Roy Exum: Please ‘Connect The Dots’

  • Wednesday, June 20, 2018
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

Get your crayons out and let’s play “connect the dots.” Next Thursday (June 28th) the Tennessee Educational Equity Coalition, in partnership with Chattanooga’s publicly-flawed non-profit educational foundation, UnifiEd, will hold its regional meeting at Chattanooga’s Bessie Smith Hall. The coalition was formed to advocate for “students of color” in Tennessee, and among those on its 10-person Steering Committee is Candy Johnson, the wife of Hamilton County School Superintendent Bryan Johnson.

Dr. Johnson has already committed over a half-million dollars to the puzzle of equality in the HCDE and his cabinet, for lack of a better word, includes a Chief of Equity, Marsha Drake. She claims the HCDE Equity Task Force is to “ensure a brighter future for all children in the district” But the Educational Equity Coalition maintains its focus is strictly limited to “children of color.” As for you? Connect the dots.

As Chattanooga’s new schools superintendent toured the county earlier this year, he told reporters, “Equity was a focus of the community that came through loud and clear in our listening sessions across Hamilton County.

“This Task Force will help develop the framework to ensure that all students can access the opportunities and resources to help them succeed after graduation.” Then he added, “Equitable access will be a key component for Hamilton County Schools becoming the fastest improving school district in the state of Tennessee.” Oh, Faith and Begorrah!

According to the propaganda being batted about, the regional meeting will address as its point of focus a greater diversity in Tennessee. It claims ‘The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)’ is driving change across the nation with a focus on equity in schools. According to the flyer, “Join UnifiEd and the Tennessee Educational Equity Coalition for a full day of learning about our state's ESSA plan and what it will mean for students and schools in Hamilton County. This meeting will include:

* -- Opportunity for attendees to learn about the latest developments under ESSA and the new legislation on testing

* -- Representative from the Tennessee Department of Education to share their plan for accountability and school improvement in the fall

* -- Policy agenda for 2018

* -- Time to discuss issues on the ground in Hamilton County and give attendees time to network and learn from one another.

Oh, yes, networking is huge in equity, equality, and diversity – not to mention recruiting. As you continue to connect the dots, allow me to share a story from two months ago written by national columnist, Wayne Allyn Root, about what has actually been allowed to happen in California where, among other things you will note, a full 44 percent of the citizenry – that nearly half -- does not speak English as a primary language at home.

Mind you California is very much a diversity state, a font of equality, and pay no attention to Mr. Root’s political leanings. Focus on the facts, as cold and hard as they well be. As you continue to connect the dots, ask yourself who in this world of common sense would slur half-a-day with the Tennessee Educational Equity Coalition and the scurrilous UnifiEd crowd at the Bessie Smith Hall next week:

* * *

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTAS HAVE TURNED CALIFORNIA INTO THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

By Wayne Allyn Root

Remember the famous (but sad) saying, “If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes truth.” Well, I have the No. 1 lie in America for you: Diversity makes us stronger, and immigration makes us more prosperous.

California is Exhibit A. It’s filled with immigrants. Ten million, to be exact. Many of them illegal. Guess which state has the highest poverty rate in the country? Not Mississippi, New Mexico or West Virginia. It’s California — where nearly one out of five residents is poor. That’s according to the Census Bureau.

While California accounts for 12 percent of America’s population, it accounts for one-third of America’s welfare checks. California leads the country in food stamp use. California has more people on welfare than most countries around the world.

But I thought immigration made us more prosperous?

Homelessness is exploding in California — with tent encampments overrunning schools, businesses and upscale neighborhoods. California is now home to 22 percent of this nation’s homeless population.

California leads the nation in debt. Total state and local debt is almost $1.5 trillion. Combining state debt with California’s share of federal debt produces a debt-to-(Gross National Product) ratio of 153 percent — higher than the PIGS of the EU (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain), which are all facing economic collapse and ruin.

The traffic in California is suffocating, miserable and unlivable. The highways and infrastructure are crumbling. The public schools are an unmitigated disaster (and that’s with the highest per-pupil spending in America).

I haven’t even gotten to the taxes. The income taxes, business taxes, sales taxes and gas taxes are all the highest in the nation. Why do you think that is? To pay the enormous costs of illegal immigration.

But you haven’t heard the worst yet. California — the immigrant capital of America — is filthy. NBC journalists recently conducted a survey of San Francisco. They found piles of smelly garbage on the streets, used needles, gallons of urine and piles of feces — all near famous tourist attractions, fancy hotels, government buildings and children’s playgrounds.

Medical experts say the used drug needles they found can infect anyone who steps on them, possibly with HIV or hepatitis. NBC News filmed hypodermic needles scattered on the ground as a group of preschool students walked by on their field trip to City Hall.

The hundreds of piles of feces they found can also prove deadly. Medical experts report that, as the fecal matter dries, the germs become airborne and, if inhaled by children, can lead to death.

Infectious disease expert and Cal-Berkeley professor Lee Riley told NBC that the streets of San Francisco are worse than the world’s most notorious slums: “The contamination … is much greater than communities in Brazil or Kenya or India.”

I guess diversity isn’t always so grand. I guess illegal immigration isn’t always a strength. Clearly, immigration — in the wrong form — does not lead to prosperity. California has become unlivable. Members of the middle class are fleeing in record numbers, many to Las Vegas.

California offers a cautionary tale of what happens when you combine open borders and a pathetic welfare state with radical liberal politicians who see taxpayers as targets to be fleeced and illegal aliens as their core constituency.

Forty-four percent of Californians don’t speak English at home. It is a foreign state inside America.

California is following “the Mexican model” — i.e., a population with a sliver of super rich elites … and everyone else dirt poor. The middle class is becoming extinct. This is the express train to hell.

Thanks to illegal immigration … thanks to the joys of diversity … thanks to liberal politicians and voters … California is a hellhole.

Contact Wayne Allyn Root at Wayne@ROOTforAmerica.com.

* * *

Those wanting to pre-register for next Thursday’s regional meeting of the Tennessee Educational Equity Coalition have no need to do so. Ample seating will most certainly be available. But, only, if you have connected the dots …

royexum@aol.com

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