Either the UNC Center for Civil Rights gadfly is seriously detached from earthly reality, or Harvey Gantt is a segregationist. Hard one, there.
This is Osment reacting to the Gorman 100 Day plan to improve CMS: “It seems like ‘We’re going to make segregation work.’ “
Yes, Gorman’s plan which goes about as half as far, half as fast as the Gantt-chaired CMS Task Force suggested last year — both plans making absolutely no step towards the return of race balancing, cross-county busing — is segregationist and, functionally, racist.
What a load of ill-informed, inflammatory crap. But it explains a lot.
First, Osment’s load reminds us that there remains a core cadre of activists both at the local and state level who positively pine for CMS to return to race-conscious busing. Anything short of that will always be lacking — which also explains why the suggestions of Gantt’s Task Force have gone MIA.
Second, on all things education, the willingness to overlook facts is stunning. It is not as if busing was a great boon to low-income, minority kids in Mecklenburg. It was not and the test scores proved it. What it did do was help cover up problems and spread low-performing populations around the county, the better to hide the need for true, bottom-up reform in public education.
But let’s forget all that. Ashley Osment has spoken. Harvey Gantt is a segregationist. And all is right on planet Osment.
