No, not of the United States (despite the wishes of some of the teabaggiest real 'mericans) but this is an actual fact at a Middle School in Nettleton Mississippi. This is an item that's mentioned in the current Open Thread but I really thought this was worthy of a diary unto itself. What year is it again?
Brown v Topeka may have been decided in 1954 but this isn't even separate but equal. This is flat out Whiskey Tango Foxtrot discrimination and how it hasn't been challenged before now is beyond me but it sure as hell needs to be challenged now.
Mississippi Middle School Segregates Student Government Officers: Only Whites Can Run For President
Yes you read that right.
A school memo, obtained by MixedandHappy and The Smoking Gun, was passed out to every 6th, 7th, and 8th grader to inform them of the breakdown. The upcoming elections are divided between offices delineated for black and white students. Of the 12 offices for which students can compete, "eight are earmarked for white students, while four are termed ‘black seats." The presidency is reserved for white students across each grade, but a black student is permitted to be the 8th grade vice-president or reporter, the 7th grade treasurer, or the 6th grade reporter. So, along with a "B" average and "a good disciplinary status and moral character," a child hoping to represent his or her class must be the right race:
You can click over to Think Progress to see the actual form.
The issue was brought forward by a parent of a bi-racial child who attends the school who, in addition to being disgusted by the practice, wanted to know exactly where her child and other bi-racial children fit into these neat little segregationist boxes.
Here's an interview with Brandy Springer, the mother who exposed this abomination:
And if there is good news in this, it is that in having their sordid practice exposed, the late breaking update is that the Nettleton School Board has today voted to reverse its policy. Forgive the pun, but color me unimpressed that it took public embarrassment for them to do the right thing in 2010. How many other Nettleton Middle Schools are out there doing this same thing and continuing to get away with it?
Which brings me once again to the fact that we cannot take our eye off the ball at any level. The people who would have our country's clock turned back won't. They will not get complacent or give up when their elected officials need to be held to account. And neither can we. The stakes are too high.
In 2010, that American children should be exposed to this type of blatant racism is reminder enough that we have come far but have farther yet to go. Post-racial society my ass.
Clarification: It appears that the process they used alternated years in which black and white students could run for specific offices. I maintain that it is wrong no matter "whose" year it is. It is still separate but equal in practice.