Posted by unregistered user at 5/16/08 6:43 a.m.

Thank goodness for a breath of fresh air. My wife, a Seattle school teacher who had to sit through the "Courageous Conversations", talked about how another viewpoint was simply not allowed and would not be tolerated. A teacher from the same school who has taught all over the world, including Africa, tried to speak up and point out how biased the Revisionist Conversations were. The answer - sit down and shut up. So much for free speech and educational dialogue that would benefit all. Is this the politically correct mental highjacking we need in our schools and society?

Posted by wutitiz at 5/16/08 8:05 a.m.

Horsey, you'd better watch it. You post stuff like this and Michael Hood is going to tag you as a closet racist. Oh, but you're still a Democrat, so I guess you're ok. Carry on.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/16/08 8:15 a.m.

Sadly, race is used as a means today to acquire power, further distancing our society from a color-blind one. And while those out there who claim to be the most enlightened are the ones who bring up race at every opportunity (as well as any other differences between people that they can exploit, it is this continued focus on race that continues to educate our children in the false-importance of race.

Whether diversity or multicultural training, or lessons in racism, the continued bombarding of our youth with messages focusing on race does not make them color-blind, but instead, makes them more and more attuned the differences in people, and more and more empowered to use those differences to excuse their's and society's problems.

I say to those who exploit race for political benefit; stop it! For those who leverage race to obtain or hold onto power, you're doing this society no favors.

Racism is not genetic. It is learned. And if this society would really make an effort to be color-blind, and that means discard the focus on people's differences, we might get there someday. But as long as political advantage can be gained by exploiting race, the highlighting of our differences is not going to lesson anytime soon. Not as long as politicians and power pimps can exploit it to their advantage.

Posted by Boondox at 5/16/08 9:42 a.m.

"I expected to get slammed back"

Way funny - a liberal's idea of a controversial statement - denouncing anti-white racism.

There's a cartoon idea for you.

Well, maybe not in the PI.

Posted by Contrarian at 5/16/08 10:22 a.m.

David - Yes, political correctness does often go too far. On the other hand, having grown up in the MS Delta - ground zero for racism in America (and still is) - let me assure you that erring on the side of caution, though it is still an error, is still better than the alternative.

In my hometown in 1984, 20 years after the Civil Rights Act, there were still separate entrances for the town doctor, labeled 'white' and 'colored'. I grew up a few miles away from the home of James Eastland, who once served as U.S. Speaker of the House...and he was also the one who was the driving force behind "Citizen's Councils" to prevent any success of black-owned businesses, and who also started the private school system in MS...which were (and even now still are almost completely) kept all-white by keeping the costs artificially high. In other words, Eastland - a neighbor and one-time family friend and employer - was for a generation the most powerful racist in America.

Even here in Puget Sound - one of the most liberal areas in America - my wife and children and foster children (I'm the only all-white guy in our household) still have to deal with racism. It's not so blatant as it was and is down South...but it's there. We just deal with it.

So what does this have to do with your column? Just to remind you that while political correctness is often silly and justly ridiculed, it is far better than the alternative.

Posted by Boondox at 5/16/08 10:25 a.m.

"political correctness is often silly and justly ridiculed, it is far better than the alternative"

The alternative is judging people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

Posted by inthemiddle at 5/16/08 10:40 a.m.

***

Indeed, race needs to be pointed out to children for them to see the differences. Seattle schools are doing a great job in this area. Perhaps they could take a lesson from my dear departed mother.

As a child growing up in Everett, I lived in a "multicultural" neighborhood, of sorts. I was maybe 8 when the first black kids moved into our neighborhood, a half block away. A mom and dad, him in the Air Force, and two kids, one my age, one my brothers age, 5.

We are talking 1955-6 here.

We got to know each other and became great friends. To this day my brother and I remember fondly Brad and Junior and the many great times we had over the year they lived there. That we were the only kids in the neighborhood allowed to play with them didn't occur to my brother and me.

Those kids that could not play with us were the ones with the early racial lessons. For my brother and me, it came years later in knowing that it was our mother who, by her quiet way, let us know discrimination was wrong, by letting her kids welcome two new kids to the neighborhood.

Let's just let kids come together without the lessons on race and the baggage of history that so often accompanies it. Kids are kids and do not have prejudices unless they are learned, be it from home or school.

As a conservative, I get upset that so many people who don't even know me can jump to conclusions and label me as a racist.

There are no racist policies in conservatism, just as there are non in Democrat or Republican circles.

It's the people that make up those circles, both sides, that have the capability of being racist.

And as Horsey points out, in some institutions.

Posted by Kiana at 5/16/08 11:28 a.m.

Whoaa, Seattle might pass out from this "too-much-common-sense" stuff here. We all knew this Office was a load of malarkey, but it's great to see that other teachers knew it all along, as well. The PC police went so over the line with this that they splatted. Good riddance to this Office of PC Police!

Posted by B Anderson at 5/16/08 12:16 p.m.

"Boondox" - you missed the point of what "Contrarian" wrote.

Posted by BenStatic at 5/16/08 12:37 p.m.

The pendulum must swing back & forth - sometimes people will be hypersensitive, then people will become a little too comfortable to the point of detrement in race relations (now I am being oversensitive to saying people are racist)...

Then the pendulum swings back. It all HAS to happen - people just need to be comfortable in their own skin, whatever the color. That is what is important here. THey shouldn't have other people judge them by what they look like. We will never be at that point, so its good to be sensitive. But we shouldn't stop people from making mistakes.

Posted by 51052 at 5/16/08 1:04 p.m.

For the last forty years we've had very dishonest reporting on racial issues. Certain things were taboo. Everyone and their brother could point to white racism as the reason for all problems. But you counldn't point out even obvious black racism without threats, intimidation or worse. This is why racial discourse is so distorted. The relatively few hate crimes with whites as perpetrators always make national new. But try to talk about the more prevalent and violent black crime against whites and watch out. Examples are there for all to see if you only look.

Posted by Jon Organ at 5/16/08 3:16 p.m.

"The alternative is judging people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin." (Boondox)

So are you suggesting that we need separate entrances, water fountains, movie theatres, restrooms, public pools, etc., for people based on the content of their character? Or are you simply disregarding racism because you are not directly affected?

Posted by Boondox at 5/16/08 3:48 p.m.

Dear B,

I understood Contrarian to suggest that while political correctness may be prone to excess it is preferable to the "alternative" of overt racism. The problem as I see it is that political correctness and racism are hardly our only choices - a fact that seems to get lost when the sanctimony and volume get turned up by the politically correct types.

Example - Republicans are often portrayed by the PC left as the primogenitors of racist though and deed in America. In fact, the opposite is true - good illustration is Democrat opposition to the Civil Rights act. It took Republican Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen and Republican Whip Thomas Kuchel to break the Democrat filibuster of the 1957 Civil Rights Act which was eventually signed by Republican President Eisenhower.

But that doesn't fit liberal orthodoxy so its ignored. In a similar vein, liberal orthodoxy dismisses anti-white racism and sets the stage for the kind of insanity we saw from the Seattle school district. Contrarian's excusing PC "excesses" as preferable to the "alternative" of overt racism creates a false choice and diminishes the profound effect of King's words.

My sense is that as the election gets closer and PC types willing to exploit race and hatred to achieve political ends find their voice, King's dream and the choice it represents will be even more important.

Posted by Jon Organ at 5/16/08 4:18 p.m.

If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, all we'd know about him would be what we saw on television: an endless loop of all the most sensationalistic utterances he'd ever made, broadcast 24/7, along with an endless parade of pundits finding fault with Dr. King's political and social associations, questioning why he is so angry at white people, and tacitly suggesting that simply by speaking out against racism he is "playing the race card."

Posted by Contrarian at 5/16/08 4:31 p.m.

Boondox - It was never my intent to suggest that those are the only two alternatives, though I can see how you could interpret it thusly. However, if you had considered more deeply the implications of what else I said, I think you would see the point I was trying to make.

Did you not see the examples of the "Citizen's Councils" and the economically segregated schools? These are not fantasies - they were quite real (I attended one of the all-white private schools). These were used to 'keep the black man down' for decades after the Civil Rights Act.

I'll give you another nationwide example: the Masonic Lodge, which is even now a powerful force in America. I don't know how conversant you are with history, but America is in many respects a Masonic country - quite a few of our presidents have been Masons. Yet the Masons are sworn to not recognize any other lodge. This includes the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge, which was a Masonic Hall began for African Americans simply because none were allowed to be in the 'normal' Masonic Lodge. EVEN AS OF 2006 there were eleven Masonic lodges (out of 51 total) who still do not recognize the Prince Hall Masons. You can pretend it's only because of the oath we swore (yes, I was one once), but the true reason is evinced by the fact that the Masonic lodges that do not recognize the Prince Hall lodges currently comprise all but one of the states that once made up the Confederacy.

The law must be the baseline for civil conduct. However, as long as there are powerful organizations that still strive to 'keep the black man down', if there are no extra efforts to 'keep the black man up', then where is the balance? Affirmative action and political correctness provide that balance.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/16/08 9:14 p.m.

Horsey is really a horse's a**. Allow me to provide a different perspective on the hogwash he calls journalism. Where is the outrage that children, of all ethnicities and backgrounds are still not learning? Where is the outrage that there is still an achievement gap and thousands of students will not graduate in our district as well as others? Yes, there may be many caring teachers in our district, but news flash: Seattle Public Schools is a racist institution and until the powers that be, who also happen to be two Black women, realize this, they are doomed to fail. I have neither the time nor inclination to respond to each of Horsey's comments, ideas and thoughts as each would take an open mind on his part and an eternity on mine. Current SPS employee.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/17/08 10:55 p.m.

David,re: your colum on political correctness gone overboard. I've got no idea about the facts of this office and its reported overreaching. I'll acept your version.
But, the article seemed to shut down any open conversation about race in our public schools or society. Certainly, we should be able to discuss ideas about white privledge. We can question wheather even well intentioned whites unwillingly and unknowingly still carry racist attitudes in their lives. We can question wheather a white person can reject the KKK and legal segregation yet still be a racist on some level. We can look for all the possible explanations for why non whites are imprisoned more, have have less wealth, poorer health, and poorer education. We'll all be better off with some open conversation. Thank you.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/18/08 3:33 p.m.

Anonymous poster #129667:

If you are really an SPS employee, I hope you do not use that angry tone around children.

Posted by Skimission at 5/20/08 5:42 p.m.

I will no longer negatively criticize Horsey. He wrote an honest article when he could have been completely PC.

Truth is being recognized.