Perhaps the Truest Statement of the Whole Political Campaign

Education is the civil rights issue of this century

-John McCain (Acceptance Speech, St. Paul, MN, September 5, 2008)

Education might not have the the ability to invoke fear the way a weak defense policy would. We don't feel poor education in our wallets the way we do rising gas prices. Education doesn't provide the shock that a $800.00 prescription a patient must have has on a family budget.

The most widely highlighted issues are National Security and Defense, the attempts to develop a sound Energy Policy that reduces America's dependence on imported petroleum, or the Health Care Debate as so many factors interfere with each person's ability to obtain the health care every family needs.

How many young black men were murdered in inner city neighborhoods tonight? Why are there more young black men in the criminal justice system than college? African American communities around the country that are failing have one overriding problem in common -- terrible schools with no options for parents to help provide their children with a pathway to a well educated future.

The response all too often is blaming the victims suggesting that African American parents don't care about their children's schools; otherwise, they'd demand something.

Question: how many of those parents experienced good schooling? For that matter how many of their grandparents had access to good education?

Face it folks, where will you find parents who send their kids off to school each morning hoping their kids will perform poorly. Moms and dads want their boys and girls to have a good day in school each day -- not to be browbeaten by poor teachers, not to be threatened by the thugs and bullies who pray upon the school yard, not by administrators who just see them as cogs on the assembly line. There are plenty of good black citizens deprived of an education when they should have been educated are raising their children and showing up for their jobs while attempting to make up for lost times attending vocational schools, community colleges, and church based programs in their 20's and 30's.

Right Minded Fellow believes firmly that children of all backgrounds are capable of learning if the educational programs they attend adequately understand their background, their cultural issues, and needs then develops a cirriculum that provides rock solid fundementals presented by effective teachers who know how to work with their students.

Perhaps the days of Jim Crow laws and hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan are largely a thing of the past, the new agency of oppression is the public school where even in the best of situations, a good decent African-American student may never reach his potential because expectations are so low, the weapon of oppression is the teacher who thinks Black Little Johnny is doing pretty good for a black kid.

How many African American children who could be tomorrow's corporate executives, scientists, government leaders, entrepreneurs, and top salesmen will never aspire to anything close to that because they have teachers who pat them on the head and say nice job because they accomplished nothing more than being a "C" student?

The horrors of inner city schools might not exist where black children attend suburban schools with more balanced enrollments and higher socio-economic backgrounds. Still, in a more average school where maybe the total population might be 20% black children, how many of those black kids are held back because expectations aren't as high as for their white and Asian counterparts?

We can't go through the challenges and solutions here. However, quality schools for all students are within every family's reach. Lack of political courage and way too much influence from forces that fight real reform on every level such as teachers' unions must be overcome by a stronger desire by those who insist things work.

That a black man is running for President does not mean the end of racism whatsoever. It shows the myriad possibilities for people of all backgrounds who are well educated. Overt forms of prejudice have been seriously reduced. Today's challenges are harder to detect and sincc so few people ever get close to failing Black school systems, few even have a clue what's going on.