The Battle Over Anti-Racism In Michigan
Opposition To Change in Schools Sadly Continues
Traverse City
Today, I read several articles about racial and ethnic tension in the beautiful city of Traverse City, Michigan.
None of it surprised me.
According to various reports, vicious racial incidents by white high school students towards their fellow students of color have led to action by the Traverse City school officials to try to address the problem.
One incident had white students conducting a mock slave auction of their fellow Black students on Snapchat. This was one of many such incidents over the years in the schools according to various reports and sources.
The incidents resulted in the school board convening a study group and the drafting of anti-racism, anti-hate, anti-discrimination resolution that “condemns discrimination and harassment inside and outside our schools…”
The original resolution contained some essential action steps but when many white parents fiercely rejected any resolution and dismissed it all as “Critical Race Theory” (CRT), the resolution was pulled for further development and comment (I watched much of the four-hour hearing online — it wasn’t pretty).
The parents formed a group called Traverse City United (TC United) to challenge the board’s action basically. They are the opposition.
On the TC United website, they spend most of their time and space not condemning white supremacy, racism, and the evil of racist hate but mostly they condemn Critical Race Theory.
TC United, like most of those naming CRT as the enemy, is not opposed to CRT (despite their assertions) but to anti-racism or anti-white supremacy efforts. They are anti-anti racists in disguise. For to oppose anti-racism or anti-white supremacy would be deeply bigoted and they know it so they hide behind an agenda of this is really about CRT, which it isn’t.
Case in point — few people cared about CRT until the Trump Administration condemned it in an Executive Order last year. CRT was suddenly the bogeyman.
Critical Race Theory
CRT, as has been stated a gazillion times by now, is taught in some law schools and mostly studied by academic legal scholars. CRT has never been implemented anywhere because it is a theory on how to approach America’s laws and systems; it is not one set thing.
Some CRT scholars believe deeply that affirmative action can help fix the country’s racial woes. Some CRT scholars don’t.
It is such a vast field of legal scholarship, to see it attacked like it is being attacked, convinces me that a lot of white people in America are afraid of the future. They know white supremacy is wrong but they can’t let go of its benefits.
It is also clear why the parents in Traverse City are opposed to CRT because it sounds better to condemn CRT because Trump used it. So, as in many other states, and cities, they are using the Trump talking points — we are against CRT.
In fact, the story in Traverse City is no longer that of the victims of racist evil and hate; it is the ferocity of the response by whites to any attempt to engage the educational system with common sense anti-racist initiatives.
Mostly, the parents who opposed the resolution assert that they are not racist, they never consider race or skin color at all, and that there is no need for any of this because they are not racist nor are their children?
Why do they think not noticing differences is a virtue? Why do they think anyone would believe that?
I had already been hearing about the tension in Traverse City amongst high school students long before the situation has now reared its head. I have met many people from Traverse City, made a few friends, and spent some time there which I remember fondly.
It was the dead of winter and I came there to train workers on housing discrimination laws. It was part of their re-certification process. Racism in housing is illegal.
The training sessions went well and were quite enjoyable despite the cold and the constant snow outside. I found the workers very interested in doing the right thing and learning the law of housing discrimination. They asked questions. They cooperated.
Traverse City, Michigan always seemed like a city where community and understanding were possible. I can remember the city passed an ordinance that protected sexual orientation in housing.
That did not surprise me either. Michigan is a state of possibilities. The possibilities there are both bad and good, and most of the time, very good, or very bad.
And, Traverse City is in America. America was founded on white supremacist ideals. That is not the only thing about America but it is one of the things. The parents in Traverse City reject this so we won’t get anywhere with them.
But they want to pass this down to their children. That would be a mistake to not tell the children the truth at long last.
Anti-racism teachings are what the board in Traverse City wants to do, which is what CRT wants to do, which is what many Americans want. The current struggle across America is to stop that; it is mainly a Republican ideal.
Anti-anti racism I call it.
We are all living in a country that was built, created, and forged by white supremacy. Even I, a Black man, have grown up in it, and my entire being has been shaped by that reality.
This is what those who oppose “Anti-racism” programs don’t want to accept. And when you don’t accept that, it isn’t possible for things to get better or to be different either.
As my poet friend, Joel Dias Porter said — white supremacy is a hell of a drug. Breaking the addiction to it is going to be tough.
Michigan
My image of Michigan has always been mostly Detroit. Motown. The Motor City. Cars and music. Yet while Detroit is Michigan’s political, social, and cultural anchor, there is another Michigan.
That is the Michigan of intense racial segregation, race riots in Detroit, and discriminatory redlining, not just in Detroit, but also in the Lansing area, where I have lived before.
This is also the state where Vincent Chin was killed in Highland Park in 1982 because someone blamed Mr. Chin ((being Asian) for the failing fortunes of the American auto industry at the expense of Michigan’s manufacturers.
There are interesting cities: Grand Rapids. Kalamazoo. Flint. Ann Arbor. East Lansing. Muskegon. And, of course, Traverse City.
A good friend in Traverse City who is witnessing the school controversy in real-time was pretty frank about the situation when we spoke today:
I was shocked at first, but if you consider how deeply divided Traverse City is, you are either well off or butt poor and a Trump lover. The school response was a joke as well. My son doesn’t know any of the kids involved, so that made me happy. It’s never really gone away, racism is so ingrained in our country that I don’t believe we will ever see it eradicated.
He is correct about the school response. Instead of sticking to its guns and pushing for “staff training, reviewing TCAPS curriculum, diversifying titles in school libraries, and providing ‘immediate and ongoing opportunities for student learning about diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging issues,’” the opposition forced them to water down their efforts (Beth Milligan).
My friend agreed and also agreed with me about Michigan overall:
“When I moved back to Battle Creek, Michigan to attend Kellogg Community College, I was pretty naive about stuff and I found a flyer for a KKK meeting in the college bathroom. I asked a friend about it and he gave me a look like I was from another planet because I found it crazy. I will keep you posted on the discussion, but I have little faith we will get a fair resolution…”
Action Not Words
I have never been naive about Michigan and the ability of white supremacy to rear its ugly head there. It is in America.
There are people there who ride around with Confederate flags on their cars. I could not understand why when I saw it. Michigan’s actual history suggests something else.
Michigan was the first state to report for duty when the Civil War began. The state was Union. Blue. Someone should tell them that Confederate soldiers carrying that flag killed some of their people (15,000 Michiganders died in the Civil War).
I also find the obsession with slavery even odder.
Michigan entered the Union as a non-slave state. There were a small number of Africans who were enslaved in 1837 but they were mostly carryovers from the state’s territorial days and the slavery of England and France who both occupied the region.
The Northwest Ordinance, in particular, sought to limit the spread of slavery in Michigan and it did. Also, the Republican Party was founded in Michigan as the party to stop the spread of slavery in the U.S. in 1854.
Yet, you get these crazy incidents in Traverse City amongst young high schoolers where they are embracing the white supremacist legacy of American slavery though it never happened in their city. Maybe if someone taught them the entire history of America they would understand why that makes no sense and is racist.
This is what the people in Traverse City, Michigan don’t get. America was not founded by a few bad apples or a few racist incidents; it was founded on racist ideals and one of them is white supremacy.
While the notion of we are all created equal and have inalienable rights endowed by our creator, those words were the written words, not the actions of the founders (most of whom owned Africans as chattel) of the country.
The U.S. did not try to live by those words until the 1960s’ and that was after a war and endless protests by Black people and others. The battle continues today.
This struggle in Traverse City tells me the children of Traverse City are going to miss a chance to make a new start if their parents have their way. I watched the hearing and parent after parent spoke. Their testimony was full of racial fear and ignorance of the facts.
The children should be given a chance to start anew in America. Give them a chance most of us never had.