Former Livingstone adviser Lee Jasper has today called for the creation of 'black only' schools. He thinks it is the only way to tackle knife crime and raise standards for Afro Caribbean pupils. He said...
"The fact is, it's time the black community ran its own schools, devised a curriculum that suited the needs of our children, employed teachers that look like the young people they are teaching."
The man is utterly crazy. If someone made the same suggestion and replaced the word black with white they would be reported to the Equality Commission and probably worse. Thank God this man is nowhere the levers of power in London any longer.
48 comments:
So you oppose faith schools then?
Didn't they pilot this idea in South Africa?
But the worrying thing is this could get quite a lot of support in London from parents who probably wouldn't shed any tears about their little darlings going to the school down the road which has been at least partly denuded of its ethnic component..
Sad, but true..
He is not the only racist intellectual arsonist with this kind of programm...
I believe Boris had also employed a loser like that (already sacked IIRC) -- I already forgot his name, but he was another 'black people only' merchant.
Great isn't it? Just when we thought we'd beaten the idiots, the people we protected from said idiots at great cost to our society start their own idiocy aimed squarely at destroying the egalitarian society we managed to build.
Oh well, there is something amusing about the fact that racism is colourblind...
Apartheid.
Malcolm X had the same idea during his Nation of Islam days.
Sorry to be incredibly thick here, but what is the difference between 'black' and Afro-Caribbean ? Surely a black person is a black person and is indistinguishable whether their ancestry is from Somalia or Jamaica.
What is the point which Jasper is trying to make here ? 'You are from Jamaica, therefore you need help to stay on the straight and narrow' ?
Only one question needs to be asked when this kind of self serving sensationalism is peddled.
Is Max Clifford Involved?
It's been tried.
The John Loughborough Seventh-day Adventist School, Holcombe Road, Tottenham, London N17 9AD, was established on just those principles. An essential motivator behind the scheme was the Tottenham Black Parents' Action Group (it even registered as a limited company: number 02530815).
The manifesto was that racist white teachers were, consciously or not, prejudiced against black students, and were (perhaps even maliciously) holding them back from success.
The Ofsted report last year was devastating. In no aspect was the school better than "satisfactory". Pupils joined the school "with attainment that is consistently a little below average": at year 11, standards "are well below average overall". There was high pupil turn-over. There were problems recruiting and retaining staff: other teachers were not performing. Parents were supportive, but "a significant minority wish to see improved behaviour". The report shied away from imposing special measures.
A year later things had not improved: the local authority (Haringey) took over control after a follow-up inspection. This was decried as "victimisation" by "a hit squad" (the balanced judgement of the Evening Standard):
A Haringey spokesman said: "Results for young people at John Loughborough School have been declining over recent years and this year it was the worst performing school in London. That could not be allowed to continue.
"The interests of pupils are, of course, of paramount importance. With the agreement of the Department for Children, Schools and Families, we have set up an interim executive board, [which] includes a number of experienced governors and nominees from the current governing body and the Seventhday Adventist community. This move is to improve leadership, standards achieved by the students and the quality of provision at the school so that the young people can enjoy better longer-term opportunities."
Lunatic. Absolute lunatic.
Rumbold, Faith schools do not exclude people from other religions. Indeed, there's a Jewish school in Birmingham where 25% of the kids are Muslims. The Muslim parents actively want their schildren to go to it. I went to a church of england school, yet many of the kids were Catholic. The Catholic school in the town also had many kids from other religions. This is a big different to what Jasper has suggested.
Faith schools are about inclusion and genuine community, this is about segrigation
Iain, I think you are being a little unfair on Jasper. He explicitly said that the schools would be open to all races. This makes the analogy with faith schools rather more valid.
While segregation is not the answer - what can be wrong with giving more power to local community leaders, parents etc. This is not necessarily a racial issue, and in abstract terms, giving more choice and power to local stakeholders seems pretty close to current Conservative policy.
Can we have "white-only" schools, please? How soon?
@confusedconservative:
Are those 'community leaders' elected? If not, who chooses them, and how do people get rid of them if they are a problem? And what powers do they have?
Why do 'ethnic minorities' get those 'dear leaders(tm)' pressed onto them, are our elected MP's not good enough for them?
And why are there no German community leaders (plenty of Germans in the UK), Polish community leaders, and so on? Only brown and black people get lumbered with ye olde tribal leader thus, care to ponder why that is?
I tell you why: most of the race equality stuff is a scam ran by hate mongers who sow division and suspicion.
Real racists, like real nazis in Germany are no longer a factor(they mostly died out by now), yet the industry of professional 'freedom fighters' can't be asked to find proper jobs and keeps us all on a slow rolling boiling instead in order for them to continue being 'useful'.
This is predicated on the belief that the "black community" is a principally a victim (victimhood being a very popular lifestyle choice right now in these PC times)
Even official statistics work on assumption of victimhood, proudly foregrounding the idea that in some way, blacks are treated badly. Yes, blacks are stopped and searched more often than whites. Hardly surprising if you see the violent crime statistics.
The Independent had an article which read:
"In 2004-05, there were 78 fatal shootings in England and Wales. Of these, 40 of the victims were white, 25 black, seven Asian. The figures do not record the ethnicity of the killers but, by and large, murderers tend mostly to target members of their own ethnic group.
In 2005-06, there were 50 fatal shootings. Eighteen victims were white, 19 black and four Asian. That same year, 351 black people were injured by guns. For whites, injuries totalled 2,952.
The statistics confirm that the problem of gun crime is not unique to the black community, but they provide stark evidence that the black community is over-represented to a frightening degree.
According to the 2001 Home Office census, Britain's black community makes up just 2 per cent of the total population. Yet each year around a third of all shooting victims are black."
The so called "black community" does not even match the white majority in giving blood, which is scandalous considering certain ethnic types are better for treating black only diseases such as sickle cell.
The fact is, by any standard, any test, any sample or whatever, "black community" kids achieve less than whites and more violent and more anti-social.
The education black kids need is an education in white anglo saxon culture and values. It is less violent, and more socially responsible and it is the indigenous and inherent culture of the United Kingdom.
And it is time people stopped pretending otherwise.
As someone has already mentioned, it is Apartheid, no more, no less.
I always giggle to myself when I recall the way that the SA police determined the difference between Black & Coloured; by sticking a pencil in your hair & asking you to shake your head - if it fell out you were classed as coloured!
So how is Jasper going to decide the ethnicity of the teachers & pupils of this wonderful school of his?
"the schools would be open to all races." ... unless you are white presumably. Although you can bet he would let a white muslim in.
Anyway I thought all the schools in the knife crime hot spots were effectively all black anyway.
"OUR children," Just about says it all doesn't it? How did he get anywhere near the levers of power in the first place?
The man is trying to carve out a little empire to replace the one he lost at city hall.
Since white working class kids do the worse of all racial groups at school does he think we should have white's only schools also ?
He doesn't need to call for all black schools - they already exist.
Anyone see Balls in that Birmingham school on Newsnight?
Not one white face among the pupils.
Not. One.
Coming to your leafy suburb soon.
Actually, Lee Jasper was not near the levers or power, merely lots of money. Schools are not under either the Mayor' office or the GLA or the LDA. They remain under the local boroughs and their Local Education Authorities. And a right mess they have made of those schools.
When he talks about blacks, though, he's only talking about one type of blacks - Caribbean ones. African ones can go hang because if there's anyone a Caribbean racist hates more than whitey it's those studious Uncle Toms from Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire.
"Some of the greatest black leaders in the world - Dr Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, to name just two - attended all-black schools and universities."
Not because MLK or his family thought it would give him the best education, but because...
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html
...there were already oppressive segregation laws in force in Georgia when MLK was a kid.
I'm not surprised in the slightest!
This is a prime example of living a lefty life style, This would ONLY happen with a Labour govenment in power!
Wont it be nice to have someone in power who doesn't think area's of Britain are hidiously white & will just treat us all the same?
replace 'black' with 'catholic' and suddenly it doesn't seem so strange.
There you go- 'racism' has been used as a tool by people like Jasper (and the State) to put us 'white's' in OUR place- ie accepting an immigration/asylum policy which is not wanted- along with not being allowed to say what we think/want about the issue either!
Jasper does not need the state to encourage 'segregation'. Various communities have been doing it for decades and will carry on doing so! Another nail in the coffin for a multicultural/racial society then.
"The fact is, it's time the black community ran its own schools, devised a curriculum that suited the needs of our children, employed teachers that look like the young people they are teaching."
Well in that case, why stop there? They should surely go the whole hog and be in a 'black only' society. Jamaica perhaps, or Africa.
I agree with you, Iain, but if it's for the black community it's ok. Only white people can't say those things about white people.
Actually change the word from 'white' to 'english' and you're nearer the truth.
Iain,
There are some faith schools that let in people from other religions and, yes, King David in Birmingham is an example.
However, there are plenty others that don't.
As it happens, as the partial product of a Jewish school education I'm a big supporter of faith schools, but just needed to point out that your distinction is not essentially accurate.
I think that umbrage against Jasper's proposal must depend on its purpose. If the purpose of a faith school was to separate the students from secular or other religious society, then I would object. Likewise with Jasper's proposal. However, most faith schools operate on a basis of seeking to uphold and maintain cultural and religious learning and tradition within the glorious multiculturalism of an all-embracing Britain.
If Jasper's proposal is predicated on a desire to right the problem of black pupil underachievement rather than to segregate then it is at least worth debate rather than denunciation.
That is not to say, however, that I don't despise Jasper for his many misdeeds during Livingstone's tenure, but as yet I shall not be adding this proposal to that long list.
Look. I am confused. I thought we were all just folks. Y'know, black white (well sort of brownish pink really), yellow etc. Can't really see the difference myself. As regards the race thing my research has identified only two races of humans on the planet, men and women. As far as I can work out women speak a totally different language to us. It uses the same words and stuff but what they say rarely makes any sense to me. Now, education. See, I went to an all bloke Grammar school. Nice and comepetitive, plenty of needless violence, lots of sport (often made into contact even supposedly non contact), lots of mischief, lots of messing about with oily gadgets, not a dolly in sight, good blokey masters with a proper understanding of blokey stuff, stiff discipline (and no crying about it) all punctuated by bursts of hard work and nice competitive exams.
I have never been into a girly school, the prospect appals, but observing my own oversupply of daughters seems to indicate a rather different set of behaviours and attitudes. Mind you my daughters have complained to me of being 'ruined by knowing more about cars' than the lads they know.
So let's get this race thing straight. I suggest we forget all about black white pink muslim etc and deal with the key problem of male female and that, in education, requires apartheid.
(I now really do like girls. They are such a nice shape and are soft to the touch. Talking to them is a bit of a strain still, but I am working at it.)
He might not be special advisor to the Mayor any more, but he still has access to the levers of power. The number of advisory panels, committees etc. that this man sits on is phenomenal. His qualification is a remorseless sense of grievance.
If you want to inflame community tensions, choose a professional scab-picker like him. In his universe, all problems faced by the black community are down to racial discrimination. Blacks are the perennial worldwide victims of whites and must be financially supported and patronised accordingly.
And to those that think irresponsible absent fathers don't help, no doubt Lee plays a full part in bringing up all nine.
Jasper is a crook.
We have a Black Police Association in this country. Can you imagine the furore if anyone suggested the formation of a White Police Association?
Yes, it's obviously because they're taught amongst white kids that there are so many black youths being stabbed on our streets every night.
Don't know why this didn't occur to anyone before...
Jasper cites Nelson Mandela as as example of success deriving from a black-only education. Was this some sort of an endorsement of apartheid?
Jasper's face+teethsamecolour is spot on.
Mandela must be wondering why he bothered throwing 27 years of his life away.
I long for the day Caribbean people stopped blaming others for their problems. 2 kids in my borough were recently in the local paper - one came as an asylum seeker from Somalia a few years ago, she got 4 As at A-level; another came from Nigeria three years ago, again 4 As at A-level. Both accepted at uni. A single parent from a sink estate in south London (Nigerian lady) recently in the papers - she has quads who all scored highly in A levels and 2 got places at Cambridge. What do they all have in common? They believe in hard work and decency and don't blame 'whitey' for the problems in their lives.
Years ago when I got a job at a council in East London, a personnel officer who was asked to process my employment records (Barbados origins) said he was sick of typing in African names on the computer as our names all sounded funny and were so difficult to spell. he said Africans who called at reception all had funny accents and our food was smelly.
Wonder what would've happened if a white officer said this.
This racism from West Indians was extremely common. But they always cried about racism if managers pulled them up for frequent absence and always calling in sick on Mondays and Fridays.
Lee Jasper is suggesting that a group of active parents might choose to get together and set up a community school, that would uphold the values of that community. He explicity says there would be no racial restriction on entry.
Isn't this simply Conservative party policy?
Casper is going back to his BLACK CAUCUS roots!! ---do yourself a favour and research his many outrageous statements in the 80's!! in Brixton. Anti White Anti Police Anti Establishment.
Nothing ever done about his statements though!
It appears to me that to be white in the United Kingdom is a sin!
What a good idea. Build them in Zimbabwe. They need the work.
Iain, can you remind us what you praised Ray Lewis for doing exactly?
I agree, black-only schools, preferably in Jamaica or Nigeria. Nothing racist in that. Any well-balanced non-knife-wielding black child would still be welcome in any school here but if they want segregation they can take it elsewhere.
Lee Jasper, like most "diversity consultants" represents no one apart from himself. A person who really knows his onions on the issue of the failure of black Caribbean boys, and it is boys and not girls who fail academically, is Shaun Bailey.
Iain:
I do think though that the era of faith schools with lots of non-believing children seems to be drawing to a close. Therefore, one has to wonder whether or not a school that only allowed children of one faith to attend is any different from Lee Jasper's dream (not that I agree with either proposal).
Sorry - is this not the guy who misappropriated 2.5M of GLA money to friends and dodgy 'dormant' companies? Setting up web tools for the city, like the 'Diversity Dividend' - whatever the hell that means - no-one will know, as it was never delivered (But at a cost of GBP295,000?)
What an jerk-off! Can you imagine the outcry if any other ethnic group suggested excluding blacks from their schools? This guy is a fool of the highest order who needs to be taken off the public payroll ASAP.
Sorry Lee - but being black is not a get-out-of-jail free card anymore. Grow up and be a man, you self-serving money-sponge...
I agree. We shouldn’t have ‘black schools’.
But, if a school is predominantly black (or jewish, or whatever), I have no objection to local community leaders, parents etc (who will probably be predominantly black (or jewish or whatever)) from being involved in the running of the school.
I thought we were all about increasing choice, empowering communities, etc etc…
Without de jure introducing racial/religious restrictions to the educational system, one could by encouraging greater community participation etc leas to greater de facto ethnic or religious involvement (as it is likely, or at least possible, that if the school were in an area with a certain make-up that it would be reflected in its governance).
The main point I was trying to make is that Jasper isn’t a racist, and that it is grossly unhelpful for debate if the argument is immediately shut-down by people playing the race card. Iain makes no reference to the fact that Jasper explicitly said that they wouldn’t be ‘black only’ schools and that students of other races would not be excluded. I’m not saying I endorse his proposals fully - far from it - merely that there may be some elements worth considering, without being dismissed, as Dale does as being ‘utterly crazy’.
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