[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:05] Speaker B: You're listening to casual talk radio where common sense is still the norm whether you're a new or long time listener. We appreciate you joining us today. Visit [email protected] and now here's your host. Ler. [00:00:21] Speaker A: The demographics of those that listen to the show I think is good enough for the topic. I felt that I would go into uncharted waters or at least shark infested waters because it was something that was on my mind. And again, the demographic I think is appropriate because obviously for the young folks our education system is failing them. So I understand for them the topic may be foreign or unknown or they may just not have been taught at all about some of these things that drive current state. We see some of this pushback against President Trump, we see some of the pushback against Joe Biden, we see some of the pushback against Obama and so on. You may or may not know or remember Governor George Wallace. Governor George Wallace wants the governor of Alabama. He's dead. But Governor George Wallace was around at the time. He has countless interviews, some in black and white, some not countless interviews. The man was a die hard at the time segregationist. He believed in segregation. He gets there was an assassination attempt. Arthur Bremer took a shot at him, actually hit him I believe at his spine. And the and he said George Wallace said he didn't even feel the shot. He basically just collapsed and he knew he was paralyzed. He couldn't feel his legs and he was never the same since. He then suffered from various health related issues including kidney disease and so on and near death. So not on a deathbed but getting in those closing years, I believe he died in 98. But in those closing years leading up he claimed he was a born again Christian. He claimed that he had seen the light and he had forgiven Bremer and that he saw differently about segregation versus what he was doing at the time. But before this, during this situation and before all this recanting, he had done a segment, a sit down segment with Time magazine. And I know some of the folks don't know what magazines are and I understand at the time Time magazine was one of the more popular magazines that were in circulation and he did an interview where the I think they did a great job. They're nowhere close to what they do now. Back then they actually asked hard hitting questions. They were not afraid to challenge narratives. They were not afraid to put them on the spot and I appreciate it the way they were back then. But they asked very hard questions about George Wallace's views about segregation. George said some very interesting things. That is what I wanted to talk about. He basically said that for his perspective, he's never been against black people. And it is factually accurate that later in life he was responsible for ensuring that a lot more black Americans got into positions of good paying jobs. That is true and factually accurate. So he was called a racist. He was aligned with the Ku Klux Klan. At a point they helped him in some things he was doing. He would say, yeah, but I wasn't part of them. So he walked this very thin line. But he was always accused of being a Klan member. He was always accused of being a racist. He was always accused of being anti black. And of course, segregationist does not or did not deny being a segregationist anyway. But when he said the point, and this was key, when he said the point, for him, this, that I was talking about at the time had nothing to do with race, that got you that raised eyes. It's like, what are you talking about? The whole idea of segregation was racially motivated. And he said that his statement, which was segregation now and forever, there's more to it. But this speech that he was basically fixated on, he said that that was about the federal courts, what was happening. And this connects to Brown v. Board of Education. If I, I challenge you to go and take a look at that. But the summary of Brown v. Board of Education is it was a landmark case that ultimately resulted in desegregation. Because what it said was that the states, you can't, you cannot force segregation within states. What was happening is that states would have schools that were predominantly, if not exclusively white American in certain parts of affluency. And then other schools that were not predominantly white American, they might have been black American, they might have been to a lesser degree Asian American, a little bit of Hispanic, but not a lot, because that wasn't predominant at the time. But then some of these were in the impoverished areas. And what would happen is you might have a family who was in this situation where the nearest school happened to be the predominantly or exclusively white school. So then the black family wants to send their kid to the nearest school for convenience and everything else, and they're denied at the time. Plessy v. Ferguson is another landmark case, but it gave this idea of the separate but equal. Separate but equal meaning they're different establishments and facilities, but they are largely equivalent in what they offer and their, their presence. So in other words, within the states, they were forcing this narrative of segregation. You need to Go to a black school if you're a black family with a black child, et cetera, as long as the facility is equal and there is one for you. And they always made sure there was at least that basic equivalency. Some of the students who would later give interviews would say, well, it really wasn't equal because we were given the hand down books. And I remember back when I was in. I'm pretty sure it was in middle school, they would tell stories from this era about how they were always hand down books, they were always secondhand books, they were never the nicest books, they were always used, sometimes falling apart. But that was all they had. And kind of the counter narrative was, yes, but the information is the same, so what does it matter? You're still learning the core information. The Pythagorean theorem is the same. It doesn't matter what the book is. So now you get into this contentious situation of yes, it's equal to the fact that the level of information is equivalent, that's available, but it's not equal in terms of the quality. Right. You don't get the new books. The amount of investment in the school was lower for black schools. Black American schools versus white American schools. And then you have this separation where you're forced. This goes to the whole busing conversation. You're forced to go to these distant schools. Those schools would often be distant from where you were or where you're forced to be at the time. So what George Wallace was basically saying is he was against the idea of the Brown v. Board of Education and what they were trying to do to override what the states were trying to do, which is to control their own segregation or desegregation at their own desire, which was based on what the citizens at the time were pushing. Remember, especially in the Deep south, you had a lot of, I'll say, racial fear in the sense that some of them simply did not want to integrate. They did not want mixed or blended. And that persist even in Oregon. That persisted all the way up to like the 80s, believe it or not. So those people voted for leadership, as in mayors and governors and, you know, senators and leadership. They voted those people in to maintain what their status quo was going to be. So George Wallace is saying, I was doing what the people who voted me in wanted me to do. That had nothing to do with me. And anything I felt about any individual race, I was doing it because they voted me to do these things. And we know that's the truth. We know that in certain areas and Even today, this persists. That was the constant narrative is that certain areas, that's why redlining became a thing. There was always this. It was always about the community. The reason I wanted to talk about this one and when I reflected about what was going on there and the fact that it fast forwards to the current and it's still a thing, it gets you thinking. What really is the story of America? What has been the story of America? When you hear this narrative that America is inherently racist, is that really true? We can argue that there are different definitions of what people are talking about when they say that. We can say certain segments, racial segments congregate together and don't want to commingle. We can say that's the truth. But we only say that's the truth. When you're adults, we don't say that's the truth for children because of this desegregation effort. When these children are together, they don't seem to care as much unless they're raised in a household where they're taught to care, where they're taught to demonize other races, not their own. I told the story many, many. I think it was like two years ago about a girl. And this is my wrap up. But it's. It all reflects together. There was a girl and she. I met her in high school. Pretty sure I first met her in high school. I'm pretty sure it was 10th grade, Geraldine. And for. I couldn't tell you exactly what it was about this girl that I was so obsessed with because she was plain as as day. There was nothing spectacular or special about her. She didn't stand out in the crowd, she didn't have guys all over her. She just was normal, she was plain. But I thought she was a very nice girl. I thought she was a very intelligent girl. I liked her hair because I do women's hair or I did in a past life. But other than that, she was not spectacular. I don't even remember how we connected. That's how bad this is. I don't remember exactly what the situation was or the setup that caused us to be connected because if I recall, we didn't share any classes together. So even to this day I cannot recall how exactly did we meet. All I can tell you is during this span of time, which I'm Pretty sure was 10th grade, we connect. I'm walking her home pretty much every single afternoon. I'm walking her home, it's raining. She's under my umbrella, might as well be cuddled up. I'm walking her Home. And it was mostly because I was concerned about her. We're in a very dangerous neighborhood. This is. So I was concerned. It wasn't that I was trying to get with her or any of that. I was worried, legitimate worried about this girl because she's a petite nothing. And these are very dangerous people. And I didn't know what was going to happen. Okay. I remember her sister Joan was a really good friend of mine. Joan I'm pretty sure I met in a PE Class. I'm pretty sure that's the case because I remember the PE Uniform. Pretty sure that's what it was. Joan and I were really good friends. Nowhere close like Geraldine, but she was a really cool person. And she knew how I felt about Geraldine because we talked about it. She talks to me one day. She says, trust me, it connects. But she. She tells me one day, she's like, you should ask her out, Geraldine. And, you know, at the time, you know, I'm still in high school, I'm not dating, and it's not something on my mind. And I was pretty sure I was going to get shot down. So I'm like, I don't think it's going to work. And she says, I know she likes you. Just ask her out. So now I'm thinking, okay, maybe they talked about it. Maybe she got some hints. Maybe there's an opportunity. And I remember the situation now for this. Class is over. The usual thing is happening where we're getting close. It's like fifth period or whatnot. And it's right after lunch, and she's about to dash off to class, and I suddenly stop and I say, hey, would you like to go out sometime? I just suddenly tossed it out there. Didn't think about it because I didn't know what to expect. She says, I don't think it's going to work. That's all. She says, okay, no problem. I expected that. It bothered me, but I expected it after class. So again, our routine was I would meet her at the front and walk her home. Well, this time I figured, okay, she's turned me down, so she probably doesn't want anything to do with me. So then I start walking. I just. Instead of waiting, I just start walking. And I'm pretty sure I told this story a couple of years ago. So if you're new, welcome, because you're here for the first time. But start walking. I hit the street. All of a. All of a sudden, I hear her calling my name. And I don't stop because I don't think I don't. I think she didn't see me, but she had noticed me. So I'm like. But I kept on going. She catches up. She's pulling my arm. She's like, why didn't you wait for me? I said, I don't know. I. Because I'm not angry. I don't even know what to think. I don't know what to say here. And she's really, like. She's not understanding what's going on. She's really kind of confused. Car pulls up. Sentra, I believe it was. Might have been a Civic or Corolla or something. Corolla. It was a Corolla. Pulls up, rolls down the window. Sir dad, who I'd never met, but I know it's him because they look so similar. And he calls to her, okay, she gets in the car. That was the last time I saw or heard from Geraldine or Joan that. That year after that, I talked to Joan, and she said. And she's telling me the story, and she says that her dad, their dad is all about puro. And if you don't know puro, it's this idea that these older, you know, parents, they want to keep the bloodline pure. They don't want their children dating outside the race, and they don't want their children commingling outside the race. This happened before. There was another girl that used to live on the street when I was a kid, and I think I was like 6 at the time that I would hang out with, and I know she liked me. Same thing. Hispanic family. Geraldine's family's Hispanic. So there was this. My point is, there was this idea back then, you are not to date outside of the race. It wasn't because of me. It wasn't because I was black per se, rather, that they wanted to stay within their own. I told that story because that was the light bulb that went off when I heard what Wallace was talking about. He said there was a time that some people actually just wanted to stay segregated. That's just what they. That's what they felt comfortable with, and they wanted to stay that way. They voted me to do that. So that's what I was going with. It had nothing to do with the race of the person specifically, rather that they wanted to kind of stay within their own and stay segregated because they felt it was the best thing. Later, when he was near his deathbed, he said, no, it was not the right answer, and it should have ended. And so it's fine that it did, because it should have. But at the time, he was echoing sentiment from those that voted him in that the segregation was felt to be in the best interest of those groups. Not just one race or race against race, but rather, this segment feels we want to have our own. This segment feels we want to have our own. And this parent, this subset of families that are trying to pull, push for desegregated access and just say, we should be able to go to this nearest school. And everything else was the outlier. It was not the general accepted principle. Most were comfortable with what it was. And there was a pushback, and this is true. There was a pushback against that joining for the longest time. So when Brown v. Board of Education becomes kind of the standard outcome, everything now is you've got to all be cool with each other. You cannot just do what you were doing. You now need to come together and stop being so segregated as you were. Think of where we are now with the school system, where people are not satisfied with the quality of education that they're getting. And if you listen to people who were speaking from that era, we're talking the 60s, in particular 60s, and to a lesser degree, the 70s, but certainly the 60s, the 50s. Like, if you listen to old interviews about, with Ben King, listen to how he speaks David Ruffin, listen to how he speaks Eddie Kendrick, listen to how he speaks Muhammad Ali, later, before Parkinson set in, but after, you know, he was nearing the end of his career before the Parkinson's really hit him. Listen to how these people spoke. Joe Frazier, listen to how he spoke. All of them to a T, spoke much more educated, spoke much better than the current modern. How do you explain that the older generations that went through this kind of segregated situation are better speakers, they're better presenters, better interviewers. And I'm not even talking race. You can go to Jane Mansfield, same thing. You can go to anybody from that time. And they speak better, better than the modern do. Everybody else now is in the ums and ahs in their speech. They're not able to enunciate words. They're not able to explain concepts. They sometimes trip over questions like the older never did. Marvin Gaye, even when he was high as a kite, still seemed to be able to carry a conversation very well. How can that be, that the older generation, if it's true that the segregation situation was so negative, how can it be true that the moment that we go away from segregation and we join everything together, that it seemed that the quality of education declined is my question. I have a theory, as I close it's possible. It's entirely possible. I don't know for sure because I wasn't born at that era. But it's entirely possible that with the joining of different races into schools, desegregation starts to take root, that the quality of education declines because different racial groups needed to have different quality of education catered to them specifically, as opposed to a homogenized education. Think about it. Isn't it fair to think that there are certain groups of people because of their upbringing, because of where they grew up, specifically neighborhoods, Whether they grew up impoverished or not, Isn't it possible that certain people simply need to have different catering education according to the level they're at? I speak even from personal experience. I was in advanced placement classes and I never excelled in them. I could have, but it was not something that I wanted. It didn't fit me. What fit me was let me do what I want to do. So somebody should be asking me the question about what I want to do and cultivate that, not cultivate what you think I should be doing. But I'm unique in that regard. I grew up with people who simply as smart as I know they are, they were on a different wavelength where they would never be able to fit in advanced placement classes at all, whether they wanted to or not. They needed to have a different career path. And arguably some people would have excelled in like blue collar careers versus mine that excelled in white collar careers. Could I have done blue collar careers before my physical ailments? Absolutely. I can't now. But back then I could. Back then I swore. If I can't get this that I think I want to do, then I'll go to the blue collar and I'll do that because I know I could. That was before all the stuff hit me. I'm saying that it's possible that in our quest to try to desegregate at the state level, we are the ones who degraded the quality of education because it no longer caters to each individual group because of the assumption that every single group can absorb education at the same pace, at the same rate, with the same quality, and that certain groups are not getting the quality of education that best suits them. It's something compelling to think about. You see how I tie that all together? I'm saying I'm completely emphatically against this notion of puro by far because I think it's stupid. But that's my personal opinion about the statement when we talk about education. I can absolutely tell the quality of education has declined from even my era. And I see it now in the quality of schools is declining even worse than what I went through. And I was not in a segregated school. Today, they're not in segregated schools. But the further we go away from segregated schools, it seems as though there's a decline in education. Is that correlation or causation? Maybe it's neither, but it's something to be thinking about. It's something to really put some thought into as we reflect on education overall, as well as where we are when we say, is America just a racist country? I don't think it's a. That we're a racist country. I do think we are a segregated country inherently, so that we feel we want to congregate in our own common groups simply because it's the way we're coded. Now, I'm opposite of this, but I see that that's what makes people comfortable. They are comfortable within their own segments and groups. As. As per. Even with age, older folks are more comfortable. Older folks. Younger people are more confident. Younger people. Right. It's. That's natural. That's. Segregation doesn't have to be racial is the point. It's simply there's a common group of people and they want to congregate together. Perhaps that's the reason that the Freemasons were able to thrive for so many lengthy decades is because they simply embraced that inherent desire to congregate with people that are like themselves. I'm just spitballing stuff out. I'm making no call to action or anything. Something to think about now more importantly than ever, because at some point we're not going to be on the earth anymore. And I think the future generation really should reflect. I'm not suggesting that we go back to a segregated world, but we should learn the lessons from the past and understand the difference in quality of education and interaction from before to now. The difference in the ability to express and the decline. Apparent decline in the ability to express what you're trying to say compared to the older. Taking a look back and seeing what went wrong. Where do we go wrong? And perhaps some of those things in the past were not so bad after all. You. Oh, oh.