Joseph Lowery in radio ads: ‘Don’t let them resegregate our schools’
Opponents of Tuesday’s charter school ballot question this afternoon unveiled a series of four racially provocative, 60-second radio spots aimed at African-American audiences across the state.
Three of the radio ads include this plea from the 91-year-old Rev. Joseph Lowery, the legendary civil rights figure: “Don’t let them resegregate our schools.”
In case that message didn’t penetrate, the opposition group — Vote Smart! No to State-Controlled Schools — labeled one of the spots “Plessy” and another “Ferguson.” Plessy v. Ferguson was the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized segregated public facilities in the South and ushered in the Jim Crow era.
It’s important to note that the charter school measure, which would reaffirm state authority to create charter schools over the objections of local systems, has significant support among African-Americans, according to polls – who figure heavily in pro-Amendment One advertising.
Listen to “Plessy” here:
The script:
Female narrator: “Nothing is more important than our schools. The power to control our local schools is one of our most precious rights. The courts have protected that right. But now, politicians and out-of-state money are trying to resegregate our schools. Amendment One would change the constitution.
“Unless we vote no, politicians in Atlanta will create a dual school system and take away our community’s right to control our local schools. Don’t let a small group of politicians in Atlanta resegregate our schools. Vote no on Amendment One. And keep control of our schools in our hands.”
Lowery: ”My beloved, I am the Rev. Joseph Lowery. Don’t let them resegregate our schools. I’m voting no on Amendment One. Thank you for listening.”
Former state labor commissioner and U.S. Senate candidate Michael Thurmond is featured in one of the four spots. He avoids the word “resegregate” but urges voters not to “let a small group of politicians turn back the clock.”
Families for Better Public Schools, the lead organization in support of the proposed constitutional amendment, already had a 10 a.m. Thursday press conference scheduled at the state Capitol, featuring African-American pastors in support of the measure.
Look for the radio ads to be a major topic.
Updated at 8:03 a.m. Thursday: State Rep. Rahn Mayo, D-Decatur, an Amendment One supporter who will be at the above event, sent this reaction last night:
“The time has come for us to move beyond the comparisons of education reform efforts to brutally painful and overtly inhumane periods in our nation’s history. Unfortunately, we are faced with the difficult task of addressing a crisis in our public school system, and it is understandable that this necessary change is met with great resistance. However, countless African-American children have been denied access to quality education over the past four decades, and this issue must be addressed in a variety of ways.
“Injecting harsh racial associations into the debate about the Charter Schools Amendment is counterproductive to a meaningful dialogue about how we evolve and provide our children with better access to quality educational options in Georgia.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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184 comments Add your comment
puff
October 31st, 2012
9:25 pm
This past Sunday at a church in Forsyth, the Rev Dr. Lowery opined from the pulpit that all white people were bound for hell. Per the Monroe County Reporter. Just Ole Joe being Ole Joe, I guess.
TC
October 31st, 2012
9:28 pm
I find the hypocrisy of the elite black members of our community troubling. B. Obama sends his kids to a private school in DC where the tuition is $30000 per year. Even MLK’s son went to Galloway, here in Atlanta, where the tuition is now over $20000 per year. If these government schools are so good, why don’t the kids of the most prominent black Americans choose to send their children there?
n
October 31st, 2012
9:30 pm
A no vote is not a vote against charter schools.
A NO vote is NOT a vote against charter schools.
It is a vote against out-of -state corporations constructing and running for-profit charter schools with taxpayer money diverted to them and away from public schools,
They want taxpayer money. They want your money. They pay themselves huge salaries and benefits, but pay the teachers a pittance.
They are contributing tons of money to their Georgia allies in Atlanta, and will reap hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars in return if this amendment is passed.
Larry30
October 31st, 2012
9:32 pm
Just curious; what is mr. Lowery a reverend of? In all the years (55 to be exact) I have been exposed to he and Jesse Jackson, another “reverend,” I have never heard them once utter the name of Jesus. The same cannot be said of the reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Lets see if I can remember mr lowery’s inaugural “benediction.” He wants a place where the “red man can get ahead man, where brown can stick around, where yellow is mellow, where black won’t have to get back, and where white will embrace what is right.” What a race pimp he is. I have absolutely no respect for him.
ricardus
October 31st, 2012
9:32 pm
From my observations the past few years, it has become apparent the negro coloreds want segregated schools. Convince me otherwise.
By the way, I marched on Boston Common for civil rights in early 1960s.
ricardus
October 31st, 2012
9:32 pm
From my observations the past few years, it has become apparent the negro coloreds want segregated schools. Convince me otherwise.
By the way, I marched on Boston Common for civil rights in early 1960s.
Dee
October 31st, 2012
9:35 pm
@George – if you are a teacher, you should do a better job of posting. Yes, some parents are a problem with the education of their child(ren). But, there are teachers and administrators, who seem to just be there as a warm body. I know an assistant principal who cannot complete a proper sentence. I know of teachers, who do just enough to get by day to day. It takes moving mountains to get rid of people in the school system. Also, there is no longer punishment for the students; therefore, no matter where a child is they will not learn whether public or charter school.
Dr. Monica Henson
October 31st, 2012
9:37 pm
I run a state-chartered virtual (online) high school that is 70% minority, 61% low-income, and 16% special needs–all higher than the state average. No segregation here. We serve more than 700 kids in 160 cities and towns across the state.
Buymadeinusjobs
October 31st, 2012
9:37 pm
Who finances school ? local property tax/lottery funds so no do not give state millionaires the power over local schools. Let private schools/charter operate in the free enterprise system, Republicans are so fond of. Do not start giving them more taxpayer $, the cost to tax payers will go up fast[think college] , most of the money will be spent for owners salary, staff, lowest educated/paid teachers/advertising not much will get to students education. Look at the useless middle man insurance companies who have high salaries, advertising etc. but fight us on claims.
Will standards for public schools be thrown out if private/charter schools are not required to meet same standards and be audited each month. Require that Administation costs[advertising, owner's salary, etc] can’t exceed 10% or some figure if it does pass. .
No longer in poverty
October 31st, 2012
9:40 pm
Gay Marriage? that is OK! Vouchers, NO! Charters Schools NO!
When you break it down, he is just a run of he mill race-baiter who supports failing schools.
Time for young blacks to break the chains and figure this out for themselves.
VEXORG
October 31st, 2012
9:42 pm
This is sad, using a poverty pimp to encourage blacks to KEEP their kids in schools that have a record of dismal FAILURE. What ever happened to the Great Black Leaders, that spoke of how an education was the ticket out of poverty?
As long as we have individuals running around that say being smart and speaking proper English is being condescending to Black “Culture”, the situation in the schools in “minority” neighborhoods will NEVER change….and that includes the poverty pimps, that are laughing all the way to the bank by encouraging such ignorance…..
Wilbur
October 31st, 2012
9:48 pm
Why does the Reverend Lowrey care more about race than education? He might profit from turing his mind toward the millions of kids who are being failed by the public school bureaucracy and worry more about the impact of continuing educational failure than some race pimp’s misbegotten worry about segregation.
Buymadeinusjobs
October 31st, 2012
9:48 pm
Dr. Henson , how much do you charge taxpayers or take out of public schools fund for each student? What do they score on state tests? How do they get speech therapy or other special classes? What about sports, I have heard that some public schools have to provide these services to private schools but they do not get any money from state which cuts into students allowances who are signed up at that public school. What % of your budget is administrative??
William
October 31st, 2012
9:54 pm
If you do not have a valid argument you simply tell the ignorant… “They hate you ’cause your (fill in the color skin of the ignorant people you are trying to influence)
.works on any color skin…
Yomama
October 31st, 2012
9:54 pm
I am glad you published this because I wasn’t sure how to vote on this. Now I know that I will vote yes.
Generally when I am undecided on how to vote, I find out how Lowery, Jackson, or Sharpton votes and then I vote the opposite.
Fact
October 31st, 2012
9:57 pm
It is time Whites take back America and do what our forefathers desired. Call me racist in 5…4..3…2..1..
Amazing isn’t it that a comment like this is considered Racist but change White to Black and all is OK with the media and black folks……..
America is sinking swampland if we allow THUGS to ruin it.
Vote For Obama Because He's Black
October 31st, 2012
10:00 pm
I have lived in Atlanta for 30 years.
Blacks have trashed every neighborhood they have moved into.
Just look at Clayton County schools,city of Allants schools,test scores.
Good blacks that live by god,follow the constitution are moving into of all places Forsyth,Kennesaw,Cherokee,so their kids can get a decent education.
Questions
October 31st, 2012
10:00 pm
Can someone tell me where can I find an elementary Charter school in South Fulton?
My 2 cents
October 31st, 2012
10:01 pm
Charter schools are not about race.
TC
October 31st, 2012
10:03 pm
It amuses me to hear the people on this site complain about the way charters are run. They seem to be worried that these schools are set up to benefit big companies and their managers with huge salaries, while at the same time paying the poor teachers peanuts. What they don’t state is that Atlanta is a competitive area for school teachers. If you treat them poorly they will work somewhere else. If a charter school is poorly managed it will run off the students and close, unlike our government schools, which can never be closed no matter how poorly they perform.
Taxi Smith
October 31st, 2012
10:08 pm
The man has clearly lost relevance. He needs to retire quietly.
Burroughston Broch
October 31st, 2012
10:13 pm
Lowery’s rant reminds me of the shameless radio spot John Lewis, Shirley Franklin, and Andy Young made in 2006 in support of John Eaves candidacy for Chair of the Fulton County Commission. They said Mr. Charlie would be back with dogs, whips, and fire hoses if Eaves wasn’t elected.
Lowery is a one issue guy, just like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, Sr. If the only tool you have is a hammer, every task becomes a nail.
n
October 31st, 2012
10:14 pm
This is not about charter schools.
Locally supported charter schools are not the issue.
It is about politically connected for-profit private charter schools competing for taxpayer dollars with under-funded public schools, and diverting a huge percentage of taxpayer money away from public education.
It is about taxpayer money financing privatized schools’ profit margin, and their CEO’s & administration salaries, which are typically several multiples of principal, administration and teachers’ salaries in public schools.
Curmudgeon
October 31st, 2012
10:18 pm
If I am not mistaken you can vote NO on the amendment and still Charter schools will continue to be established and will thrive, and will be run at the local level, but without any taxpayer funding.
If you vote YES on the amendment Charter schools will continue to be established, but they will be managed by for-profit corporations chosen by our State officials and the schools will receive taxpayer funding – administered by the state. It is important to remember that even though the schools will be run by private companies, they will have to conform to state requirements and there will be state oversight. When you get taxpayer money from the government there are always strings attached.
It would seem that the Charter schools that are already established are doing very well. The teachers and administrators seem to be happy as are the children (from all ethnic backgrounds) who’s test scores are improving. So why change the status quo ? The formula seems to be working so why would you want to get a bunch of politicians from the Capitol involved?
If some find the expense of a Charter school too high then maybe we should have some form of financial relief available in the form of a voucher, or tax relief for the education portion of real estate taxes etc. Parents and children should not be deprived of a choice in schools if the public school in their zone is not getting the job done.
Lisa
October 31st, 2012
10:19 pm
Rev. Lowery is right. Charter schools don’t have any buses. If you’re poor, how are you supposed to get to the Charter School? Plus, they don’t have to take anybody. I know a charter school that if a kid didn’t make good grades, they sent them back to public. They want to have a rich and a poor school.
There's deal
October 31st, 2012
10:25 pm
Just for once, I’d like to see folks act in the best interest of the kids. It’s not about race or government control it is about children achieving their potential.
claytondawg
October 31st, 2012
10:27 pm
So, here we go again with the Race Baiting.
MiltonMan
October 31st, 2012
10:32 pm
Lowery is an idiot the “rev” made a total azz out of himself during Coretta Scott’s memorial.
MiltonMan
October 31st, 2012
10:33 pm
Lowery needs his minions to stay ignorant & uneducated – the only way that they will follow this clown.
Really
October 31st, 2012
10:40 pm
A NO vote for the amendment is a vote to DENY children the right to escape the system that is keeping them DOWN!
Vote YES to give your children the chance to escape the cycle of failure and poverty that is holding them down!
yuzeyurbrane
October 31st, 2012
10:43 pm
Lowery has a point although it is somewhat exaggerated. Initially the segregation would be along economic lines which means the charters would be predominantly white in all areas of the state. In rural counties, this would lead to de facto racial segregation. The dirty secret is that many white proponents will tell their spouses or closest friends that they don’t want their kids going to a school with “too many” black students while coming up with all sorts of rationalizations to deny their own racism. This already happens even where the traditional public schools are high quality and is a big motivator in white parents spending big bucks to send their kids to predominantly white private schools even when they are of poor quality. Everyone has heard these rationalizations and anyone who denies it is just lieing, perhaps to themselves. They won’t say that in connection with this proposed Amendment but it is the elephant in the room.
mamaj
October 31st, 2012
10:45 pm
@ Lisa
My thoughts exactly. I have always been opposed to separate schools for different people. If taxpayer money was put into public schools to make them ALL better and ALL equal, then I’d be all for it–other than that, I’m voting NO!
Mama says
October 31st, 2012
10:45 pm
Amazing,
The very language which was touted as racist when used by whites is now the main theme by the blacks.
Who is “them” reverend ?
Really
October 31st, 2012
10:50 pm
Interesting how much people don’t understand about this issue and are just playing follow-the-leader with public figures with a vested interest in the outcome. Charter schools aren’t white or black; charter schools are REQUIRED BY LAW to take any applicant. They can’t turn down black students OR white students. Charter school get LESS money from the state than public schools, but make BETTER results for their students. That much is a proven fact! And THIS is why so many politicians are against the whole idea of charter schools — it shows just what a lousy job the public schools are doing despite the billions of dollars we are throwing at them! More money obviously doesn’t make for better results!
jsmith
October 31st, 2012
10:51 pm
the fact that public schools are failing badly in georgia and all the people that oppose this amendment seem to care about is ” segregation” tells me that desegregation in public schools was never about education but all about social engineering…. i will vote yes !!! why because desegregation , busing , and everything else the left has FORCED ON THE SILENT MAJORITY HAS NOT WORKED !!! WE NEED A CHANGE !! TAKE THE POWER AWAY FROM THE LOCAL INCOMPETENT CROOKS THAT RUN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE METRO AREA ( DEKALB, CLAYTON, ATLANTA, FULTON ,) the only thing these people care about is making the descent schools as bad as the crappy schools in the lower income neighborhoods!! instead of making the crap schools better they just bring down the good schools with busing and changing boundry lines. i vote yes for the charter amendment
Questions
October 31st, 2012
10:57 pm
@Lisa and @mamaj
I agree with you as well that is why I posed the questions of locations and Charter schools. My vote will be NO as well! Equality and the education of children with tax dollars……. very important to me.
Really
October 31st, 2012
10:57 pm
Rev. Lowery, bless your heart — PLEASE realize that the world you were fighting 40-50 years ago is NOT the world today! EVERYTHING IS *NOT* ABOUT RACE!!!
Please, allow people to use their God-given brains! Stop trying to manipulate people into your chosen path of protecting the very people who are holding them DOWN!
FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST… PLEASE, REV. LOWERY, LET US BE FREE AT LAST!!!
Unfortunate
October 31st, 2012
10:59 pm
When I read these blogs it becomes very apparent that the majority of the people who are responding are either Red Neck descendants of the KKK or Yellow Back Blacks (Blacks that grew up in the North, Midwest, West who are returning to the south after their Yellow Back fore fathers tucked their tails and ran for the more refined comforts in other parts of the country and waited for the real men/women of the south to fight their battles and clear the path for their black a___s to be able to exist in the south without hanging. Now your Black As___ think that you have made and have the audacity to criticize a Civil Rights Icons such as the GREAT Rev. Joseph Lowery. And with that said I will leave you with a few historical quotes.
History is the record of encounters between character and circumstance.
Donald Creighton
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Rooted in the philosophies of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (Ask the Jews if they will ever forget)
Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results.
Machiavelli
Really
October 31st, 2012
11:00 pm
Question, Lisa, Mamaj and Questions:
Which would you prefer for our children:
A. Spend $10,000 per child and get the results that APS delivers, or
B. Spend $6,700 per child and get a child who EXCEEDS THE STATE AVERAGE and can make a living when they are done?
A is the current public school option.
B is the CURRENT charter school option that will continue to work if we can pass the amendment.
Think about it…. better results, for less money, or continued failure for more money….
Really
October 31st, 2012
11:03 pm
Dear Unfortunate:
I leave you with a quote as well…
“Please vote YES on the charter school amendment in Georgia in 2012!”
— Abraham Lincoln
Racist
October 31st, 2012
11:04 pm
This from the guy who says all white people are going to hell. Let’s move on to somebody who’s relevant can we AJC? http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/31/all-whites-are-going-to-hell-says-civil-rights-icon/
Kris
October 31st, 2012
11:07 pm
Do you want these people running our schools! Dirty deals, default motel loans and fish farms to name a few.
Place our children before profits (shady deal…no pocket lining)…
FIX the school system we have…
Elect all school board members, place term limits on them $yrs max
Vote NO to Amendment 1
mamaj
October 31st, 2012
11:10 pm
@ There’s deal
If it’s about children achieving their potential, what happens to the kids that are left in the failing public schools, or is the objective just to weed out some kids and leave them in the failing public schools? Something tells me there is more at play to this than meets the eye, and anything that supposedly changes the Constitution, sounds a little troublesome.
Unfortunate
October 31st, 2012
11:14 pm
Really!!! I Already voted NO!!
Please VOTE NO!!! for Charter School Amendment. It’s just another opportunity for those that feel as if they are the CHOSEN Ones to exclude the less fortunate and step on the already down trodden. Let’s fix the public schools that already exist so that everyone is included and afforded the same opportunity.
JF McNamara
October 31st, 2012
11:15 pm
If you post this topic, you need to moderate the blog. Some of these comments are way out of bounds.
Get Real
October 31st, 2012
11:20 pm
Lowery, he with the hateful IQ of about 10…….cries about not getting enough $$ spent on public schools although we spend,..no WASTE BILLIONS while idiots like lowery champion the dumbnuts that get degrees from the government schools. Then dumbnuts ike lowery say if we vote for this admendment we are voting for segregation, LOL well dumb joe how is it segregation when your dumb schools are producing dumbnuts and that same school is running of parents of kids that want their kids to learn. All joe wants is the same thing odumbo wants, government control of your life. Dumbnuts like joe are too weak too make their own decisions so they need the government to tell then how to live.
Don’t be a dumbnut.
Are you kidding me
October 31st, 2012
11:33 pm
Get real probably never made more than 60K a year and went to public schools……………
Guess he knows for a fact what they can do to you
Top School
October 31st, 2012
11:41 pm
rE-SEGREGATE??? The illusion of integration took place when the first black student walked through Grady High School. They acted like it NEVER HAPPENED. Since that time … the affluent black minority, Civil Rights leaders worked out an underground system where they could attend many of the NORTHSIDE APS mostly WHITE schools without living in the neighborhood.
In exchange for the privilege of attending the affluent white public schools …like the HELP…these minority families through generations hid the Atlanta Public School Northside Way that helped them to participate in segregation of their own race.
Atlanta’s schools have not been integrated…
The segregation continues to hide within the 4 walls of the public school.
The individuals involved in Amendment 1 are running out of ideas hide the segregation with code words of “meeting the individual needs” of children…and neighborhood schools.
Explained in the “family suite” concept below… designed to segregate and hide discrimination in Atlanta Public Schools…
http://www.youtube.com/user/TopSchoolAtlanta
The Ghost of Lester Maddox
October 31st, 2012
11:43 pm
Dang Jim….this election time is always so entertaining…..
From the race card….to the union card….to the hispanic card….to the feminist card…..
Did I leave anyone out? The AJC control-room just has to make sure that every single liberal constituency is taken care of prior to election day…
God forbid that any human should – gasp – think for themselves and vote based upon their own independent assessment of the facts! We can’t have that, can we, AJC editors?
Independent Voter
October 31st, 2012
11:51 pm
Read this story!
http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/31/the-reverend-who-gave-obamas-inaugural-benediction-thinks-all-white-people-are-going-to-hell/