Magnet-School Inequity, The Martinsville Seven, and Supporting Black Businesses
Today is the last day to submit comments to the Durham Public Schools online forum regarding DPS magnet-school inequity. My response is below. Please leave your own concerns/suggestions/etc. if you feel remotely inclined: https://engage.dpsnc.net/community-magnet-engagement-piece.
We need to conduct magnet fairs (or at least an assembly on DPS’s magnet options) during school for prospective middle and high-school students and include the school for which they are districted. Then, at the end of the assembly/fair, we need to have students fill out their own 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice sheets as a school assignment and have their guidance counselor make appts to meet with each family to determine their lottery choices (if any) together and file them right then and there. We must empower our students to make the choices related to their own educational and life paths. This skill will help them when it comes to applying to college, for jobs, and beyond. If we don’t have the Human Resources (counselors/staff) to do this, then we need to provide them. We are missing an opportunity to really benefit our kids’ well being in the long run.
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The local news story below features the town where I grew up (my mother still lives there) as well as my undergraduate alma mater (Go Tribe!). I was such a privileged, ignorant, and naive white child growing up there. I didn't even know about the Martinsville 7 until I saw this today. Shoot, I didn't know that our country club prohibited black members - you'd think I'd at least have taken note that everyone was white. In my defense, and despite my teenage and adolescent pride in being a country-music-lovin' southern gal with a touch of redneck, I'm not really from Martinsville, VA., or the American South, for that matter. My parents moved to Martinsville from NJ to set up their dermatology practice. Not only were they Yankees, they were first generation Eastern-European immigrants (my mom is Polish and my dad is Lithuanian). Moving to the Confederate South of the US was a huge leap for my family. If only I'd realized it growing up, I'd have had some reason for never feeling like I belonged. I strongly support efforts like these to clean up the maliciously fallacious history left by American white supremacy.
What can we, as a society, do to make real amends for these horrors? We can start by facilitating the black-owned businesses that racist and white-supremacist tactics and actions destroyed by "creating a bridge to economic inclusion." And there's no better time than the present, given the double-decimation caused to black versus white businesses during the Covid pandemic. The NPR story below shows how several black business owners in gentrified Atlanta are co-oping and seeking outside funding to maintain, celebrate and capitalize off their black ownership. Durham is facing similar gentrification that is pushing out independent and especially black businesses. I would *love* to see the city and county of Durham prioritize turning one of the old buildings downtown into a black-business co-op, providing 1) an affordable environment for African American businesses to nurture one another and 2) a place where people can eat, shop and do business with no doubt that they are supporting black businesses in their community. Here's the NPR story that sparked my thoughts on the matter: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/11/975300833/we-dont-have-the-luxury-to-fall-apart-black-businesses-get-creative-to-survive.
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My life-long childhood bestie, Courtney Carter Plaster, texted me my Theme Song today. The sentiments are ones that I want to stick in my head and share with others.
