<p>Obama: “Those ‘quiet riots’ that take place every day are born from the same place as the fires and the destruction and the police decked out in riot gear and the deaths,” Obama said. “They happen when a sense of disconnect settles in and hope dissipates. Despair takes hold and young people all across this country look at the way the world is and believe that things are never going to get any better.”</p>
<p>I have worked with children of poverty in 4 different locales. I have been struck by how disinterested many of the parents are in their children’s education, to the point of never even setting in the school beyond registering the child for Head Start. These parents are generally young healthy teenagers and adults on multiple government programs with very spotty work records, if any (if they are out of HS yet.) Two of these areas spend some of the highest amount per student than any school districts in the country. The teachers often can hardly even get the children to listen to them by 1st grade.</p>
<p>Whose fault is this? The government? The president? The schools? The community leaders? The parents? What is Obama’s answer to the “dispair”? Did he take a stab at it? Or is he just playing lip service to the blacks who have been saying that he is not acting concerned enough about them in his city campaigning?</p>
Poetsheart, I’m a bit surprised at this post. You are usually reliably level headed and even if I disagree with your posts I can generally see your point. However, don’t you think that reference to “thousands” of dead bodies is well into the range of hyperbole? Is there any evidence that there are any unfound bodies in NO? </p>
<p>Also, the assertion was that “the white majority” was to blame for conditions in New Orleans and the rest of the country. Indirectly the assertion was that this was some sort of racist attack against blacks lead by George Bush. From what I have read, NO suffers from gross incompetance and corruption and that the problems down there are probably 90% local in origin. To take these problems and blame President Bush and the “white majority” for them without documentation is race-baiting in my book. </p>
<p>I truly hope that Obama has not sunk to that level. If he has, it is a shame because I had hopes that he would be able to rise above that and help bring racial healing. It would be a shame if he becomes just another Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton.</p>
<p>^^^collegialmom, my work of recent memory sounds like yours. I learned that the children’s parents all disliked schools and had recent bad times in them. Yet some wanted better for their kids. They all loved their kids, but organizing their own activities around the schedules of schooling wasn’t for them. Some were rude and hostile to me; others skittish and apologetic because of their scramble at home that came before any school management. They figured I couldn’t possibly understand because I wasn’t poor and they were probably right about that.</p>
<p>So, I followed the advice of a great Irish teacher of mine, who had taught in rural villages in Ireland. She said, “if you ever get a chance to do this, make a pre-Sept.1 visit to every child’s home, just to say ‘hi’ and deliver a pencil.”</p>
<p>I did this annually, and it was the single most radical thing I ever did in all my teaching. You’ve got to leave the buildings to gain the trust. After that, I had the parental support I needed. Sometimes it was scary to visit the homes too, dogs barking viciously from chains and so on, but it was worth it. I always called ahead and never went inside; met on the doorstep, so nobody would think I was judging them. It made the little kids much more comfortable on the first day of school, but honestly I did it for the parents’ sake and to gain some credibility. </p>
<p>The burnout among dedicated teachers was understandable, but sometimes a self-fulfilling prophesy just to complain about the parents. I started in my 40’s so wasn’t as tired of it all, but my agemates had HAD it! Some were warhorses, though, and the fact is the younger ones came and went while the heartiest remained.</p>
<p>I took the approach that even if we only saw them from 9-3, that is a lot of hours and more than many parents get with their kids. So I focussed on doing my best within those 6 hours. I de-emphasized homework because it took longer to collect it and hear all the excuses (I wasn’t home for the weekend) and reteach half the class. The practice was better done in class than to chase it from home. </p>
<p>I bet you work very, very hard at your task, and care enough to post here.
I know it’s very hard.</p>
<p>I’m not a teacher, but have so much admiration for any teacher that works with the children whose parents are not involved and are otherwise occupied. </p>
<p>I really can’t stand it when teachers are blamed, as many of them choose to stay in difficult school settings, when they have other choices, and yet are blamed for what often are the shortcomings of the parents. The kids don’t know any better, esp when they are young. When they are older, they cease to care. </p>
<p>They have so few examples. That’s why when Obama, who could be a positive example, blames everyone else, I see no solutions from him so far! </p>
<p>I personally see no one so far to support for president, and I now live in a “swing” state. It’s the first time my vote may count in a long time, so any suggestions would be appreciated…</p>
<p>Well let’s see, we had Romney, who thinks Saddam didn’t allow the UN weapons inspectors in (or kicked them out, I forget which), and none of the other candidates knew enough about current events to correct him.</p>
<p>We had two members of Congress confess that they voted for the Iraq war without bothering to read the NIE report that spelled out pretty clearly the conditions we face now as a consequence of invasion.</p>
I’ll raise my hand on this. If someone is capable of behaving this way to a black child then I, for one, think that same person could behave that way toward anyone, even a white child of rich parents. This kind of behavior is despicable and if it happened, that person should be prosecuted for criminal behavior IMO.</p>
<p>I simply don’t believe that Bush had a racist agenda toward the Katrina victims any more than the mayor or governor had.</p>
<p>Sorry ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad, I took that down because I figured everyone was tired of my Katrina tales. To put your quote in prespective, this is what the california dad was responding to (though not phrased the same as the original):</p>
<p>A volunteer doctor came down with a plane load of lifesaving supplies. This was a specialist in trauma medicine who worked at Ground Zero on 9-11. He was performing CPR on one elderly black woman, as other patients were near death around him.</p>
<p>The FEMA official demanded he stop performing CPR and leave immediately, on threat of arrest, even though FEMA had no doctor to replace him. Why? Because he couldn’t get on their list, because their phone lines were jammed. No liability could possibly have ensued to the government, because his work was protected under Good Samaritan laws. (He has his medical license with him, BTW).</p>
<p>I can’t think of that as anything other than a reckless disregard for human life. And coupled with FEMA turning away equipped and trained rescuers, even from other branches of the federal government, I do have to believe that they would have made life-saving more of a priority had it been white faces on the TV instead of black.</p>
<p>Do you know the rest of the story on that incident? I’m wondering if any consequences ended up happening to this FEMA worker or their supervisor. I hope so.</p>
<p>They were very disorganized in terms of volunteer medical services. I don’t think it was race related. Where is the testimony that cites this particular incident? Could you provide a link?</p>
I sure hope you’re wrong on this. I just don’t understand how someone can adjust their life-saving priorities based on someone’s race since one race is no more precious than another. I especially can’t understand it as policy or coming from Bush and don’t believe it was. I’ll be the first to be disappointed if there’s hard evidence to the contrary.</p>
<p>Suppose that your story were true and suppose that the FEMA official was acting based on race. How does that relate to the broad brush accusation that the “white majority” and George Bush are at fault for poverty and despair in the Black community? It’s one person. One person’s act. So, using a mathematical relationship: 1 is not equal to 200,000,000 (or however many white people there are in this country). </p>
<p>But you already knew that but couldn’t resist using a sample size of one to smear everyone - as long as one of those to be smeared was George Bush.</p>
<p>I agree that some of the things your party’s appointees and loyalists did during Katrina are well nigh unbelievable. But they happened, nonetheless.</p>
<p>I don’t think so, no. FEMA issued some kind of statement that their rules were their rules. And it was hardly one isolated incident, it was part of an institutional pattern:</p>
<p>The Department of the Interior offered hundreds of officers with flatbottom boats specially trained in urban search and rescue and FEMA said: no thanks, even as people were still dying of dehydration on roofs and in attics.</p>
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<p>Four days not to even address an email about evacuating vent-dependent patients who were being bagged around the clock by hand. Yet plenty of time to send emails about his wardrobe, his food preferences, etc.</p>
<p>Had you seen the white faces in St. Bernard on your TVs, instead of the black faces in the Lower Ninth Ward, the response would have been different. Saving human lives would have been a much higher priority.</p>