Comments on: Hodges: Scandal haunts KC Schools

By: MARQUES

MARQUES — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:47:45 +0000

black people are TIRED of livin in the ghetto

you cant blame people for leavin and doin better

black people want they 40 acres and a mule to

these schools are horrible – i am glad they are closin – shouda been done a long time ago

By: Barry Jackson

Barry Jackson — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:03:47 +0000

Wayne,
Back in the seventies,the late Bernard Powell used to say “Ghetto or Goldmine,the choice is yours”. The whole point in the saying was we had an opportunity to develop our community to be self sustaining,to create the type of community that we can all be proud of,or let somebody else create the type of community that will benefit someone else.
Well,this community made its choice and you see the result.
Yes,racism had a part in what has befallen us,but our collective apathy has added to the resulting lack of jobs,decaying housing stock,declining school system and cannibalistic crime problems that stifle economic development that has resulted in black flight and re-gentrification that we see today.The point is that in this day and age,we only have ourselves to blame,because there was many opportunities to stop this.
As far back as the eighties,when the state and city were working together to use eminent domain to knock down our community to build 71 highway (what about those traffic lights on a highway?,there were more people who gave lip service to efforts to save our community,yet no one wanted to adequately organize to save our neighborhoods. This community ultimately has no one to blame but itself.
Barry Jackson

By: Barry Jackson

Barry Jackson — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:13:17 +0000

Hey Wayne!
When I read the article about the KCMSD in Sunday’s paper,I thought about all the critics from Independence,Johnson County and everywhere else in the white community,I knew that it stemmed from a couple of things.
First,you had Rush Scumbaugh complaining that nearly 2 billion dollars on black children,as though black people don’t deserve a return on their tax investment in this country and you had white people parroting that.
Secondly,once the money came into the district,white people felt that only they could administer that money,and that their children were entitled to benefit from any improvements to the educational system.
None of this was ever about education,certainly not about educating black and hispanic children. This was about white doing what they’ve always done,”If I can’t have control,I’ll tear it up”!
The unfortunate thing is that you have a lot of black folk “house n’s”,who only listen to white opinion,and base their view solely on that.
These same black folk flee the district,and when they’re kids are victimized by the very white people who ran from them in the first place,then they want support from the very black people they left behind, in an effort to be accepted by white people.
I’m sorry,you can’t spit in my face and then ask me to help support you when the very people you want to identify with don’t want you.
We’ve had the warnings about what could happen to our community,now it’s happening before our eyes and we don’t know what to do?
I say let’s stop deluding ourselves and get busy!We’re the leaders we’ve needed all along.
Barry Jackson

By: kevin k-9

kevin k-9 — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:23:43 +0000

racism in KC strikes again…movin blacks in and whites out… how come nobody went to jail???

By: J.T. Christopher

J.T. Christopher — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:57:00 +0000

Lets give the plan a chance before we start shooting it down. Nobody wants to close schools but the district is $50 mil in the hole. what else can they do? I think we are headed to home school anyway in a few years. If the plan fails we can criticize the school board later but lets at least give them a chance to fix things. the district has been screwed up for decades.

By: KC Dave

KC Dave — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:05:18 +0000

hodge great article dogg. i had no idea Sumner used to be a black school. damn you taught me somethin. gotta agree KCMO is closin 2 many schools. the people n those neighborhoods are SOL. i feel sorry for them

By: Sista Sista

Sista Sista — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 02:04:41 +0000

Preach brotha Hodges! Let them know whats up.

By: Mary Kay

Mary Kay — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:12:00 +0000

Wayne, I understand the frustration most people are experiencing with these school closures. But Dr. Covington did not have much choice. People are moving out of the urban core of the city and they are not coming back . The people who decided to stay are enrolling their kids in charter schools. The public schools are the big losers in all of this. Wayne, I agree with you. Nobody wants to live in a neighborhood that does not have schools. My husband and I bought our house 20 years ago. And the determining factor was we were happy with the school district. I can not imagine a worse scenario for Dr. Covington and his staff. He is stuck between a rock and a hard place. I wish him luck!

By: BlackMan4Real

BlackMan4Real — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 23:41:51 +0000

the key word here is ACCOUNTABILITY

until we start making these corrupt administrators take accountability for they actions we will see more of the same. they dont give a damn about our kids learning anything. they just want to fill they own pockets. how much money did the white man give Dr Covington to shut down all these black schools???? black people are always doing the dirty work. Covington is from Alabama. if the s*** hits the fan he can pack up his stuff and go back home. we will be the ones stuck in this hell hole