Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 39 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
Life Arts    H3'ed 2/15/14

Tanner Colby's tough-minded look at integration

By       (Page 3 of 6 pages) Become a premium member to see this article and all articles as one long page.   1 comment
Message Thomas Farrell
Become a Fan
  (22 fans)

In the terminology of in-groups and out-groups, they were being pressured to form a cohesive in-group of their own -- ostensibly to resist certain efforts toward integration and to celebrate their own cultural heritage.

 

Up to a certain point, this trend is understandable and even defensible. However, when peer pressure works to suggest that getting an education is somehow not a good thing, this kind of attitude about getting an education can be self-defeating in the long run.

 

Regarding the schools, Colby pointedly says, "To say that America's schools are resegregating is to misstate the facts. They can't resegregate. They've never integrated. The absence of artificial transfer programs to shuttle kids around just means we're seeing the country for what it has been all along. What it never stopped being" (pages 204-205).

 

Colby's book is designed to be a kind of report card about Dr. King's dream of integration -- or at least a kind of report about it. Colby centers his attention on four places:

 

(1) Birmingham, Alabama, where he went to school at suburban Vestavia during the heyday of busing to achieve racial integration;

 

(2) Kansas City, Missouri, where he perceptively focuses on housing issues;

 

(3) Madison Avenue
, where he worked at one time as a copy writer in an advertising company;

 

(4) Lafayette, Louisiana, where he spent his toddlerhood and the early years of his life.

 

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Rate It | View Ratings

Thomas Farrell Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Thomas James Farrell is professor emeritus of writing studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). He started teaching at UMD in Fall 1987, and he retired from UMD at the end of May 2009. He was born in 1944. He holds three degrees from Saint Louis University (SLU): B.A. in English, 1966; M.A.(T) in English 1968; Ph.D.in higher education, 1974. On May 16, 1969, the editors of the SLU student newspaper named him Man of the Year, an honor customarily conferred on an administrator or a faculty member, not on a graduate student -- nor on a woman up to that time. He is the proud author of the book (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Was the Indian Jesuit Anthony de Mello Murdered in the U.S. 25 Years Ago? (BOOK REVIEW)

Who Was Walter Ong, and Why Is His Thought Important Today?

Celebrating Walter J. Ong's Thought (REVIEW ESSAY)

More Americans Should Live Heroic Lives of Virtue (Review Essay)

Hillary Clinton Urges Us to Stand Up to Extremists in the U.S.

Martha Nussbaum on Why Democracy Needs the Humanities (Book Review)

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend