Let me start by saying Betsy DeVos is exactly the kind of Calvinist Fundamentalist Over Privileged Racist that are unfortunately common in Michigan.
She’s a tad wealthier, crazier, and more racist than most but even my relatives, when I wanted to visit a house I had spent a good deal of time at in my youth, said-
“Oh, you don’t want to go there. It’s gone downhill quite a bit.” Meaning of course that it’s a lot more Black than it used to be but downhill? It was across the street from a golf course that is still a golf course and a block from a park that is still a park.
Amazing what you can learn from a map.
But DeVos is particularly stupid in that she doesn’t know what words mean and the order in which you should say them.
Saying that ‘Discrimination is “not necessarily” the cause of racist policies’ is exactly like saying falling is not the cause of gravity. Of course it doesn’t cause gravity, gravity exists, falling down is the result.
Just so Racist Policies result in Discrimination.
Now there are a couple of reasons we have racist policies, the most charitable is ignorance, lack of measurement, lack of empathy, and indifference.
“Really? Blacks are more frequently arrested and serve longer sentences than whites? I’ve never seen any figures. Oh well, it’s just Blacks. It won’t effect me and my rich White friends.”
Remember, that’s the charitable one.
The other is rank racism- the richest Black is never as good as the poorest White Trash, it’s genetics can’t you see? “They have no rights or dignity I am bound to respect. They’re not really human anyway, more like animals.”
I’m afraid dear Betsy is both types. She’s a moron and a bigot.
DeVos Says Discrimination Is ‘Not Necessarily’ the Cause of Racist Policies
By David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement via Alternet
July 2, 2018
Betsy DeVos has placed a two-year postponement on an Obama-era rule that would have gone into effect July 1. The rule was designed to protect minority special needs students from racist polices after some studies show minority students are placed in special education classes at a higher rate, and are disciplined at a higher rate than their non-minority peers.
Despite the evidence, the Education Dept. has placed a notice in the Federal Register stating it believes “the racial disparities in the identification, placement, or discipline of children with disabilities are not necessarily evidence of, or primarily caused by, discrimination,” as Politico reports.
The rule is also designed to ensure that schools are funding special education classes appropriately.
DeVos has been targeting minority students since she became Education Secretary.
One of her first acts was to revoke Obama-era guidance that helped school administrators protect the rights of transgender students.
She also has made clear she does not oppose anti-LGBT discrimination, claiming “school choice” resolves the issue by giving parents and students options to go to schools that don’t discriminate. Weeks later in 2017 she told the U.S. Senate she would not work to prevent or prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ students.
Earlier this year DeVos quietly changed the Education Department’s official policy on handling discrimination complaints from transgender students, and dismissed without completing hundreds of investigations.
During her confirmation hearing DeVos refused to say children with disabilities deserve equal protection in schools, and in fact admitted she was “confused” by the federal laws.
DeVos last year quietly eliminated dozens of documents on civil rights protections for students with disabilities.
And last October she signaled that she would be scrapping the Obama-era rule that would protect minority students from being placed disproportionally in classes for students with special needs, or disproportionally punished.
Ignorance. Check. Lack of measurement. Check. Lack of empathy. Check. Indifference. Check.
Betsy Devos, rank racist? Check, check, check, check, check.