All the kids who want to go on a field trip step forward.....not so fast, whitey!

[Hrafn]

And wouldn't Martin Luther King be proud? (http://www.annarbor.com/news/black-student-only-field-trip-sparks-controversy-at-ann-arbor-elementary-school/)

Hopefully the fellow's fired, but I have my doubts.

[Eschaton Orochi]

Well, this **** happens. Blame affirmative action. Although I suppose it could be negative racism.

[Alex]

It's about time the white man broke free of his shackles. This oppression must stop.



There's no such thing as "anti-racism". Or "reverse-racism".

Racism is racism.

This is not racism.

[Sejon]

“The intent of our field trip was not to segregate or exclude students as has been reported, but rather to address the societal issues, roadblocks and challenges that our African American children will face as they pursue a successful academic education here in our community.”

Having a blacks-only field trip sure sounds like segregation to me...

[Hrafn]

Ironically, the principal's actions paint him to be something of a racist against black people, as well as discriminating against white people and Muslims (don't remember if this article mentioned it, but the other one I read about this briefly touched on him shouting at some Muslim girl and apparently causing her to cry in regards to her comments on Muslim discrimination, how much truth there is to that one probably remains to be seen). He says he did this to 'close the achievement gap' between the black students and the whites. If he really thinks the only way to do that is deny the white students the same opportunities, then clearly his faith in the black students is rather low. In any case, yeah, this one's a nut. Apparently he's been shifted from one school to another for similar issues, but the nationwide attention on this one might be the final straw. Or it might not, and they just wait for it to die down and then let him continue on his merry little way. Wouldn't shock me.

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

segregation of any kind is racism. everyone could of benefited from the field trip and by disallowing an ethnic group of students belies the educational value of the trip itself. if you focus on the differences then you create them, underscore them, and encourage them.

our society will remain racist until we can stop defining ourselves by our differences.

[John Mora]

I think everyone defending the field trip was probably dancing around the issue of them probably not being able to afford the field trip if everyone had been given a chance to go. Otherwise I don't see why they wouldn't have just made it available to the whole class.

[Hrafn]

Oh, and bonus points for the guy, when it turned out they wouldn't have enough room for all the black kids, he went ahead and disinvited some of them; all girls, apparently. So I guess those shining looks of inspiration didn't mean as much from them.

[IamPinhead]

All in all, this guy seems like a douchebag playing favorites. The worst part is that he makes it sound like black kids need it because they're dumber and less capable than whites of learning. His uninviting the girls is just another part of the **** storm he asked to happen.
By the way, there's a threshold for attendance where it actually becomes cheaper for a school to pay. The parents might have had to pay anyways.

[Perversion]

If white students had been invited to go they would have had a chance to see that a black man could achieve things that they might only associate whites. The school missed a very good opportunity to help break some racial stereotypies. Seems like a wasted opportunity.

This is the most salient point in the entire thing. As I was reading the article, this is the first thing I thought about myself.

...it gave the kids an opportunity to see this type of achievement is possible for even them.

I find this statement a bit odd. It's almost as if he's insinuating that most of these children are lost causes (to an extent). As if it's almost impossible to see the potential in any of the kids that one day, they might achieve something with their lives like this. I think it has to do with placement of the word "for." If it had said, "...possible even for them," I dunno...it just sounds a bit more positive than, "...possible for even them." When you put the words "even" and "them" right next to each other, it reads as a bit demeaning, as if they are put in some subset that will never achieve anything. When the word "for" is placed between "even" and "them," it reads a bit more positive. Cannot explain why this is, and maybe BRC can back me up on this.


Granted, that's all semantics, but for me, anyway, the entire tone of that last sentence changes with the placement of the word, "for."

[Hrafn]

I'd argue it's the inclusion of the word 'even' at all which makes it sound condescending. But yes, he drops these little hints that his opinion of these children for whom he's violated the basic principles of an educator is actually surprisingly low.

[Armored]

We should have never let the blacks work on our farms.

:america