Racial Disparities

Still l Rise by Maya Angelou – Black History is Everyday

/ Ogo Okoye-johnson / 1 Comment

You may write me down in history 
With your bitter, twisted lies, 
You may tread me in the very dirt 
But still, like dust, I’ll rise. 

Does my sassiness upset you? 
Why are you beset with gloom? 
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells 
Pumping in my living room. 

Just like moons and like suns, 
With the certainty of tides, 
Just like hopes springing high, 
Still I’ll rise. 

Did you want to see me broken? 
Bowed head and lowered eyes? 
Shoulders falling down like teardrops. 
Weakened by my soulful cries. 

Does my haughtiness offend you? 
Don’t you take it awful hard 
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines 
Diggin’ in my own back yard. 

You may shoot me with your words, 
You may cut me with your eyes, 
You may kill me with your hatefulness, 
But still, like air, I’ll rise. 

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

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Closing Educational Attainment Gaps Equals Economic Growth

/ Ogo Okoye-johnson / 3 Comments

The Center for American Progress in a recent study, The Economic Benefits of Closing Educational Achievement Gaps: Promoting Growth and Strengthening the Nation by Improving the Educational Outcomes of Children of Color, conducted by Robert G. Lynch and Patrick Oakford indicates that closing the income, wealth and educational attainment gaps will significantly increase the gross domestic product. As a result, funds spent on closing these gaps will be recouped from future tax revenues and economic growth. An investment in closing the educational attainment gaps is an investment in the nation’s economy.

 

Racial Disparities in Access to Educational Opportunities To Be Rectified in One New Jersey School District

/ Ogo Okoye-johnson / 2 Comments
The School District of South Orange and Maplewood in New Jersey has been prompted to provide its African American students equal access to and equal opportunities to Advanced Placement (AP), Honors and other college and career preparatory courses following a review by the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights which revealed glaring disparities in the opportunities that African American and white students are exposed to. The review was done to make sure that the school district complies with the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq., as well as implements regulation 34 C.F.R. Part 100, which prohibit discrimination on the bases of race, color and national origin by organizations that receive funds from the Federal government. The review exposed that only 19 percent of African American students are enrolled in the district’s AP courses although they make up 38 percent of the student population. On the other hand, white students who make up 49 percent of the student population in the district hold most of the enrollment in the AP courses. The school district will take action steps to rectify the existing disparities.
The Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, stated that the US Department of Education will conduct investigations to ensure that school districts and states are providing “poor and minority students with access to strong teachers, demanding coursework and facilities that their white peers receive”.