“The Neo-Lunch Discrimination Controversy: Fifty Years Later”
By Rev. Charles Mock, Executive Secretary of the Home Mission Board | June 30, 2011
Fifty years after the 1960
lunch counter incident involving discrimination at the F. W. Woolworth store in
North Carolina the NAACP has found it necessary to file suit because of
discrimination. This time the lunch discrimination controversy involves some
very unusual suspects—Black Americans in an intra-racial scenario. Fifty years later some of the issues are the
same, namely, space, education discrimination, and place. In the words of Benjamin
Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP, (per his op-ed in the Washington
Post, June 3rd, 2011),
“Students in the traditional public school must now eat lunch at 10 a.m. so that charter school students can enjoy lunch at noon. The regular school’s children had library access for a little over four hours so that the ‘new charter school’s kids’ could have access for almost seven. Traditional school students were moved to a basement, where they were next to the boiler room, to make room for their charter school peers, and teachers of the regular students were forced to teach in the halls due to lack of space."
The issues of space,
education discrimination and place are accentuated by the NAACP’s research
findings that no aggressive and affirmative strategy has been applied to assure
parental engagement in decisions leading to these monumental changes in how New
York does Public Education. The fact that lines have been legally drawn in this
lawsuit is sad commentary on the state of “parent-student-community” relations.
In 1960 four freshmen from
North Carolina, Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro staged a
protest because of racial discrimination. The four students not only expanded
to over 300 students, they gave birth to a major protest movement that included
boycott, sit-ins, demonstrations, arrests and negotiations. In six months the
students were served at the F. W. Woolworth lunch counter.
We are challenged to view
and understand the NAACP’s lawsuits against a historical background of divide
and conquer. We must not be oblivious to attempts by enemies of education excellence for all students to
develop policies and practices that create deeper divides within communities of
color.
While people of color
fight each other over space, education equality, and place, we might want to
stop long enough to read about the long term impact certain national policies
are having on public education. Dr. Michele Alexander in her latest and
provocative book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, reveals
quite clearly the deadly impact. This battle on the local level is rooted and
derivative of a deeper battle, the present and future role of federally financed
Public Education in America in the face of federal deficits in trillions of
dollars. Secondly, we cannot forget the
expensive price children of our public education system are paying because of
expensive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In many ways this battle
that is pitting people of color against each other within their community is
one in which no one wins. Unfortunately the deep wounds of this battle--further
estrangement, more intensive blame games, faith based tension among Christians,
deeper political divides, etc., add insult to existing injuries from other
battles on social and economic battlefields. Collectively, these intended or
unintended consequences will further strain our capacity to come together to
discuss common ground values, objectives, strategies and direction for the
amelioration of many ailments of urban life. So what’s the answer?
Whatever the answers they
might include: 1. A decision to not allow others and disagreements to keep one
from coming together, 2. A commitment to transparency and truthfulness in
communicating the conflicts, 3. Faith-based sponsored community forums, 4.
Focus groups dedicated to researching evidence-based and community-centered
strategies, 5. The development of Parent-Student-Community Teams undergirded by
historical and non-historical human rights organizations dedicated to education
excellence for all students, and 6.Public and private financial commitments based
on genuine efforts and demonstrated success.
Fifty years later, it
should not take boycotts, sit-ins, demonstrations and arrests to get where we
all say we are trying to get to equity in space, education and place. It will
take negotiations as we remember that our enemy is not the NAACP, not parents
who want educational choice and certainly not children that choose a Charter
School over a public school. When shall all students be served? It will take
more than six months. Let’s hope it doesn’t take another fifty years!
Rev. Charles Mock,
Executive Secretary of the Home Mission Board of the National Baptist
Convention, USA, Inc.
Email: cjenmock@gmail.com Phone 814-504-5597