By Ted Bynum, executive director of the St. Louis Teachers’ Association. Originally published in SLATE and reprinted in The Paper, May 1977.
About 1 year ago I had a tumor removed from my chest. Although it was believed to be benign, there was always the possibility that it could have been cancerous. One thing was certain, however, it had to be removed. I believe you’re beginning to see the analogy. Surgery was necessary to remove the tumor and surgery, as I’m sure most of you know, leaves problems of its own, but the tumor could not have been removed without it.
Desegregation is much the same. We cannot desegregate the St. Louis Public Schools without some discomfort, some inconvenience and some sacrifice. Segregation was not painless to the black community. It caused and continues to cause great hardship for blacks and for the nation as a whole. Have any of you ever considered how much wasted effort is expended in dealing with people because of race? How much talent has been lost? How it continues to be a stumbling block for our city in resolving community problems?
We delude ourselves if we say we want to desegregate the schools and do not want to make the personal sacrifice to achieve it. This has been the major obstacle to desegregation these days, the personal sacrifice. It was a lot easier to talk about when it was some other community, some other neighborhood, but today, it calls upon this community to make a personal commitment. Unfortunately, many are saying, now, that it’s not worth it. Saying, in essence, that separate should be equal: that “quality” education is the issue and not who sits next to whom.
Quality education is the issue, but quality depends very much on the access to equal educational opportunity and it has been determined that segregated schools do not and have not provided that access. Because of the unwillingness to make some sacrifice, there is a renewed movement, albeit the last 200 years of history, to make separate equal.
The St. Louis Public School doesn’t offer the children of St. Louis the type of education it should, now. Desegregation will not be the cause of a poor education. We should not confuse the issue.
The cry is made that, “Oh, if we could only desegregate without busing!” Well, we can, but that would require integrating (oops, bad word!) desegregating the neighborhoods, eliminating the effects of job discrimination and educational inequities that have existed for years and not many people are working for these things or willing to make these “sacrifices,” either.
Schools Can’t Do It Alone
While the school district has not taken an affirmative stance, until recently, in desegregating the schools, it cannot do it alone. For segregation, after all, is a community problem. The citizens of St. Louis must work to have a desegregated community.
It will not evolve from citizen inaction, at least, not in the way that will be best for the community.
The scar from my surgery has long since healed. It’s still there, but eventually it will get smaller and not be noticeable. But the important thing is, the unwanted growth is no longer there.
Originally published in The Paper, May 1977.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1977_05.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
