By Deb Bucknam
In 1899, poet Rudyard Kipling wrote a paean to White Supremacy, called “The White Man’s Burden.” In it he declared Brown and Black people of Africa and Asia to be “sullen peoples, half devil and half child.” This was typical of 19th century racism: Black and Brown people were inferior to Whites, uncivilized, incapable of achievement.
This racist ideology has permeated our public schools, universities and other establishment institutions and, as a result, is mortally wounding the future for Black American children.
Deborah Bucknam
It started many years ago with the educational establishment’s assumption that Black children were inferior in intellect and motivation, and therefore could not learn like paler skinned children. Black children’s lack of achievement was tolerated, and bullies and cheats’ conduct justified. There were always the excuses from the establishment: poverty, single parent families, lack of adequate housing, poor nutrition resulted in children unready or unable to learn.
It was the kids’ fault.
This is preposterous. Black and Brown children all over the world suffer far worse conditions and yet are able to learn. The 2019 Bhutanese movie “Yak in the Classroom” illustrates the yearning of children everywhere for knowledge and wisdom. It is set in a Bhutanese village high in the Himalayas populated by yak herders and their families. It is accessible only by a six-day trek by foot and mule. The school had no electricity, no heat, no blackboard, little paper, and only a few stubs of pencils. Yet the children could not wait to go to school every morning and learn. This kind of story repeats itself all over Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Today, the assault on Black American children has become more virulent. In the name of “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” Black children are told they live in a “systemically racist” society dominated by “White supremacy.” Children are told Whites are privileged and Black Americans are oppressed. This is not a dog whistle, but a megaphone to Black kids: you don’t stand a chance. Black kids are Kipling’s “half devil and half child,” incapable of achieving the American Dream, unless White Americans somehow shed their “privilege” — a concept never defined. A more hopeless message to children is not conceivable.
And this message is equally absurd. Two American institutions where competition is without equal anywhere in the world are dominated by Black Americans: the music industry and professional sports. Black American music is now world music, and American sports teams are followed by hundreds of millions worldwide. Black Americans who have been overwhelmingly successful in these two highly competitive arenas achieved their success, not just because of their talent, but because of their intelligence, hard work and perseverance. Talent is never enough.
Even worse, instead of teaching and challenging Black children, the educational establishment is now pretending that merit doesn’t matter, that the virtues of integrity, hard work, perseverance; even nuclear families and healthy lifestyles, are part White culture, not Black culture — to be ridiculed and vilified. The message is clear: not only are Black children incapable of achievement, but they are encouraged not to even bother to try. This is the purest form of racism.
The results of these debilitating messages and unwarranted assumptions by the establishment are plain to see. Black children are not achieving in public school. Black student achievement typically ranks well below other students. According to 2019 statistics from the Vermont Agency of Education, by 9th grade, only 38% of low-income students are proficient in English Language Arts, and only one in five are proficient in math. Black students do even worse: by 9th grade, only 31% are proficient in English Language Arts, and only 14% are proficient in math.
What is the solution to countering this racist ideology that tells Black kids that they cannot — and even need not—achieve? Black power. Instead of the educational establishment imposing its racist ideology on Black kids, parents should have the power to determine how their kids are educated, through school choice determining what education is best for kids. It should come from the bottom up, not the top down.
Black parents overwhelmingly support school choice. It is not difficult to see why: according to Dr. Thomas Sowell, based on his careful and extensive research on educational achievement in New York city schools, he found that in 2019, at city charter schools, 57% of Black students and 54% of Hispanic students were proficient in English Language compared with 52% of White students statewide, and 59% of Black students and 57% of Hispanics at city charters were proficient in math against 54% of White students statewide. Black children’s scores were higher than both Hispanics and Whites when they had the chance to attend a school of their choice. Compare that with Vermont’s scandalously low scores for Black children in the same year.
Black power and parent power are the only solution to a top heavy, expensive, bureaucratic establishment which has failed the kids their members are paid to teach and support.
Deborah Bucknam is a Walden, Vermont lawyer practicing family, civil rights, personal injury and employment law for the past 43 years. She and her husband, Charles, have been married 56 years, and they have two daughters and 13 grandchildren. They have lived in Walden, Vermont since 1972.
We would probably do much better racially if we taught them how to read, write and add before teaching them to hate.
To me, the cure for racism in public schools would be to teach the basics without all the political, racial, or personal garbage that is being tacked on to it. I don’t understand why it’s so vital that third graders need to know the reasons why someone has two dads or why Ms. Littledik has a beard after 4th period.
You keep all politics and “grown-up” stuff out of the classroom until junior high, when children at least have the basic tools to process things and deal with conflicting opinions.
Children don’t see color, they are taught to see color.
Whats described in the article above is critical theory, commonly implemented in today’s schools as “anti-racism”. It may not be listed in the curriculum but in many schools staff members are required to attend seminars, and many of the social/emotional components revolve around topics like “whiteness”, “white fragility”, “silence is violence”, etc.. To believe it isnt trickling down into your child’s lessons just because its not specifically listed in curriculum guides is naive to say the least. The truth is so called anti-racism is inherently racist. Any policies your schools or employers deploy with the words “anti-racism” should be an immediate ref flag. And for a more revealing perspective on skin color and education in our country i would suggest reading Thomas Sowell’s Black Rednecks and White Liberals. It offers a alternative perspective that is clear and concise and will arm you with the facts to dispute any of the false claims so called anti-racist proponents will spit at you. Talk with your kids about school. Inform them of theories they may be taught and offer alternative perspectives. Teach them to listen to everything with a grain of salt. There is an easy path and a right path. Have some principles and instill them in YOUR children.
The school system in Finland is just about the best in the world. It is almost impossible to start a private school, so the system’s quality is not dependent on the “free market.” Neither are there parents who join the PTA to get the inside skinny on which teachers are the best, because all the teachers are the best. Nor do you have white parents fleeing the city for suburban schools, because the state and the communities adhere to a belief in quality education for all. Totally unlike much of America.
The three most respected professions in Finland are doctor, lawyer and teacher.
“School choice” in America is nothing more than a scrabble to get for one’s child what the system will not provide for all children. The nice thing about that situation is that we are not ashamed of ourselves.
The comparison between Finnish and U.S. schools is as much an apples and oranges comparison as there can be.
There are half as many people living in Finland as there are people living in New York City. There are nearly 1 million students in NYC’s public schools alone. There are more than 50 million preK-12 students in the U.S.
There are but a half a million students in all of Finland.
Finland has one of the most homogenous racial populations in the world, immigration is strictly limited, and they want to keep it that way.
It is easier to get into medical school in Finland than it is into a master’s program in education. The curricula that teachers have to follow are short; only two to three pages, and other than that, they can do what they want.
Finland spends 30% less per student on education than the U.S. – and less than half of what Vermont spends per student.
Finland has class sizes three times larger than Vermont’s. Finnish students take one standardized test – over the entire course of their schooling.
Finnish student performance ranks as one of the highest in the world. In Vermont and the U.S., fewer than half our students meet minimum grade level standards.
And in Finland, while all schools (public and the few private ones) are basically of the same taxpayer funding, parents can choose the specific school their children attend.
Other than that, Finland is just like the U.S.. So why would having School Choice here in Vermont make any difference? Go figure.
Look no further than Finland does not have bleeding heart liberals, no UNION with a Socialist Climate agenda to force feed children…they have real STEM!……..a homogenous white population, lower crime, STRICT BORDERS and NO DEI. Add it up? Finland is an education winner, and VT is a woke, broke, Agenda, union based DEI loser.
Finland joined NATO April 2023. So much for their stellar record – it’s now going to implode the same as the other NATO member nations because their resources will be drained standing with Ukraine.
The problem is the Left dog whistles are answered by the dog whistles of the Right. Division of the populace benefits both. The political machine is very adept and experienced at swaying their bases whichever way they want to benefit them, not us. John Kennedy and Donald Trump are two Presidents – only two – who worked to blow that game up and scatter the pieces into the wind. Hence why Kennedy was murdered and they are still trying to deep-six Trump one way or another. Above all, consider the fact these practices and propaganda machines are operated in other Western nations exactly the same way. Consider the fact that nations across the world have manuvered and manipulated ethnic and religious sects against each other for millenia. Nothing new under the sun. The battle being waged now is global and spiritual. The survival of mankind is at stake. Death by a thousand cuts and racism is just one tool they are using from the old, ancient toolbox.
So true, that and the World is going to end, they love to use that one. Oh and of course give us your baby for a better life. Been around a few thousand years and we still fall for it.
Give us all you money, your children, we’ll save you! Free money, free sex, no rules, drugs are cool. We have the recipe for a great life!
Yes, Ms. Bucknam is just as much a racist as those references cited below. But it’s curious (and disappointing) that the comments below (so far, at least) completely miss the underlying point of Ms. Bucknam’s article.
Folks. It’s all about School Choice. For the life of me, I still can’t wrap my head around the propensity of people to not recognize the importance of School Choice. Instead, it’s always about finger pointing at others with whom they disagree.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. School Choice is not only analogous with ‘Black Power’, it includes, brown power, white power, LGTBQ++ power, progressive power, conservative power, MAGA power… you name it.
Why are we so afraid to let people choose their own poison? Especially when their preferences, under School Choice governance, don’t require anyone else to drink the same Kool-Aid.
Great article Deb. It goes even further though, it also teaches the white kids they can’t excell too! To do so would be racist and oppressive. It’s not black power. The underlining story is they are doing the same to all the children.
The school systems are teaching hate, division and envy. We are 2, now going on three generations of hate filling, fear filling, pride filling our children and country.
There is only one answer, that is truth and love.
We can continue to turn our heads from this fact and we will continue to realize the anxiety, fear, loneliness and hopelessness that pervades our minds and souls.
We only need to change our direction aand focus. We need to lift our heads and strive to get out of the gutter and this hot mess known as the world.
Re: “The school systems are teaching hate, division and envy.”
This is not entirely true. Not all ‘school systems’ are doing so. At least not yet.
Yes, as the Vermont legislature, the Agency of Education, and the State Board of Education set the requirements for ‘school approval’ (for independent as well as public schools), the super-majority is increasing the imposition of its tyranny.
But School Choice governance, especially when it includes Home Schooling support, remains the anecdote to their dystopian nonsense. When someone, like Ms. Bucknam, provides an opening for the possibility of School Choice, take it.
And yes, our reality may be that freedom and liberty are already lost. With the majority of Vermont’s electorate being bribed by the State, with a consensus ignorance being the results of their idiocy, the only recourse may be to leave the State before Vermont’s Reichstag makes it illegal to oppose their tyranny.
Praemonitus, praemunitus
Well, you can leave, but this is a national issue. Vermont was easy to take down first, easily bought, press easy to control and no ethics enforcement of any kind. This is lead from above, these folks in Montpelier are just puppets conntrolled from above.
If we can figure out how to overcome the mess in Vermont we can help heal the nation. Seems impossible, but we only need to change the script and not play defense.
If I had children it would definitely be home school or move. It’s so unbelievable how far we’ve gone and it’s considered unpopular to call it out.
What ever happened to following the message of Dr. Martin Luther King?
And to the leftist educators promoting more black power only begets more RACISM… hows that black power working out in Chicago? Or any major Dem run city? Until the blacks that won’t live in a civilized manner become civilized there will always be dissension. The part of the black population that continue killing each other and anyone else they wish, who think the world owes them a living, who steal and beat up people for no reason are the ones giving all blacks a bad rep. Until their attitude changes and the white liberal promoters of racism shut their pie holes nothing will change.
If you want histprical fact….go way back and read Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s …SENATOR MOYNIHAN….1965 book: “The Negro Family: The Case For National Action”. In it…he predicted all that happened to the destruction of the Black family…and it was ALL DONE by the passing by the Democrats, “Great Society Program”…Senator Moynihan predicted by giving all free stuff, subsidized housing…..segregating and packing Blacks into jam packed city hi-rises…more welfare, more food stamps, more all..it will lead to a breakdown in the family/societal structure, a disincentive to work…unwed mothers, drug and alcohol addiction…and ever increasing crime rates..and all led to Black slums, poverty, drugs, horrible schools…you name it. And it was ALL A DEMOCRAT POLICY.. all Sen. Moynihan predicted, came to happen…50-60 years later.. Remember! Moynihan was a DEMOCRAT! And Democrats STARTED the whole Great Society Program which ultimately destroyed the Black masses…. family, for the most part. AND…Doing DEI stuff now is just a REPEAT of the “Great Society” failures…..And once again, who is behind it all? DEMOCRATS!
Go and look at Democrat Lyndon Johnson…it is Dems are racists beyond belief. To paraphrase Pres Johnson, he said the good thing about giving the Negroe’s his Great Society give-a-way….is that he’ll have the negroe’s then voting Democrat for 200 years 9it happened!!!)….noted historian Doris Kearns Goodwin had more, of Democrats:
“According to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, he (president democrat Johnson) also uttered this cynical-sounding statement, which sometimes circulates in tandem with the “voting Democratic” remark:
“These Negroes, they’re getting pretty uppity these days and that’s a problem for us since they’ve got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we’ve got to do something about this, we’ve got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference. For if we don’t move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there’ll be no way of stopping them, we’ll lose the filibuster and there’ll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It’ll be Reconstruction all over again.”
Jeffrey, if you look at the plan for VERMONT housing, if you look to the plan of agenda 2030, which are the same NOT coincidentally, guess what?
It’s the same plan that you speak of, that was done to our brothers and sisters of a darker skin tone.
And VERMONT has the same results, the same fruit, but you see we are not all huddled up in one building (yet) but, strewn around the state like an epic hot mess of a yard sale gone terribly bad.
If we look into DCF, if we lok into drug rehab/jail, guess what we are growing big city problems, because we have adopted big city thinking. We adopted the wrong plan!
Great column. Trapping poor black kids in failing schools and fatherless homes is a recipe for disaster.
By the way, the same thing is happening to poor white kids in VT. It’s time to reform the per-head-per-household calculation in welfare because it is incentivizing people with no parenting skills to have as many kids as possible