I Will Deny You
19th January 2002, 21:18
Jan. 19, 2002 | WASHINGTON --
Declaring education "the great civil rights issue of our time," President Bush honored the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. on Saturday by touting his administration's work on public school reforms.
"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would accept no less than an equal concern for every child in America, and neither will my administration," Bush declared in his weekly radio address.
Bush said Americans can say with satisfaction that the United States has overcome the "institutionalized bigotry" that King worked so hard to dismantle. Now, he said, it is time to take on less tangible struggles, such as ensuring equal education.
"Our challenge is to make sure that every child has a fair chance to succeed in life," Bush said. "That is why education is the great civil rights issue of our time."
Earlier this month, Bush signed into law a far-reaching education bill that requires annual reading and math tests for children in grades three through eight beginning in the 2005-06 school year. It also mandates that schools bolster teacher qualifications and develop periodic "report cards" ranking their standardized test scores with other area schools.
Under the new law, schools must improve reading and math proficiency among their students, close gaps in the performances of wealthy and poor students, and white and minority students.
Bush said he would propose, in his 2003 budget plan, a $1 billion increase in funding for federal Title I programs for disadvantaged students, and a $1 billion increase in assistance for "special needs" children under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
"But we want these new dollars to carry to special education the same spirit of reform and accountability we have brought to other education programs," Bush said. "We must have high expectations for children who are more difficult to teach or who have fallen behind."
The president said he planned to hold a ceremony at the White House on Monday to commemorate the federal King holiday. Among those scheduled to attend are King's widow, Coretta Scott King, and one of her two daughters, the Rev. Bernice King, the White House said.
First lady Laura Bush will go to Atlanta, King's hometown, Bush said. She is scheduled to speak at a service at King's church, Ebenezer Baptist.
Bush was signing a holiday proclamation that praised King as "a modern American hero whose leadership rallied people of all races to rise up against injustice," and said the holiday in honor of his birthday takes on greater importance because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"Dr. King's unwavering commitment to nonviolent means of bringing the people of our nation together provided a foundation for healing and trust. That trust brought us through our recent tragedy as we reached out to each other without regard to race or religion."
In the Democrats' weekly radio address Saturday, national party chairman Terry McAuliffe called the Sept. 11 attacks "an act of unspeakable brutality that must be avenged," and agreed that the nation should rally around Bush's efforts to do so.
"It's true that the president's approval ratings are high," McAuliffe said. "But we found out in last year's elections that the president's personal appeal doesn't help other Republicans, and doesn't suggest a national embrace of Republican ideas."
McAuliffe said Democrats intend to spread the message this year that "the flag for which our military is fighting must not symbolize a nation paralyzed by debt and smothered by joblessness, a nation that fails to protect its elderly or safeguard its natural resources."
I got this article (http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2002/01/19/bush_mlk/index.html) from salon.com (http://www.salon.com)'s wires section.
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Hmm, maybe education is, in fact, the great civil rights issue of our time. Not that Bush would know, considering the fact that he learned what little he does know from private New England boarding schools. If education is the issue, maybe it would be a smart idea to look at where schools get their funding: property taxes. Then, shall we look at who owns more property? Why, look at this--white people! Ladies and gentlemen, I think I've found the reason why black sitcoms are promoted as "urban programs": black people are more likely to live in the inner city!
But what if education isn't the great civil rights issue of our time? What if it's drug arrests? Black people make up 12% of the population and 13% of America's drug users, yet they make up over a third of all drug arrests and well over half of all drug convictions.
(This is a reason why it's harder for black people to get GEDs. Black people are more likely to end up in prison for the same crimes as white people, and GED programs are being cut left and right, despite the fact that people are less likely to go back to jail once they've been released if they get their GEDs. It also makes it easier for them to prove that they've been rehabilitated and get jobs.)
Here's another civil rights issue that's been on my mind lately: the death penalty. Black people are A LOT more likely to get the chair for the same crime as a white man. So I did a little digging and you'll never guess what I found out: the champion of the death penalty is none other than George Walker Bush.
No matter what the greatest civil rights issue of our time is, it's undeniable that education is a big issue, whoever's fault that may be. It's also been proven that standardized tests are "fundamentally" unequal because a white child is more likely to do a good job on a standardized test than a non-white child who is just as smart. Does Bush launch an investigation into this problem? Does he order less standardized tests until the problem can be solved? No. He orders more standardized tests with no investigation at all.
If he wants more qualified teachers in schools, it would be a fine idea to make teacher salaries higher. Senators get WELL OVER $100,000 per year, and that's not including what they get from lobbyists. Teachers, meanwhile, pocket change. Am I the only one who sees a problem with this? It's been proven that areas that pay higher salaries get better teachers. Maybe we should pay Strom Thurmond a little less and every-day working class teachers a little more.
Bush said that King's holiday takes on greater importance because of the attacks, but he didn't say that it takes on greater importance because of the war in Afghanistan. Could that possibly be due to the fact that King spoke out against almost all violence, including needlessly violent acts by the United States? (Think Vietnam War.)
If Bush is so anti-racism, perhaps he should look at federal holidays themselves. Christopher fucking Columbus gets his own holiday! He killed lord-knows-how many Native Americans. (Native Americans are, by the way, doing worse in this day and age than African Americans.) If Bush would stop listening to his strategists and handlers and, for one second, listen to Dave Dellinger, perhaps he would come one step closer to ending real racism and inequality.
Bush and McAulliffe even talk about King's commitment to nonviolence, and then they refer to the flag as something our military is fighting for! Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Don't-Kick-Them-Back-Try-To-Help-Them, would not throw his support behind Bush. It's an insult to the people who actually paid attention in school, and went to black schools where we really learned about King, to make assumptions about a dead man who, by all indications, would have questioned Bush's tactics at the very least.
That whole "natural resources" thing has hardly anything do to with King, but the fact of the matter is that letting arsenic drip into our water, letting factories and cars pollute the air, drilling in Alaska and letting old nuclear power plants operate past when it's safe to do so does show a failure to guard our natural resources, you fuckwad.
They hijacked our holiday.
Declaring education "the great civil rights issue of our time," President Bush honored the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. on Saturday by touting his administration's work on public school reforms.
"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would accept no less than an equal concern for every child in America, and neither will my administration," Bush declared in his weekly radio address.
Bush said Americans can say with satisfaction that the United States has overcome the "institutionalized bigotry" that King worked so hard to dismantle. Now, he said, it is time to take on less tangible struggles, such as ensuring equal education.
"Our challenge is to make sure that every child has a fair chance to succeed in life," Bush said. "That is why education is the great civil rights issue of our time."
Earlier this month, Bush signed into law a far-reaching education bill that requires annual reading and math tests for children in grades three through eight beginning in the 2005-06 school year. It also mandates that schools bolster teacher qualifications and develop periodic "report cards" ranking their standardized test scores with other area schools.
Under the new law, schools must improve reading and math proficiency among their students, close gaps in the performances of wealthy and poor students, and white and minority students.
Bush said he would propose, in his 2003 budget plan, a $1 billion increase in funding for federal Title I programs for disadvantaged students, and a $1 billion increase in assistance for "special needs" children under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
"But we want these new dollars to carry to special education the same spirit of reform and accountability we have brought to other education programs," Bush said. "We must have high expectations for children who are more difficult to teach or who have fallen behind."
The president said he planned to hold a ceremony at the White House on Monday to commemorate the federal King holiday. Among those scheduled to attend are King's widow, Coretta Scott King, and one of her two daughters, the Rev. Bernice King, the White House said.
First lady Laura Bush will go to Atlanta, King's hometown, Bush said. She is scheduled to speak at a service at King's church, Ebenezer Baptist.
Bush was signing a holiday proclamation that praised King as "a modern American hero whose leadership rallied people of all races to rise up against injustice," and said the holiday in honor of his birthday takes on greater importance because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"Dr. King's unwavering commitment to nonviolent means of bringing the people of our nation together provided a foundation for healing and trust. That trust brought us through our recent tragedy as we reached out to each other without regard to race or religion."
In the Democrats' weekly radio address Saturday, national party chairman Terry McAuliffe called the Sept. 11 attacks "an act of unspeakable brutality that must be avenged," and agreed that the nation should rally around Bush's efforts to do so.
"It's true that the president's approval ratings are high," McAuliffe said. "But we found out in last year's elections that the president's personal appeal doesn't help other Republicans, and doesn't suggest a national embrace of Republican ideas."
McAuliffe said Democrats intend to spread the message this year that "the flag for which our military is fighting must not symbolize a nation paralyzed by debt and smothered by joblessness, a nation that fails to protect its elderly or safeguard its natural resources."
I got this article (http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2002/01/19/bush_mlk/index.html) from salon.com (http://www.salon.com)'s wires section.
----------
Hmm, maybe education is, in fact, the great civil rights issue of our time. Not that Bush would know, considering the fact that he learned what little he does know from private New England boarding schools. If education is the issue, maybe it would be a smart idea to look at where schools get their funding: property taxes. Then, shall we look at who owns more property? Why, look at this--white people! Ladies and gentlemen, I think I've found the reason why black sitcoms are promoted as "urban programs": black people are more likely to live in the inner city!
But what if education isn't the great civil rights issue of our time? What if it's drug arrests? Black people make up 12% of the population and 13% of America's drug users, yet they make up over a third of all drug arrests and well over half of all drug convictions.
(This is a reason why it's harder for black people to get GEDs. Black people are more likely to end up in prison for the same crimes as white people, and GED programs are being cut left and right, despite the fact that people are less likely to go back to jail once they've been released if they get their GEDs. It also makes it easier for them to prove that they've been rehabilitated and get jobs.)
Here's another civil rights issue that's been on my mind lately: the death penalty. Black people are A LOT more likely to get the chair for the same crime as a white man. So I did a little digging and you'll never guess what I found out: the champion of the death penalty is none other than George Walker Bush.
No matter what the greatest civil rights issue of our time is, it's undeniable that education is a big issue, whoever's fault that may be. It's also been proven that standardized tests are "fundamentally" unequal because a white child is more likely to do a good job on a standardized test than a non-white child who is just as smart. Does Bush launch an investigation into this problem? Does he order less standardized tests until the problem can be solved? No. He orders more standardized tests with no investigation at all.
If he wants more qualified teachers in schools, it would be a fine idea to make teacher salaries higher. Senators get WELL OVER $100,000 per year, and that's not including what they get from lobbyists. Teachers, meanwhile, pocket change. Am I the only one who sees a problem with this? It's been proven that areas that pay higher salaries get better teachers. Maybe we should pay Strom Thurmond a little less and every-day working class teachers a little more.
Bush said that King's holiday takes on greater importance because of the attacks, but he didn't say that it takes on greater importance because of the war in Afghanistan. Could that possibly be due to the fact that King spoke out against almost all violence, including needlessly violent acts by the United States? (Think Vietnam War.)
If Bush is so anti-racism, perhaps he should look at federal holidays themselves. Christopher fucking Columbus gets his own holiday! He killed lord-knows-how many Native Americans. (Native Americans are, by the way, doing worse in this day and age than African Americans.) If Bush would stop listening to his strategists and handlers and, for one second, listen to Dave Dellinger, perhaps he would come one step closer to ending real racism and inequality.
Bush and McAulliffe even talk about King's commitment to nonviolence, and then they refer to the flag as something our military is fighting for! Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Don't-Kick-Them-Back-Try-To-Help-Them, would not throw his support behind Bush. It's an insult to the people who actually paid attention in school, and went to black schools where we really learned about King, to make assumptions about a dead man who, by all indications, would have questioned Bush's tactics at the very least.
That whole "natural resources" thing has hardly anything do to with King, but the fact of the matter is that letting arsenic drip into our water, letting factories and cars pollute the air, drilling in Alaska and letting old nuclear power plants operate past when it's safe to do so does show a failure to guard our natural resources, you fuckwad.
They hijacked our holiday.