Cease and Desist

What caring for others does not look like:

Something about the affluent parents asking the less affluent parents to step up and “tell us what you really want” feels wildly inappropriate to me.

Current redistricting is not coming about because of the agitation of radicalized “FARMs” parents. The idea of trying to placate them in some way in order to make redistricting go away is nauseating.

No one should be putting them on the spot.

It is the school system which seeks these changes because they know the status quo is wrong and bad for students and that it is their responsibility to fix it. These are system-wide changes to repair systemic problems. If parents want to put someone on the spot, it should be representatives of the school system.

“I just don’t understand why those people really want their kids to be bused to our schools” seems to be followed by a desire to find some of “those people”, interrogate them, and offer some kind of a deal which maintains the status quo. Asking “FARMS parents” to speak out as representatives of their kind is not unlike asking the few black people in a group to speak out as “representatives of their race.”

Maybe if we give them a few pieces of candy they’ll stay off our swing set.

Stop it, just stop. Watching privileged parents trying to massage the outcome of redistricting by preying upon the less privileged is like watching someone shoot fish in a barrel. Perhaps if you and your children had more exposure to people who are not like you, then you would know how disrespectful and downright inhumane your behavior really is.

I know you are accustomed to having your own way, but trust me: you don’t look helpful. You look patronizing. And you are doing actually damage by making others feel like they are required to defend their own right to exist.