Gov. Paterson Must Love Him Some Social Justice!

More artificial excuses--a product of social justice? I think so. It's just too much to blame his failures on himself because of his performance or his chosen ideology so he has to put the blame outward and base it on hatred of his race.

I love how politicians try to tell us that we don't hear what we know we heard, that our eyes and ears are lying to us.

Paterson Steps Back From Race Remarks
By JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: August 25, 2009
STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Gov. David A. Paterson attempted to distance himself on Tuesday from comments he made last week suggesting that some in the news media who are critical of him and other black politicians are motivated by racial bias.

If he intended to quell the furor his remarks caused, his comments on Tuesday appeared to only complicate the situation.

While Mr. Paterson said he regretted the distraction his comments had caused and hoped he could put the episode behind him, he denied having insinuated that race was a factor in criticism of his leadership. That denial — which is contradicted by what he said in two interviews — made for an odd exchange with reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

“My remarks never say that there’s a race element at all,” Mr. Paterson told reporters after an appearance at Stony Brook University on Long Island, where a speech on his economic initiatives was quickly overshadowed by the controversy over his earlier remarks.

“What I did talk about was some negative racial stereotyping, which I think has gone on from time to time,” Mr. Paterson added. “But I didn’t blame my problems on that, and I’m not changing the remarks I made. I’m just correcting the interpretations of my remarks that are wrong.”

In a radio interview on Friday, Mr. Paterson said governors of other states with similarly difficult financial problems have not experienced the kind of criticism directed at him and Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, the country’s other black governor.

“My poll numbers are no worse than the 40 other governors who are in states that have deficits,” he told Errol Louis, the host of a morning call-in show on WWRL-FM. “My point is you don’t hear this crusade that it’s time for the governor to step aside. My feeling is that it’s being orchestrated. It’s a game, and people who pay attention know that.”

Then he pointed to what he saw as derogatory depictions of black leaders of the State Senate and said President Obama would probably be the next black political figure to face such attacks.

“I submit that the same kind of treatment that Deval Patrick is receiving right now in Massachusetts, and I’m receiving, the way in which the New York State Senate was written about, calling them a bunch of people with thick necks,” Mr. Paterson continued, “that we’re not in the post-racial period. And the reality is that the next victim on the list — and you see it coming — is President Barack Obama.”

Mr. Paterson raised the issue of bias again in an interview on Saturday with Gerson Borrero, a political commentator, that was posted on the Internet on Monday

The comments have left Mr. Paterson more politically isolated. The White House distanced itself on Monday from Mr. Paterson’s remarks, saying that President Obama does not believe that his critics are motivated by race. And on Friday Mr. Obama’s political director, Patrick Gaspard, took the unusual step of telephoning the governor’s top adviser, Larry S. Schwartz, to express displeasure with the remarks.

Democrats in Albany and New York City have also backed away from the governor. David N. Dinkins, the former mayor, and Charlie King, an associate of the Rev. Al Sharpton and a prominent Harlem political leader, also disputed the governor’s characterizations.

Tuesday’s exchanges were the first questions on the issue Mr. Paterson has answered. At first he tried to tamp down some of the controversy by admitting that he had caused a distraction, but his insistence that he never suggested that race had anything to do with criticism of him quickly became a point of contention with reporters.

“I didn’t say it,” Mr. Paterson said, referring to the suggestion that racial prejudice was a factor among his critics. A reporter then read the governor’s comments with Mr. Borrero, in which he said, “One very successful minority is permissible, but when you see too many success stories, then some people get nervous.”

Mr. Paterson said then that he had let his emotions get the better of him.

“I don’t think that it’s an orchestrated attempt,” he said. “And I think this is the kind of distraction that, in my view, arose from a personal incident that annoyed me that I would just rather move on.”

The “personal incident” Mr. Paterson was referring to was a comment by a local television reporter suggesting that the governor was allowing his daughter to stay late at a nightclub. The reporter incorrectly said the daughter was under age.

“We all have a point where our buttons can be pushed,” Mr. Paterson said. “And we all know that criticizing the media is something that we try to avoid. And I tried to avoid it, but there was one incident that was personal to me. And I addressed it. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of it.”

The governor’s attempt to calm the situation on Tuesday left even some Democrats saying that they were concerned that Mr. Paterson himself had become too much of a distraction.

“That he’s denying it, it’s baffling to me to say the least,” said Senator Bill Perkins of Harlem, a Democrat who now holds the same seat Mr. Paterson held when he was a state senator. “We need the governor on message, on target. Right now he’s off target.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/nyregion/26paterson.html?_r=1&ref=politics

Social and Economic Justice

I have been thinking a lot lately about social and economic justice. It all sounds so very lovely. Utopian really. Fairness, equality, prosperity for all--who wouldn't agree that those are good things? We all would like to be treated fairly, have equal opportunities to achieve our goals and to prosper, right?

The more I think about social and economic justice the more I get annoyed by it. It makes for a great political slogan but it is artificial. The entire concept is artificial because it is based on having a level playing field. That is just simply unrealistic.

Education:
It is impossible to have functional social justice in the education system. Not every teacher will be equally brilliant nor will they be equally inspirational to their students.
Not every student has the same capacity nor propensity for learning. Not every student has a desire to achieve.
Not every school operates the same way with like-minded administrators.
How exactly does one create a level playing field to foster social justice in education? Is that more NCLB? Social promotion? Dumbing down the curriculum to ensure success for everyone?


View of social justice in education from Teachers For Social Justice based out of Chicago (shocking, I know!)

http://teachersforjustice.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=34&Itemid=59
Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, “Letters to Those Who Dare Teach” (1998):
“We are political militants because we are teachers. Our job is not exhausted in the teaching of math, geography, syntax, history. Our job implies that we teach these subjects with sobriety and competence, but it also requires our involvement in and dedication to overcoming social injustice."

We are educators. As such we must recognize and accept our role as either confronting the social, political, and educational inequities within U.S. school settings,
or continuing to reproduce the oppressions in our current society. We stand for
confronting these inequities. Neutrality is not possible. We understand that
teaching is a political act.

While perusing the teachersforjustice website, I noticed this:

http://teachersforjustice.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=7&Itemid=61
"Opt Out" from having NCLB turn over your personal records to the military
Click here to download the Opt Out form from the CPS website.

The above link will take you to one of many versions of an "Opt Out" form. This form requests that the Board of Education remove the student's name from the list of
students provided to military recruiters as dictated by the No Child Left Behind
act. Please note: the student or the parent or guardian only need sign The form does not require both parent and child sign. This is advantageous because papers sent home are often not returned.. Student I.D. number is required or the form will not be processed!

We are trying to clarify its meaning. Apparently names are submitted to the military twice a year. Don't wouldn't let the deadline stop me from doing a campaign. The date can be removed from the form.

Suggestion for submitting the form

Students can mail this directly to Alize Henderson as the form indicates. You can also collect them and mail them in bulk, perhaps ensuring a higher completion rate of the entire process. At Kelly High School, the Students for Social Justice Club has received permission to distribute these from a table during lunch time. The administration has asked that we provide them with a list of the names of signers so that they, too, can be sure to follow the students' wishes. recruiters, at least at Kelly, is so frequent that
almost al l students will likely have a face-to-face encounter with a recruiter.
Face-to-face is definitely a more effective recruiting method. However, the opt
out campaign is a relatively low energy me ans to raise the recruiting issue and
to identify students, faculty, and parents who might work on a more demanding
campaign to limit recruiter access to our young people.

If you have questions or want access to leaflets and information critical of the current recruiting drive and of dishonest or deceptive recruiting techniques, please
contact:

Cristina Martinez, Committee Against the Militarization
of Youth cvrijn@ameritech.net

Bill Lamme,
History Teacher, Kelly High School blamme@ameritech.net

I guess they only want to avoid militarization of the youth when it comes to defending the country. It's ok to be politically militant. Nice. I love how they are so willing to thwart the system by removing dates, how they are taking advantage of the fact that minor children are basically under their control. Makes me feel so much better because I just KNOOOW they are only doing it for their own good. The irony of it to me is that the military is probably the most equal playing field one can have in terms of opportunities for minorities, educational access, etc. Why would they want to deny children the ability to succeed while serving their country? Unfortunately, I already know the answer to that. They don't deem the military service honorable, nor do they think it's important. I think we all saw what that mentality got us during Clinton when the miltary was at its weakest in ages.

The Racial Aspect of Social Justice:

I don't think that there can be real social justice racially because those who claim to be interested in promoting equality are too busy accentuating the differences. I think that certain segments of the social justice movement will always be searching for something to explain away failures and make excuses so instead of focusing on individual responsibility (or lack thereof), it's much easier to focus on race and place the blame of failure on outside forces.

The rest of us are just going on with our lives. Having friends of all races and treating them like family. Working for a boss who is a different race and respecting that boss just the same. Falling in love with a person because of the 'content of their character, not the color of their skin.'

Economic Justice is next.