Dog-free zones needed to make outdoors less racist, Welsh Government told
Dog-free zones needed to make outdoors less racist, Welsh Government told
Tories claim that plan to remove ‘barriers to the outdoors’ is out of touch and ‘virtue signalling nonsense’
By Craig Simpson
November 13, 2024
The Welsh Government has been advised to create dog-free zones to help make the outdoors “anti-racist”.
Labour’s devolved administration has pledged to rid Wales of racism by 2030, and set out a plan to ensure “all areas” of public life were transformed.
According to a report submitted to the Welsh Government to steer “anti-racist” policy, dog-free zones should be created to make the outdoors more inclusive.
The report by the environmental group Climate Cymru BAME advises, as part of a suite of proposals, that authorities should create “dog-free areas in local green spaces”.
The reason for this is not elaborated on in the report, which will be used by the Welsh Government to “support policy teams” who are “developing and implementing” anti-racist plans for Wales.
The report was part of a call for evidence to assess “racism relating to climate change, environment, and rural affairs”, in order to steer how green spaces can be made to align with the Labour’s 2022 Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan.
On the basis of reports provided to date, the Welsh Government has concluded that ethnic minorities face “barriers” to the outdoors created by “exclusions and racism”.
Barriers to outdoor activities includes the perception that growing food in gardens or allotments is an activity “dominated by middle-aged white women”.
A report submitted to the Welsh Labour Government by the environmental group Green Soul recorded the complaint that food growing groups are run by “majority White/British/Welsh individuals” and “older white people”.
Climate Cymru BAME, along with groups polled to inform the anti-racist policy, suggested that ethnic minority residents could be directed to “community led” food growing groups to mitigate the issue.
One report to the Welsh Government complained that the environmental sector was not sufficiently inclusive, stating that environmentalism is “essentially a white middle class issue” and groups are filled with people from a “white middle-class background”.
A separate set of recommendations submitted by the North Wales Africa Society suggested that “dog-free areas” should be created, explaining that during its focus groups “one black African female stated that she feels unsafe with the presence of dogs”.
The report also noted that others kept “seeing dog fouling on the floor”.
Mess and the quality of urban green spaces was an issue consistently recorded in reports of ethnic minority experiences fed to the Welsh Government.
One respondent in a “community dialogue” focus group complained that “the green spaces are not respected in areas where there is a bigger population of ethnic minority people”.
Other issues raised included a lack of public transport access to non-urban green spaces, and the poor air quality in towns and cities.
Summarising findings and recommendations submitted by polled groups, a Welsh Government report published on Nov 6 also stated that “some participants expressed apprehension about visiting the countryside owing to their racial or religious identities”.
It added that there were “concerns of the lack of understanding and relationships by the wider white population particularly in rural areas, from personal experiences”.
Ultimately, the Welsh Government’s report, which will steer future policy, concludes that “people of ethnic minority background in Wales face barriers created by exclusions and racism”.
The conclusions of the report have been criticised by Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, who said: “This kind of outdated virtue signalling nonsense is completely out of touch with the needs of the people of Wales.
“Labour is stuck on yesterday’s thinking, the kind that is being roundly rejected globally. Time to turf them out.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “We are committed to creating an anti-racist nation by 2030. Our Anti-racist Wales Action Plan is built on the values of anti-racism and calls for zero tolerance of all racial inequality.”
3 facing federal charges of allegations of staging hate crime hoax during 2023 Colorado Springs mayoral race
3 facing federal charges of allegations of staging hate crime hoax during 2023 Colorado Springs mayoral race
By Lindsey Grewe
November 13, 2024
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – Three people are now facing federal charges for allegedly staging a hate crime during the Colorado Springs mayoral race in 2023.
In the early morning hours of April 23, 2023, a burning cross in front a campaign sign for then-candidate Yemi Mobolade was found at the intersection of Union and Fillmore. The sign had been defaced with a racial slur.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado (USAOC) now says the entire scene was a hoax, intended to make citizens think that there was a group of racists in Colorado Springs strongly opposed to a Black mayoral candidate.
In a news release Tuesday, the USAOC announced 35-year-old Derrick Bernard Jr., 40-year-old Ashley Blackcloud, and 38-year-old Deanna West had been indicted by a grand jury for their “maliciously conveying false information about a threat made by means of fire” and “their alleged roles in a conspiracy to spread disinformation about the threat.”
In the indictment obtained by 11 News, the USAOC states the trio started plotting in early April 2023, the day after a runoff election was announced in the mayoral race, with Mobolade and Wayne Williams the projected candidates. The indictment included a series of emails it alleges were from the three suspects:
(a) On or about April 5, 2023, the day after the mayoral election, BERNARD texted BLACKCLOUD that he wanted to talk “in person” because he was “not talking on the phone bout nothing that’s bout to happen” and that “Ima just talk to you bout a few plans.”
(b) On or about April 13, 2023 BERNARD sent a Facebook message to CANDIDATE 1: “I know it’s crunch time sir but look . . . I spoke with some of my friends in other places and theirs [sic] a plot amidst . . . I’m mobilizing my squadron in defense and for the final push. Black ops style big brother. The klan cannot be allowed to run this city again.”
(c) On or about April 13, 2023 BERNARD sent a series of Facebook messages to BLACKCLOUD. Among other things, BERNARD told BLACKCLOUD “I can’t let the klan retake the city,” “[CANDIDATE 1] really won already. They doing some B’s [sic] run off now bc they ain’t tryna let an African win,” and “I got a plan . . . .”
– Excerpt from indictment
The indictment then goes on to accuse the three of vandalizing one of Mobolade’s campaign sings, then erecting and intentionally setting a cross on fire in front of it. Investigators allegedly later recovered spray paint from one of the suspects’ cars.
On or about April 23, 2023, between approximately 2:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. BERNARD, BLACKCLOUD, and WEST worked together to place a wooden cross in front of that campaign sign. Red spray paint, similar in kind to a can later found in the passenger compartment of BLACKCLOUD’s car, was used to write [a racial slur] on the sign. The wooden cross was then set on fire. An iPhone 13 was used to take a short video of the scene and to take a photograph.
– Excerpt from indictment
Afterward, the indictment says the photo and video were circulated to media outlets:
(e) On or about that same day, later in the evening on April 23, 2023, BLACKCLOUD and WEST worked together to send an email … to, among others, local broadcast news outlets. Attached to the email was the above photograph and the video. Several news organizations published news stories on the cross burning.
…
(b) On or about April 23, 2023, at approximately 3:52 a.m. BLACKCLOUD used Instagram to send a message to WEST: “Hey did u get back ok?”
(c) On or about April 23, 2023, between approximately 1:53 p.m. and 7:42 p.m., BLACKCLOUD researched online 15 of the 24 organizations that received the … email and performed searches such as “kkk email,” “contact news about a story,” and “news colorado springs.”
(d) On or about April 23, 2023, between approximately 7:18 p.m. and 7:24 p.m., WEST performed web searches such as “complaint letter against racist acts” and “candidates racist acts during campaign.” (e) On or about April 23, 2023, at approximately 7:24 p.m., WEST used the internet to access a document entitled “Hate in Elections” with the subtitle “How Racism and Bigotry Threaten Election Integrity in the United States”
…
(j) On or about April 25, 2023, at approximately 7:56 p.m. BERNARD used Facebook Messenger to send BLACKCLOUD a link to a local broadcast news report on the cross burning.
(k) On or about April 25, 2023, at approximately 7:56 p.m. BERNARD texted BLACKCLOUD: “Look at ya messenger ASAP” and “we got traction.”
– Excerpt from indictment
Both Mobolade and Williams strongly condemned the display at the time.
The USAOC says Bernard, Blackcloud and West were indicted following a lengthy investigation by the FBI and Colorado Springs Police Department. Blackcloud made her first appearance in federal court Tuesday, with Bernard expected to follow suit after he is transferred from state custody into federal custody.
West has not been located.
What to Know About the University of Michigan’s D.E.I. Experiment: A Times investigation found that the school built one of the most ambitious diversity programs in the country — only to see increased discord and division on campus.
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/16/magazine/university-of-michigan-dei.html
Archive: https://archive.ph/F7nzQ
What to Know About the University of Michigan’s D.E.I. Experiment
A Times investigation found that the school built one of the most ambitious diversity programs in the country — only to see increased discord and division on campus.
By Nicholas Confessore
October 16, 2024
A decade ago, the University of Michigan intentionally placed itself in the vanguard of a revolution then beginning to reshape American higher education. Around the country, college administrators were rapidly expanding D.E.I. programs. They believed that vigorous D.E.I. efforts would allow traditionally underrepresented students to thrive on campus — and improve learning for students from all backgrounds.
In recent years, as D.E.I. programs came under withering attack, Michigan has only doubled down on D.E.I., holding itself out as a model for other schools. By one estimate, the university has built the largest D.E.I. bureaucracy of any big public university.
But an examination by The Times found that Michigan’s expansive — and expensive — D.E.I. program has struggled to achieve its central goals even as it set off a cascade of unintended consequences.
Here are some key takeaways from the Magazine’s article on Michigan’s D.E.I. experiment.
Michigan has poured a staggering quarter of a billion dollars into D.E.I.
Striving to reach “every individual on campus,” Michigan has invested nearly 250 million dollars into D.E.I. since 2016, according to an internal presentation I obtained. Every university “unit” — from the medical school down to the archives — is required to have a D.E.I. plan.
The number of employees who work in D.E.I.-related offices or have “diversity,” “equity” or “inclusion” in their job titles reached 241 last year, according to an analysis by Mark J. Perry, an emeritus professor of finance at the university’s Flint campus.
Michigan has struggled to improve Black enrollment — and students overall feel less included, not more.
The percentage of Black students, currently around 5 percent, remained largely stagnant as Michigan’s overall enrollment rose — and in a state where 14 percent of residents are Black. In a survey released in late 2022, students and faculty members across the board reported a less positive campus climate than at the program’s start and less of a sense of belonging.
Students were less likely to interact with people of a different race or religion or with different politics — the exact kind of engagement D.E.I. programs, in theory, are meant to foster.
While its peers reconsider aspects of D.E.I., Michigan has doubled down.
This year, both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences announced they would no longer require job candidates to submit diversity statements, or explanations of the candidate’s commitment to D.E.I. Such “compelled statements,” M.I.T.’s president said, “impinge on freedom of expression.” But at Michigan, a faculty committee this summer privately recommended that the school continue using such statements,” which are currently required by most of Michigan’s colleges and schools.
D.E.I. at Michigan has helped fuel a culture of grievance.
Instead of improving students’ ability to engage with one another across their differences, Michigan’s D.E.I. expansion has coincided with an explosion in campus conflict over race and gender. Everyday campus complaints and academic disagreements are now cast as crises of inclusion and harm.
In 2015, the university office charged with enforcing federal civil rights mandates including Title IX received about 200 complaints of sex- or gender-based misconduct on Michigan’s campus. Last year, it surpassed 500. Complaints involving race, religion or national origin increased to almost 400 from a few dozen during roughly the same period.
After Oct. 7, Michigan’s D.E.I. bureaucracy was tested like never before — and failed.
At Michigan, as at other schools, campus protests exploded after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and Israel’s retaliation in Gaza. So did complaints of harassment or discrimination based on national origin or ancestry. This June, civil rights officials at the federal Department of Education found that Michigan had systematically mishandled such complaints over the 18-month period ending in February. Out of 67 complaints of harassment or discrimination based on national origin or ancestry that the officials reviewed — an overwhelming majority involving allegations of antisemitism, according to a tally I obtained — Michigan had investigated and made findings in just one.
Time and time and time again, “diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion,” and other similar words are being used as excuses to dumb down educational standards. Here are 24 examples.
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
October 15, 2024
Time and time and time again, “diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion,” and other similar words are being used as excuses to dumb down educational standards.
Here are 24 examples:
1) The New York Times wrote, “The Board of Regents on Monday eliminated a requirement that aspiring teachers in New York State pass a literacy test to become certified after the test proved controversial because black and Hispanic candidates passed it at significantly lower rates than white candidates.”
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/nyregion/ny-regents-teacher-exams-alst.html?_r=0
Archive: https://archive.ph/GzyQM
2) The New York Times wrote, “A 2009 Princeton study showed Asian-Americans had to score 140 points higher on their SATs than whites, 270 points higher than Hispanics and 450 points higher than blacks to have the same chance of admission to leading universities.”
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/opinion/white-students-unfair-advantage-in-admissions.html
Archive: https://archive.ph/MEDXn
3) Patrick Henry High School, San Diego’s largest high school, cited “equity” as its reason for removing some of its classes in advanced English, advanced history, and advanced biology.
4) The Vancouver School Board cited “equity and inclusion” for why it got rid of its honors courses in math and science at its high schools.
Archive: https://archive.ph/MBOEo
5) In the name of equity, California will discourage students who are gifted at math
Original: https://reason.com/2021/05/04/california-math-framework-woke-equity-calculus/
Archive: https://archive.ph/N4CQC
6) PBS Boston affiliate WGBH: “Boston public schools suspends test for advanced learning classes; concerns about program’s racial inequities linger”
7) Lowell High in San Francisco, one of the country’s best public high schools, replaced its merit based admissions with a lottery based admissions, because the school had too many Asians.
Original: https://abc7news.com/sfusd-board-of-education-meeting-school-lowell-high-sf/10325219/
Archive: https://archive.ph/iGzom
8) Expecting math students to get the right answer is now considered to be a form of “white supremacy.” See page 6 at this link:
Original: https://equitablemath.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/1_STRIDE1.pdf
9) The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City canceled its honor society because whites and Asians were earning better grades than blacks and Latinos.
Archive: https://archive.ph/WNwvW
10) New Jersey stopped requiring new teachers to be proficient in reading, writing, and math, because the requirement was considered to be an “unnecessary barrier.”
Archive: https://archive.ph/vh6io
11) Washington Post: “Maryland school district worker fired after correcting student’s spelling in a tweet”
12) Oregon again says students don’t need to prove mastery of reading, writing or math to graduate, citing harm to students of color
Archive: https://archive.ph/mV38Y
13) In Mississauga, Ontario, a public high school library removed every book that had been published in 2008 or earlier, under the justification of “inclusivity,” “anti-racism,” “equity,” and “diversity”
Original: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/peel-school-board-library-book-weeding-1.6964332
Archive: https://archive.ph/ktv2R
14) The public schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts stopped offering advanced math classes to students in grades 6, 7, and 8, because students of some races had been doing better than students of other races.
15) Met applicants ‘functionally illiterate in English accepted in bid to improve diversity’
Archive: https://archive.ph/t3Pia
16) New York Times: “At N.Y.U., Students Were Failing Organic Chemistry. Who Was to Blame? Maitland Jones Jr., a respected professor, defended his standards. But students started a petition, and the university dismissed him.”
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/us/nyu-organic-chemistry-petition.html
Archive: https://archive.ph/iDG0t
17) New York Times: “Texas Wesleyan Cancels Play After Students Say Use of Slur Is Harmful. The play’s author, who is Black, said he crafted its language to be historically accurate in representing civil rights struggles. But the theater program at the university heeded the call of students.”
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/us/texas-wesleyan-play-racism.html
Archive: https://archive.ph/uIz1L
18) University bans sonnets as ‘products of white western culture’
Original: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05/14/university-bans-sonnets-products-white-western-culture/
Archive: https://archive.ph/RrXCi
19) The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center temporarily placed Professor Julie Overbaugh, an award winning HIV researcher, on administrative leave, after the school found out that she had once dressed up as Michael Jackson for Halloween.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Overbaugh
Archive: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Julie_Overbaugh&oldid=1234427714
20) Canadian court declares math test for new teachers ‘unconstitutional’ because of racial disparities in passage rates
Original:
Archive:
21) The English Touring Opera fired 14 of its musicians because they were white.
Archive: https://archive.ph/Rl9Ub
22) Sunrise Park Middle School in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, cited “equitable grading” as the reason why “students no longer will be given an F grade – no matter how bad they did on an assignment or test or if it was turned in late or not at all.”
Archive: https://archive.ph/JkGij
23) The UCLA Anderson School of Management placed lecturer Gordon Klein on involuntary administrative leave because he refused to dumb down his curriculum for black students after the murder of George Floyd.
Archive: https://archive.ph/XCdng
24) Washington Post: “Students hated ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Their teachers tried to dump it. Four progressive teachers in Washington’s Mukilteo School District wanted to protect students from a book they saw as outdated and harmful.”
Archive: https://archive.ph/H6Z6A
The “stereotype” is real. 72% of black babies in the U.S. are born out of wedlock. That’s the real problem, not some ad from a ketchup company.
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1845880854834237722
Democrats are claiming that this question from a firefighters’ exam “discriminates against Black candidates.”
https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/1844058406434283824
Justice Department Secures Agreement with Durham, North Carolina, to End Discriminatory Hiring Practices in City’s Fire Department
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
The Justice Department announced today that it has secured a settlement agreement with the City of Durham (City), North Carolina, to resolve the department’s claim that the hiring process for firefighters in the Durham Fire Department (DFD) violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Specifically, the department alleges that the City’s fire department screens applicants with a written test that discriminates against Black candidates.
Title VII is a federal statute that prohibits employment discrimination based on race, sex, color, national origin and religion. Title VII prohibits not only intentional discrimination but also employment practices that result in a disparate impact on a protected group, unless such practices are job related and consistent with business necessity.
The settlement agreement resolves a civil pattern or practice investigation the Civil Rights Division opened in February 2020. As part of the investigation, the division conducted an in-depth review of DFD’s hiring practices, applicant data and other information received from the DFD. The division concluded that the fire department was using a written test that does not meaningfully distinguish between applicants who can and cannot perform the job of a firefighter. The test also disqualified Black applicants from employment at significantly disproportionate rates. The department thus concluded that the test violates Title VII.
“Discriminatory employment tests do more than cost applicants a fair chance to compete for public service jobs like firefighting; they also prevent communities from being served in these crucial positions by the most qualified candidates for the job,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The under-representation of Black people in the fire department workforce in Durham, and across the country, undermines public safety efforts. This settlement agreement requires the Durham Fire Department to reform its unlawful hiring process and provide monetary and other relief to those already harmed. The Justice Department will continue to work to ensure that all qualified applicants have a fair and equal opportunity to serve their communities.”
“Employers should identify and eliminate practices that have a disparate impact based on race,” said U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Hairston for the Middle District of North Carolina. “The Justice Department will continue to work to eliminate discriminatory policies that deprive qualified applicants of a fair chance to compete for employment opportunities.”
The complaint, filed yesterday in the Middle District of North Carolina, alleges that the City’s uses of the written test called the Comprehensive Examination Battery (CEB) disproportionately exclude Black candidates from employment as firefighters. The department further alleges that DFD’s uses of the CEB are not job-related and consistent with business necessity, and thus violate Title VII.
Under the terms of the consent decree also filed yesterday, DFD will:
Adopt a written test that does not discriminate in violation of Title VII and provide data to the department on the administration of the new test to ensure compliance;
Pay $980,000 in back pay to applicants who were disqualified by DFD’s uses of the challenged test; and
Hire up to 16 applicants who were unfairly disqualified by the challenged test and who successfully complete the new firefighter selection process.
The full and fair enforcement of Title VII is a top priority of the Civil Rights Division. The division has issued a fact sheet on combating hiring discrimination by police and fire departments to help applicants for public safety jobs understand their rights to be free from discriminatory hiring processes. More information about the Civil Rights Division can be found at http://www.justice.gov/crt.
The radical leftists who are obsessed with hate crimes don’t care about the 93% of black murder victims who are killed by other blacks. All black lives matter, not just the ones who are killed by whites.
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1841231820710355186
https://cbsnews.com/news/feds-49-of-murder-victims-are-black-men/
A thought experiment: A student is admitted to four different colleges, with each of the four colleges having a different reason for admitting the student.
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
September 9, 2024
A thought experiment: A student is admitted to four different colleges, with each of the four colleges having a different reason for admitting the student.
Question: Of these four colleges, which college would be the best match for the student?
College #1: The student is admitted based on merit.
College #2: The student is admitted because their family donated $100 million to the college.
College #3: The student is admitted because the football team wanted the student to play on their team.
College #4: The student is admitted based on affirmative action.
Two opposing views on affirmative action: Supporters of affirmative action focus on admission rates, whereas opponents of affirmative action focus on graduation rates.
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
September 7, 2024
Here are two very different points of view on affirmative action.
This 7 minute video from MSNBC is called “MIT diversity data confirms ‘worst fears’ about end of affirmative action.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIyZL_I0ysQ
The MSNBC video includes this chart:
This article from the Atlantic is called: “The Painful Truth About Affirmative Action: Why racial preferences in college admissions hurt minority students — and shroud the education system in dishonesty.”
Now here’s my take on this issue.
The MSNBC piece only seems to care about how many students get admitted to elite colleges. It does not seem to be concerned about how many of them graduate vs. how many of them drop out.
By comparison, the Atlantic piece cares very much about their graduation rate. The article points out, with multiple real world example, that affirmative action sets students up for failure by “mismatching” them to the wrong college.
If a student’s academic abilities are in the 90th percentile, then she or he is best off going to a college where the other students are in the 90th percentile.
But if this very same student goes to a school where the other students’ academic abilities are in the 99th percentile, then he or she is being set up for failure and dropping out.
That’s the argument from the Atlantic, and it’s an argument that MSNBC and other supporters of affirmative action ignore time and time and time again.
If all we care about is admission rates for students, then affirmative action is a great idea.
But if we are concerned about graduation rates for students, then affirmative action is a horrible idea.
I’m going to finish this blog post with an except from the Atlantic article, and I’d like to point out that this is the exact kind of thing that the supporters of affirmative action never talk about:
A powerful example of these problems comes from UCLA, an elite school that used large racial preferences until the Proposition 209 ban took effect in 1998. The anticipated, devastating effects of the ban on preferences at UCLA and Berkeley on minorities were among the chief exhibits of those who attacked Prop 209 as a racist measure. Many predicted that over time blacks and Hispanics would virtually disappear from the UCLA campus.
And there was indeed a post-209 drop in minority enrollment as preferences were phased out. Although it was smaller and more short-lived than anticipated, it was still quite substantial: a 50 percent drop in black freshman enrollment and a 25 percent drop for Hispanics. These drops precipitated ongoing protests by students and continual hand-wringing by administrators, and when, in 2006, there was a particularly low yield of black freshmen, the campus was roiled with agitation, so much so that the university reinstituted covert, illegal racial preferences.
Throughout these crises, university administrators constantly fed agitation against the preference ban by emphasizing the drop in undergraduate minority admissions. Never did the university point out one overwhelming fact: The total number of black and Hispanic students receiving bachelor’s degrees were the same for the five classes after Prop 209 as for the five classes before.
How was this possible? First, the ban on preferences produced better-matched students at UCLA, students who were more likely to graduate. The black four-year graduation rate at UCLA doubled from the early 1990s to the years after Prop 209.
Second, strong black and Hispanic students accepted UCLA offers of admission at much higher rates after the preferences ban went into effect; their choices seem to suggest that they were eager to attend a school where the stigma of a preference could not be attached to them. This mitigated the drop in enrollment.
Third, many minority students who would have been admitted to UCLA with weak qualifications before Prop 209 were admitted to less elite schools instead; those who proved their academic mettle were able to transfer up to UCLA and graduate there.
Thus, Prop 209 changed the minority experience at UCLA from one of frequent failure to much more consistent success. The school granted as many bachelor degrees to minority students as it did before Prop 209 while admitting many fewer and thus dramatically reducing failure and drop-out rates. It was able, in other words, to greatly reduce mismatch.
Stacy Clarke – the Toronto Police Service’s first Black female superintendent – admitted she helped six Black cops cheat to get a promotion in “a desperate effort to level the playing field.”
As a person who is in favor of making sure that every police officer is qualified to do their job, I think this police officer should have been fired, not just demoted.
Instead of helping black police officers to cheat on their exams, she should have helped them to study so they could pass their exams fair and square.
She is a racist because she thinks black people are too dumb to pass a written test.
‘No room in policing for noble cause corruption’: Trailblazing Toronto cop who cheated to get Black officers promoted stripped of rank
Stacy Clarke – the Toronto Police Service’s first Black female superintendent – admitted she helped six Black cops cheat to get a promotion in “a desperate effort to level the playing field.”
By Wendy Gillis
August 28, 2024
By leaking confidential exam questions to six Black officers, Supt. Stacy Clarke “played the lead role in perverting their moral compasses,” a police tribunal heard — becoming the “maestro” of a sophisticated promotional cheating scheme that rocked the Toronto Police force and has now halted the senior officer’s meteoric rise.
Clarke’s orchestrated plan to help racialized cops get ahead amounted to “extremely serious” misconduct, tribunal adjudicator Robin McElary-Downer said in a much-anticipated penalty decision released Wednesday — a betrayal of her badge so great that Clarke, the force’s first Black female superintendent, needed to be stripped of her history-making rank.
“There is no room in policing for noble cause corruption,” McElary-Downer told a full public gallery inside Toronto police headquarters, referencing an unethical act aimed at achieving a greater good.
“Honesty and integrity are non-negotiable character traits of a police officer. Superintendent Clarke’s actions demonstrated both were absent,” she said, knocking Clarke down to inspector for two years and ruling she must reapply to regain her hard-fought higher rank.
Clarke pleaded guilty last year to seven counts of professional misconduct under Ontario’s police legislation after admitting she’d taken photographs of confidential interview questions then texted them to six Black candidates who were taking part in the highly competitive sergeant’s promotional process in 2021. Her high-profile sentencing hearing has shone a glaring spotlight on racial diversity within Canada’s largest police service, prompting debate about whether the ends could have justified the means inside a force still fighting anti-Black racism outside and in.
At a closely-watched sentencing hearing this May, Clarke claimed she’d helped the cops cheat in a last-ditch effort to counteract a still-present racial bias that keeps Black cops back, discrimination she knew all too well as a barrier-breaking police leader. Her unvarnished account of discrimination on the force won her hero status among many supporters, who brought her flowers and hugs during the hearing.
“I felt at the time that (the six officers) did not have a fair chance in this process and my own history and experience of racial inequity compounded this feeling,” Clarke wrote in an internal police report, calling the cheating “a desperate effort to level the playing field.”
On the stand in her own defence, Clarke suggested it was an open secret that senior officers had long helped their preferred candidates get promoted, though she acknowledged that was no excuse.
Groans of disappointment and anger could be heard in the auditorium Wednesday as McElary-Downer read out her decision — particularly the ruling that she must reapply to be superintendent, which supporters say means Clarke will never regain her trailblazing title.
“You can talk about fairness of systems. You can talk about the rules. No substantive change has ever been accomplished by following the rules that the system made,” said Audrey Campbell, former president of the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA) and Clarke supporter.
“One man’s criminal is another man’s freedom fighter,” she said.
Speaking briefly to reporters inside police headquarters, Clarke — who had listened emotionless throughout the hearing — said she was taking time with her family to consider next steps. She has 30 days to contest the decision to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission, which adjudicates appeals of police tribunal decisions.
“Just very disappointed and very sad about it,” Clarke said, on her way out. “There’s a lot of people who have shared these types of experiences. But I’m looking forward to moving forward. There’s a lot of work still to be done.”
In her 71-page ruling, McElary-Downer said that on first glance the case was “complex and challenging,” particularly as it concerned the “thorny issue” of anti-Black racism and the “purportedly unfair promotional process for Black officers.”
But she stressed it wasn’t her job to make recommendations about anti-Black racism or the promotional process.
“Rather, I am here because a very senior ranking officer of the Toronto Police Service, admittedly lead six very junior ranking officers into a scheme of cheating,” McElary-Downer said.
Clarke’s behaviour may have been well-intentioned but it was a “grave act of betrayal” of the six officers she helped cheat, McElary-Downer said. All six faced career consequences after the scheme came to light: five cops received unit-level discipline and were docked thousands in lost salary, while a sixth was demoted for professional misconduct.
“As a mentor, as a senior ranking officer, it was her duty, her moral and ethical obligation to lead by example and demonstrate honesty and integrity above reproach. Rather, she led by modelling corrupt behaviour and unfortunately, they followed,” the hearing officer said.
She noted, however, that Clarke’s swift recognition of her wrongdoing was laudable — she demonstrated accountability by pleading guilty and apologizing.
“I have no doubt she is deeply remorseful. While Superintendent Clarke’s actions failed to model the core values of the TPS, she has modelled courage, accountability, and responsibility, in her actions post misconduct,” McElary-Downer said.
Another mitigating factor was Clarke’s otherwise “distinguished and exemplary career in law enforcement,” she said.
But her misconduct — which caused a rupture of public trust in policing — illustrated an abuse of her position and her power, McElary-Downer said, making her “an unsuitable candidate to be automatically reinstated to the rank of superintendent.”
“Clarke will need to reapply down the road, and when she does, I am truly hopeful she will demonstrate her readiness to serve at the rank of superintendent,” the hearing officer wrote.
That decision sided with police prosecutor Scott Hutchison, who argued Clarke’s actions might well have warranted dismissal. Joseph Markson, Clarke’s lawyer, said forcing her to reapply to her rank would be “tantamount to a permanent demotion.”
Both lawyers declined to comment following Wednesday’s penalty decision.
Herman Stewart, another Clarke supporter and former JCA president, said forcing Clarke to reapply banishes her from ever being promoted again.
“She will never get it if she were to reapply,” Stewart said. “She’s doomed.”
In a statement Wednesday, Toronto police said the force acknowledged Clarke’s case “brought forward a number of issues that the service is addressing,” noting it has implemented reforms aimed at diversifying the ranks.
“We are committed, in partnership with the Toronto Police Service Board, to meaningful change and continuous improvement to create a respectful, safe, and inclusive workplace,” Chief Myron Demkiw said in a statement.
Alongside the groundswell of support, Clarke’s case prompted division among Black Torontonians and the policing community.
“We need more police accountability, and the individuals who implicate themselves in police harm and misconduct, whether they are Black or not, have to always be held to account,” Toronto activist and author Desmond Cole told the Star in May.
The Toronto Police Association has been vocal in its concerns that Clarke, as a senior officer, could be treated with kid gloves compared to lower-ranking cops. In a statement Wednesday, union president Jon Reid said TPA members “have long expressed concerns about the need for more accountability among senior officers.”
“Their actual and observed experiences indicate that expectations and rules for senior officers are not consistently enforced,” Reid said.
“As we move forward, we must continue to engage in transparent dialogue and take steps to ensure that accountability and fairness are not concepts but practiced realities within the service.”
Why is the DNC engaging in racial segregation?
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1828847858252165292
https://demconvention.com/schedule/
Chicago teachers’ union claim that Black kids cannot pass standardized tests doesn’t go over well with mom
https://www.yahoo.com/news/chicago-teachers-union-claim-black-100034530.html
Chicago teachers’ union claim that Black kids cannot pass standardized tests doesn’t go over well with mom
By Hannah Grossman
August 12, 2024
The president of an American Federations of Teachers’ affiliate in Chicago was berated by a Black mom for claiming on a radio station that standardized tests are “junk science rooted in White supremacy” as well as “eugenics.”
Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union and executive vice president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, was asked by a Black radio station last week about public school students’ declining reading and math scores. Specifically, criticism that Gates was advocating to boost teachers’ contracts with money that would be better served addressing student achievement.
She responded that gauging student achievement through testing was the problem.
“The way in which, you know, we think about learning and think about achievement is really and truly based on testing, which at best is junk science rooted in White supremacy,” she said. “Now, if you have another hour, I can get into why standardized tests are born out of the eugenics movement. And the eugenics movement is always thought to see Black people as inferior to those that are non-Black.”
“You can’t test black children with an instrument that was born to prove their inferiority,” she said. “Some of this is about, releasing our people from a standard that is created for the failure.”
However, a Black mom in Chicago called the radio station to firmly disagree with Gates that Black children can’t pass the tests.
“We have a literacy gap and that no one is addressing. And I know that the [Chicago Teachers’ Union] really they are not curriculum experts,” she said. “And I really think these questions to be asked of [Chicago Public Schools], because they are the ones who should be providing the proper curriculum for our students.”
“I want to say – as a parent – [regarding] standardized testing, we’re not ready to move beyond that right now,” the mother added.
“Let me say this to you,” she continued. “I passed every standardized test, and I want my children to be able to do it even though I’m Black. That does not mean I cannot achieve on standardized tests. And our children need to be able to do so that they can be competitive. Our focus needs to be on the literacy gap that Black children have, this not being addressed.”
Fox News Digital contacted the Chicago Teachers’ Union for comment and did not immediately receive a response.
During the interview, Gates also stressed the importance of teaching critical race theory (CRT).
“This is why being able to teach CRT is important, because it helps us to examine how we come to our conclusions,” she said. “CRT is an important function and should be in our education system, which is why the Republicans… are aiming directly for those types of things.”
The head of the AFT, Randi Weingarten, has previously claimed CRT was not in K-12 education, blaming the “culture warriors.”
“Let’s be clear: critical race theory is not taught in elementary schools or high schools,” she said in a July 2021 conference. “It’s a method of examination taught in law school and college.”
Other teacher union leaders have made similar claims.
The National Education Association union’s president, Becky Pringle, sent a letter to social media companies, urging them to take action against “the alarming growth of a small but violent group of radicalized adults who falsely believe that graduate level courses about racism are being taught in K-12 public schools because of misinformation spread on social media.”
Chicago alderwoman Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth cited “antiracism” as one of the reasons why she has stopped posting crime alerts.
Blue city leader to stop sharing crime alerts with constituents because they create bad ‘perception’
Alderwoman Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth cited research that states the over-reporting of crime negatively impacts the marginalized and underserved
June 3, 2024
A Chicago alderwoman will no longer post crime alerts on social media or send alerts to her constituents unless they specifically opt in for the notifications, saying the over-reporting of crime leads to an inaccurate public perception.
The announcement by Alderwoman Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth came as robberies and sex crimes are at their highest levels in years while thefts and robberies are also up.
In a blog post, Manaa-Hoppenworth, who represents the city’s 48th Ward, said only subscribers to her newsletter who have opted in to receive crime alerts will receive them.
The decision was based on feedback from the community and her “commitment to our values of empowerment, antiracism, and community,” she said.
A member of the O.J. Simpson jury told a reporter that they knew he was guilty
Skip to 2:27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUJCLdmNzAA
OJ Simpson Juror: Not-Guilty Verdict Was ‘Payback’ for Rodney King
Tim Molloy
June 15, 2016
Trial watchers, sociologists and even FX’s show “People v OJ Simpson” have argued that the jurors in O.J. Simpson’s murder case acquitted him as payback for the Rodney King beating. And in ESPN’s new event series, “O.J.: Made in America,” one juror finally comes out and says it.
In an excerpt aired on public radio show “Fresh Air” this week, juror Carrie Bess, who is now in her 70s, is asked whether “there are members of the jury that voted to acquit OJ because of Rodney King.”
“Yes,” she says simply. Later she says that she was one of them.
Ezra Edelman’s five-part documentary shows the long history of police brutality against African Americans in Los Angeles, including the beating by four officers of King, an unarmed driver who had led police on a chase. The officers were acquitted, which sparked the L.A. riots of 1992 in which 55 people died.
Bess’ comments come in the final episode of “Made in America,” when the series concludes on ESPN Saturday.
Here’s a transcription:
Interviewer: Do you think there are members of the jury that voted to acquit OJ because of Rodney King?
Bess: Yes.
Interviewer: You do?
Bess: Yes.
Interviewer: How many of you do you think felt that way?
Bess: Oh, probably 90 percent of them.
Interviewer: 90 percent. Did you feel that way?
Bess: Yes.
Interviewer: That was payback.
Bess: Uh-huh.
Interviewer: Do you think that’s right?
At that question, she holds up her hands.
Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of killing Ron Goldman and his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, after his lawyers told the jurors — who were mostly African American — that Simpson was the victim of a racist LAPD conspiracy.
Simpson was later found liable for their deaths in civil court, and sentenced to 33 years in prison in 2007 in an armed robbery in which he said he was trying to recover sports memorabilia that was stolen from him.
“O.J.: Made in America” airs at 9 p.m. ET this coming Wednesday, Friday and Saturday (June 15, 17 and 19).
Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog 