This book is a critique of and commentary on the educational paradigm known as "multiculturalism." I take an approach that you should never take away what you cannot replace or improve. One need not engage in the former if the latter is undertaken in a sane and serious way. In my view it is the area of School Law which provides the perfect backdrop for us to test the "multicultural idea." After all, we live in a society of laws and the need for social change is linked to what is considered "right" as opposed to "legal." It appears to me that multicultural education is as controversial as the application of the laws which ushered in affirmative action, civil rights and equal opportunity in employment and education. Like multicultural education, various American-born pieces of legislation first ushered in and later threatened the "no blacks allowed" reality of American life and, like multicultural education, right wing organizations like the Heritage Foundation and Bradley Foundation, and traditionalists (aka conservatives) like Ward Connerly, Pat Buchanan and Ronald Reagan came out in full force to denounce any legislation which would have led to "an equal playing field." In this short book, I want to show an understanding and appreciation of law while, at the same time, presenting a unique perspective of those laws. By interjecting the variable of "race," and by using the Black Nationalist Model of analysis (Afrocentrism), I hope to offer up new ways of looking at education in America and also new ways to approach the problems which permeate that system. It may appear, at junctures, that some of the issues are not related to school law. I beg to differ. As I've stated on more than a few occasions, laws are made to perpetuate systems, not condemn them, and in the process of enabling America to grow and become the most prosperous nation on earth, the laws reflected the attitudes and the values of the people who made and passed them. That is why laws like the Fugitive Slave Laws of 1850, Dred Scott decision of 1857, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), Loving vs. Virginia, and so many others existed. When the society collectively believed that black people were less than human and should therefore be treated like "3/5 of a man," that is what the laws reflected. I intend to show that even when we are talking about the issue of education, the variable of "race" qualifies or shows contradictory application when one compares the black condition with that of the majority population. I therefore rely on eighteen (18) cases or situations, to make my point. They are: Plessy v. Ferguson (very briefly), Murray v. Maryland, Mills v. Board of Education of Anne Arundel County, Gaines v. Canada, Sipuel v. Board of Regents of Oklahoma, Sweatt v. Painter, Henderson v. United States Interstate Commerce Commission and Southern Railway Company, Gong Lum v. Rice and McLaurin v. Oklahoma. I then address Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Tinker v. Des Moines, DeFunis v. Odegaard and Bakke v. University of California Board of Regents. I conclude this section on "race and culture" by analyzing Lau v. Nichols, Goss v. Lopez, Wood v. Strickland, Milliken v. Bradley, Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, and finally, the controversial Proposition 209. The Omaha Public Schools' misguided attempt at cultural diversity and multiculturalism took place when the system ordered 8,000 manuals for their employees in July 10, 2011. This is 2018 and not a single sign of progress in terms of race relations other than the hiring of a black female superintendent - akin to hiring a black person to take over as captain of the Titanic. I conclude with an analysis of former President Bill Clinton's "Goals 2000" and then offer up my own culturally-based educational paradigm, "Goals 2018."
Matthew C. Stelly is a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee working on a degree in Urban Education and Community Policy. He holds three Master's degrees: Urban Studies (1982), Urban Education (1983) and Political Science (2000). He is working toward his doctorate in Community Policy/Urban Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the former editor of the Milwaukee Courier newspaper, former director of the Great Plains Black Museum and the Plano (TX) African American Museum, and lead archivist for The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) in Dallas, Texas. Stelly has more than 2,500 articles in print and has won two national essay competitions. He is the founding director of the largest African-American neighborhood group in Nebraska, the Triple One Neighborhood Association and Parents Union. He is publisher and editor of the Triple One News, a two-time nationally recognized newsletter. He is the father of five children - Mandla, Malik, Clariece, Charisse and Shannon -- and remains actively involved in community organizing and neighborhood development in several cities, including Milwaukee and Omaha.
