June 17, 2005
"Plantation Language" and the OPSB
In a fascinating column in Louisiana Weekly, Dr. Andre Perry* discusses the notion of "plantation language" and its use by those who regularly attend meetings of the Orleans Parish School Board:
During the public comment sections of the most recent New Orleans School Board meetings, citizen critics repeatedly use metaphors involving the words "slavery," "Jim Crow," "plantation," and other terms used to describe the perceived oppressive actions weighed against the Orleans Parish School system's students and parents. Disgruntled citizens call the city, state or school system a plantation with masters and slaves in order to describe the degree of racism that stifles learning, development and progress among a black-majority community.
now for the smackdown:
Plantations typically did not have a black mayor, a major share of the school board, 38 state legislators, a black-owned bank or a black middle class comprised of professors, lawyers, doctors, teachers and the like. Harriet Tubman did not have the accoutrements of a transportation business to aid her missions. Can you imagine what may have occurred if Frederick Douglass could call up press conferences at a drop of a hat?
One of the problems with the OPSB is that the loudest voices in the process all have vested interests in the system, and the students are often not first on their list of interests. Teachers and administrators have their agenda. Politicians have theirs. Working parents often don't have time for activism. Unemployed parents don't care. As a rule, teachers and administrators keep their mouths shut at school board meetings, handling what they need to handle behind the scenes. Most politicians choose their words carefully so that they stay on whatever their personal agenda is. The parents aren't at the meetings.
That leaves one very vocal group left: the crazy faction. They get the microphone and all hell breaks loose, resulting in the inflamed rhetoric and a lot of wasted time. The white politicians are demonized and the black ones somehow feel that these people are their constituents and should be pandered to.
The problem is that these activists are not the board's primary responsibility. The kids are. It's good to see someone in the community finally tell these people they are out of line and need to work the system in a different way. Whether that attracts the parents back to the process remains to be seen. So many families of all races have abandoned the public schools as their incomes grow.
No matter what, there is a need for radical change at OPSB, not radical shouting.
*Andre Perry, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Foundations at the University of New Orleans.
(Not that you'd know that from Dr. Perry's column; I had to Google Perry to find out more.)