problem showing you some love. And I have to give to to old Mr. Morton, he didn't look quite so uncomfortable around us black folks. That's important, it's why we felt Bubba all these years. He just looked so damn comfortable around us. Unlike the damn republicans who would always act like they were on a different fucking planet when they are around black folks. Remember the fake ass cowboy from California? He was the worst. Of course, in retrospect, we know why now. You would be nervous too if you had to be around a bunch of people you spent all of your time fucking over. But I digress. Back to Mr. Morton.

So why is he doing all of this? Did he just wake up one day and decide that he was going to be the President for the black people too? I don't think so. I think the dumbocrats are kind of right. I think these moves are political. I think Mr. Morton has made a calculated effort to move to the middle and go after those independents and the folks who are going to be pissed off from the dumbocratic side if their guy or gal isn't the nominee. Make no mistake, no matter how much they hate his old ass, repukeliklans will not stay home and let a woman or a black man win this bitch. They just won't. Especially if the woman's name is Hillary, and the black man's name is Osama...whoops, I meant Obama. Hey folks, the "O" man is black again, his neutral race shield was torn away by the ice Queen. Now he is just another one of us. White mama or not. McCain knows that, and he knows black folks will be furious at some point in November, whether the "O" man is the dumbocratic nominee or not. So now Mr. Morton is trying to be the President of all the people, and he is hoping that he won't be such a bitter pill for black folks to swallow.

But just be careful of the old coot. I don't really trust him. There is something about the dude that just doesn't sit right with me. And having him as President will be kind of scary. It's why I will never vote for his ass in the general. But I still give him credit. Even if he has his fingers crossed, at least he is showing up. Which is more than I can say for the frat boy, and his rethuglican friends.

Poor McCain, the conservatives and the right wing crowd are going to have another name for him now: "Nigger lover."

Some White Folks Get It

"Unconventional Wisdom Listen up, white folks: Your racism cuts deeper
By Alfred Lubrano
Inquirer Columnist

Two weeks ago, I wrote a column about white racism. What about black racism?, dozens of you wrote me.
How come I didn't mention the inappropriateness of ESPN analyst Michael Irvin's opining that Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (of Mexican descent) must have had an ancestor who copulated with a black man to account for his superior skills?
Irvin, who is African American, is foolish , but that's hardly the point. I didn't think I had to say this because it's so obvious:
America is a white-majority country. When one group has substantially more power than all others, its biases, prejudices, and mouth filth matter more.
And if whites possess the keys to the White House, the executive suite, the law firm, the construction company - not to mention the gun lockers in the police stations - then what they think about black people has greater weight and consequence than what black people think about them.
Of course, black people can be as prejudiced as whites. I've lived it. On a day I thought would be my last, a group of black guys beat me down on a New York subway train; years later, black demonstrators spit on me and opened my head with rocks. In both cases, my only sin was skin color.
But lots more black people than whites have endured systemic, organized violence in this country. And my ancestors walked off the boats that brought them here unchained.
From when I was a kid, the croaks of racists slimed my ears. Today, neighbors in rural South Jersey take me for a coconspirator, referring to "them people" and identifying certain farm weeds as N-word-heads. In white neighborhoods everywhere, you can hear far worse.
Crime. Unwed mothers. Dope. Black problems, right? When I tell people that the white Appalachian neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, I once covered had the precise same pathologies, they stare at me dumbly.
It's poverty, not melanin. It's class-based misery. It's watching your kids crawl around without Pampers or hope. It's sucking down Ho Hos and malt liquor because the sugar and the buzz feel better than the boredom and terror of each day.
White working-class people I know erroneously believe that government programs such as affirmative action give African Americans unfair advantages.
If they had a genie's wish, I ask white folks, would they beg for their kids to turn black so they could enjoy all those goodies?
I lived below the poverty line for four years in New York and I still had it better than lots of black people.
It is true that working-class white people live tough American lives.
But store owners don't automatically think they're criminals, and their kids don't have to be warned not to mouth off to cops for fear of getting tortured with a plunger.
Some psychologists of race will go so far as to say that white prejudice is proactive, while black prejudice is reactive. America began with whites thinking of blacks as animals and property. U.S. history then moved to cross burnings.
We've since progressed, but if your people get lynched and shot enough times, you might develop suspicion of all the guys with the ropes and guns.
Today, lots of people are learning to interact. But racism is a hard-to-kill bacterium. How do I know? Many of you readers told me so, with acid e-mails and racist phone messages.
You hate that a white guy is saying this. White people have to say this. Or we're not getting anywhere."

Folks, whenever I read a column like the one above, I realize that there is hope for our country, and that there are white folks in this country who really do get it. I almost never lift an entire article but this one from my home town paper, The Philadelphia Inquirer, was too good not to share with the rest of you. Yes, I loved the article, and I also loved this letter to the editor from a lady by the name of Laura Modon from Havertown, Pennsylvania:

"Your article gave me hope for the future of this country and the world.

In my estimation, you are one of a minute group of men with white skin who 'get it' and who have the courage to say so. (The others who come to mind: former President Jimmy Carter;Bono; former President Bill Clinton; professor and author Jared Diamond.)

In everyday life, there are fewer still whom I have met; my own father was one. You constitute a tiny minority of pale skinned males who acknowledge the understand that the poisons of hatred and bigotry- ignited by greed and ignorance, and initially released over 400 years ago in the forms of conquest and slavery-still permeate this land.

Talk about toxic waste. But their exists a cure; the necessary 'superfund cleanup' is very simple. It is truth, and its vaccine is education."

Damn that was deep. Right on Ms. Mondon, how soon can you open a school to bring others to that place where you are? Your sh** was profound!

The field is heading out of town for a few days for a little R&R and of course the Christmas holiday. I will bring my laptop of course. Hopefully, I will be able to do the whole mobile blogging thing while I am on the road. We will see.

Enjoy your Christmas, and go Eagles!!!!!