Integration only permissible when ordered by law...

While going over the President's State of the Union Address this morning, I came across a side story that at first glance I thought would be utterly ridiculous, and after reading it, just had to say something about it. A woman in Akron, Ohio was convicted and sentenced to jail time for breaking school district boundaries and sending her kids to the more affluent, and higher quality school nearby.

Okay, so I'm not fully informed of all of the details, but here's a few things that I know. First, in a vast majority of public schools; unless you're lucky enough to be born to middle or middle upper-class parents that live in a successful suburban school district, you're probably not going to get the greatest K-12 education out there. This woman lives in Akron, Ohio - For those of you unfamiliar with medium sized cities in the Midwest like Akron, here's a few little tidbits for you: the amount of residents living under the poverty line in Akron is over 25%, since 2000 the city has lost nearly a quarter million residents, average incomes have remained stagnant over the last decade, and much like cities its size and in its condition in the Midwest, crime has gone up. Okay, so now we have a little background on the conditions this woman and her children are dealing with. In dealing with the poor conditions in her own neighborhood, and after her house was broken into, she began (with her children) living part time with her father who lived in the next school district over. In doing so, she began to send her children to the better school district in which her father lived. The school district officials were alerted of what was going on (how they found out, or why they were suspicious of her in the first place is not mentioned in the news article) They hired a private investigator to follow her, and record videos of her leaving her house in her neighborhood and bringing her children to the school. The school kicked her children out and demanded $30,000 in tuition, when she refused, they pressed criminal charges, and the woman was convicted, will be serving jail time and three years probation, as well as serving community service.

This makes me sick. First of all, I thought that as Americans we are encouraged to take initiative to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, and make something of ourselves. This woman was doing just that. She was finding ways to ensure that her children would not suffer the fate of many of the youth of Akron, and actually have a chance at life with a better education. "Well why couldn't she just move into the district?" you might ask? I don't know this for sure, but I imagine the ability to afford moving from one district to another may have played a small factor. Turns out poor people can't afford to do many of the things that more affluent people can - go figure.

So what does this mean? What significance does this have? Well clearly it says to anyone who is less affluent with any initiative or ingenuity to watch out. If you dare to make any progress in getting out of your poverty, and getting a piece of the middle/upper class pie we will make sure to make an example of you, and kick you back down to where you belong. The school board that carried out this ridiculous lynching should be barred from public office and forced to spend at least a year in a neighborhood like this woman's. Lets see how well they fare in a rougher neighborhood, and how creative they might be to get out.


Sean