What the heck happened?

[Hermod]

True, but it's not your Father's skilled trade. The new order requires working knowledge of math and the sciences. Plus you need to be keen on your analytical and problem solving skills. On the other hand, I work in a "must be degreed" environment. Some of these people can't think their way out of a paper bag.

My last job before I retired I had six people working for me [[not counting the tech writer or the secretary). Three had PhDs, two had masters degrees, and one lady just finished high school, but worked her way up. The last three were the ones I relied on. One of the PhD was OK, but the other two couldn't pour sand out of a paper bag. One realized he was worthless. The other one was dangerous because he didn't realize he was worthless.

[G-DDT]

A good book to read is "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race" by Beverly Daniel Tatum.

[G-DDT]

Here's a very lengthy personal testimonial:

I started off at Holy Cross Lutheran at Greenfield a Grand River. All of us in Rosedale Park had a hideous carpool system that would pack up to nine kids in one car [[?!-long before SUVs and seriously breaking some road safety ordinances-many of us smaller kids sat on laps, and seeing as I was quite small, I was perpetually giving "lapdances" I didn't want to give.) to commute there. I was one of five white kids in my class, and it never phased me.

When a consensus was reached [[around when I was about to enter the 4th grade) by everyone else to start attending a more progressive Lutheran school out past Redford, our family had to go along. Similar carpooling situation, except the class situation changed. Now, there were about 5 African American kids in each class. Driving back was the worst, because we would pass Redford High School [[My father graduated from there. Now, it is a Meijer's.). Kids from that school would pour out with no regard to traffic, and the kids at bus stops would eye you with an intense hatred as you waited at the light at the intersection of 6 mile and Grand River. As if my sitting on the lap of someone complaining how "bony my butt was" was "making it big".

When the same consensus gravitated to a fascist Lutheran school at Westland, my life went into a spin. There were about five African American kids in the whole school, we had skinheads [[yes, racist Nazi skinheads!), and anyone exhibiting an interest in Black culture was labeled a "wigger" by jocks and would be targeted for fights by them.

Furthermore, I was treated horribly from day one. I had no friends, I was cruelly abused and bullied horribly [[as was my brother at a similar Lutheran high school), and the teachers were consummate *ssholes who exhibited no genuine understanding of the life or teachings of Christ, as they would have petty ways of judging some kids as "bad seeds" or unworthy [[some bearing childish grudges from other schools). Looking back, I learned nothing new there [[english, physical science, and algebra-were all overlapping regurgitations of the same stuff I learned and aced from the previous two years). Their education system sucked. The only language they taught was German. I hated my life fiercely and was suicidal. If I had access to a gun [[or knew a neighbor had one), I would've acquired it, finished myself off, but not before taking out a good lot of them and making pre-Columbine headlines.

Luckily, I finally put my foot down. That, and although I don't advocate "better living through chemistry" I had a Crumb-esque epiphany smoking grass for the first time that got me to laugh them off and visualize a better option open to me. My family relented, paid the extra tuition and sent me to Bishop Borgess. Borgess was on the skids. It had a closed off wing, and it was taking non-Catholics and even Muslims to shore up attendance. I was back to being one of five white kids in a class.

Going in there hardly knowing anyone, I ended up being friends with almost anyone before Senior year was up. I was in advanced art studies, Yearbook, and a talent show, I actually kissed a girl, got into some mischief, and because many of had no great expectations [[or pressing weight put on us) for the future, we all took things rather well in stride. My life improved heavily, and I was so glad I proved there is always a better option somewhere else, and I was able to put the hell of that other school behind me.

I learned things I didn't learn at the other high school. Marc Baron was a good teacher who laid out U.S. Government and Psychology [[which the Westland school did not teach, so I took both classes and got A's) in a comprehensive manner. Hubacher was good teacher who walked us through "Cask of Amontillado" and brought up things that weren't brought up the prior two times it was taught in two separate Lutheran english classes. Looking back, I wish I took French [[which was also taught along with German and Spanish). The fact the nun teaching religion could patiently put up with my audacious hatred of God and religion I had carelessly acquired from the Lutheran abuse I suffered, was more proof of their walk in Christ than what the Lutherans purported.

In short, I was proof you can take a white kid and put them in a mostly black situation and actually "better them".

[G-DDT]

Of the many things I learned growing up in Detroit, one that does stand out is that: racism is a two-way swinging door [[it mostly swings violently from the white side against the black, but it does swing both ways). Lots of the pretty girls in my neighborhood were taught to hate whitey. I've seen homeless guys who racially profile who they hit up for money. I've been harassed in facilities by African American workers, and I will never forget the baleful looks of those kids from Redford High.

Regardless, no matter what I endure, I don't allow myself to develop a knee-jerk reaction formation against a whole race. It's a shame a place like Boston never seemed to recover from it's ugly reaction towards busing. If only more would stop letting the media or random crime experiences that affected them and their loved ones to radically affect how they go about their ideologies.....

[canuck]

Of the many things I learned growing up in Detroit, one that does stand out is that: racism is a two-way swinging door [[it mostly swings violently from the white side against the black, but it does swing both ways). Lots of the pretty girls in my neighborhood were taught to hate whitey. I've seen homeless guys who racially profile who they hit up for money. I've been harassed in facilities by African American workers, and I will never forget the baleful looks of those kids from Redford High.

Regardless, no matter what I endure, I don't allow myself to develop a knee-jerk reaction formation against a whole race. It's a shame a place like Boston never seemed to recover from it's ugly reaction towards busing. If only more would stop letting the media or random crime experiences that affected them and their loved ones to radically affect how they go about their ideologies.....

I really enjoy your confidential style coupled with a sense of urgency. When you publish some, please tell us. Don't worry about the ramblings, we know the context is that you are posting on the internet, and that a godd editor would sort things out. Still, you have a lot of interesting angles on things Detroit and every other place you have been. Keep on Truckin' as old Crumb would have it!

[Richard]

Back in the early 70s when I was going to school I had a friend who's family was "family" the father wanted to toughen up his sons [[white) so he sent them to a all black school in South Minneapolis,the first week they got their ass beat everyday the second they started bringing mini baseball bats with them and lead filled clubs,not many guns at that level back then it was mostly fist fighting,sadistic probably on the fathers side but they did become tough and it was clear that whites were not welcome.

[EastsideAl]

How many times do we go down this road? We can make all the plans we want for desegregation. We can have cross district busing. The fact of the matter is that there is a racial "tipping point" a percentage where a school becomes "too black" and rapidly re-segregates as white families move away, send their kids to private or parochial school, send their kids to live with grandparents, falsify addresses, home school, etc. As one lawyer noted in a school desegregation court case where intense busing wasn't meeting desegregation goals, "what are you going to do, chase them with helicopters?". Unless we can force people to live in properly diversified communities and force them to send their kids to the assigned public school, any desegregated school which passes the "tipping point" will rapidly become [[virtually) all minority.

As someone who went to majority non-white schools for my entire schooling [[and my sister and I were the only white kids in our elementary school) until I went to MSU, this is something I will never understand. Not only wasn't it a bad experience, it was the best and most formative experience of my life. Going to school for years with people who were not just like me, who came from a different background and places, with very different life experiences and history really gave me an appreciation for both the differences and similarities in people, and how it is we can get along and work and live together.

Why run from the chance to have a broader and deeper set of experiences and a wider view of life and people? The depth of racism never fails to astound and appall me.

[dguy4evr]

I was responding to the poster who was talking about about Cass Tech graduates. Cass Tech, as I'm sure you know, is a college prep high school. It's been 50 years since I graduated but I don't remember them teaching plumbing, welding, or electricity.

Please check out my previous post: http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...t-we-need-them
Today, more than ever we need to address the issue of a lack of qualified skilled trade workers and the schools to train them.

[dguy4evr]

As someone who went to majority non-white schools for my entire schooling [[and my sister and I were the only white kids in our elementary school) until I went to MSU, this is something I will never understand. Not only wasn't it a bad experience, it was the best and most formative experience of my life. Going to school for years with people who were not just like me, who came from a different background and places, with very different life experiences and history really gave me an appreciation for both the differences and similarities in people, and how it is we can get along and work and live together.

Why run from the chance to have a broader and deeper set of experiences and a wider view of life and people? The depth of racism never fails to astound and appall me.

Truer words never spoken Al!