Yesterday, the Wake County Board of Education voted "to end its long-standing diversity policy in student assignment in favor of a neighborhood schools concept." There seem to be a lot of people up in arms over this decision.

Admittedly, I know very little about the arguments for each side. This is why I decided to read this article that I found on WRAL.com. I'd like to be clear that this post is more of a reaction to that article than it is to the decision made by the board.

When I read this article I was struck by the comments of the Rev. William Barber, NC's NAACP president. The one comment that really stuck out to me was this:

Barber and supporters of the diversity policy said neighborhood schools is a move toward re-segregation.

Now, I can make an assumption that what he meant was that "neighborhood schools is a move toward re-segregation in schools", but that wasn't what he said. It's probably merely semantics, but because he did not say "re-segregation in schools", I began to think about life outside of the walls of our local schools.

I believe that all children should be afforded the same opportunity to quality education. I realize that opponents of the neighborhood schools concept believe that by moving to neighborhood schools we are putting some students at a disadvantage. I can see how that could be true, but I am not writing to comment on that.

Reading that "neighborhood schools is a move towards re-segregation" without the "in schools" bit brought it to the front of my mind that in a lot of areas of our lives. Many of us still live segregated lives. There are no laws that keep one ethnic group from another, but we choose to remain segregated.

Many of us work with diverse groups of people, which is a testament to the fact that ethnicity is not a determining factor in skills and talents. However, outside of our professional relationships, do we have the same kind of diversity in any other part of our lives? Or, do we choose to remain segregated?

Many neighborhoods in wake county are homogeneous, which, I think, is one of the chief complaints about the neighborhood schools concept. My neighbors, however, represent another diverse group in my life, but when I think about the neighbors that I interact with on a regular basis, they are very much like me. I am choosing to remain segregated.

This line of thought also reminded me of a quote that I have heard many times about how "eleven o'clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America." This quote comes from a speech the Rev. Dr. martin Luther King, Jr. gave.

Below is an excerpt from a Q&A session held after a speech given by King. The excerpt addresses this quote. The speech and Q&A took place Western Michigan University in 1963. The interviewer is University President MIller. You can read the transcript from the Q&A in its entirety here.

Miller: Don't you feel that integration can only be started and realized in the Christian church, not in schools or by other means? This would be a means of seeing just who are true Christians.

King: As a preacher, I would certainly have to agree with this. I must admit that I have gone through those moments when I was greatly disappointed with the church and what it has done in this period of social change. We must face the fact that in America, the church is still the most segregated major institution in America. At 11:00 on Sunday morning when we stand and sing and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation. This is tragic.

The church community I am a part of, Visio Dei, is no exception to this type of segregation. If you look out over the crowd on any Sunday morning, you'll notice that most people are sitting next to people that look very similar to them.

I'm not casting blame or offering a suggested solution to the segregation of our world. I am merely pointing out the fact that though we have no laws prohibiting our integration, we often choose to remain segregated. The fact that people are upset that a concept promoting children going to school with the people they live near because it will limit diversity displays this fact well.

Thoughts?

NOTE: I realize that the choices of those in lower socioeconomic situations are limited. However, people with the power to choose demonstrate our propensity to choose to associate with those like ourselves.

Labels: church, life, NAACP, school, Wake County