Meshugginah posts, and other things sundry

[Vaska]

Charles, some of the kids I teach happen to be black; some are unwed
mothers; some are black guys with a chip on their shoulder that makes them
prematurely stooped -- all are back in school thanks to the generosity of
our none too generous provincial government here in Ontario.  For each one
that makes it out of the kind of life they lived just a year or two ago, I
and my colleagues sing hearty Hallelujahs each faculty meeting we have.
Some of our students will never make it; some go on to exceed one's wildest
dreams and utopian hopes about what IS possible.  

A year ago, our new conservative government began an assualt on the higher
education system, while slashing the welfare allowance, closing down
hospitals, day-care centres, schools of all sorts -- busy guys, that bunch;
guess what?  Within a matter of weeks, all Welfare Centres in Toronto [one
of which is just a couple of streets away] had posters plasted all over
their offices warning of a sharp rise in the number of "economically
motivated" suicides in the city.  By sharp they meant over 200% in less than
two months.  The trend set a year ago continues to this day.  I happen to
know this; the vast majority of my fellow Torontonians don't because the
media have steadfastly refused to cover this aspect of our new political
climate here.  People are killing themselves out of despair.  Which need not
have been caused.

Having got to know some of my underpriviledged students, to use that ugly
term, I can fully imagine myself, in their place, not even bothering to
reach out for that gun the moment some well-meaning moralist tried to talk
to me about "values" -- I'd probably strangle poor soul with my bare hands
instead....  

Vaska

>> They might even start demanding, and vehemently too, some real job training
>> programs for some real jobs -- not to mention better housing, medical care,
>> decent schools and other minor things of the kind...
>
>Except that it may have little to do with the problem. I have spoken 
>to some on the front line that have become quite disillusioned with 
>the idea that the constituency in question is receptive to such 
>programs. Not that I am crazy about the idea of sitting idly by, but 
>there may be something, after all, to the simplistic drivel about 
>"values education" as much as it galls me to credit the morons who 
>sing it.
>Recent studies have suggested that young mothers who were enrolled in 
>a substantial federal program to keep them in school show no long 
>term benefits from the assistance. Immigrants recently arrived on 
>these shores speak disparagingly of the dependence and victim status 
>in which many of their stateside brethren wallow, and many go to 
>tremendous lengths not to subscribe to programs available to them.
>I still won't vote for any yahoo that calls for the dismantling of 
>federal assistance programs, but one has to begin to wonder whether 
>the answer may lay elsewhere.
>
>> >Besides that, who says most drug dealers are black or hispanic or urban?
>> 
>> They are the ones who tend to do time, though...  
>A shameful legacy of the War on Drugs. Statistically blacks and 
>hispanics are less prone to hard drug use than whites. Current laws 
>have created drug marts in areas of urban blight, managed by its 
>inhabitants for the benefit of people from the high rent districs and 
>suburbs where such activity is not tolerated. A few years ago a 
>Boston Globe scribbler looked into the demographics of heroin dealing 
>in a Dorchester neighbourhood. Less than 5% of the customers were 
>local, the rest from more "gentrified" zip codes. These laws are a 
>disgrace, and we are reaping a bitter harvest. People who insist on 
>the criminal model for illegal drug use management usually have some 
>financial stake therein, they should be dragged out of their homes 
>and buggywhipped into a deep sleep in front of their families.
>love,
>cfa, who wishes things were different.
>