Wilbanks' Comment Was Not Racist

Georgia idiots call for superintendent’s ouster By Ripclawe(Ripclawe) “I sent it to about 60 parents, and they were offended,” said educator Monise Seward of Snellville, who is developing a charter school in Gwinnett.”I’m surprised that he still has job…. It’s unacceptable.” ...

Gwinnett County Schools superintendent Alvin Wilbanks made a comment about the number of black people living in Idaho. It was a valid question/comment, because the discussion was about statistics and ratio of the number of African American students being disproportionate with the discipline records of African American students.

"An administrator said the issue is a problem for school districts nationwide except in Idaho, according to a study. Wilbanks then asked the administrator, James Taylor, executive director of the department of academic support: “Do they have any blacks in Idaho? They don’t have many.”

It wasn't meant as a racist comment, but some people took it that way. Why? Because they didn't pay any attention to the information surrounding the quote. An administrator brought up the statistics of the state of Idaho. His comment was to say that the statistics in Idaho are probably not a factor with our state's statistical data. He's wanting the ratio of African American students being disciplined to be correctly in line with how many African American children are in school - he's concerned about racism, he's not being racist.

Even in this blog, I'm wondering if I should use the term "black," or should I only use "African American," lest I be accused of racism. I've decided to go with use of both, to balance out the terms, and cross fingers that I don't offend someone, somewhere!

I'm sure I've already offended someone by not agreeing that Wilbanks made racist remarks. Once you get accused of something like racism, there is no way to approach correcting it..... if you ignore it, you look more racist, if you argue "no, I'm not racist," you look even more racist. Once accused of racism, it sticks to a person.

Those 60 parents should read the whole story, instead of getting only the quote and what was probably a slanted version of the information surrounding the quote and then having a knee-jerk reaction to it.

As parents and teachers, we need to set a good example for our children and students by practicing critical thinking skills and actually reading the whole news story before jumping to conclusions and hurting someone's personal and professional reputation.

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Comment leads to call for superintendent’s ouster
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
The Gwinnett Chapter NAACP issued a statement today scolding Wilbanks for his comments. “This type of rhetoric not only dishonors Gwinnett County Public ...

Fire the Superintendent?
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By Rick Badie | Wednesday, August 20, 2008, 02:34 PM I read your post about Gwinnett County Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks and you’re right: It is a great ...