America’s troubled past with racism is more widespread and systemic than a lot of people tend to think In Theoharris’ chapter on the 1960’s New York school system riots, she dives into the history present but often overlooked of racism in the North rather than just the South. The struggles prevalent in New York and Boston during the 1960’s show that it’s a countrywide issue instead of a regional issue as it can be misconstrued. Most of the time, when talking about Civil Rights issues, the main geographic areas of concern are the South, specifically Montgomery and the surrounding area with Dr. King and similar figures. The statistics the author outlines on page 49 are staggering, with 6 of the 9 predominantly Black schools overcrowded, 4 of the 13 recommended to close, 8 of the 13 not up to health and safety standards, and $100 less per pupil. The interesting part to me was the opinion of educators that the problems seem to stem from home rather than from the differences in quality of education for the students. This suggests to me that there’s issues within the minds of the educators which helps to perpetuate the systematic issues already prevalent in Boston at this time.
A part of me wishes I could say studying all of this surprised me. There’s always been issues and outliers in every area of the US especially when it comes to racism. While it may be more apparent in Boston during this time, it’s not new by any extent. There always seems to be new people like the ones in charge of the Boston and New York school districts popping up everywhere in different facets of life. From Kanye West earlier this year ousting himself as a Nazi, to hidden biases in hiring practices and opinions, it’s tough to say that there aren’t underlying racist tones and prejudices throughout American life and, arguably, more places than just the US. Theoharris points out Louise Day Hicks as one of these people, but as the author also points out, for everyone like Hicks there’s at least one person in opposition. For the author, this is people like the historian Gerald Gill and Judge Garrity. President Ford standing against desegregation, however, was genuinely surprising. I had assumed that he would be on the side of Judge Garrity or remained neutral, but it goes to prove my further point that the appear everywhere in society.
Will Wright 