According to a new survey by the Department of Education, public schools suspend minority students at higher rates than white students. The Civil Rights Data Collection survey found that even in preschool, the racial suspension gap is statistically significant. Black students nationwide are nearly four times more likely to be suspended than whites and twice as likely to be expelled.
Education Secretary John King said the problem “tears at the moral fabric of the nation.” He vowed: “We will not compromise away the civil rights of all students to an excellent education.”
The subject of disparate suspension rates has been a hot topic for the last few years, leading many of the country’s largest school districts to require approval from the superintendent before a teacher or principal can suspend a minority student. In Los Angeles, suspensions for “willful defiance” were banned altogether in 2013, bringing the overall suspension rate from 8% down to 0.55%. This drop, presumably, is seen as a victory for racial justice.
But what the survey does not – can not, in fact – tell us is whether or not these disparate suspension rates are matched with disparate behavioral infractions. In other words, are black students being suspended for things that earn white students a slap on the wrist or are black students simply committing suspension-worthy acts at a much higher rate than their white peers? And if the latter is true, wouldn’t the problem be with black behavior and not school reaction?
Alas, we have moved into the era of over-correction. Current liberal thought says that because white America has a history of racism, minorities can no longer shoulder any responsibility for their own actions. This theory now governs efforts to change school discipline, the justice system, housing law, employment law, and virtually every other area of American life. If, in any area, whites are doing better than minorities, the only acceptable explanation is systemic racism.
All right, so what about those minorities who somehow manage to defy the odds, beat the system, and succeed in spite of all this lingering white supremacy? Don’t they stand as proof of the fact that you can make it in America regardless of what some might call disadvantages?
No, no. These are just statistical anomalies. And if you happen to be one of those successful minorities, don’t you dare take pride in your accomplishments. Delivering the commencement speech at Howard University this year, President Obama told the majority-black graduating class:
“Yes, you’ve worked hard, but you’ve also been lucky. That’s a pet peeve of mine: People who have been successful and don’t realize they’ve been lucky. That God may have blessed them; it wasn’t nothing you did.”
Fail, it’s not your fault. Succeed, it’s not to your credit. Either way, your destiny is determined by your circumstances.
It’s an ugly, un-American message, but without it, the Democratic Party wouldn’t exist.
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