As students return to school across the country, we continue our look at the resegregation of schools—particularly in Alabama. A new article in this week’s New York Times Magazine titled “The Resegregation of Jefferson County” by Nikole Hannah-Jones looks at how predominantly white towns in Alabama are increasingly pulling out of regional school districts and creating new schools that are overwhelmingly white. Critics say this is a new form of segregation. For more, we speak with Nikole Hannah-Jones. Her article about choosing a school for her daughter in a segregated school system won a National Magazine Award this year.
Transcript
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AMY GOODMAN: As students return to school across the country, we turn now to look at the resegregation of schools. Today, we look at Alabama. A new article in this week’s New York Times Magazine headlined “The Resegregation of Jefferson County,” by Nikole Hannah-Jones, looks at how predominantly white towns in Alabama are increasingly pulling out of regional school districts and creating new schools that are overwhelmingly white. Critics say this is a new form of segregation.
Well, we’re joined by Nikole Hannah-Jones in our studio. Her article about choosing a […]
Three years ago, I spent several months with a dear friend, an African american woman who was living in Selma. We’ve known each other for decades and raised our children together. Selma was where her father retired, and he’d left her a lovely home. Neither of us had spent any length of time in the Deep South and Selma, the iconic town where MLK began his march to Montgomery, was in shocking disrepair. The town center was lined on both sides by buildings with yellow tape warning passersby to keep a distance as the buildings could crumble at any moment. Segregation had been in place for decades and still was. The schools were never integrated. Whites built their own schools and blacks kept the old ones which were falling down. There were no jobs and my friend unwittingly stepped into the mire after choosing a church that was approx. 70% white. I won’t go into the lengthy details, but it was heartbreaking for both of us. I encountered the same thing in other towns and states in the Deep South. I’ve seen the same dynamic in metropolitan cities in the North. Decades of beliefs have survived without the awareness of the greater populace. However, as an activist, I’m also seeing for the first time since Dr. King, a vigorous wave of self empowerment where it was all but non existent. Along side this I’m seeing and experiencing great numbers of younger generations who aren’t stuck in thought forms of the past. Sure there are biases even among them, but there are also many more cross over friendships, and alliances.