Racism Affecting Future Generations

       In class today, Doc O'C quoted from a book he had recently read which chronicled the white and black migrations from and to the city in the earlier half of the 20th century. There was a section which mentioned Prince Edward County, in Virginia. The entire county shut down all of their public schools following unsuccessful attempts to find a way around the historic 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education. Many white children attended private schools, and many African-American children were bussed miles away, or did not attend school at all.

Students boarding a bus in 1964

       Not only was this a disservice to the communities, both black and white, of that generation, but a glance at the current economic conditions of the county in 2011 reveals how the sons and daughters were affected by this childish solution to an inexistent issue. A staggering 18.9% of the population, according the 2000 census, lives in poverty. There is no doubt a correlation to the county's embarrassing, sad history.
       When a situation like this is mentioned ("I can't have it my way so no one can have it all"), a child throwing his cake on the floor because he doesn't want to share comes to mind, or a cheesy movie in which the bad guy kills the girl because he can't have her. The decision to shut down the Prince Edward school county system was a puerile reaction to a federal law, and continues to negatively affect the community.