As Katrina showed us a year ago, and Sen. George Allen showed us as recently as last week, we still have long way to go in terms of confronting and eradicating racism in America. The fact that over 40% of Americans think everything went a-ok in Katrina's aftermath, and over 30% of Virginians don't find any fault with Sen. Allen's statements says a lot about the state of our nation.
Well, as if you needed more evidence, along comes this story from Lousiana that absolutely takes the cake....
Did the Civil Rights Act get revoked with a Presidential signing statement appended to the Voting Rights Act Renewal bill earlier this year???
H/T to RichardR's highly recommended eloquent diary from earlier today. I thought this point definitely deserved a diary of its own to drawn attention to this outrageous act and hopefully more media attention.
COUSHATTA --Nine black children attending Red River Elementary School in Louisiana were directed last week to the back of the school bus by a white driver who designated the front seats for white children.
The situation has outraged relatives of the black children who have filed a complaint with school officials.
....
After Richmond and Williams filed complaints with the School Board, Transportation Supervisor Jerry Carlisle asked Davis to make seat assignments for her passengers, Sessoms said.
"But she still assigned the black children to the back of the bus," she added.
And the nine children had to share only two seats, meaning the older children had to hold the younger ones in their laps.
As they say, read the entire article.
So this is what it has come to in America. As CBS' Survivor tries to create racial tension this season, in a blatant effort to boost ratings, it seems as though they may be leading indicator as opposed to an outlier. And to makes matters worse, the driver still hasn't been fired...over a week later.
If that doesn't make you sick to your stomach, I don't know what will.
Update [2006-8-25 1:10:45 by justmy2]: Per arnott's comment below, it appears that the driver has at least been suspended...however, I hope this is just the process playing out because the driver should really never set foot on any school bus again.