"Separate but equal" was the rule during Jim Crow. Whites went to one school and backs went to another. As long as you made the black school as good as the white school it was OK.

The civil rights movement said no - we're not going to be separate. But it didn't say if we were going to be together and equal or unequal.

The debate goes on to this day - if the result of something, anything (like Oscar nominations - can you imagine anything more trivial) is not equal - has the society failed?

There are more black NBA stars than white and more white Oscar nominees than black.

Maybe we should go back to separate but equal - at least that was easier to understand.

If there has to be a percentage of Oscar nominees who are black, then the Awards are meaningless.

No talent matters - no work matters - no accomplishment matters...

Only skin color matters, which means that the Academy Awards might as well shut down entirely.

That's because everyone forgot merit when it came to rights. It's like when MLK said I dream of people not being judged on their skin but merit. People forgot merit. They only heard don't judge on skin. Which means you got to work for what you want not be handed to you

Now the Oscars-snubbers WANT to be judged on skin color, though.

They want to get Oscars for being black.

Exactly.

Take for example, professional orchestra auditions (which are held in such a way that the committee can't see and does not know the identity of the candidate):

It's like asking a Candidate if they have any "minority" status if they flub a note, and then accepting them if they signal "yes" and dismissing them if they signal "No".

I like your jump from:

As long as you made the black school as good as the white school it was OK.

to

The civil rights movement said no - we're not going to be separate.

You forgot the whole failure to make the black schools as good as the white schools.

The white schools were in more affluent areas, therefore they received more public funding.

And in smaller towns, which didnt have enough money for two schools, only one was built, and it was for whites.

A lot of black families, though free, were still working in the fields, on farms, quite the distance from the nearest school house.

Maybe we should go back to separate but equal - at least that was easier to understand.

I actually agree with that. I dont think forced desegragation is the answer.

But this time around, in order for it to work, we need to make sure the black schools are equally funded and equally available.

Of course - separate but equal was not well done. That was the basis for the civil rights movement.

But you have to decide which problem you want to solve - keep people segregated but about equally happy? They get together to watch the Super Bowl if they want to then go back to their own?

That's easy and comfortable.

Or throw everybody in a big pot and make them work things out? Hard.

In today's affluent society - separate but equal is a pretty economical choice.

Or throw everybody in a big pot and make them work things out?

despite what some posters on here seem to think from their micro-experience of 2 friends, water seeks its own level. people tend to congregate and collect up with like people for the most part. it doesn't mean it is wrong, it just means people chose to hang out with people that had a shared life experience/job/ethnicity/religion/whatever.

That's the human condition. Has been for ages.

Liberals want to remake Man in her image - tomorrow.

The problem is that segregation legally forces people into certain groups.

So there is no chance to choose who you associate with outside your segregated group chosen for you by the government.

Also, when people don't have exposure to people of different cultures/backgrounds/ethnicities they tend to develop intolerant attitudes and prejudices based on ignorance/inexperience.

If you put a variety of people together they will learn to deal with differences and have some knowledge and experience of others, and those who still become intolerant or develop prejudices will at least base them on something besides ignorance.

Of course - separate but equal was not well done. That was the basis for the civil rights movement.

Good grief.

DC Public Schools spend over $30,000 per student per year, the highest in the nation and triple the national average. They have the worst performance in the nation by any metric. Guess why.

Why?

I'll take a stab - money doesn't change everything?

People have received an education in one room schoolhouses and sharing books.

It's not the sheer amount of money...... it's the student wanting the education and the parents insisting that their own kids appreciate the importance of getting it.

True, you cant just throw money at a problem and expect it to work

But he asked if I knew why that area did so badly as if he already has an answer in mind, but he doesnt have the balls to actually say it.

It's a black school system. It gets the most money by far, and performs the worst. What happens when you have separate but equal and someone notices that the outcomes are vastly different from one another? Everyone and their mother is going to cite that outcome gap as evidence of inequality in the system rather than acknowledge that it is evidence of inequality in the students.

The Supreme Court decisions were based on scientific fraud. The psychiatrists did this study where students were asked to choose between playing with a white doll or a black doll. Blacks often chose the white doll. This was cited as evidence of a lack of self esteem, thus seperate was inherently unequal. But there's a catch. Blacks at the already integrated schools chose the white doll even more often than blacks at the still segregated schools. It seems blacks in the integrated schools had lost their black role models and their sense of community. Government wants to destroy all communities to make us weak. We can't have community without Freedom of Association.