July 21, 2010
Beat Up All Over: Wake School Board Chair Calls NAACP "Sad," and "Irrelevant."
As someone who lives in in Wake County, has a child in Wake County Schools, and has watched William Barber's incessant grand-standing, I have to say Margiotta is more than likely right:
The head of the Wake County Board of Education on Wednesday called a disturbance and nearly 20 arrests at Tuesday's school board meeting "sad" and called the state NAACP "irrelevant.""You don't have to be a rocket scientist to recognize that there are other motivations other than what's going on in the Wake County Public School System," board Chairman Ron Margiotta said. "That's a sad commentary, because the ones that are being punished will be the children and the families of this county."
An estimated 1,000 people took to the streets of downtown Raleigh Tuesday morning in a rally organized by the civil rights group to protest the school board's decision earlier this year to do away with a policy that assigns students to schools based on socio-economics.
Nineteen people, including state NAACP President Rev. William Barber, were arrested during protests.
And more to the point:
Margiotta said he thinks Barber and the NAACP are using the school-assignment debate to generate headlines and keep their names in the news."I've tried to be nice. It's quite evident people have other motivations, other than what's going on in the Wake County Public School System," Margiotta said. "They're an organization trying to become relevant again."
Of the 19 protesters arrested at the meeting, only 4 were from Wake County.
The others were presumably bused in.
Though I am pleased to see segregation dying for reasons, good ones, all their own. I suspect this has more to do with the cost of busing kids, and a few other costs associated with it. Add in the fact that desegregation has only advanced the deterioration of the education system, introduced crime to a broader area, and done no good for anyone, and...
Now, if they could just get girls and boys to go to different school, I think they would have it. I suppose it will take a woman quota president to allow that though. In spite of being against Palin for similar reasons I was against Obama... if that is what it takes to kill feminism and all it's warts, if not witches, maybe then... so be it.
On the bright side, Zeus had to have someone split his head open to get rid of the female ghost in the machine. Plus, Palin wouldn't be hard on the eyes, not like a bucktoothed scarecrow.
Posted by: Doom at July 22, 2010 12:42 AMLike CY, I too am a resident of Wake County and have two sons in the public school sytem. I attended the public hearings on the previous board’s diversity proposals and never once did I her someone get up and support the idea of putting low income and English as a Second Language children on a bus and shipping them an hour across the county. What I heard were concerned parents expressing their desire for neighborhood schools and that all the money spent on busing should be provided to the under-achieving schools. These weren’t parents seeking to segregate their children, but parents with a genuine concern for all children of the county. These were the same parents that overwhelmingly voted in the new school board.
Where were all the protesters on Election Day? Apparently they weren’t concerned enough last year to vote. They only care enough now to score political points and tar the new school board members as racists and segregationists. Fortunately, we in Wake County know the better.
Tarheel Repub Out!
Posted by: Tarheel Repub at July 22, 2010 06:25 AMTarheel Repub, do you happen to know if the NAACP intended to hold this march all along, or was it planned at the last minute? I wouldn't be surprised if the NAACP shipped all of these people over to draw attention away from their current ... predicament.
Posted by: Nine-of-Diamonds at July 22, 2010 03:24 PMHey Nine,
I haven't heard that the march was done to distract the public from the NAACP’s recent peccadilloes. I do know that the NC chapter has been smearing the new board as racists and accusing them of wanting to turn back the clock to segregation since the board was seated after the election. Sure is interesting how their attacks fit in with the recent revelations of the JournoList, i.e., when all else fails, brand your opponents as racists.
Rather than focus on the good that the new board is trying to do for the underperforming schools, i.e., less busing, more resources, they attack. Who really has the best interest of these children in mind?
Tarheel Repub Out!
