Boyce Watkins, PhD
The educational funding crisis in the state of California serves as a microcosm of the problems which plague inner city schools all across America. In communities where the black and brown reside, we find that the descendants of slaves, whose forefathers were unable to pass wealth onto their children for hundreds of years, are not getting the education they deserve. All the while, the kids in suburban communities have an abundance of resources.For example, Markham Middle is one of Los Angeles' worst performing schools, with test scores that are 34 percent below the level deemed acceptable by the state. When budget cuts hit the campus, the school lost half of its teachers, who were replaced by substitutes earning $173 per day with no benefits. The substitutes weren't teaching the kids, so they weren't learning anything. In other words, our commitment to educational inequality leads to our theft of the futures of millions of children across America every single year.
All the while, Wonderland Elementary (a school in the suburbs) has full-time art, music and gym teachers, along with beautiful playgrounds, computers and everything else students need in order to succeed. This entire differential is driven by the fact that residents in Wonderland are able to afford the tax revenue necessary to keep the school functioning at the highest levels.
Fortunately, the ACLU has sued the state on behalf of Markham students, accurately citing that inner city students also deserve a chance to succeed. What must also happen is at the federal level, educational inequality must be recognized as a civil rights issue, and not just an educational one. The differentials seen between Markham and Wonderland exist all over America, and much of this differential would not exist had America not owned slaves for 400 years.
The Holy Trinity for saving the black family in America lies in three areas: Education, Economics and criminal justice. Black youth are denied a proper education, their unemployment rates are nearly double those of whites, and they are several times more likely to be incarcerated than their white counterparts. When I speak at the March on Washington on August 28 hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton, those are the issues on which I am going to focus.
Change isn't easy, nor is it simple. But through consistent and purposeful action, change is possible. It won't happen overnight, so we've got to keep going.
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