Praise for the Children ...

Still Segregated After All These Years

As I stood outside Richmond City Hall on the corner of Broad Street and Ninth Avenue and witnessed roughly 150-plus Richmond Public Schools students protesting the depressing and disgusting conditions in many of the city’s schools, it was hard not to be moved by the overwhelming hope that propelled these kids to march on City Hall determined to tell the world that they (and the other children enrolled in RPS) deserve better, much better.  

These students, accompanied by teachers, some parents and even grandparents, reflected every color in the rainbow and were exceedingly polite and well-mannered as they repeatedly marched around (and around) the block holding their hand-made signs protesting the poor maintenance conditions found in too many of our city’s schools.

Amidst the crowd, I spied a friendly RPS administrator from the 17^th-floor of City Hall keeping a watchful eye on the students.  I asked her what she thought about the protest.  Speaking on the condition of anonymity, she noted that as an administrator, she knew these kids should really be in school studying, but quickly added that seeing them stand up for their rights and those of the younger children in the system and for doing so in such a respectful manner, that she was "just so proud" that these kids decided to step up and "speak some truth to the people who have the power to make decisions in this city that affect ALL of us.”

I then asked about the coming 60^th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit that outlawed legal segregation in our nation’s public schools.  “That hasn’t really worked out the way many hoped,” she said, “we basically traded de jure segregation for de facto segregation.” 

After our mutual “Amens“ on that, I took my leave and went to Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ office on the 2^nd-floor to see if he (or anyone from his staff) planned to speak with the students.  His receptionist frostily told me that she had “no idea” and furthermore, that “the Mayor was in a meeting.”  I gave her my warmest smile and asked her to convey to him my best wishes and to let him know that there were a lot of kids on the street hoping he might give them an audience.

By the time I grabbed a cup of coffee and went back outside, the kids were gone.  All gone.  Worried, I asked a security guard where the kids were and was told that the Mayor had asked them to come inside to City Council Chambers.  I got back inside just in time to hear his remarks in which he blamed the school facility problems on the members of the School Board and RPS administrators.   

He praised the students’ concerns, but told them to direct their questions to the 17^th-floor -- not the 2^nd-floor.  And it was at this precise moment point that several kids’ hands shot up to ask the Mayor some hardball questions:

• They wanted to know why building a baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom was more important than fixing leaky roofs.  
• They wanted to know why Richmond still operated schools built on landfills that leak methane.  
• They wanted to know why the Mayor was willing to spend $10 million dollars to build the Redskins a practice facility when so many of the athletic facilities in the city schools are so bad.  
• They wanted to know why kids in the counties have laptops and why kids in the city don’t.

When he attempted to deflect their questions and point the finger at RPS officials, the students listened politely.  And with eerie calm and politesse, his various questioners noted that his answer(s) had not addressed their question(s). 

Much like future lawyers, journalists, business and world leaders, the students asked the questions again. And again.   And sure enough,  it was soon time for Mayor Jones to go back to his meeting and for the students to go back to school.

As the crowd cleared, I sat there marveling over what I had just witnessed. Despite the hand-wringing and worrying of adults concerning the quality of education our children are receiving in RPS, the kids are all right.  They may not have all the answers needed for the Standards of Learning (SOLs) tests, but they do know what questions are most important and they have the courage to ask them.  

* Kudos to RPS Supt. Bedden, the members of the School Board -- especially Kimberly Gray (a graduate of Open High School) -- and to all RPS staff who worked together to ensure the safety of our students.