High School Race Bait in Chattanooga
Scanning our own hometown newspaper, we ran across a story about the changing demographics at a local high school. The Howard School was for many years the only school in Chattanooga where blacks could get an education, and even as recently as the 1980s, it was virtually all black. But the Latino population is growing quickly, and now roughly 25% of the school’s population is not black. State Rep. Jo Ann Favors, who is black and graduated from Howard in 1960, doesn’t necessarily think that’s a good thing. “Howard is part of our legacy, and it would have been good to have guaranteed it as such,” Favors said. “African-Americans, with the gentrification and other demographic changes, it seems that we’re just left out. And, perhaps, that’s our fault. Because we haven’t been as rigorous making sure our history is sustained.” It’s important to her that blacks have their own school because she says they struggle in other places. “They don’t adapt, because they were not in an environment that was conducive to your [sic] success,” Favors lamented. “You do better with your own people when you’re being educated.” Which brings us to the point: Put the shoe on the other foot, and imagine Favors was white. Now hear, “You do better with your own people” in that light. More…
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- education
- Chattanooga
- Tennessee
- race