The Simon Tonekham Statesman

There was some much heated debate at the Toronto District School Board’s meeting on whether or not to have Black-focused schools in to the system. So many people believe that the new system is considered “segregation” (if you people recall almost 60 or s0 years ago, there was a war between blacks and coloured people. One man named Martin Luther King Jr. decided to equalize civil rights and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and non-violent means).

Others think that it will help benefit many people on reducing the number of people dropping out of school. There was one mother who was weighing in the issue and she wants to be as one system for many people. Her name is Loreen Small and she is the mother of 14-year-old Jordan Manners (the boy who was shot at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate last year). She believes that Black focused schools are not the answer on solving gun violence in the city especially in the Jane and Finch area, where that particular area is considered a conflict-prone area.  This is what she quote: “What we’re doing, we’re segregating each other, Let us all come together and be as one.”

The vote wasn’t easy to some, in an 11-9 decision, the TDSB has decided that Black-focused schools are in. While these schools are only catered to mainly black students, the curriculum is open to almost anyone who wanted to learn about the different content relating to Black history. With Black History Month about to head into high gear, many will argue if the TDSB has broken its reputation on protecting the safety and security of many students in the school system. This decision has nothing to do with the safety report released by the School Community Safety Advisory Panel,  but there must be further recommendations to prevent an incident like the death of Jordan Manners from happening again.

Don’t expect to have it immediately, people. The first pilot of these new schools won’t commence on September 2009.  To close this off, I’m leaving you an excerpt of a famous speech by Martin Luther King Jr. called “I have a dream”:

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

The full speech can be founded here: http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html

References: 

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19065.aspx

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19030.aspx 

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080129/black_focused_school/20080129?hub=TopStories 

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2008/01/30/155857.aspx 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7217212.stm 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=akV35cJYTy1Q&refer=canada 

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/298714

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2008/01/10/report-paints-bleak-picture-of-toronto-school-safety.aspx