As long as I have been in education from time to time people hurt me with their words. After giving so much to try to help a student or parent they"ll pull the race card. I guess they have been hurt by some white person before and now they want to dump on me as a result without considering my efforts towards helping them. I guess they get mad and insteed of seeing red they see white.

I've been called a racist many times during my career but I can't remember a time when I was called a racist while in high school or while I was involved in athletics. I guess it was because the conflict wasn't about the color of my skin but more how hard I kicked your butt during the game. I chose to go to the high school I went to "just because". All my friends went to the "all white" schools while my high school was about even black and white. To this day I have strong friends that are black guys I played football with during high school and college.

My career as an educator is speckled with the racist claim. It is usually from a student or parent that is mad because they didn't get their way. It has been difficult to handle those statements without a rebuttal of the same magnitude. I can't control what people think when it comes to color of skin but I can control the way I'm perceived based of a true assessment of my action. Will maybe...

I liken the racist claim to the statement that is thrown at individuals who make some tough decisions that folk see as not going their way. "And I thought you were a Christian" statement is just like the "you are a racist" statement. Please!!! judge me on what I do but pointing the finger at me or someone else because you don't like what I do that doesn't go your way... PLEASE!!!! Grow up and learn up. I wish I could say absolutely that I loved all people but I can't. There are just to many people that do stuff that I don't like for me to love everyone. I don't like what they do because it is wrong, it hurts others, it hurts me, or is against my faith. Yes I said faith and I mean faith in Christ. Now some will say things about me because of the last few lines but I am but a man. A sinful man, saved by the grace of a living savior.

I said I didn't loved all people but the possibility is there for me. Christ lives in me and because of that I can love others by letting him have control of my life. LOVING BY FAITH. Not an easy thing but a absolute possibility for all Christians.

Anyway, I was sent this article today and it says so much about the attitude that so many people of color have towards others that I thought that I would "not be quiet."

BUCHANAN TO OBAMA
By Patrick J. Buchanan

Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America .. Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation..


White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to.... This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard. And among them are these:

First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks.

It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known..

Jeremiah Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.

Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ' 60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream. Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks -- with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas -- to advance black applicants over white applicants.

Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated their time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks. We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude??

Barack talks about new 'ladders of opportunity' for blacks. Let him go to Altoona ? And Johnstown, and ask the white kids in Catholic schools how many were visited lately by Ivy League recruiters handing out scholarships for 'deserving' white kids...?

Is white America really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for African-Americans are seven times those of white America ?

Is it really white America 's fault that illegitimacy in the African-American community has hit 70 percent and the black dropout rate from high schools in some cities has reached 50 percent?

Is that the fault of white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the black community itself?

As for racism, its ugliest manifestation is in interracial crime, and especially interracial crimes of violence. Is Barack Obama aware that while white criminals choose black victims 3 percent of the time, black criminals choose white victims 45 percent of the time?

Is Barack aware that black-on-white rapes are 100 times more common than the reverse, that black-on-white robberies were 139 times as common in the first three years of this decade as the reverse?

We have all heard ad nauseam from the Rev. Al about Tawana Brawley, the Duke rape case and Jena . And all turned out to be hoaxes. But about the epidemic of black assaults on whites that are real, we hear nothing. Sorry, Barack, some of us have heard it all before, about 40 years and 40 trillion tax dollars ago.

I am Not racist, Not violent, Just not silent.

Wake Up World

When are we going to wake up to the facts that violence happens in schools.
Once again a young person is hurt and others killed and of course we start looking for causes of the behavior.
"We never thought he would do something like that."
"Well, he has had some problems."
"If we had metal detectors this wouldn't have happened."
"The community is pulling together to try and make some sense of this."
"If only the schools had ..."
Let's look at this several ways. (list time)
1. If the communities would give control of the schools back to the schools this might not have happened. Public education is a right provided by the constitution. Professional educators are supposed to run the schools, BUT! the constant bombardment by parents and "guardians" to create conveniences force the schools to bend at the cost of safety and performance. How LONG ago did we decide that schools should feed students breakfast. Sure at one point some students actually didn't have any breakfast before school but why did it become the school's responsibility to feed students. Go to any public school dining hall before school and you'll see that it is a holding place for students before the first class. IT IS A GATHERING POINT FOR STUDENTS.  A place where things ARE going to happen and can't be prevented. Oh sorry, the teachers are supervising the students right. 300 to 400 students supervised by 4, 6, 8 adults?????? Of course this is done with the assumption that the students will be respectful and accept the authority of these professional educators. HELLO PARENTS WHERE ARE YOU OR SHOULD I SAY WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THIS YOUNG ADULT WAS A CHILD??????
2. How about we get government out of the schools too, or at least get out to some degree. No Child Left Behind!!!!!!!?? How about those who are getting because of those you don't care it they are left behind and would rather be left behind? We've lower our standards now because of governmental regulations. Lowered so far that a 60% performance is considered as mastery or a "D". How governmental funding? is it a funding associated with the number of students??? NO! it's the average number who attend school. Never mind that maybe 50% come regularly to get what they need to become a prosperous citizen and then 40% come because their parents use the schools as a day care or just want a break from their own defiant disrespectful children. City government will question schools about attendance because if they aren't in school then they are on the street or breaking in some one's house. HELLO PARENTS! HELLO COPS! HELLO JUSTICE SYSTEM!!!
3. How about drugs? sure that might be at fault to some degree but was this kid on drugs when he fires that gun? Which ones? or was it some previous use that left him in an "irregular" state of mind that lead to this.
4. How about the gun? Of course the gun didn't shoot these kids, the kid pulled the trigger, but where did this gun come from??? Mom or dad? Grand pa or ma? Friend? Friend's dad or mom? Now you might say something about the fat white guy pushing gun control and you would be RIGHT!!!!! Absolute gun control? NO WAY but controlling guns YES! I have a gun but NONE of my children or family could get to it. Shouldn't the person that bought this gun or who didn't secure it have to pay a price for two deaths! I say let that person should be stripped naked, painted yellow ,and have to hold the hand of this young adult for as long as he is in jail.
5. How about...

I could go on and on and on and on. the fact is that it happened and the question is what will we do now?

As long as "there is" there will be bad stuff happen. Whether it is in a school or not it is going to happen. Putting "prayer back in school" is not the answer but it is close. Bad things happen because of corruption and sin in this world. It's not an accident. I'm sure the "hot topic" of bullying will come up many times related to this shooting but bullying is nothing new. Christ was asked about the greatest commandment. He said Love God but then He said love your neighbor. How about treat others as you want to be treated, you know that "Do Unto Others Thang."

This is a dark world full of sickness and corruption and it will remain that way until we, both you and I allow the light of the World to shine through us.