Guest Writer: Joseph Marney
Publisher’s Note: This column is a personal article written by Mr. Joseph Marney in response to Trevor Phipps’ original article ‘Newly Elected School Board Members Strive for Change‘ on April 11, 2022.
I recently became aware of an article published April 11th, 2022 in The Maverick Observer, in which Woodland Park school board president, David Rusterholtz was quoted in regard to multiple topics. After reading the article, I reached out to Mr. Rusterholtz to verify a portion of the article regarding what students in the district were being taught. Mr. Rusterholtz stated that “I have no recollection of this.” I then contacted the publisher directly, inquiring about the date and source of the quotes attributed to Mr. Rusterholtz. The author of the article, Trevor Phipps, went above and beyond by providing Mr. Rusterholtz and myself a recording of the phone interview.
While the full transcript of that interview is likely to generate additional attention, I will focus today on the following:
“It wasn’t as though critical race theory and white guilt were being overtly taught, but people were very concerned. So built into programs even in math programs would be things suggesting the ideas that white people should feel guilty for things that were done to Black people over 150-175 years ago. They were very concerned about it.” – David Rusterholtz, March 1, 2022
The 150-175 years ago Mr. Rusterholtz refers to coincides with the end of the Civil War and abolition. Mr. Rusterholtz seems to dismiss events that took place after:
1866: The Black Codes, designed to restrict freed Black peoples’ activity
1870: Black Suffrage (Men)
1877: Rise of the Ku Klux Klan
1896: Plessy v. Ferguson: Separate but equal
1921: Tulsa Massacre
WWII: 3 million+ Black Americans registered for service during the war, 500,000 saw action overseas. War Department policy organized Black and White Americans into separate units.
1948: Harry S Truman integrates US Armed Forces
1954: Brown v. Board of Education
1955: Murder of Emmett Till
1955: Rosa Parks
1958: Interracial marriage illegal in Virginia
1960: Greensboro lunch counter
1961: Freedom riders attacked, bus firebombed
1962: Mob riot at Ole Miss
1967: Supreme Court finds laws banning interracial marriage unconstitutional
1963: Bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church, 4 Killed. The third in 11 days.
1964: Civil rights act
1964: “Mississippi burning “murders
1965: Selma – 600 marchers attacked by state
1965: Voting rights act
1968: Fair housing act
1968: Assassination of MLK
These represent but a few milestone events in Black history which have taken place since the Civil War.
But what about today?
While I don’t know about Rusterholtz’s claim that math is being used in the schools to teach children about racism, math has allowed us to produce statistics that quantify the racial injustice that still permeates America today:
“Compared with white Americans, Black Americans are 2x–3x as likely to die during childbirth and 2x as likely to die from COVID-19.”
“The average non-white school district receives $2,226 less per student, and the persisting achievement gap means Black students are less likely to attend college, thus reducing their lifetime earnings by 65%.”
“Black Americans are more likely to be turned down for mortgages and are dramatically less likely to own homes, which is partly why Black American families have 90% less wealth than white families.”
“Black-owned businesses are 2x as likely to be denied loans as those owned by white people. And up to 95% of Black-owned businesses may have been shut out of the federal government’s recent Paycheck Protection Program.”
“Black families are more likely to live near concentrated poverty because of long-term segregation and racist housing and mortgage policies. A Black family earning $157K per year is less likely to qualify for a loan than a white family earning $40K.”
“Besides being 2x as likely to be killed by police, Black Americans are more likely to be stopped by the police, detained pretrial, charged with more serious crimes, and sentenced more harshly than white people.”
“Black men are roughly five times more likely to be imprisoned than their white counterparts —and nearly 13 times as likely in the 18-19 age group.”
“For every 100,000 Black men there are 2,272 inmates, whereas for every 100,000 white men there are just 392 inmates.”
Compared to White Americans, Black Americans experience roughly double the rate of unemployment. By ratio to the population, Black Americans are underrepresented in professional and leadership positions and government. There is enormous disparity in wages, income, poverty rate, and wealth. They have fewer educational opportunities, less than half of Black Americans own homes versus almost 75% for whites and are twice as likely to lack health care coverage. In the justice system, Black Americans are more likely to be incarcerated, receive more severe sentences than White Americans for the same crimes, are four times more likely to be under supervised parole, and are subjects in a disproportionate amount of police shootings.
This information is factual and dispassionate.
Board members of Woodland Park seek to implement a curriculum that has become popular amongst right-leaning communities, including many charter schools. According to the creator of the curriculum: “The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum determines what students should learn in history and civics based on the answers to a single question: What ideas, words, and deeds have most significantly formed the world into which students were born? Studying the answers to this question provides students the fullest understanding of the world in which they will live their lives.“
Such curriculums teach that the legacy of America’s independence, the words and actions of the founding fathers, and Declaration of Independence is woven into the very fabric of America and should be instilled as patriotism in every child. Yet, there is also a position that we should not teach the depth to which racism has been – and still is – a stain upon America. Racism is also woven into the fabric of the American legacy.
During the interview, Mr. Rusterholtz asserts that children are being taught to hate America. “Un-American”. He then says that students should be taught about liberty. During the ritual recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, the word “liberty” is followed immediately with “justice”. For all.
Is it justice that institutional and systemic racism continue to persist?
Perhaps Black persons are not as capable as whites, and that is the reason for the disparity? By virtue of being Black, they deserve to live in greater poverty and economic disadvantage, receive inferior education, be punished harder, and die more? Is that a just America?
I grew up amongst extended family members that thought this way. Perhaps Mr. Rusterholtz did as well. In my youth, Black persons were referred to in derogatory terms, less smart and capable than White Americans. Throughout middle and high school, I was led to believe that racism was a thing of the past. Dr. King and the Civil Rights act. I held the same prejudiced beliefs that I was taught – Black persons could do better if they worked harder. It was 2011 when the owner of the company I worked for, upon learning that a new hire was Black, instructed the sales manager to fire the person immediately because “those people steal”. This was not 150 years ago.
Feelings of shame or guilt –“white guilt” do nothing to fix the problem. The very idea of white guilt is an easy out. White guilt is not what is needed. Children are not and should not be taught to feel guilty about that in which they did not partake. But they should be taught to take action against injustice. They must be taught that they cannot stand idly by as injustice takes place. As White Americans still hold a vast delta of power over all minorities in every facet of society, change cannot happen without their enthusiastic participation.
“What ideas, words, and deeds have most significantly formed the world into which students were born?”
If children are not taught the fullness of the American story and the world in which we live in today, then they live in a lie, and change will not take place. People, institutions, and curriculums that encourage these lies should have no access to our school children. We cannot teach children that it is ok to tell a person they must pull themselves up while we continue keep a boot firmly on their neck.
Given Mr. Rusterholtz’s show of ignorance in this matter and his callousness to the injustices towards Black Americans that have taken place in the past and present, it is not appropriate for him to be in a position in which he has access to our children or influence within the school system. It is with both compassion and resolve that I must demand his immediate resignation from the Woodland Park School Board.
Ignorance is not an end for Mr. Rusterholtz, it is an opportunity. It is my hope that once free of his responsibilities to the board, he will be purposeful in learning and appreciating the scope to which racism is affecting America today. It is my further hope that there is a point in the future in which it is appropriate for him to reengage with the school community.
In the interview, Mr. Rusterholtz stated that children should be taught “American exceptionalism”. I could not disagree more. Exceptionalism is never inherent. Children should be taught that everyone has the opportunity to be an exceptional American, and more importantly, an exceptional and compassionate human being.
There are many parents pulling their children from Woodland Park schools because of this board, and the attitude of close-mindedness most of its members represent. The America of those board members is small. An America that is too small for my children. One of mine has already expressed an interest in leaving their school for fear of the prejudice of forced conservative Christian “values” and a rejection of the things that make them a beautiful individual. This is a discussion we will have with them – but to the board I say this:
My children are strong. They are curious. They are vibrant and compassionate. They have already outgrown the small-minded prejudice that keeps you living in fear. Their world is big. You will not change them. They will change you.
Data was largely pulled from Business Insider.com, History.com, and UntilJusticeJustIs.org, whose sources include: CDC, NPR and Manhattan Institute, Brookings Institution, Center for Responsible Lending, The Century Foundation, Vera Institute of Justice, Bureau of Labor Statistics, History.com, Crist Kolder Associates, US House of Representatives, US Census Bureau, Federal Reserve Distributional Financial Accounts, Marshalll Steinbaum/Matt Bruenig analysis of Federal Reserve 2016 Survey, Department of Education, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Justice Statistics, NYS Department of Corrections and Community, The Washington Post. Please contact me for any specific citations.
Addendum
I hope this analogy is effective in communicating the situation of race in America in an easily understandable way. It is an over-simplification to be sure – the issue is incredibly complex, but this may serve as a primer.
Imagine that a person breaks into your great-great-grandparents house and steals all of their money and possessions, leaving them with nothing. The people in power know about the crime, but do nothing.
The thief, now wealthy, lives in a nice house, makes investments, buys land, sends their children to nice schools. Your great-great-grandparents, now destitute, and with no help from society, struggle to scrape by. They have to live in a poor neighborhood with schools that are underfunded and are not able to hire good teachers. They cannot make investments. They have no land.
The thief that stole the money and has now grown his wealth leaves it to his child. His child is not a thief. He is a good person and makes an honest living. He also lives in a nice house, makes investments, buys land, and sends his children to nice schools. Your great-great-grandparents have nothing to leave to their children. Their children have not received a good education and drop out of school to find work. Since they don’t have a very good education, they can’t get well-paying jobs. A developer wants to knock down their apartment to build nice condos, and they can only afford to move to an even poorer part of town. Society looks on, but does little.
This pattern continues in such a way that you will never be able to live in parity with the thief’s progeny, who hold no blame for the original crime, yet continue to benefit from it. You look to society for justice, so that you might live as the children of the thief have lived, with access to the same jobs, schools, places in government, nice neighborhoods. But society tells you that you just need to work harder.
We must teach our children about generational wealth and opportunity, as well as systemic and institutional racism. They will be the society that can put an end to this injustice.
