Member-only story
Segregation 2.0 in Public Schools is Making America Great Again
Public education today is as segregated as any time since the Civil Rights Movement
When I first entered “the bond business” in 1983. My job was selling securities backed by single-family mortgages. In the beginning, I spent hours trying to understand what was considered a complex financial product. Luckily, most of my prospective clients knew even less about these new securities than I did.
Occasionally, I visited the home of a more experienced colleague who offered to help me work on my sales pitch. During one such visit, my recently divorced coworker’s young son was on hand. After being introduced, I asked the child where he went to school. He said he attended Miss Selma’s School, which I knew to be all-white and private. In what I admit was an attempt to push my colleague’s buttons, I asked why the child didn’t attend a nearby public school.
“Go ahead. Tell Mr. Marlon why you go to Miss Selma’s School,” my coworker told his son. Instead of a pre-rehearsed response, the youngster surprised his father — and me — with the truth. The child, who couldn’t have been more than eight or nine, said, “The Blacks. I go to Miss Selma’s School because of the Blacks.”
