WHEN IT COMES TO RACE, SHOULD OUR SCHOOLS BE TEACHING KIDS WHAT TO THINK INSTEAD OF HOW TO THINK?

 

I asked a question on a certain social media platform about how people view current policies on race, and it got the boot because it “did not conform to community standards.” So I will continue the question here and I will keep it pretty simple. There is a very big and important conversation that is not taking place in the public square of the townish City of Watertown.

When it comes to discussions about race, there is an elephant in the room, but certain people tell us not to look at him because he’s a very bad elephant who only wants to distract us from THE MISSION.  

 And only by ignoring the elephant’s existence can we get on with “doing the hard work” that will set all of us on the only true path to salvation. I am here today to argue that Watertown has reached a point that requires us to give the elephant a seat at the table.                       

To begin the process of making my case, I will for now resist the temptation to use the entire alphabet for my stockpile of potential exhibits and present to you only Exhibits A, B, C, and D.

Exhibit A:

This is one slide from a presentation made by a consulting company to the Watertown School Committee. While watching this meeting over Zoom, I was instantly struck by the absurdity of this slide. I believe I shouted at the TV set: ”Leaders” are actually supposed to do this?

 

Call me crazy, but how about leaders using their brains, experience, and love of education for all decisions made within WPS?

You can watch the entire March 21, 2022 presentation to the School Committee here, beginning at 0:23:43.  And remember, it’s only a presentation. Just because a consulting company comes up with nutty, ideological solutions to problems requiring a realistic, practical approach, it doesn’t mean the customer – a committee and administration made up of intelligent adults − has to buy them. 

But it seems they did.

Exhibit B:

On a July 17, 2023 list containing 54 action items for the District’s Equity Strategic Action Plan Dash Board, here’s item number 4:

“4. Use an explicit Equity Decision-making lens for all decisions made within WPS. Adopt an equity decision-making framework through which all decisions are reviewed. In order to end individual, institutional, and structural racism and bias in the district, all leaders must consistently and intentionally apply an equity lens to every decision made.”

 According to the action plan, this policy is already underway and will be “ongoing, multi-year work.”

 Exhibit C:

Recent WPS District Reads (from the WPS website)

Leading the list:

How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi

Is there any reading material listed anywhere on the WPS website that opposes anti-racism, which would include books and articles by prominent Black writers and scholars? Of course not.

In Kendi’s own words:

“The opposite of racist isn't 'not racist.’ It is anti-racist. One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist or confronts racial inequities, as an anti-racist. There is no in-between safe space of not racist.”

“Like fighting an addiction, being an anti-racist requires persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination.”

So if you’re a run-of-the-mill decent person, treating everyone with respect, but not actively working, during every waking hour, to hunt down and kill your own inner racist, you are a big part of the problem.

So says the guru and so do his obedient followers, even as a red-faced Boston University carefully and quietly goes about the business of cleaning up his mess.

Exhibit D:

This is the opening of a TED Talk by Coleman Hughes. The title is A Case for Colorblindness.

In the context of this blog post, I will take the liberty of temporarily renaming it: Introducing the Elephant.

“I want to do a quick exercise. Close your eyes. I want you to picture your best friend. Think about what specifically you love about them. What trait makes them…them? Now open your eyes. I don’t know what each of you came up with but I’m pretty sure I know what you didn’t come up with. I’m pretty sure none of you thought that what makes Jim…Jim is the fact that he’s six foot two and a redhead. I’m guessing you chose their inner qualities – their sense of humor, their generosity, their intelligence – qualities they would have no matter what they look like. There’s one more quality I’m pretty sure you didn’t choose – their race. Of all the things you could list about somebody, their race is just about the least interesting you could name − right down there with height and hair color. Sure race could be good source material for jokes at a comedy club, but in the real world, a person’s race doesn’t tell you whether they’re kind or selfish, whether their beliefs are right or wrong, whether they’ll become your best friend or your worst enemy. But over the past ten years, our societies have become more and more fixated on racial identity. We’ve all been invited to reflect more on our inner whiteness or inner blackness as if these racial essences define who we are. Meanwhile, American society has experienced its greatest crisis in race relations in a generation.”

 Author and podcaster, Coleman Hughes 

 

"Enlightened" School districts, including WPS, do not teach Kendi’s anti-racism as a theory or a philosophy. They teach it as indisputable truth. Colorblindness – judging an individual by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin – which my generation grew up with, is now characterized by Kendi-ists as being racist.

I have yet to hear a single Watertown School Committee member or candidate question the district’s all-consuming anti-racism policies. And so, they go unchallenged.

There is a compelling argument that anti-racism indoctrination is harmful to Black children, fueling divisiveness and reinforcing stereotypes. The alternatives, such as teaching children to respect others and empowering them with the anti-bias skills of critical thinking are what most parents and residents actually want. (I wrote about it here.) But there is currently no celebrity guru like Kendi to champion those commonsense policies.

My question is: Who will be the first of Watertown’s elected representatives to dare stand up and question our deeply entrenched anti-racist policies and insist that the elephant gets a seat at the table for an important conversation that is long overdue? Until that happens, the most important diversity of all will remain stifled – diversity of thought.

 

Bruce Coltin, The Battle For Watertown 

A LOCAL MURDER SUSPECT IS APPREHENDED IN FLORIDA! BUT THAT IS JUST PART OF AN OTHERWISE BAD STORY

Here’s the barebones information provided in the official press release:

October 4, 2023, at 5:48 p.m.

“Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Waltham Police Chief Kevin O’Connell have announced that Josh Pierre, 21, of Waltham, has been located in Florida and placed under arrest in connection with the Murder of Shelson Jules,22, that occurred in May of this year.

At around 1:30 a.m. on May 22, 2023, on Lyman Street, in the vicinity of Faneuil Road in Waltham, the suspect fired two shots, striking the victim twice from behind, before fleeing the scene.”

Here’s a picture of the suspect, Josh Pierre.

According to the press release, Pierre was arrested in Miramar, Florida on September 22, with the assistance of the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section and the United States Marshall Task Force.

Since the investigation is underway, we are unlikely to know more about this case anytime soon. But there is more to the story that should be of interest to those of us who are concerned about public safety and the qualifications we desire in the next Chief of the Watertown Police Department.

So, let’s go a bit deeper.

This was not a random murder. And unlike the recent murders in the Nonantum neighborhood of Newton, this was not the act of a deranged individual. While the facts are sketchy, there is enough to suggest that this murder was cold and calculated.

Pierre was a known drug dealer and was under investigation by the Southern Middlesex County Regional Drug Task Force well before he became a suspect in the murder.

He was arrested on May 5, for what Waltham District Court records refer to as “an ongoing situation occurring in the Waltham Public Schools, especially the middle schools.”

Pierre was selling to students, as young as 14, cannabis and THC vape pens that provide them with the ability to get high in public areas with much less chance of getting caught. Smoking joints or pipes emit smoke and distinct marijuana odors, which the pens do not. And vape pens are easier to conceal. Some are made to conveniently fit in the palm of the hand.

Should that sound an alarm for Watertown Middle School and High School parents?

Task force members believe that Pierre had a marketing reach beyond the Waltham city limits, provided to him by the social media platform Snapchat, where teens and drug traffickers share a coded language understood by few adults.

While surveilling Pierre, police observed a drug deal taking place and pulled over a vehicle, where Pierre and a 14-year-old middle school eighth grader were found possessing drugs and paraphernalia. Pierre was arrested on the scene and charged with drug trafficking.

He was arraigned on May 8 – 14 days before the murder − and released on $500 bail.

And the story gets worse from here, especially for parents of school-age children.

 In the vehicle, along with Pierre and the 14-year-old, were two other individuals. One of them, Nyaja Gilchrist, was arrested and charged with multiple drug offenses, including “possession of pressed fentanyl pills with intent to distribute.”

Again, I ask: Should parents of Watertown students be alarmed? Of course, this is more of a statement than a question.

A fourth individual in the vehicle, Waltham resident, Strawensky Cebeat, 21, was later arrested in connection with the murder and charged with being an accessory after the fact and withholding evidence.

All information on Nyaja Gilchrist and Strawensky Cebeat has since been impounded by Waltham District Court and is unavailable to members of the public, which sadly includes me.

There is one more “character” in this story but it’s not a person. It’s a place.

In the 1970s, I lived in a small apartment complex around the corner from Gardencrest Apartments. Occasionally, frustrated apartment hunters would show up at our doors when they found that there was no availability at Gardencrest, which had a reputation as the preferred Waltham residence for both singles and families. The property was well maintained and the rent was considered affordable.

On several occasions, I visited residents, who described Gardencrest as a “happy place to live.”

But that was then.

As part of their investigation involving the Waltham School District, the task force staked out Gardencrest, where at least two of Pierre’s 14-year-old customers live, and observed numerous suspected drug deals that involved Pierre. Since the records are sealed, we do not know if they also involved suspected fentanyl trafficker, Nyaja Gilchrist.

In dozens of police affidavits that I’ve had the opportunity to read, police officers describe just how difficult it is to catch a drug transaction in progress. They happen quickly and mostly out of sight.

But, residents of Gardencrest had to be aware of suspicious activity in their community. We can only wonder how much that activity impacted this community’s quality of life.

We don’t know exactly what took place at the murder scene on Lyman Street, other than the fact that two bullets were fired into Shelson Jules, from behind. Ana Rivas, who lives on Lyman Street told reporters that, “she's counting her blessings” after one of the bullets shattered part of her bedroom window where she was asleep with her grandchild, and added that “it could've hit her head had it entered at a higher angle.”

Other stray bullets damaged nearby vehicles. One area resident said that she thought she heard about eight gunshots fired “one right after the other."

This happened less than two miles from Watertown, where we are now in the process of hiring our next police chief.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, there is a highly vocal and influential group of residents who are lobbying Manager Proakis to select a candidate with a social work philosophy, and matching credentials, to serve as Watertown’s next Top Cop rather than the no-nonsense, street-savvy realist that his officers and the public deserve.

Who can blame them? Watertown has been so remarkably free of major crimes, that it’s easy to believe that bad guys respect our borders and will never be a Watertown problem. And so I will keep repeating the warning that we live in a fool’s paradise.

At least we do for now.

 

Bruce Coltin, The Battle for Watertown