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NEWS > U.S.A. > NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL UNOFFICIALLY REINTRODUCES SEGREGATION
NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL UNOFFICIALLY REINTRODUCES SEGREGATION
November 17 2011
Albany, NY – For most people the hope, a dream or even a fantasy perhaps, was that the election of Barack Obama signalled an end to the long, hard drama the country had endured regarding race relations. While most knew, clearly, that problems still existed, many hoped that the worst was now long behind them.
Generally, that has been true. While Obama’s election itself did not do much at all for race relations, it did symbolize a new way of thinking for the American people. After all, when Obama was born he couldn’t drink in the water fountains in the house he now lives in. That alone is the clearest statement possible on how far the country has come.
The United States is, though, still a complicated nation and while those old traditions have mostly fallen away, some pockets still retain those old ideas, pockets like New York College outside Albany which has started to reintroduce old ways of thinking in a modern setting, starting with segregating water fountains across the campus in hopes of keeping race relations stable.
"It is our hope that over the coming weeks and months your administration will use this tragic event to begin the process of what Martin Luther King Jr. called 'substantive equality,' which is so desperately needed on this campus," said Major Coleman, professor of the Black Studies Department.
The school recently started posting `Colored only’ signs at water fountains across the campus, outraging many of the white students who then had to walk great distances to get a drink.
None of the dozen or so black students at the upstate New York school were heard complaining.
"It’s awful. I can`t believe in this day and age that we still have things like this in our schools. It`s a disgrace to everyone in the school and to everyone who fought for equal rights, who suffered and died, to make people free," said one student, who is white. "Someday people of all color will be free, free from this kind of behaviour and this kind of tyranny. Just like Dr. King wanted all those years ago, people need to be free."
The school did not give any kind of details on how many water fountains were available at the school, or if such efforts to delegate access would extend to other facilities.
"In many ways one can see why this would be a viable option, even if it is a little distasteful to modern palates. Personally if I were black, which I`m not, I would want to be able to go to a water fountain without being hassled, to drink in peace, which is really a problem for so many young black people in so many places," said Scrape TV Education analyst Ken Ridley. "This gives all people the opportunity to drink from water fountains, or to go to the washroom, or just to eat lunch in peace and that is all we can really ask for. Peace and calm and tolerance. That is the best thing for everyone, black, white, green, or red all over."
Most students at the school just use water bottles. Thus far, vending machines are color free.
Mike Michaels, American Correspondent
NEWS > U.S.A. > NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL UNOFFICIALLY REINTRODUCES SEGREGATION
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