Mitt Romney spent Thursday trying to convince African-Americans that he's on their side, spending two hours in West Philadelphia for a photo-op while pushing his ideas on education; he wants to privatize the school system through charter schools, give more federal money to the states, and modify the classroom with more testing, fewer teachers, and more internet learning. Strangely, not a word was said about the biggest elephant in the room.
Apparently, Mitt Romney did not notice that he was in a school that was completely segregated.
Romney's team decided to make their push for education reform at Universal Bluford Charter School, an "all-black school, which the city school district turned over to a charter operator two years ago." It's impossible to imagine that Romney didn't know he was in an African-American neighborhood, or that all the students he met were African-American, so why didn't he mention the problem of segregation? Doesn't he know that American schools have become increasingly segregated, or does he not care?
Blacks and Hispanics are more separate from white students than at any time since the civil rights movement and many of the schools they attend are struggling, said the report by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California. Read more
I have to hand it to him, Romney looked terrific during his two hour pilgrimage to black America. He's obviously taken to heart Jean Giraudoux's famous quote, "The secret of success is sincerity, once you can fake that you've got it made." For those not paying attention, the photo op probably made Romney a sympathetic figure who appeared to be struggling with the problems of African-Americans. You shouldn't be fooled by Romney's plastic personality, however.
Romney failed to mention the problem of segregation in America and the problem of segregation in America's schools for one reason; he doesn't see a problem.
Romney grew up in bastion of whiteness in Bloomfield Hills, MI, went to a private high school that had a single African-American, didn't see a lot of African-American faces at BYU, then went to work at Bain Capital where he surrounded himself with white males. Though, I'm sure he has that "one black friend", and I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty of black surrogates for Romney, we really need to face the facts; Romney's world doesn't give a damn about the travesty of segregation and the problems of African-Americans in general.
It isn't that Mitt Romney doesn't know a lot about segregation, the problem is, he seems to like it. His life choices continually affirm this. Take where he chooses to live. This is how a few of Mitt's current neighborhoods pan out;
La Jolla, California: 0 .8% African-American
Wolfeboro, New Hampshire 0.2% African-American
Park City, Utah 0.6% African-American
I understand that Mitt Romney doesn't like diversity. As a practical matter, or for personal reasons, he doesn't want his family living in areas where the people don't look and act like him, but when he shows a complete failure in understanding of why schools fail, when he doesn't even mention how our school system has become separate and unequal, then he doesn't deserve any consideration when it comes to casting a vote for him.
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