School bus driver segregates students
JC
Not really much to say on this happening in Louisiana…
A white school bus driver was suspended without pay after two parents made allegations that the driver made nine black children sit in the back of the bus. Two mothers, both black, said their children told them that the driver, whose name was not released, made the older black children sit in only two seats with the smaller children on their laps.
Ah, gotta love racial discrimination deja vu. 
Lyonside wrote:
The ONLY rationale a driver would have for assigned seating is to keep potential troublemakers witin eye view or away from kids to avoid a confrontation. However, that’s usually served by putting any kids with behavior problems in the FRONT of the bus.
Never mind the safety of the average school bus (pretty horrible), but even without racial connotations, it’s horribly unsafe to put 9 children on 2 seats.
I have to say this, since the article was pretty vague, I admire the parents for evidently waiting until further review from the school district before starting any legal action. However, if I were a parent attending that meeting in September, I’d be raising holy hell if actions weren’t taken, and I’d probably be recording it for future use.
Posted 29 Aug 2006 at 10:50 am ¶
site admin wrote:
I have to say, yes this incident is f-ed up, if it is indeed racial discrimination as it appear to be. But I think that the media interest in this story is just another sign of how we’re stuck in the 1950’s when it comes to race.
The only reason they’re into this story is because the metaphors/parallels are so easy: “OMG! Black people being made to sit at the back of the bus in 2006?” Roll the Rosa Parks footage!
I mean come on, there are far more atrocious things happening in terms of racism in the public education system. But we don’t hear about those because the parallels are not quite so convenient. — CVK
Posted 29 Aug 2006 at 10:56 am ¶
Lyonside wrote:
Carmen:
You’re totally right… and I do think that sometimes people point to the obvious examples of racism (that are easy to ID, easy to correct, and morally unambiguous) with the subtle racism that is usually combined with class and economic level, and is not only harder to identify but harder to find solutions.
But I also dont’ want the very real problems to cause people to throw their hands into the air and say, “F— it then” and usher in an anything-goes attitude. (Cause I think then we get Kansas’s Board of Non-Education…)
Thinking about it more, I’m betting there is more to the story. Maybe the driver will claim that the kids wanted/requested to be in the back (they were the seats of the Chosen Ones on my buses).
Posted 29 Aug 2006 at 11:19 am ¶
S wrote:
Lyonside
Those are still the choice seats for teens and pre-teens. But certainly not 4 or 5 to a seat.
Urrg! I hate when people mess with children. I don’t care what race they are. It’s BS. Don’t do it around me: “Officer, I don’t know what happened to her jaw. I think it broke on it’s own.”
Posted 29 Aug 2006 at 12:50 pm ¶
dcase wrote:
I’m rather skeptical about this incident insofar that there could be an issue of acting up but maybe I’m just recalling my own disciplinary problems on the bus as a kid. If the bus driver did put the blacks in back on the basis of race then she should be rightly punished. However, if this is true then we have to ask the question: what sort of environment has the school district fostered that a bus driver would believe that they could get away with this sort of behavior? How will that be addressed?
Posted 29 Aug 2006 at 8:27 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
Dcase:
And as always, it’s usually not the FIRST time that something happens that things get reported, but if it becomes too blatent or there is an outside observer.
I still think there’s more to come on this, and I applaud the parents who, it seems, are keeping a cool head. (In my town, you wouldn’t have heard from a parent in the article, you’d be reading a lawyer’s statement
Posted 30 Aug 2006 at 9:33 am ¶
Terry wrote:
We have a similar situation right now - my daughters school is forcing the students to sit alphabetically at lunch. They cannot sit with their friends unless they have last names that are close in the alphabet. The definition of segregation states “the separating of one person, group, or thing from others or the dividing of people or things into separate groups kept apart from each other”. I have gone to the principal who tells me that this is to provide better control and discipline as well as for better emergency situations and cleanliness inthe cafeteria. I guess sitting alphabetically makes us cleaner now? He states that he is not segregating because there are students of all race, creed and religion in all letters of the alphabet - give me a break - he is trying to avoid a serious situation but our kids are getting punished and segregated and the ones who are not “problem” kids are getting treated the same as the ones who are! Segregation is not limited to race, creed or religion - he is a principal and doesn’t know this??
Posted 19 Sep 2006 at 6:28 pm ¶