One reason why racism still exists in America

The Huffington Post recently printed an article about Frank Borzellieri, principal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, being fired for “racially divisive” writings. The article points out that the firing occurred after an inquiry by the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, which led to an examination of the books and columns that Borzellieri wrote in addition to interviews and direct discussion with the “educator.” While stating the obvious absurdities espoused by Borzellieri such as “the increase in the Black and Latino population will bring on a New Dark Age,” the article focuses on the error of his employment and effectively whitewashes the real issues: 1. Racists use stereotypes to justify their hate, 2. hate is a disguise for the racist’s self-hatred and insecurities, and 3. As long as stereotypes are pushed to the forefront of society’s subconscious, racism will continue to be alive, well, and infectious.

The central figure in this particular melodrama is Frank Borzellieri. He has a long history in the education field. He previously served as an elected member of the Queens Board of Education. His racist opinions and the ferocious way he propagates his dogma have never been secret. Yet there were people who CHOSE him and who ELECTED him to serve as the voice of their educational community. Borzellieri stands on his first amendment right to free speech, but during his tenure he sought to stifle free speech by banning teachers from discussing any form of homosexuality. He sought to modify the annals of American history by banning biographical text on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He forthrightly promotes what he calls a “Euro-centric view of history” and calls America’s diversity its greatest weakness. And yet he was hired because the pastor of Mount Carmel thought his opinions were “logical” and could “benefit his minority students.”

Only 9% of all teachers are Black. Fewer than 2% are Black male teachers. Even in school districts with a majority of Blacks, the percentage of Black teachers only rises to 17%, so basically you have White teachers teaching Black kids whose low test scores are dropping. I don’t have hate in my heart so I’m not going to think all these White teachers have secret feelings like Borzellieri does and there is some sinister plot to keep Black students stuck on stupid. It’s human nature for people to identify with people who look like them.

“It’s not that White teachers can’t teach Black students and Black students can’t learn from White teachers. We just know that people learn better from people who are like them and can relate to their experiences.” Quote from Larry E. Davis, director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center on Race and Social Problems and dean of its School of Social Work.

The real problem is how statistics are manipulated to make Blacks look different. If you had honesty in your heart, you would do a real comparative analysis of the education system−meaning you would compare Whites and Blacks with similar backgrounds, economy and home environments, and you would see that kids from two parent homes with incomes over $100,000 pretty much have similar test scores regardless of their skin color. But what has happened? They compare test scores of White suburban kids with test scores of inner city Blacks to promote negative rhetoric.

The only impact that such rhetoric could have on minority students is to 1. Anger them and provoke this to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, or 2. To relegate them to a position of inferiority. Either way this effectively diverts attention from the racist’s own insecurities and allows him, albeit temporarily, to feel superior, not by elevating himself or the populace he claims to represent, but by disheartening and degrading others. But note that he claims that statistics support his view without ever divulging his sources. He makes sweeping accusations that “Blacks score lower than Whites on ALL conceivable aptitude tests,” but never sites a single study to support it. Why? Because his research involved the depths of negative stereotypes.

History has shown time and time again all races have variances in intelligence. There isn’t a separate IQ scale for Whites and non-Whites. There is a plethora of Black entrepreneurs, inventors, educators, scientist, businessmen, lawyers, politicians, doctors, researchers, historians, engineers, analyst, etc. who not only meet the strenuous criteria of their chosen field, but excel in them. That’s not to say that there is not some study somewhere that could be stretched to support his point of view. There are studies that show a higher number of White students performing well on certain tests. However, the mere law of the majority would negate a reasonable person from basing rhetoric on those studies. As an example: If there are 200 White students and 100 Black students and 50% of each group scored 80 or above, well, you have 100 White students and 50 Black students scoring at an acceptable level. If you only use that statistic, you will come to the conclusion that Whites are twice as likely to score at an acceptable level, which would be erroneous. The only way this is even conceivable is when the hypothesis is rooted in negative stereotypes about African American intelligence to begin with.

What about the claims that Blacks are more violent? People in general have the propensity to be violent. In Borzellieri’s own community of Bronx, NY, the 2010 census states that there are only 10.9% Whites living in the area. This is a decrease from the 2000 census, which reported about 27% White residents. The 1990 census showed 38% White residents. With such a decline of Whites and influx of Blacks and Latinos (which combined make up 83.9% of the Bronx population) you would expect to see a rise in crime. However, the 48^th precinct, which patrols the Bronx community, reports a 31.5% decrease in total crime since 2000, and a 70% decrease in crime since 1993. But that doesn’t support the stereotype perpetuated in movies and television of decades of watching Crips and Bloods on the news every night and Crips and Bloods in movies. Why don’t White gangs and motorcycle gangs who have been killing each other over territory since the 1950s on up to today, ever make the headlines, but get regulated to the back of the newspapers. So the truth and valid statistics are dismissed by racists, simply because this forces them to come face to face with his own insecurities. It forces the racist to take responsibility for his plight instead of creating a scapegoat.

How can the African American be inherently more violent than the White America when movements by Americans have resulted in wars, whereas the African American civil rights movement is identified by peaceful, non-violent protests and the use of the judicial system? It wasn’t African Americans who resisted the change by bombing churches, lynching children, murdering entire townships, and turning fire hoses and attack dogs on college students.

Memo to the racist: If you want to save face instead of having your “no two-front tooth having kids” at cross burnings in the middle of the night, while you drink your miserable life away, take your kids home and study with them because they could have been the next scientist to cure skin cancer. Understand the reason racism exists is to divide working class and poor Whites and Blacks. I don’t see confederate flags or bumper stickers on Mercedes or BMWs; I see them on beat up raggedy trucks. Understand people who degrade and discriminate against others do so in order to mask their own insecurities. So put that beer down and stop staring at your sister. You do not want kids with six toes. Not three per foot, twelve fool! Stop being so stupid calling a Black person a race-batter, or race-pimp who defend themselves against dummies like Borzellieri, who says ethnic diversity is a weakness and multiculturalism an “un-American” concept.

Moreover, Borzellieri refers to multiculturalism as “heresy,” or a crime against God. How can that be when the very foundations of Americana is based on the search for religious freedom and the concept that God created ALL MEN EQUAL?

There are a myriad of flaws in Borzellieri’s logic−more than can be dissected in a single article. However, the key point is that his rhetoric is nothing new. It is based on stereotypes and serves only two purposes: to divide society, so that the self-made aristocracy can remain such and to hide the insecurity of the racist. Given this obvious truth, which dogma is “anti-American,” that of cultural diversity, or that of White supremacy?