A two hour frank discussion about race
Although WHMP was not snarky enough to set up up empty chairs at the "Reading, Writing & Racism?" community forum this morning on the Amherst Town Common to represent Amherst town officials last minute cancellation, they did manage to mention it a few times during the two hour broadcast. To the applause of the studio audience of 35 or so.
Crowd on the town common watching live radio broadcast
Town Manger John Musante (whose brother Dave is WHMP general manger), School Superintendent Maria Geryk and new "Media & Climate Communications Specialist" Carol Ross had originally accepted the offer from WHMP (not exactly a Fox News) to discuss the new "Amherst Together" initiative, a direct response to the racial turmoil over the past year.
Town Manger Musante already caught criticism on Monday night at the Select Board meeting, which consisted entirely of his "evaluation," where SB member Alisa Brewer bristled at his entering into an agreement with the schools without first checking with his bosses, the Select Board.
The schools lack of transparency was repeatedly cited as a problem. And not just from parents, activists or the media.
Recent ARHS graduate Catia Correia, who worries about her brothers in the aftermath of #Ferguson, talked about the racial incidents surrounding teacher of color Carolyn Gardner:
Other panelists brought up all the usual criticisms of our public schools -- the achievement gap between students of color and white students, low percentage of minority teachers and just the perception that the administration takes an us against them stance with community members who are trying to help.
By failing to show up for this important unscripted event, town and school officials sent a message that they are uncomfortable having a frank discussion about race when they are not in control of the microphone.
Makes you wonder what they are (still) trying to hide?
Sonji Johnson-Anderson tells panel they did not need a question mark after the title "Reading, Writing & Racism?"
Stephen Armstrong, Ph.D. and owner of Kumon in South Amherst asks panel "Specifically what are you going to do over the next 12 months to level the playing field?"
Are the community members who are trying to help the same ones who come to every meeting and public event with an outraged tone?
ReplyDeleteHow does that help?
The morale of our teachers through all of this should be a large concern.
ReplyDeleteHas it occurred to anyone that if Carolyn Gardner had taken a few more Teaching Methods classes and a few less Social Justice ones, she'd be shortly be starting her second year at ARHS?
ReplyDeleteHas it occurred to anyone that if people had spent more time teaching how to teach math* and less time teaching her why she should hate White guys, she'd have been a hell of a lot more successful as a MATH teacher?
And she'd still be able to hate White guys, she'd have a nice income & benefit package as well.
Yes, I wrote that intentionally inflammatory because I don't think you've helped a Black woman if she's failed. Relative to her, what was accomplished? Is she better off now than she was this time last year?
If your motives are what the cynics on the Right say they are -- merely stirring up problems for personal gain, I guess some folks were successful here, although I find your methods (and ends) rather reprehensible.
But if you really believe in "social justice" you sure as hell didn't accomplish it here. She failed. The Black women behind her (i.e. still in ARHS) aren't even going to try. And the very evils you try to abate have instead been exacerbated.
Good job....
* TEACHING math involves a lot more than merely knowing math. In fact, those with a natural aptitude toward math have as much trouble teaching it as someone who is left-handed does using his/her/its right hand -- and for many of the same reasons.
My guess is that Caroline Gardner is very bright and very good at math -- and that no one ever bothered to teach her how to reach those who weren't as gifted as she. Some research shows that the majority of a teacher's discipline problems are the desperate attempts of students struggling to keep up -- and I suspect that this was the *real* motive behind much of the "racist" stuff.
I don't blame them for backing out; why should WHMP who is obviously trying to roil things up be in charge of the format of the discussion? WHMP holds no stock in Amherst's success or failure.
ReplyDeleteIn the end their concern about circus elements was validated, and the tone set by Flaherty was rude and disrespectful at best.
It's not productive or constructive to repeatedly place our hard-working officials into positions where they have to endure the same insults and accusations over and over.
Catia Correia, who worries about her brothers in the aftermath of Ferguson.
ReplyDeleteOh, Catia.....:
"If someone comes to kill you, get up early to kill him first." -- Sanhedrin 72:1
If your brothers don't try to murder police officers then the officers won't have to "kill them first" -- in something called SELF DEFENSE. And if your brothers aren't so high on PCP that they don't even notice BEING SHOT IN THE ARM FOUR TIMES then maybe the police officer wouldn't have to shoot them twice more in the head to stop them.
Catia, if you love your brothers, tell them that PCP, otherwise known as "Angel Dust", is truly nasty stuff that they want to be no where near. And if your brothers really must roll "Blunts" (which is what folks use Swisher Sweets for) and if they really must dip them into PCP, please make sure they wear the blue Neoprene gloves (like the cops do) because you will absorb that stuff through your skin, and it doesn't take much.
Catia, I'm not always a defender of the police, go ask the APD & UMPD, but when someone is trying to kill you, when someone has already smashed in the side of your head -- as in fracturing your skull (bones around cop's left eye) and is coming back to kill you, you have a right to kill him first.
I've only had to deal with someone on PCP once -- and that was enough for a lifetime.
Of all the drugs, of all the mental illnesses, PCP is the only thing that actually terrifies me. Of all the situations I've had to deal with involving various combinations of drugs and/or mental illness, even those in which firearms were involved, the only one I would describe as "sheer mindless terror" was the night I had to deal with someone high on PCP.
In Boy Scout Camp of all places, and he was a fellow staff member, I think actually being paid more than I was as well. Oh, and he had Blonde hair and skin lighter than mine -- although I doubt I would have noticed either that night...
This really isn't about race Catia, it's about a really f****** scary chemical that I can't believe anyone would mess with.
Catia, Eric Holder would have shot that young man, and Eric Holder would be dead if he hadn't. It really that simple.
Dr. Ed.
ReplyDeleteDid you get the Michael Brown was on PCP assertion from Fox News commentator Jim Pinkerton or someplace else? Has this information been released by other sources? Witnesses? Police reports? Where are you getting your information?
Please consider reading Jacob Sullums' s Forbes article titled The Shooting Of Michael Brown And The Phantom Menace Of Drug-Crazed Blacks.
Can't believe I agree with Dr. Ed at 2:20 above. Spend more time teaching and hire great teachers who can really teach, and we then have a chance of narrowing the achievement gap.
ReplyDeleteThe same old gang up to the same old game.
ReplyDeleteWhy feed this hype. Glad the schools didn't show up. They didn't have to and need not answer to a radio stations need for listeners and interest in making a racial issue out of what wasn't.
ReplyDeleteWhere have you been for the past nine months?
ReplyDeleteDid you get the Michael Brown was on PCP assertion from Fox News commentator Jim Pinkerton or someplace else?
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched Fox News in over 2 years -- I have no idea who Jim Pinkerton even is, let alone what he may have said.
I figured out the PCP on my own -- it is the only thing that makes sense.
And nothing has changed. A young man attacked a police officer punching him multiple times. Fearing for his life the officer took appropriate action and stopped the assailant who was taunting and attacking him. Now that the truth has held supreme the media is quietly packing up and leaving. The sad part here is that a supposedly educated man named Shabazz led an ignorant group of protesters in an attempt to create racial divide before even learning the facts. One has to question his poor judgment related to his position as a representative of the school system of Amherst. What does it say about his ability to process information and his ability to make logical decisions that affect the children of the town. Can he make decisions based on facts or does he jump to conclusions based on hearsay and anything that tickles his fancy. As one of his student reviews statedt move to the beat of his own drum.. Can he be trusted to make fair and unbiased descisions for our children. Does a person of character react in such a fashion . Like our president, was he elected based on his color, on his qualifications or neither. What does his past record say about his future as a representative.
Delete"A young man attacked a police officer punching him multiple times"
ReplyDeleteNo, it's worse than that.
A young man not only punched him, but (a) fractured his skull and (b) tried to shoot him with his own gun, with (c) a round fired.
A young man who THEN charged at the officer with apparent lethal intent.
A young man who apparently was high on PCP (or something chemically similar) which is relevant in that it makes the use of deadly force more necessary and hence more justifiable.
If what I have pasted below is the observation of an eyewitness -- who likely has seen people shot before -- it shows something important: the officer wasn't missing (as the witness believed), Brown didn't notice he was being shot. PCP will do that.
"The police kept dumpin on him, and I’m thinking the police kept missing – he like – be like – but he kept coming toward him.... Police fired shots – the next thing I know – the police was missing"
Shabazz, Anderson (2), Custard, R. V. Jones, Burkhardt, et als:
ReplyDeleteDividers.
Race hustlers.
Jive turkeys.
And what are you?
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that there are a number of individuals on here, such as Dr. Ed, who are representing 'apparent truth(s)' about the Michael Brown shooting. Where are these folks getting their information from? Did you all get it from the police report on the Michael Brown shooting that was released today? From the eye-witnesses? Dr. Ed which witness are you referring to?
ReplyDeleteIf you are paying close attention you know that there are conflicting accounts about the specifics? Are you drawing on statements made by Piaget Crenshaw (the woman who shot video of the incident? Did you see the video? Are you referring to statements made by Dorian Johnson? The statement from the Ferguson police? Michael Brady? or 'Josie'? By the way the Los Angeles Times and a few other newspapers have put out articles today that summarize what all these individuals reported to police.
I know for many it is easy for far too many people to rush to judgment in some scenarios, I wish more people were just a little more thorough in their research and analysis.
The grand jury is hearing evidence in the Michael Brown case today, it will be interesting to hear what they come back with....
ReplyDeleteI know for many it is easy for far too many people to rush to judgment in some scenarios, I wish more people were just a little more thorough in their research and analysis.
I agree -- and if people hadn't already reached their decisions and started acting on them, I'd have been advocating that people wait. But when there are protests in downtown Amherst -- well, if people are going to jump to thewrong conclusions, well...
The grand jury is hearing evidence in the Michael Brown case today
It's said that a Grand Jury would indict a ham sandwich.
Do you have any idea how many innocent Black men would be in jail if what the Grand Jury thought was our standard of proof?
Larry,
ReplyDeleteCatching up with the story and just made time to read closely the statement of Carol Ross (thank you for presenting this transcript). From that statement, the following things are clear to me:
1. The "important work ahead" notwithstanding, a diagnosis has already been made - the town is rife with "internal, interpersonal, institutional and systemic racism."
2. For the cure, Amherst must undergo painful, prolonged, expensive and inchoate remediation.
3. The Administration abhors open dialog unless it can control the platform, and can first neutralize alternative viewpoints through implications of bigotry.
4. The remediation will be a forever-incomplete process, a never-ending and politically loaded "conversation"; it is antithetical to the movement that there ever be a point of resolution. Instead, we remain on the mythical "pathway" to that imaginary "space."
5. The casualties will mount, as students' learning needs are ignored in favor of the spectacle.
Reading this statement by Ms. Ross is the first glimpse I have had of her in action. I am not hopeful. Once upon a time, Amherst schoolkids of all races played and made friends together, but after decades of decline in the administration's elevation and mis-handling of race, after the limousine-liberal School Committee's failure to deal honestly with itself and its constituents (and now advancing activist crackpot Trevor Baptiste to the helm), after the gross indulgence to pot-stirrers with formation of the feel-good Equity Task Force, and now with the compound layering of mystics and mumbo-jumbo'ists like Carol Ross, Calvin Terrell, et als, we finally have the Bonfire that so many in Amherst have been pining for since 1968: the framing of school year 2014-2015 as a year-long "Day of Rage."
I feel very sorry for the students who will be shortchanged and brainwashed, the parents whose concerns will be mischaracterized, and the good citizens of this town whose tax dollars will be drained away into the cesspool.
Other than that though, I'm optimistic!
It's definitely not a good sign when your first act as PR, err, "Media & Climate Communications Specialist", is to attack a respected long-time local media outlet.
ReplyDeleteAs they say in political campaigns, "Whey you have to start explaining, you're losing."
WHMP and Bob Flaherty changed the format at the last minute and he was very rude to Ms Geryk and Mr. Musante in the process. WHMP wanted this to be a sensationalist event. They were not interested in a thoughtful discussion. They may in general be well respected but in this instance the four who decided not to be part of this event made the right decision. Also up to now all we have heard is WHMP's version of the story. It's important that both sides are heard. I wish Ms Ross' s explanation had less jargon in it so it was more easily understood but the point is that she and the other 3 were right to not participate in this faux forum.
ReplyDeleteI also find it kind of interesting that a PR person does not know that Mr. Flaherty is NOT in charge.
ReplyDeleteDenise Vozella is the news director and she seemed to be giving orders the day of the broadcast.
And of course the Town Manager's brother is her boss.
The 4 people know who is in charge. What's the point?
ReplyDeleteTwo superpowers came to the negotiation table and one of them decided to use the nuclear option.
ReplyDeletePretty dumb. That's the point.
There was no negotiation. WHMP said this is how it's going to be. Period. There was no negotiation.
ReplyDeleteAnd you know that how, exactly? As we say in journo, cite your sources.
ReplyDeletethe framing of school year 2014-2015 as a year-long "Day of Rage."
ReplyDeleteAnd this won't, at some point, provoke a reaction from the White students?
There are fairly credible reports of gangs of Black students perpetrating acts of racially-motivated violence against White students -- you don't think that, at some point, they are going to organize for their own mutual self-protection?
Ever read Lord of the Flies?
You folks really can't see what's going to happen here?
What will it take -- a dead student? Things are escalating in the absence of adult leadership -- taking sides is not leadership -- and do not forget what provoked Columbine.
Yep, bullying.
And as horrific as that is, can you imagine if it were to be perpetrate along racial lines? What do you think the consequences of that -- nationally -- would be to Amherst?
I've long said that Maria G would implode spectacularly....
And of course the Town Manager's brother is her boss. (John Musante's brother is general manager of WHMP)
ReplyDeleteHow refreshing that cronyism and nepotism did not compromise the decision they made and the position the four officials stood by.
Now YOU would make a good PR flack!
ReplyDeleteThere's a low, steady rumble out here. Carol Ross' letter represents a real turning point for the schools and the kids and the town.
ReplyDeleteOne word I keep hearing: "inspirational"
To the two lovely young recent ARHS grads who spoke so openly on the common during the "forum": you do not have to continue to be put on display like a sideshow under a tent on the town common, and be exploited by the same adults in our community, and the same old media outlets, who seek only to serve THEIR own personal and organizational agendas! Do not continue to compromise yourselves for their gain!
ReplyDeleteOn a larger scale, I keep being reminded of Reconstruction and how things were in the South immediately after the Civil War.
ReplyDeleteWe have the same racial agenda being rammed down people's throats now and I don't see why it won't have the same consequence this time.
How do you think "Jim Crow" came to be? What caused Nathan Bedford Forrest to form that quite infamous organization that he founded? (To his credit, he tried to dissolve it when he realized what he'd done but couldn't...)
Any of you familiar with what George Santana said about history?
And as to Ferguson, there was a sidewalk -- walking in the street and impeding traffic comes under "Danger to Self" -- you can get hit by a car. This is "mental impairment" -- a cop isn't supposed to stop & address this?
Remember that rational people don't put themselves in the path of multi-ton moving pieces of steel. Rational people of any race -- no one is asking what he was doing IN the street.
Cops aren't always diplomatic -- and one lesson of this well might be closed-door discussions amongst police about the tactical use of language. Even if the cop said something stupid -- e.g. "get the hell out of the street you ****head", and even though that wouldn't justify anything other than an I/A and/or civil rights complaint (even if a racial slur was used), it appears that physical violence was Brown's first response.
This appears to have happened very fast. Things usually are verbal and escalate -- this was just an immediate attack of the officer as he was stepping out of the vehicle -- Brown charging, punching and then struggling for the officer's sidearm with a round fired.
I'm wondering if the officer is left handed and his department lets him wear the gun on that side -- which would place it on Brown's side of the cop, easier for him to try to grab -- but still that's extreme aggression.
Then we have the recording that someone referenced above. The witness thought that the cop kept missing -- what would make him think that? Because Brown wasn't reacting to being shot -- and I'll bet that witness has seen people shot before.
PCP was developed as a surgical anesthetic. Yes. The "danger to self" of walking in the street, the immediate extreme violence, the failure to react to pain -- no one is mentioning how this has PCP written all over it.
Say what you want, that's a "tight shot pattern" and notwithstanding everything else, let's at least ask if the officer was trying to stop but not kill Brown -- who was lunging at him with lethal intent.
For that matter, let's ask if Brown was actually IN the cruiser when the final (top of head) shot was fired -- I can understand the officer pushing Brown (and the door) away from him.
And how many shots were NOT fired? The Glock Police 9x19 -- what Glock is the most common cop gun -- has a 17 round clip. Assuming a full clip and that gun -- seven were fired (1+6), meaning ten were NOT fired.
Facts do sorta matter folks.
How is speaking the truth compromising yourself?
ReplyDeleteLarry, I thought your view was that there were things that the young ladies said that should have been corrected by someone?
ReplyDeleteTHING (singular) that ONE of the young ladies said, which is pretty minor and something a LOT of folks do not know.
ReplyDelete"Inspirational," Anon 2:54 ?
ReplyDeletePray, tell.
Anon 10:24 & 11:02,
ReplyDeleteThanks for those links, though I think I want to bury my head and hope it would all just be over. This woman seems like a good fit for creating spin in the political world, putting lipstick on a pig to make it pretty, or being a media arts teacher, but to actually solve problems? I think someone was fully asleep at the wheel. Couple that the 45% raise given our Middle school counselor and it is clear the administration has no idea what they are doing.
This is going to be all fluff and no substance. Maria Geryk should be embarrassed.
Being a photographer is a job. If you do work and people pay you for it, that's a job.
ReplyDeleteWhat's your job, anon 11:02? Getting on line and saying mean things about people? You don't know this person at all, but you are ready to make all kinds of judgments about her. You must be ashamed of what you are saying because you won't admit who you are.
I say: if you can't stand behind what you say, don't say it.
Nina,
ReplyDeleteIt is clear your heart is in the right place but at times I feel you follow a little to blindly. I hope you are right and the rest of us are wrong. These conversations however have been going on for years and years. We always hear about people trying to understand the underlying problems, trying to talk to members of the community, reaching out, etc. After at least 8 years of this same behavior nothing has changed for the better as this last year has proven.
Amherst is certainly full of hope but the actions the community are that of an insane person. You know "doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome"
Rock on, Nina Koch.
ReplyDeleteIf Carol Ross is going to try an understand all forms of oppression, as she says in her letter, will she be reaching out family who's kids did not get attend graduation or go to his prom while the kids who bullied him never got in trouble.
ReplyDeleteThat alone seems like pretty serious oppression. This of course does not include the fact that his father was fired unjustly. That seems like pretty serious oppression too.
Is Carol Ross going to comment on that or apologize for the administrations borderline criminal behavior in their treatment of that family. Oppression can be done to anyone regardless of color, religion, social class, etc.
Until those 3 bullies, one of whom is a child of a co-working she will be working closely with, are disciplined as harshly, Carol's job is a sham and any work toward change is a sham.
Nina Koch said...
ReplyDelete"Being a photographer is a job.:
So's being a Mafia "Hit Man."
If you do work and people pay you for it, that's a job.
A prostitute does work and people pay her for it -- so women should aspire to be prostitutes, Nina?
For that matter Nina, how do you justify the Nuremburg Trials? Those responsible for the Holocaust "did work" and "were paid for it" -- by a then-sovereign government, I might add -- so why'd we execute them?
What's your job, anon 11:02?
This is why it isn't even worth trying to reason with them anymore.
They hire only their own, fire anyone who doesn't march in ideological lockstep with them (even an electrician), and then proclaim that only the voices of those on their payroll have the right to be heard. It's not only rather fascist circular reasoning, but quite incestural in nature.
To use an electrical term: "they have lost reference to ground."
And the results, eventually, will be no less spectacular...
You don't know this person at all, but you are ready to make all kinds of judgments about her.
Nina, you "don't know [me] at all" either -- but that never stopped you...
"You must be ashamed of what you are saying because you won't admit who you are."
Or perhaps prudent.
"I say: if you can't stand behind what you say, don't say it."
Nina, stand in the travel lane of I-91 and show us the courage of your convictions....
To 11:45 am (not sure why you can't just say who you are)--
ReplyDeleteI am not "blindly" following Carol Ross. I am just waiting to see what she does before I draw conclusions about her. 11:02 pm has already decided that she's not qualified. So far, the only evidence I have to go on is the statement Ms. Ross wrote about the WHMP forum and a letter that she sent to all staff in the district. The statement was well-written and helped me understand why she chose not to participate in the event.
I don't have any reason to conclude that Ms. Ross is unqualified and neither does anybody else. It seems like some people are just eager to be angry.
No one knows racial tensions and climate like a photographer, former actor, and overnight disk jockey. But then again the superintendent has about as much qualification to be in her role so why change a good thing.
ReplyDeleteIf she is going to be doing "Public Relations", which is what I thought a "Media & Climate Communications Specialist" does (not that I ever heard THAT term before), rule #1 is don't pick a fight with a respected local media outlet.
ReplyDeleteDo your homework. Know your market.
That "well-written" bureau speak would have been okay (sort of) if she had directed it against Fox News or the Boston Herald.
It's definitely not a good sign when your first act as PR, err, "Media & Climate Communications Specialist", is to attack a respected long-time local media outlet
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely not a good sign when a respected long-time school district and town is publicly attacked by a local media outlet first, especially when the attack includes false, on-air assertions. Are for-profit news outlets somehow more sacred than our kids' schools and and our sacred governmental bodies?
I'm tired of the same small handful of news reporters in this area controlling people's perception of the tone of the events in this town.
And you are?
ReplyDelete"I'm tired of the same small handful of news reporters in this area controlling people's perception of the tone of the events in this town."
ReplyDelete______________
Fear not, the town, it's government and the school system don't need any steering. In fact they don't even have a rudder. Hard to twist reality. If this was TV it would be the Honey Boo Boo of towns in this country.
Are for-profit news outlets somehow more sacred than our kids' schools and and our sacred governmental bodies?
ReplyDeleteYes.
If a for-profit entity pisses enough people off, it won't be making a profit and it will be out of business. They can't force anyone to purchase their product.
On the other hand, the schools and the so-called "sacred" government can and does.
How many people would pay their taxes if it was voluntary?
Enough said?
Nina,
ReplyDeleteThe issue is not so much blindly following Ms. Ross. It is accepting going down this path again and again to attempt to achieve what so many others have said they were going to fix. It is again more of the same. It costs a lot to the tax payers and is a distraction for education in general. If Amherst stopped focusing the on minutia of racism, as it exists in Amherst, and economic disadvantage and instead helped give those students at risk the best education possible, the issues of racism and economic disadvantage would take care of themselves.
So many kids in Amherst including mine are so sick of the schools pushing the socioeconomic agenda down their throats and just want go to school to learn and be kids. They have been tuning the message out for years.
They don't need to be pushed to be some liberals idea of hope for the future. I feel if the schools stopped pushing so hard most of them would reach the conclusions all by themselves without all of the wasted assembly time.
I must be over the target.
ReplyDeleteAgain, it was clearly Flaherty and his bosses who picked the "fight" with the schools. Anyone who listened to the broadcast knows that, and after reading Ross' letter it is clear that something he communicated, either in writing to Ross and/or the other would-have-been panelists, or during a conversation, a couple days prior to the broadcast, changed everything.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it has something to do with male privilege.
Denise Vozella, and she's a she, is the WHMP News Director. (Although she is white.)
ReplyDelete" Keithw said Rock on, Nina Koch."
ReplyDeleteYeah Ni-Ni,
fight for that raise grrrrl!
-Squeaky Squeaks
p.s. May I borrow 10 bucks? I'm broke.
Sure, Squeaks. Just give me your address and I will be right over with the cash.
ReplyDelete