School officials in Evansville, Indiana, are considering a recommendation to phase out busing, which was instituted some years ago to desegregate the schools. Approximately 15% of Evansville students are black.
Black leaders are opposed to the recommendation, but for reasons that appear to have nothing to do with school desegregation.
The Rev. Adrian Brooks, pastor of the largest predominantly black congregation in the city, said the busing issue should not be discussed until the school administration is more diverse.
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Brooks said more black people should be considered for positions in the school corporation, such as human resources director and fiscal officer jobs, before an end to busing is debated. And he wants a minority recruiter who can push schools “to become more aggressive in terms of affirmative action hiring.”
I suppose there is nothing surprising here, since for some time now “civil rights” and “affirmative action” (to some, redundant terms) have had precious little to do with ending discrimination.
I’m curious — does Rev. Brooks have any indication that qualified blacks and other minorities who apply for these positions are not being considered for senior positions? If he does, he needs to go to the state and federal government.
But then again, I don’t think that is what he is really saying.
What he means is that he wants black faces in those jobs, regardless of who the best-qualified applicant really is.
He is willing to hold the civil rights of the students of the district hostage until he gets that demand met.
But once it is met, his tune will change — he’ll be saying that it is “too soon” to end the busing program, since “the school corporation has only had a significant number of minority admisistrators since 2006,” and there needs to be more time for their influence to be felt on the district.