All-Black School -[Toronto, Canada]- Options

[Irysa]

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/299106

To summarize in brief, the Toronto District School Board (Canada) has just approved a motion to open an all black school somewhere in downtown Toronto. The school will have only black management, teachers and only accept black students. The thrust of the project is twofold; increase attendance rates and a general interest for staying in school, and provide a more afro-centric curriculum.

This is racist. Why, after so many years of fighting against segregation and racism is something like this allowed to happen? Where are the benefits? I honestly can't think of any. But there are enough downsides to this. Aside from the general massive racism intoned in the project, there are also a number of other problems. For example, what happens when these students graduate and enter the workforce or higher education? If they're only socialized with other people of the same race, how will they react to fellow students or authority figures of different races? There is also debate as to whether or not any students actually asked for such a school to be created, as well as the question of public funding.

I have nothing against the offering of an afro-centric course as part of the curriculum... but why like this? Many people send their children to Jewish/Greek/Chinese/you-name-it (private) schools on Saturdays or Sundays, so that their kids can learn about their own culture and have an appreciation for it. That's wonderful. But why does an all black school receive public approval and funding?

Consider this. If someone now petitions for an all white school (which someone will undoubtedly do) they'll instantly be labelled as a racist. But what's the difference? Why is an all black school tolerable, but an all white school abhorred? Is it some pathetic 200 year old slavery justification that has no bearing on the real world anymore?

I'm interested in getting other viewpoints on this because quite frankly I cannot reconcile myself to the alternative viewpoint. I cannot see this school as being anything but a bad idea. I don't see how it can be anything but racist (at least on some level) and, most of all, I can't fathom how it ever received approval.

[Raijinili]

For skin to have skin color, color must exist. If color does not exist, there is no "skin color."

Then "your skin color" can be called anything you want, and how can anyone prove you wrong? In particular, it can still be called "skin color".

For us to accept that the equal sign is valid, we must accept math.

For me to accept that you are correct, I must assume that logic makes sense.

That's the problem with... bleh, I forgot the name. Full skepticism. How can you know that you can't know something if you deny being able to know anything for sure?

It doesn't take faith if you don't question it. Unless you think there's a possibility that 1 doesn't equal 1, there's no reason to need faith in it.

Current paradoxes within the math field show that, if nothing else, algebra requires some fine-tuning.

Paradoxes aren't contradictions.

Besides, what paradoxes do you know in simple arithmetic?

Since math is not absolute, it is possible that the equal sign is invalid

Good job, you have no idea what you're talking about. See above.

my only point is that, unless one is omniscient, it is impossible to have a belief in anything outside of faith in that thing

And how would you know that you're omniscient?

By singing about the bitches & hos, they are glorifying the lifestyle. Ex.: "I got my bitch's and hos" - The song lyrics indicate that this means that having a harem of women is a good thing. In actuality, it is not a good thing. Not for the men or for the women.

In poor countries where there isn't such music, people have sex at a young age. It's not about music, it's about, once again, not learning the importance of an education, whether from your parents or from your educators, and not knowing better than to live in the now.

So once again, it comes back to poverty and the schools.

For videogame violence, the violence depicted is clearly a fantasy. No way would kids mercilessly kill other kids or adults (as they do in videogames). Most kids do not have access to weapons.

Oh, that brings up a point. Most serial killers are white, and most mass school shooters are white people who get legal guns from their parents. White people are thus inclined to murder, despite being statisticly more wealthy. So what the hell is wrong with white people?

People who are black have suggested the solution above (seriously) and it was rejected by all who considered it.

Good job, you make black people sound greedy as well.

1) White people also suggest it.
2) Not "all who considered it". Rather, the people who had money, who are again, rich white men.

In fact, one of the promises that they made to the freed slaves was property. Ever heard of "40 acres and a mule"? If this had been done back then, it would've been paid for by seizing property of the slave owners. However, it would've meant that the freed slaves would not have to start from the very bottom of the social and economic pyramid, which white people didn't have to do as a group in America.

A good solution would be to aggressively prosecute racial discrimination. The problem with that is that racial discrimination is very hard to prove.

1) Then that's not a good solution. At all.
2) Affirmative action is meant to prevent racial discrimination, as well. But you didn't like that idea. So basically, you would rather people give up?

Stereotypes describe people of a given race very well generally. That is why they are so hard to defeat.

I disagree. You just ignore me when I defeat them.

I don't think teaching race equality is a bad thing, but King's dream can never be realized for the simple reason that we are all humans, and we want to divide people into categories, as opposed to viewing all people as "raceless" as King imagines.

So why is it that people like you are the exact reason we can't have nice things?

[jcdietz03]

People who are black have suggested the solution above (seriously) and it was rejected by all who considered it. (I am referring to a "Reparations" proposal, one that would give $$ to people who are descendants of slaves.)

Good job, you make black people sound greedy as well.

1) White people also suggest it.
2) Not "all who considered it". Rather, the people who had money, who are again, rich white men.

#1) Really? This seems like the sort of thing that would be suggested by black people. I'm surprised white people also suggested such a plan.

#2) OK, so you're suggesting [white] congresspeople didn't consider the proposal because they are biased. So consider the proposal yourself. Is it a good idea? Why??
Ask a random 100 black people, "If you received $1000 today, what would you do with the money?"
Next experiment: Give 100 random black people $1000 in a special account, so it's possible for the researcher to track how the money is spent. Observe how they spend the money.

My guess is, it would be hard for me to see a link between a better life for black people as a whole and what they spent their money on. I have a feeling this is why people in congress didn't like it.

My college economics professor told me a story once. Poor people get food stamps. Why don't they just give cash to poor people? It costs the government more to print and distribute the food stamps and reimburse the grocery stores than if they had just a straight cash "food stamp" system. So why does the government hand out food stamps instead of handing out cash?

The answer is that politicians are uncomfortable with the idea that a government welfare program intended to provide food might be used for unscrupulous things such as drugs. This is why, despite the cost, the government went with the food stamp program. The proposed reparations program is the same way. There are numerous ways for black kids to get grants and favorable loans for college, which may end up improving their life. Giving out "Reparations" payments wouldn't solve anything, methinks.