Schools are more segregated today than they were in the 1950s. Most people fact check me with the quickness when I tell them that. In the pursuit to point out supposed progress “we” have made as a nation, they come often come across the 2012 Atlantic article, the 2013 Washington Post article or the 2018 Vox article that all validate my claim. Then their eyes buck when they finally realize, “Damn … he’s right.”

If you’re a skeptic, go ahead and Google search, “schools are more segregated today” and see what you find. Eyes buck yet?

I’ve lived this before. My first public school teaching assignment was a title I school servicing low income Black and brown kids in Fort Worth, Texas. We were two miles away from a very, very expensive private university, Texas Christian University (TCU). Our school had no resources and sat on the wrong side of the train tracks — literally. On the “right” side was another middle school that housed mostly white children of college professors. It was clear that not much had changed about school demographics since the 1950s.

In my years as an educator, faced with this reality, I have come to a conclusion — we need to start our own schools for our children. Here’s why:

The Current System Fails Black Students

As presently constructed, the current school system does not serve Black students. We know this is true. We know that schools in Black areas of town are poorly funded. We know Robin Hood politics didn’t save our schools. We know that Black students receive harsher punishments for the same offense as their white counterparts. We know this.

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The problem is that we have tried to remedy this from outside of our community. We keep trusting a system that was not built to serve our children, to educate our children. How many stories have to break about Black children being sent home over their "unacceptable" or "distracting" hairstyles before we start questioning the ways we fit in the system?

I believe it is time to completely rethink education. The way school buildings are designed, used and executed has to change. The school schedule has to change. The faculty has to change. If we want to best serve students of color with these large school innovations, people of color have to create them and execute them.

Black People Are Best Equipped to Educate Black Students

From my years as an educator in public, private and charter schools, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to reach Black students is with Black educators. There are wells of research about the ways white teachers discriminate against Black students. Recently, Betsy DeVos testified before Congress with a piece of research claiming that Black students are just more disruptive. This is the primary reason I believe Black educators should begin to create our own schools to serve our community without discriminatory practices.

The best way to serve Black students is not by asking white people to keep providing the solutions. Find, train and trust Black educators to engineer the solutions to the problems we face.

White is Not the Standard

One of the most insidious tenants of white supremacy is the idea that white is “normal.” I once had a conversation about starting a school for Black children in Black communities with a white friend who said to me, “Why does it have to be a Black school? Why can't they just go and do well in a regular school. I mean, how are you even going to get enough good Black teac …”

I fought his ass on sight.

OK, I didn’t, but I went off on him, though. His statement reeked of white fragility, but the real concern is that people don’t view an all Black school as a “normal” school. White people and white schools are not the standard. Why should we need to be in school alongside white people to feel validated and educated? We shouldn’t.

The Solution

I want to be clear here. I am not advocating for a more segregated America. I am advocating that we respond to the direction the world is moving. We know the status quo has not worked for our community. So, I think it's worth the time and consideration that we find a new solution that works for us.

My proposal is for Black educators, real estate investors and entrepreneurs to begin starting schools primarily staffed by Black people with the intent on serving Black students. No, this does not mean these schools will exclude other races or ethnic groups, and no, they do not all have to be one style of school. I believe that we should simply have more predominately Black options for school positioned in Black communities.

What do you think about this? Continue this discussion with me on Twitter @justmikeyates.