1. Education fulfills dream of Dr_ King | The Journal Gazette 1/28/10 10:12 PM
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Published: January 18, 2010 3:00 a.m.
Education fulfills dream of Dr. King
Jamie Garwood
On this national holiday, let’s acknowledge the work still
required to realize Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream.
Progress has been made, but barriers remain.
In Brown vs. Board of Education, Chief Justice Earl Warren
wrote: “It is doubtful that any child may reasonably be
expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity
of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has
undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made
available to all on equal terms.”
Fifty-six years later, is this right provided “on equal terms”
to all? Through the ’60s, states used poll taxes to deny
African-Americans their vote.
Today, educational disparity is the poll tax, denying poor
and minority children the power education provides.
Our separate lives create unequal opportunity. Fort Wayne
is the 26th most segregated city in the United States. Garwood
From 1960 to 2000, Fort Wayne Community Schools
gained 1,375 white students, while the other Allen County
districts gained 54,251.
As a result, low-income and minority families were left in
aging parts of our community, primarily central and
southeast Fort Wayne.
The suburbs grew while these neighborhoods deteriorated.
The cycle was repeated across America. We’ve decimated
urban neighborhoods and their tax base, weakened schools
and created blight in neighborhoods and lives.
Collectively, we’re guilty of child neglect, but no court can
remove these children from our care.
Educational inequality creates high rates of poverty,
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unemployment and incarceration for minorities. One in
nine black men ages 20-34 is incarcerated. Most of those Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. appeared at Manchester
College several months before his assassination in
incarcerated live in poverty, 50 percent are dropouts, and 1968. On this King Day, the call is for equal
90 percent are illiterate. As boys, they were bombarded educational opportunity for all regardless of race.
with media images of themselves as thugs or athletes, not
black CEOs from companies such as American Express. So
who failed?
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2. Education fulfills dream of Dr_ King | The Journal Gazette 1/28/10 10:12 PM
Our prisons represent the failures of our educational and economic systems to break the cycle of poverty. It’s
been easier to label people as violent, judge choices, or treat people as charity. This removes the failure from
us as a society.
Community has a role in perpetuating poverty by creating conditions that breed inequality or foster equality.
So let’s be part of the solution and get rid of our “poll tax.”
Dr. King said: “Everybody can be great because everyone can serve.”
“You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of
relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You
only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant (The Drum Major
Instinct speech).”
Allen County, be a servant. The income gap is widening and that affects school achievement. To achieve
King’s dream, educational opportunity must be provided on “equal terms to all.” The segregation of
opportunity must end.
Visit LearnUnited.org to close the reading achievement gap, or call 469-4030. Contact United Way for
information about refer- ences.
Jamie Garwood is the director of education initiatives and strategies for the United Way of
Allen County. She wrote this for The Journal Gazette.
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