At home we usually watch news from the BBC or CNN, because it helps us to have a broader view of what is happening in the world, something that is difficult to aspire to following national media. The fact is that in the second half of last month I discovered a secessionist movement in the state of Louisiana whose germ seems to be in Baton Rouge schools, although surely affirming this is very simplistic, due to the number of factors related to the economy and society.
Back in December 2013, an important community in the south of the city had obtained almost half of the citizen signatures necessary to become a new independent city, thus separating from the great Baton Rouge (the state capital)
Last month there were already 18,000 residents who are manifestly in favor of the creation of an independent Saint George, although at the moment municipal officials double their efforts to block the petition when it is filed. The reason that may seem more significant for this opposition is the conviction that Saint George it would become a much richer city, to the detriment of the current, since the families that inhabit the area contribute significant tax revenues, which contribute to all public services. In fact two of the largest companies are within the limits of the desired city.
Of course, voices are also raised questioning that white children are separated from blacks, alleging a possible setback after tens of years of civil rights struggles. And it is that Saint George would have a 70% white population, while if secession does not occur, whites constitute 40 percent in all Baton Rouge.
A matter of race?
The number of signatures they need to submit the petition is 20,000, so they are close to the purpose of requesting their purpose. Y in general they refuse to be qualified as racist, claiming (in the case of white families involved) that their children usually have black friends; In fact, Saint George would also have a percentage of black and Asian population, although I imagine that of a relatively well-off or prosperous social position.
One of the problems that most concern them, according to the sources I have consulted, is the violence in the classrooms of Baton Rouge public schools, and the fact that children live permanently in a state of intimidation by other children and girls If Saint George was created, this would lead to a new school district, with the possibility of having more control over the operation of schools.
But of course it is not just a racial issue! I say this because while 60 percent of households in Baton Rouge enter less than $ 50,000; More than 60 percent in what would be the new city, exceed that figure. In addition, the proportion of families receiving institutional assistance is also higher in the whole of the current city, comparing it with the inhabitants of the area that wants separation.
It's not just race, not just the economy, not just education, or perceived violence, is a bit of everything ... It also seems that the problems worsened after the arrival in Louisiana of inhabitants from New Orleans, when Hurricane Katrina swept that part of the coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
Will secessionism be good?
As expected, there are parents and educators (blacks and whites) in the fight against secessionism in the classroom ... it has taken many years to build racial diversity in schools. The public education system must be “public,” and all children should be accommodated in it, to guarantee rights and democracy, or are these concepts outdated?
Perhaps it is as simple as stated at the beginning: you can only get a new school district, if Saint George is administratively separated from Baton Rouge. There is no doubt that for municipal representatives, this is a nuisance, at least in the early stages, and they have made it known.
The violence in the classrooms has been alleged, the low academic results, I understand that it will not be generalized, that everything depends on the functioning of each school, on the motivation of the teachers, on the involvement of the families. The fact is that taking into account the state capital as a whole, the population has average income, even low, something that does not happen if you look only at the inhabitants of what could become a different population.
And of course poverty it can be the cause of another series of problems that intermingle with each other, especially affecting minorsBut can it also lead to believe that living together is difficult?
I do not have an opinion formed on what is happening in Baton Rouge, I really do not think I have positioned myself (at least for the moment); If that I have discovered that there are more movements of this kind in the United States, and I think it is interesting that we are informed, because the fact implies at least a recession at the social level (and I do not say that in Saint George they have no reason to do what they are doing), and a questioning about multiculturalism, at least when it is so marked by the economy.
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Via | BBC, The Nation, Daily Mail
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