Global warming alert

In a story that is more important than Saddam’s execution, scientists have discovered a major ice shelf that broke off an island in the Canadian Arctic in August of 2005. It is said to be the largest break in 25 years, casting an ice floe with an area of 66 sq km (25 square miles). The chunk of ice bigger than Manhattan could wreak havoc if it moves into oil drilling regions and shipping lanes next summer, scientists warned.

Global warming is real and if enough ice melts at the polar ice caps, the potential for disrupting ocean and wind currents dangerously increases, whose ripple effects you will feel immediately. This problem is surmountable, play your part.

Stay up fam,

Categories:
globalwarming
environment

Symbolism of Saddam’s execution

I knew it was just a matter of time before Saddam would be executed but the symbolism of his death means everything and nothing in very significant ways.

To the extent that it means nothing, the current violence and lawlessness plaguing Iraq is not dependent on the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein. Of course, there will probably be an up tick of violence in light of his execution, but we have seen nothing but increases in violence since we have been in Iraq. So to say pinpoint one reason for the violence is next to impossible. Nevertheless, Saddam’s death will not lead to sectarian fighters laying down their guns and calling a truce.

To the extent that it means something, Saddam was executed on Eid-al-Adha, one of the holiest events in the Muslim calendar, and regarded as a day of celebration. It is also the first day that the pilgrims perform the stoning of the devil ritual, where they throw pebbles at a pillar representing Satan.

So I get it, Saddam represents Satan and the Holy Americans figuratively and literally defeated Satan. Symbolism is everything, especially given the fact that Saddam was a secular dictator, not a Muslim extremist. But if you were to ask most people if Saddam was Muslim, they would most certainly say he was.

Now I am glad to see that Saddam is gone but it is truly distressing that his death cost nearly 3,000 American military deaths and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. On some realness, we could have sent 10 Navy Seals to take him out. And even though Saddam is dead, do you think our debacle in Iraq is going to get any better anytime in the realistic future?

Please pray for peace,

Stay up fam,

Categories:
iraq
saddamhussein

School aid not distributed evenly

This was the title of a CNN article describing the gist of a report by Education Trust, essentially saying that way we fund public education short changes low-income and minority students.

The following is an excerpt of the press release by Education Trust;

The report, Funding Gaps 2006, builds on the Education Trust’s annual studies of funding gaps among school districts within states. For the first time the report includes data and analysis on:

• How federal Title I funds widen rather than narrow the education funding gaps that separate wealthy states from poor states; and,
• How funding choices at the school district level provide enhanced funding to schools serving higher concentrations of affluent students and white students at the expense of schools that serve low-income students and students of color.

This should not serve as any new groundbreaking information but reports like this play a critical role in educating the public and alerting policy makers that our approach to education is failing our children. Please read this report, review their analsyis and proposed solutions.

Stay up fam,

Categories:
educationalfunding
educationpolicy

UN imposes sanctions against Iran

I am especially critical of the news during times of mass distraction. This is primarily because often times the government will use these times to do make controversial decisions, knowing that people will be too busy to make a big fuss about it. One example of this includes the resignation of now former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced the day after the midterm election. Keeping true to form, on December 23, 2006, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.

This is troubling on so many levels. The most important being that with this resolution in hand, U.S. now has the moral authority to claim the support of the “international community” in his saber rattling against Iran. It should be noted that the current resolution was watered down to satisfy concerns of China and Russia (both veto holding members of the United Nations Security Council) that the sanctions were too harsh. In effect, the resolution will not do any serious harm to the Iranian economy but this wasn’t the purpose of the resolution in the first place.

Nevertheless, Bush already used the support of the “international community” to help justify war against Iraq when there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction. So the fact that Iran is actually developing a civilian nuclear program will make it that much easier for the Bush administration to make a case for military action against Iran. What’s worse is that previous attempts at resolving this standoff through diplomacy was made unrealistic by Bush’s precondition that Iran stop enriching uranium.

In the coming months, expect Bush to use this resolution as proof that Iran has something to hide for not agreeing to suspend their uranium enrichment. Moreover, expect Bush and mainstream media outlets to continue to blame Iraq’s problems due to Iran’s meddling. Couple this with Bush’s call for a “surge” in the size of the American military and his refusal to rule out using a nuclear strike against Iran; we are witnessing the priming of war with Iran. As a result, I encourage all of you to make your voice heard as it pertains to war policy. Wars cannot exist without public support but your silence will always be interpreted at best support and worst, indifference.

For more on this topic, please read this article

Stay up fam,

Categories:
iran
war
internationalrelations
bushadministration

Boy, 14, is slain; 2d youth wounded

I read the news from coast to coast and around the world everyday. In every paper based in major cities, I constantly scan stories that have headlines that read something like, “Young man shot dead, 22 years old.”

I can’t tell you how many times I have quickly read these headlines and continued to scroll down the page. But when I see headlines related to the Iraq war, economy, international relations, etc., I click on these items automatically. Not that these topics are not important, but I find it troubling that I overlook the articles that would otherwise put a damper on my day.

But today while I was reading the Boston Globe, on of the smaller headlines read Boy, 14, is slain; 2d youth wounded. Instantly, I knew they were Black and I saw the faces of boys I know around that age and how precious life is. Questions abounded. Where they did go wrong? How did they get access to a gun? Were they in school? Are people afraid of snitching? I got mad at myself because I found myself addressing all the “structural factors” that made this accident possible. These boys’ parents just lost their children. Feel the pain of the families before you turn on the computer to google “structural, factors, contributing, young, Black, men.” The structural factors are always important but this knee-jerk reaction to analyze situations in these terms serves to distance ourselves from the pain that statistics cannot capture.

Even the articles we read don’t do it. The Boston Globe article starts off,

A 14-year-old boy was killed and another youth was wounded by gunfire last night in Roslindale, with Boston police scouring the neighborhood for suspects.

The unidentified teenager was rushed to Boston Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The second victim, an unidentified male, was taken to the pediatric unit of Boston Medical Center, where he was treated for injuries not believed to be life-threatening.

Now I know that news articles should not be woefully emotional but that is where you the reader have to dig deep, avoid instant structural analysis, make it personal, and read for understanding, not for fact overviews.

So last night, while I was at a party with people I graduated with from the University of Michigan, a young Black kid was killed. “But Brandon, you can’t save them all, live your life.” How about no? Instead, how about I refuse to be selective on what I consider to be Black History.

I know I am all over the place but this issue hits home to me in a visceral way. My childhood friend, Shade was gunned down by an off-duty cop after a failed robbery attempt. This happened when I was in high school and I spoke at his funeral and was one of the pallbearers. The story made the news and would you guess what happened when I googled the article? Error: Invalid story key. I know newspapers cannot afford to keep digital archives of every article but Shade’s story is not invalid and lives with me.

So I urge you to not just scan over the negative headlines but read them, learn their names before the cable news networks tell you what is really newsworthy. Anybody getting shot, (especially Black youth who just years before their being shot were probably riding bikes and playing basketball) is worth your attention. We are the only people that can validate our stories.

Stay up fam,

Categories:
blackissues

The Weekly Dream: The Forgotten

Question of the Week: What Do You Give the Guy Who Has Everything?

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37″Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

The Saga Continues. Christmas is only four days away. And as always, I have waited until the last minute to get my shopping done Whether it is poor planning or because I am an adrenaline junkie, I never could start shopping in November.

However, when I do get started, I inevitably run into the problem of getting gifts for my family members who have everything. Like my grandmother and grandfather, they get gifts from everyone, so you never know what to get them. Or my godfather, who just has everything. So, Christmas in my family is really informal, more of a means to an end.

But when I was at Barnes and Nobles yesterday, the cashier asked me if I wanted to donate a book to foster children this season. The request caught me off guard, but I automatically made the donation. Yet, it got me to thinking about the forgotten at Christmas.

The Forgotten

The Forgotten. Those who are marginalized in a society of excess. Those who cannot run up credit card debt for consumer goods. The homeless, the poor, the orphaned, the mentally retarded, the prisoner. Those people who make you uncomfortable by their very presence. Where is their Christmas? Are they on your Christmas list?

I could talk about these groups forever, but there is someone I bet you forgot this Christmas, I know I did. The Birthday Boy Himself, The Reason for the Season, Jesus Christ. I looked down at my list and next to my grandmother, aunts, uncles, Jesus was nowhere on the list. How can you not get Jesus a gift on his own birthday?

Immediately I felt terrible, especially after I thought about how much He gave me this year and always. Then I tried to remember had Jesus ever been on my Christmas list? And sadly, I could not remember. Now I knew how Peter felt when the cock crowed thrice.

What Do You Get The Guy Who Has Everything

Jesus also was forgotten at His birth. Forced to be born in a barn because there was no room for Him. He was with the sheep and the shepherds. Talk about a demotion. However, He was obedient to the will of the Father and squeezed Himself into a human body. So I figured, perhaps we can give him obedience.

Some of us are “Indian Givers” when it comes to God. We will start down the path and then get lax. I know I am guilty of it. I will start being obedient in something, and then start doing my own thing. So, Jesus still ends up without a gift for Christmas. This is not right. Once we give something, we must keep giving it. You do not give love once, you have to keep giving it. Gifts from the heart are repeat transactions.

Now obedience is far different than love. We love our parents, but growing up, we were not always obedient to them. But obedience has more to do with awe, respect and appreciation. It becomes sincere when we add love to the equation. And when we are obedient, Jesus gave us His wish list. He said, love the Lord with your all and then love your neighbor as yourself. If you cannot love your brother or sister you can see, then how can you truly love God who you cannot see?

This can be a challenge. Because sometimes, people can be difficult to deal with. But we must strive to see the God within them. So, how can we remember the Forgotten and make sure the Christ stays in Christmas? See the Christ within yourself and within others and act accordingly. Be more obedient, which can be a challenge, and treat even those who are disadvantaged with the respect and consideration God did when He made them.

In Closing

It takes effort to remember to see the God in people, because as humans, we look at the outward appearance. But there are a lot of people who are alone, depressed, insecure, and unhappy in a season that should be full of joy. In all the hustle and bustle, invite someone who may be alone to sit at your table, get a child a gift that they can really use or an elderly person who could use a visit. I am not saying try to save the world and end world poverty, but you know someone who needs something and it would not cost you too much to help them out. Yet, that is only the beginning of a life of obedience and service. Let’s not be “Indian Givers” with God and each other. Give the gift that keeps on giving-YOU.

Happy Birthday Jesus. The Card is in the mail .

Truth and Peace,
Steven M DeVougas

Categories:
The Weekly Dream
Christmas

Masturbation…what I know for sure

The inspiration for this post comes from a book I am reading entitled, every man’s battle. It is a Christian-based book that talks about sexual temptation in ways that are very direct and honest. But first I guess a good question would be to ask if people think masturbation is wrong.

For me, and I think many other men, I felt that masturbation was merely a way of releasing pent up energy. In practice, this meant that while I was younger and a virgin, I thought that masturbation was the best way to stay pure without actually “doing” it. And as I got older, this meant that if enough time elapsed, I was entitled to a session. However, there is a verse in the Bible, Matthew 5:28 that states,

But I (Jesus) tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

For a long time, I rejected the logic of this scripture. I couldn’t understand how looking at someone with my eyes provided a direct connection to my heart. And why did looking lustfully become synonymous with adultery? That always seemed a little harsh to me. What’s worse is that my sessions didn’t involve me using my eyes to lust after a woman. For me that meant if I was intimate with someone, I had the mental video in my mind ready to go. Essentially, I tried to split hairs thinking that if I was not looking at porn or something and just recalling intimate memories, I was ok for the most part.

But if we revisit the scripture, it is clear how dangerous this thought process really is. I am sure most of you know of the concept of the mind’s eye, which is hard to explain but it is one’s ability to see things with your mind. Therefore, lusting after a woman you see on a pornographic website is no different from lusting after a woman you were intimate with from last month. Either way, we are committing adultery with that woman, which is wrong. And masturbation is really nothing more than using our eyes or our mind’s eye to lust after another woman.

And the beauty is that God created sex to be relational. What masturbation does is corrupt God’s ideal for love by making it secretive, selfish, and done in isolation. But I digress.

My original question was whether or not you think masturbation is wrong. I am really interested in this question because for me, this was an area of sin that I could tolerate. Now the Bible does not say, “Do not masturbate,” but I think the verse regarding adultery is proof enough. But if it is not, I point your direction to any of the following scriptures,
Galatians 5:16-19
Colossians 3:5-6
Acts 15:29
I Corinthians 6:13

There was an even more powerful example in the book that I think really frames it in the proper context. The authors state that we don’t have the “right” to look lustfully on another woman. Which makes sense because in the kingdom, we have the choice to do wrong, but this is very different from a right. The authors put it this way, “When we’re thieves with our eyes, we’re embezzling sexual gratification from areas that don’t belong to us, from women who aren’t connected to us.” Does this framework make sense to you?

And lest you read this and think, “I will take care of this myself,” Proverbs 28:26 says, He who trusts in himself is a fool. I pray that you are not a fool and for encouragement, the Bible also says in James 5:16, Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. It is funny to me how when it comes to things like physical abuse, anger management, or financial mismanagement, we as Christians are quick to call for group interventions and seek assistance from those we trust. But when it comes to masturbation, too many of us think we can do it alone. Ask for help from someone that you trust, it will do wonders, I promise.

Nevertheless, I haven’t finished the book yet but as I learn more I will share with you. I hope that through this post, you find some encouragement in this area of your life. And though I didn’t address women specifically, I know that women deal with this issue as much as men do. So let’s have a frank discussion about this issue and ways to master it. I don’t want to see you having the strength of Samson only to sacrifice all of your potential due to lack of self-control due to sexual temptation. But let us follow men like Job who made a covenant with his eyes. Read about how that worked out for him in Job 31:9. With love,

Stay up fam,

Categories:
spirituality
sexuality

Affirmative Action aftermath…

In the aftermath of Proposal 2, (Michigan voters recently voted to ban affirmative action programs in higher education admissions, public employment, and contracting) the universities were in the middle of an admissions cycle and opponents of affirmative action wanted the admissions standards to change immediately upon passage of the proposal. This was profoundly absurd and should show how you much good would be achieved if the energy used to keep Black kids out of college were used to improve public K-12 education..

Fortunately however, “U.S. District Judge David Lawson…said it would be too disruptive to do away with affirmative action immediately because they have already begun accepting students for next fall.” The judge went on to say that the schools have until July 1st to come up with new admissions policies for the next round of admissions. That’s great, but here’s the thing, too many people sat on the sidelines waiting for Proposal 2 to pass and then say “I told you so.”

Therefore, if you are in school right now or know people that are, this is a critical time in our history for students to help formulate policies that can do effective and meaningful outreach while surviving the legal rigor of a political climate affirmative action as a free pass for Black folks. So for all my people who were involved in this fight in Michigan and across the nation, the true ugliness of this fight is after affirmative action is banned. Now is the time to make sure mechanisms and programs are in place to make sure that universities can to the best of their ability still reach out to students that are traditionally underrepresented in higher education.

So now you have two choices, you can 1) talk about how screwed up this country is and refrain from getting involved or you can 2) stand up and fight for justice while pulling up kids behind you that need an example of success and hope. So whether it is tutoring, mentoring, or doing recreational programs, get in the game. The other side wants us to waste all of our efforts on the nuances of policy but our kids futures are in the balance. This fight isn’t really about race; it is about who can and who cannot get access to quality education. And Black people as a whole are on the outside looking in. So stop staring at your degree and provide the spark that kids need to believe in their potential and seize the power of education by the bullhorns!

Stay up fam,

Categories:
affirmativeaction
education

When in doubt…

The President announced plans today that he wants to increase the size of the army to fight the global war on terrorism. This is wrong on so many levels. For starters, the American military presence alone serves as a galvanizing mechanism for encouraging would be civilians into “insurgents.” It is tantamount to throwing gas on a fire and expecting the fire to be extinguished. Right now we have brave soldiers looking for IED’s (improvised explosive device) and having to question if a young man they gave candy to at 8am will not be shooting at them at 8pm.

What’s sad is that we all knew that for all of the recommendations by all of these blue-ribbon commissions, Bush was interested in only one; send in more troops. But let’s pay attention to the context because while the war is the big elephant in the room, we are cutting domestic programs, having China essentially hold us economically hostage, pushing for school re-segregation, and how could we forget our precious tax cuts?

We are at a turning point in our body politic. Most people will say in private that they don’t like where this war is taking America, but this is not enough. Wars can not be sustained without public support. So don’t sit up at home and wait on the activists to do your dirty work. Speak out and speak loud. YOU made the TIME magazine person of the year, so take your power and use your voice to let your government officials know that unless drastic things happen for the better, the consequences will be grave. We are on the precipice of seeing an America where the government is afraid of the people and the people are not afraid of the government. Seize this moment.

In solidarity,

Stay up fam,

Categories:
waronterror
politics
bushadministration

Update: The SuperSpade’s 12 Days of Christmas

We have had 6 new subscribers thus far. Thank you all for participating.

The money will be donated to the Detroit Youth Foundation’s Youthville Project.

Please encourage others to join us in our contributing to this worthy initiative.

One Love. One II.

Categories:
SuperSpade
Christmas
Charity

The Weekly Dream-In Search of Christmas

“Ba-humbug”
-Scrooge

“God bless us all“
-Tiny Tim

Question of the Week: What does Christmas mean to you, really?

How is everyone? I hope all is well. I missed being with you last week, but you know, duty calls. Final exams were an adventure, but thank the Lord, He saw me through all of them. As I write this, I am sitting at work in the midst of a “Country Christmas” as my boss has come up on the Christmas deal of the century as far as music is concerned. Everywhere around me, people are slowly starting to get into the Christmas spirit.

For example, during my adult life, my mother and my brothers have been quite lax when it came to Christmas decorations, often putting them up Christmas Eve. However, last night, my mother had me hanging reefs. Then , I go and see her this morning, and she is putting up a Christmas tree. When I asked her, why all of a sudden she was doing this, her kids are grown. She replied, “We are Christians, why shouldn’t we celebrate Christmas.”

This got me to thinking, “Where did Christmas go?” As I look around, Christmas does not look the way it did when I was a kid. I have not seen the Salvation Army bell ringers, not too many houses around have Christmas lights up, and although it is the season, it just does not feel like it. Since I do not have children, then I do not have the luxury of doing all that “Christmas stuff.” And I must admit, I do not know whether it is because I am just beginning to unwind from exams, but I have been feeling more Scrooge than Tiny Tim.

Re-definition

Thus, I am forced to redefine what Christmas now means. I could say all the cliché things, like it is a time for sharing, and giving, or when Christ was born. While these are all great facts, what does it really mean, to you and me? I want to try to avoid the lip service that marks this season and get to the heart and spirit of Christmas.

Instead of worrying about the food, the gifts, the rush, the traffic jams and the rampant consumerism that marks this holiday, I am trying to find the spirit of Christmas I knew when I was little. When you are little, you gave gifts with all your heart, whether it was that ornaments made at school or a picture and card drawn. Now, we give, but it is out of our abundance. Back then, we relied more on our creativity than on our wallet.

Why don’t we try something different? Let’s not only give of our wallets, but give of ourselves. Let’s tell our love ones how we really feel about them. Or instead of buying them something they really do not need, let us perform some job they need done. I think what is missing from the Christmas I knew was the heart and sincerity that really set it apart. Once we find that, I think we are closer to celebrating Christmas like Christians.

A Little Early…

I know Christmas is not until next week, but I felt like if I put this out there now, we can do something about it before the day actually arrived. Personally, I am grateful to all of the readers and supporters of the Superspade, and I mean that from the heart. Because of you, I am starting to feel more like Tiny Tim after all. Who knows? Perhaps I will write another Christmas post next week .

Truth and Peace,
Steven M DeVougas

Categories:
The Weekly Dream
Christmas

The SuperSpade’s 12 Days of Christmas

I know that things have been kind of quiet here, mainly due to quite a few things popping up for Brandon, Steve, and myself.  I pray that this has given people a chance to take a look at some of our past writings.

To celebrate the holiday season and do something responsible with our money instead of running around the mall with money burning holes in our pockets itching to be given to proponents of ultra-consumer culture (I apologize for the rant), we have decided to start our own fundraising campaign. For every SuperSpade email subscriber that signs up between now and Christmas Day, we will donate $1 to charity.  The selected charity is The Detroit Youth Foundation.

Please get as many people to sign up as possible, and sign up as a subscriber if you have not already done so.  The more subscribers, the more we can contribute to the great work done by this organization.

There are currently 350 email subscribers, so there will be $1 added to this initial $350 for each new subscriber.  I will update as the total increases.

One Love. One II.

Categories
SuperSpade
Christmas
Charity

The Weekly Dream-M.I.A.

Due to exams, there will be no Weekly Dream this week. However, next week everything will back to normal.

Truth and Peace,
Steve

New SuperSpade Feature: Website Previews

Today, I am rolling out the first of many design changes on The SuperSpade.

Our goal here is to create a great online discussion and participation experience where we can debate issues and brainstorm solutions to problems. In order to make this experience the best that it can be, this site must grow.

Actually, the first change was the addition of categories. Today’s change is visual. It allows users to see previews of all of the sites that we link to for our news stories. All you have to do is move your mouse over a link, and you’ll see a popup with a picture of the site. Try these:

The New York Times
The Washington Post
Black At Michigan

Try it and let us know what you think or if you have any problems with it. We’ll be adding more to make The SuperSpade a better place to read and participate.

One Love. One II.

Categories
SuperSpade

Supreme Court addresses race and public schools

For those of you still in permanent vacation mode until after New Year’s, let me point your attention to a case being heard before the Supreme Court to determine whether race may be used as a basis for assigning students to public schools. This case is not receiving nearly as much hype as the University of Michigan cases but its impact will be far reaching. The heart of the dispute centers on

on two programs in Seattle, WA and Louisville, KY that use race as a factor (not the only one) in hopes of ensuring that each school’s population approximate the racial make up of the entire system.

According to an article at findlaw.com, (emphasis mine)

The school policies in contention are designed to keep schools from segregating along the same lines as neighborhoods. In the Pacific coast city of Seattle, only high school students are affected. The plan in another city, Louisville, Kentucky, applies systemwide.

Now I will resist the urge to go into a historical tangent on the effects of far reaching effects segregation in public policies and schooling in particular due to but not limited to the GI Bill following WWII, private racial covenants, racial zoning and otherwise blatant discrimination propagated by the deeply flawed Federal Housing Administration, and who could forget the historic rise of Levitowns. When we couple these state-supported segregation forces with public school systems largely funded by local property taxes, it is no surprise to see schools generally segregated by four factors, class, race, location, and overall school quality. (For more on this topic, read Jonathan Kozol’s landmark book entitled, Shame of the Nation)

Nevertheless, in Seattle, a parent was outraged after her then 8th grade daughter ranked the top three high schools she wanted to go to and was refused admission to her first school of choice (newly remodeled at the time and majority White) and she was assigned to another school (arguably of lower overall quality and majority Black). Now I am sure that one of the main reasons why the Seattle parent moved to that part of town in part to take advantage of the good school in her area. And what the Seattle plan does is simple, it disallows (on a grand level) parents to provide their kids a better education via living in a part of the city with higher socioeconomic levels.

Why this affects you
I don’t know the demographics of the people that read the SuperSpade, but I would venture to say that many of you do not have any children. However, if and when you do decide to have kids, where you plan to live will have life-long effects on your child’s development. Chief among these reasons is the quality and reputation of the school system. Any real estate agent worth his/her chops will go to great lengths to discuss the quality of the school system when trying to sell a home to family that has children. This is because they know that if nothing else, the quality of the schools will play a huge part in the decision-making process. So when you have kids, would you agree to raise your children in a district that had a race-balancing program, knowing that they might not get into the best possible school? I ask that because I wonder how you would feel if you were that Seattle parent. In that respect, I would argue that most parents are rightly or wrongly, insanely selfish when it comes to providing the best for their children. Moreover, this decision will have a huge impact on the ability of the state (in this case school districts) to provide opportunities for children to be able to interact with other children that do not look like them. And for anyone who has spent extended time in a diverse environment, one of the saddest things is to see someone hold views that are so flawed but could have been addressed if they were exposed to a diverse environment.

Diversity as a compelling state interest?
Therefore, the reach of this decision is broad because like in the University of Michigan cases of 2003, diversity is being put forward as a compelling state interest. Now I believe in diversity but I know many folks that support affirmative action and/or race balancing policies see diversity as legal front for ensuring that underrepresented minorities get access to opportunities that were historically denied them. To that end, sometimes the legal proponents of diversity and affirmative action will argue diversity in court but will wink and nod to their supporters, with both parties knowing the real fight at hand. So if diversity is the legal strategy that is keeping policies like affirmative action alive, (by their chinny chin chin no less) then the supporters of affirmative action and race balancing should be able to articulate the virtues of diversity with the same force and articulation as arguing that their kids deserve access to quality education and employment opportunities.

This post is getting long, so I will stop, but I will point out the solution to this problem. If all the schools in any district were equally excellent, then parents/students would not feel compelled to see that one top school as the only way to get the training they need to compete. But in our society, too many of us are unable to envision a world where someone doesn’t have to lose in order for us to win..

Stay up fam

Categories:
supremecourt
education
race