Did Integration Negatively Affect Discipline For Black Kids?

by Carol Forsloff - April 8th, 2009 - Digital Journal

Outcomes of integration haven’t been as positive as hoped. According to a number of African Americans equal opportunity was the goal of civil rights, not integration. Results have shown negative consequences, some say.

I interviewed Ophelia Dumars, mother of Joe Dumars, the famous basketball player and athletic manager for the Detroit Pistons, about parenting in the African American community. She is somewhat of an authority, based upon positive outcomes for her children. She has seven children, four of whom completed college and the fifth in process of doing so. None of her children have been in prison, nor have any of her grandchildren. She has a total of 30 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all of whom respect her, she reports. And well they might, because the people of Natchitoches, Louisiana respect her as well for the raising of her children.

Dumars declares that “after integration discipline broke down.” New ways of parenting from the white community were introduced that conflicted with the strict parenting set down by black parents. She said in her day there weren’t the high percentages of African Americans in jail because parents and community members made sure they were disciplined strictly and understood consequences of bad behavior. That was passed on down to the next generation until new ideas were introduced that seemed to bring consequences that didn’t end up with positive results. Corporal punishment was the means of disciplining that seemed to make children behave. These days Dumars believes parents don’t do that anymore and so many of them don’t know their limits.

Randy Stelly, native Louisianan who grew up with strict parents who had successful businesses in Opelousas in South Louisiana, believes also that integration interfered with the raising of black children. His concern was that discipline in school wasn’t even-handed and was fraught with suspicion and distrust. Black parents resented white teachers disciplining their children. Conversely white parents didn’t want black teachers disciplining theirs. The lack of understanding and preparation for adults prior to integration meant that children had unequal treatment in discipline and those for whom expectations were less, often black, ended up with discipline problems. What black folks wanted, he said, was decentralization, equal opportunity. He too is concerned that too many black children end up in prison for lack of effective, consistent discipline.

The dialogue about this has been part of African American conversation on the Internet as well as locally in Natchitoches. Attorney Roy Miller on a blog post writes that integration has been cruel to black children. He works in the legal field in Macon, Georgia and says he has challenged black leaders with his claims about how integration has failed black children. He said before integration black teachers had very little problem with discipline of students, a point verified by Dumars as well, who was often at school involved with her children. She too believes that black teachers had stern control and were trusted by the children at the time. Miller reinforces this concept in his posting as well.

Miller goes on to discuss how integration broke down black values. He said that after integration black teachers were disciplining black students and white teachers were as well, and then “all hell broke loose.” He continues by saying that after integration blacks got new learning materials and books, however black moral and religious values were broken down, which brought an increase in black crime. These are some of the issues he relates:

“In majority Black school districts, White kids left and went to private schools. Public schools were segregated all over again. The reality is that Blacks are now right back in what amounts to segregated public schools. What was lost in the journey can perhaps never be recovered. How cruel, when you look at the peace, love, lives and respect that were lost, all for text books and educational equality. We need to admit it. White parents are not ever going to let Black teachers paddle White children, Black parents are not ever going to let White teachers paddle Black children and Black parents are distrustful of their children being disciplined in the public school system. “

“We've got to have discipline.” Wilson further declared, reaffirming what Dumars and Stelly maintain. Back to basics in “spare the rod and spoil the child” is Dumars recommendation. How all of that will develop is likely to be controversial given the issues of child abuse raised by physical discipline, but some say that may need to be the road back for the crisis of discipline and increase in crime in the black community.

Unintended consequences! The root of evil in almost every action by government. For 60 years we have had a serious attempt to FORCE a cultural revolution on both the black community and on the conservative and libertarian white community. White liberals (progessives - socialists, whatever they want to be called) have won this battle hands down. The consequence of the victory has not quite worked out the way they claimed it would though.

Racism is a bigger problem than it was 60 years ago. Many in the black community can accurately claim that they not only have equality, but superior rights, thanks to affirmative action. Today they ridicule and despise "honkeys" with the same arrogance that the KKK expressed in the time when whites were on top. Yet many poor in the black community have worse lives than before integration and affirmative action.

Numerous studies prove that white male children are ridiculed and treated with contempt by many teachers, and have withdrawn from competition to avoid the sneers of their peers when any success is credited to "special advantage". Only jokes about white males are politically correct and acceptable. They hate the cultural denigration and their resentment is fueling a growing backlash.

Christianity is under assault. In school systems nation wide, Muslims get to have classes on their religion under the pretense that it is a cultural issue, and Christians are expelled if they dare even pray. The war against their religion does not sit well with the faithful.

Obama's regime has now proposed 4 candidates for Ambassador to the Vatican, every one of which is pro-abortion and thus an insult to the Catholic religion which the Vatican represents. To any objective observer this is either stupid or arrogant. You choose which.

Whichever it is, it is consistent with the indifference to the opinions of the faithful which is the hallmark of the hatemongers of the liberal-progressive-socialist (they can't decide which label they will accept - in reality they all mean the same thing) community which has pushed this culture war.

Those of us in the Inner Banks community, white and black, are poorer as a result of this vicious cultural confrontation, politically driven for purposes of political power.