Racism is at the heart of the neoliberal agenda, whether it’s cutting taxes, fighting public healthcare and social security, privatizing prisons, deregulating the finance industry, or weakening environmental protections.
But nowhere is the racism more evident than in the simultaneous defunding of public schools and the rise of corporate charter school industry.
Public schools run by public employees and directly answerable to the communities they served were once the bulwark of the American educaitonal system [and, yes, they were flawed.
The movement towards privately owned schools was spurred by Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court ruling barring racial segregation of public schools.
White flight followed, and has only intensified over the years, and that resegregation is the focus of the latest episode of the latest episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver’s weekly series for HBO.
From Last Week Tonight:
School Segregation: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Program notes:
Public schools are increasingly divided by race and class. John Oliver discusses the troubling trend towards school resegregation.
eats shoots 'n leaves 