It’s simply amazing, but I’ve been in attendance every time Geoffrey Canada has spoken in Cleveland and the pearls of wisdom he leaves behind are always more on point, more incisive, and more precious than the last time he was in town. The man’s brain must never rest, not for a split-second.
A near full-house of educators and other citizens concerned with the dismal job we’re doing in terms of educating our disadvantaged children were dazzled by the sheer brilliance and plain commonsense of the best mind in educational theory and practice extant in the nation today. Canada delivered a high-powered message the first time I heard him speak, but he has revved it up considerably, and for good reason: The way we are failing our kids (and not just black and brown kids) is putting the fate and security of our nation at risk.
Canada held up a report, signed by over 40 of our top military men, which states that 75 percent of our young people (for a variety of reasons, such as not finishing high school, to being grossly obese, to actually finishing high school but coming out so deficient in reading and math skills they can’t pass the military entrance exam) are not fit for military service. He then asked, “What if the majority of the remaining 25 percent don’t want to join the military, who’s going to defend the country?” Indeed.
With his self-depreciating, folksy manner of delivery he immediately takes the audience in and makes us feel comfortable… like we’ve known him forever. But his homespun style is nothing more than a setup, he has to get us on his side quickly because he’s going to be saying some things many Americans really don’t care to hear.
Once he’s warmed to the task Canada rightly posits that, as a nation, we’re sliding down the slippery slope to oblivion, but he does offer hope, a way out. He assures us we can stop our slide and repair our nation by raising the life prospects of the least of Americans — under-educated children of color living in disadvantaged communities.
Similar to pre-Civil War America, about which Lincoln said “our nation cannot survive half-slave, half-free,” the country cannot survive half-educated and gainfully employed, while half of the nation’s minorities remain uneducated and unemployed. Canada’s message is simple: we can, and must, provide all of our young people with the education they need to become productive, fully participating citizens of our democracy, and, if we fail, our democracy — as we now know it — will cease to exist.
Indeed, the fruits of our national failure can be witnessed right here in Cleveland, which can serve as a microcosm for America’s ills. The on-going dilemma being played out on West 6th Street, where hordes of thuggish and broke young persons of color are spoiling the party middleclass whites and blacks are trying to throw every weekend is symptomatic of the growing chasm between the haves and the have-nots in this country.
However, for decades now the haves (who control the resources and have rigged the game) had said, “Hey, it’s not my problem.” Well, if it’s not, they had better keep their soft asses in their gated communities and ivory towers because when they venture out into streets at night they’re going to be increasingly coming face-to-face with America’s failure … in the form of roving bands of poor, disadvantaged youth who have no stake in the game, who really have nothing to lose.
Canada was explicit about this: We can’t solve America’s problem with the underclass simply by expanding the carceral system. We can’t continue to do what we’ve been doing for over four decades now … allowing poor young people to fall through the cracks of a frayed social safety net, and then, when they run afoul of the law, simply lock them up for outrageously long periods of time. What the conservatives who foisted this line of thinking on the country failed to tell anyone is that no country on the face of the earth can afford to lock up as large a percentage of its own population as we’re currently do. It’s going to drive us to the brink of bankruptcy … indeed, we’re already there.
When asked by those in control of the financial resources what it would take to turn things around, Canada told them an additional $5000 per child spent on education. When the response was, “We simply can’t afford that,” Canada went straight to the heart of the matter: We never, ever say we can’t afford the $25,000 it costs to lock someone up for a year … we always manage to somehow find the money for that … but we can’t seem to find the money to educate young people so they don’t become lawbreakers. Go figure.
This trip to Cleveland, Canada’s second in as many years, was clearly designed to help us jumpstart our own version of his Harlem Children’s Zone. The effort is already underway, and there is no reason it should not be successful. Indeed, if properly implemented, what Canada is doing in Harlem can be done in any city in the United States. The operative words are “properly implemented.”
I’ve been dancing around this issue for a couple of months now, but, feeling empowered by Geoffrey Canada’s inspiring and brave speech, let me just give voice to my concern, just lay it on the table, as we attempt to move forward with his model here in Cleveland: We’ll figure out a way to do it wrong.
Left to our own devices and old ways of doing things, we’ll take a program that works well in Harlem and make a mess of it here in Cleveland … we’re experts at screwing things up. And then the power structure will be able to step back and say, “Oh well, we tried, but you know how hard it is to try to help those people.”
The Harlem Children’s Zone works, in large part, because of its inspiring and forceful black leader; but hereabouts the white power structure doesn’t cotton too well to strong black leaders, be they male or female. Indeed, any person of color the system deems to be getting too powerful (uppity is the word they’re thinking), if someone is turning into a local version of Geoffrey Canada, they’ll attempt to find a way to marginalize said person. Accuse them of cheating on their taxes, or come up with some other nebulous charge that, even when disproved, still has the power to destroy a career. Hush, truth.
Oh, we’ll find the funding for a startup version of Canada’s program alright… but then think absolutely nothing of finding some nice little Irish lass or lad (probably fresh out of grad school) to head it up. Come on folks, that is how we play it here in Cuyahoga County, and we all know it. It’s all about the right connections, baby. But this is going to take such heavy lifting that even the wrong black person — someone still wet behind the ears — would not be able to pull it off.
Now, before I’m again called a racist, let’s just get real: Qualified black folks are better suited, better able, to solve the problems of the underclass than equally qualified white folks — that’s just the way it is anywhere on the globe. Educated members of the race with the problem can best operate the social mechanisms needed to solve the problem.
If we really were serious, if we really wanted a Harlem Children’s Zone program to work well locally, we’d beg and plead with someone like Peter Lawson Jones to initially head it up, let him hire the professional educators he needs, and then get the hell out of his way. But that would probably be too much like right.
Do this for me: Go back and re-read the beginning of the second paragraph, and notice that I used the term “our” when referencing the children in need. My point is, until all of us, black and white, rich and poor, city-dwellers and suburbanites, begin to see all of the children in the county as “our” children the problem of underclass children will remain unsolved.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.frombehindthewall.com.
6 Responses to “MANSFIELD: Sitting at the Feet of the Master”
Darlene
I am sorry I did not know Mr. Canada was coming. When was he here and where did the discussion take place?
Mansfield
He was at the Palace Theater on Monday, Aug. 23rd. He spoke fro about an hour to a packed house.
Bud Perry
I think mandatory reading should be Cleveland’s own Karen Sternheimer’s book “Kids These Days”. Everyone would agree that the state of education in this country is mostly dismal, and certainly disproportionate with regards to minorities, but Sternheimer’s extensive studies have shown that overall the country’s children are more educated, more intelligent, and better behaved than a decade, two decades, or even five decades ago.
I would have liked to hear Mr. Canada speak and am sorry I missed it too.
Jerry Dolcini
Mr. Canada may have some pearls of educational wisdom in his talks, but I take exception to his lead -in with military statistics. Perhaps if our youth had to serve in the Peace Corps at home or abroad instead of joining the military there just might be billions more for public education in this country. With the present DOD budget we are guaranteed more death and destruction for our youth and the victims of their military training.(some refer to this as protecting our freedom) I would encourage Mr. Canada to downplay the militarism that seems endemic to the U.S. today, otherwise I foresee the Pentagon running our public education in a dreadful future.
Mansfield
Mr. Perry and Mr. Dolcini both make some interesting and valid points: Educational levels are certainly up in America compared to decades ago, but the fact still is that a huge percentage of minority children are being left behind and are falling even further. And the bottom drags the top down. I’ll, however, read Ms. SternHeimer’s book.
As for Mr. Dolcini’s comments about the military, I have to agree: Who wants to get kids ready to become cannon fodder?
On the other hand, I’ve been advocating for two years of COMPULSORY national service (not military) for all American youth, say from ages 18 to 20. It would solve a whole host of problems.
artem1s
Compulsory national service can be a teacher of discipline and empathy but it has to be equal service for all classes. If the wealthy class is allowed to buy its way out as it did the draft in Vietnam then the system will be chronically underfunded as is public education.
I agree that our cultural mind set needs to be radically changed. We need to value pure education and research as much as we value sports, incarceration, and the military. We need to laud and reward thinkers and academics, not just superstars, celebrities, and generals.