Racially Divided Schools: The Supreme Court was right- but for the wrong reason

As a product of forced busing in the 1960’s I can speak to the issue from a unique perspective. I was among a few token whites bused into a black school as part of the New York City “Integrate the schools” movement.
At the time, the majority of bussed kids were blacks coming from overflowing ghetto schools to the shrinking white enclaves of Manhattan, My parents were strong believers in what some call a social experiment, others saw it as an essential way to bring back the melting pot that commingled millions of immigrants earlier in our nation’s history.
Our white neighbors threw rocks through our windows in protest of my parents’ actions and beliefs. The crumpled rubber banded paper that read “Nigger Lover” was a particularly succinct and vitriolic message.
The nation’s courts ruled at the same time that Public Systems across the country needed to racially balance their schools. The belief was that white kids had great schools, and black kids had abysmal ones. Mixing students would level the playing field and offer a fair and equitable education for all.
Forty years later the Supreme court handed down a split judgment that the experiment was over. Race was no longer as a reason to offer a leg up to blacks even if oppressed, or a basis to restrict the opportunities of whites, even if they were already privileged students.
My experience as a token white, in an extremely racially and culturally diverse elementary school was enlightening, educational and unforgettable. I learned that being poor did not mean being dumb; just that their parents usually were too busy working to survive to instill the higher education vision that richer, more educated parents strive for. And black kids did not throw rocks at white houses.
In reality, in most communities, integrating schools along racial lines realistically brought poor students from neighborhoods with less experienced teachers into better schools with more experienced teachers. In many states, it also led to the panic of white flight; further segregating and isolating communities along racial and income lines.
The Supremes are probably right now. Race is not, and never was the real differentiator. It was, and is, poverty and culture. Students in poor communities perform poorly in almost every aspect of educational measurement. Students in rich communities inherently perform much better.
Yes, race and poverty are inexorably linked, but race alone is NOT the culprit. Regardless of the reason, generational poverty has and will breed generations of failing students. We need to find ways to break the cycle of educational ghettos.
Our schools should be integrated, not along racial lines, But along fiscal and cultural ones. Our schools need to be financed fairly for all and students need to learn in classes that are not homogenous.
Students of all races, cultures and income levels need to learn together by bringing financially and culturally disadvantaged students into the same classes as those of privilege.
Only by allowing our kids to see and learn in financially stable schools within the diversity of America will we be able to finally and ultimately allow every child to envision and attain the American Dream.

Flying low over Miami County

Flying Low over Miami County
If you haven’t yet taken the time to walk the streets of Troy this summer, plan on doing so on a pleasant July day. But look sharp, there are low flying airplanes everywhere.
Twenty Six fiberglass WACO airplane sculptures are swooping, rolling and zooming at eye level along Main and Market Streets within 3 blocks of the fountain. These six by five foot replicas are of the popular WACO bi-plane with hand made wooden cockpits, powerful engines and fabric covered wings that dominated the skies after World War I.
The sculptures are a joint project between the Waco Learning Center and Museum and Troy Main Street. Designed to showcase and contrast the creativity of current artists with the rich heritage of Miami County in the form of modern art used to decorate these fiberglass replicas. The sculptures are designed to evoke memories and visions of America’s most popular bi-plane from the era when ‘real planes had two wings and a round engine’.
If you like taking pictures, there is a great Photo Contest for pictuires of the planes going on throughout July! (see sidebar)
The designs of the many artists are as diverse as the history of aviation and the styles and minds of painters and artists who live here today.
Each plane has the theme of the artist, and their breadth is phenomenal. The one that first caught my eye is a pseudo architectural rendering, where the internal struts and components are painted on the outside to look like the plane was turned inside out.
Waco’s were exported around the world, their productive deliveryman, Charles Lindbergh, was cheered in France as an American hero and global ambassador when he flew a Piqua Ohio Hartzell propeller into a cheering Paris.
Two planes highlight the dozens of countries where Waco’s flew; one with dozens of flags, the other with luggage-like stickers from cities in those countries. They highlight how early aviation shrunk our world, just a few decades after steam ships plowed the seas, and barely a few score years before rockets left the earth completely.
Modern life is the theme of others. Buckeye fans will appreciate the grey and red motif on one (get on tip toe to see the top of the wing). Students can repeat the summer mantra “No more teachers’ no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks…” when you see the two planes crafted by Troy students. The 6th graders created a virtual yearbook, and the high schoolers a multi-media montage of the Troy school experience from pencils to lockers to slogans.
The juxtaposition of sky and land, people and buildings were selected by a few artists; camouflaging a plane to look like a soaring monarch butterfly in one case, or blending in with lifelike pictures of clouds and sky on another. One has a barnstorming theme, another covered bridges. But they are all unique and different.
Which one is the best? Hard to tell, but there are ballots in most shops around the square, and the best will win the artist a $1,000 prize at the awards ceremony when the planes fly of into the sunset at the end of August. (If you really like one, plan on bidding for it, they will all be sold at the Waco fly-in August 25th.
Waco, the Weaver Aero Company was based in Troy. With locations throughout the city, but centered in the large hangar like buildings that are now Goodrich wheel and brake division visible from Archer Drive. The Troy Civic Theatre performs in an old barn that was once a Waco construction hangar.
The new Waco museum opened a few weeks ago to celebrate the arrival of the sculptures, and is a great place to spend a few hours learning about the planes, the people who made them, and exploring aviation as part of the Aviation Historic Trail that has dozens of sites throughout the Miami Valley. Everyone should explore the trail, taking in a few places each time, it can be a long term learning experience or crammed into a whirlwind weekend. The sites, ranging from the original Wright Brothers home to Huffman Prairie, the field where they practiced before and after the historic flights in Kitty Hawk, and on to the air force museum where the largest collection of planes are on exhibit (and most sites are free!).