I find the continued belief that the white suburban upper class, the same group of people who has perhaps never set foot in what might be considered an impoverished urban neighborhood, somehow believes they have the knowledge to solve problems facing the same urban neighborhoods.
It’s not so much I am defending the public school
monopoly. My argument is the white suburban elite, those with the
least amount of local knowledge, are creating educational initiatives on behalf
of impoverished urban area. In my three years patrolling the neighborhood
around 15th and North, I never saw any of the people who created
Milwaukee Succeeds! The process of creating reform has marginalized local
leaders. It is blatant white man’s burden, class chauvinism. It makes me sick to my stomach.
The people who have staked a claim to their neighborhoods, the ones who show up every day, who own a house in the neighborhood, they possess the type of local knowledge that is essential to the development of a plan and a process for true change. This is not even about grass roots organization, This is about those with the most understanding about realities facing these areas.
The white aristocracy has one responsibility; give these local leaders the resources they need to get the job done. After that, go back to your mansion, Have a nice dinner at your club. Open that expensive bottle of win. Just get out of the way.
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