"Abolish Jim Crow!"

I've been browsing through a book of Eleanor Roosevelt's political writings and I came across one entitled "Abolish Jim Crow!" published in "New Threshold" in August 1943. As I read through the letter, I was shocked to see that, now, 68 years after Roosevelt originally wrote this piece, her opinions still apply. I was first intrigued by this quote:

"Sometimes when I look at the Lincoln statute and read things which he said, I think that we fought a bitter war which brought suffering to many people and yet achieved no answer to the question -- are the colored people free in fact or only in word?"

Of course, I interpreted this in the context of education to mean that African Americans are still under privileged even in today's society, which so many consider to be "post-racial." Schools with majority minority populations continue to be vastly under-resourced and often fail to provide their students with the quality education they deserve. This, in turn, limits our students' freedom to pursue their opportunities of choice. Mrs. Roosevelt continues,

"An equal opportunity for education may raise economic standards as a whole -- may make it possible for colored people to get equal pay, because they will have training equal to that of white people. There will be more self respect; the dignity and pride of race will be enhanced and the bitterness of inferiority removed."

I hate the fact that this is still true. My students are not receiving the opportunities they deserve in terms of their education, and this will make it tremendously difficult for them to compete for the jobs that can change their socioeconomic status and life circumstances. So long as this vicious cycle of lack of education and a steady job continues, I fear that this minority will continue to be almost systematically excluded from society and viewed as inferior.