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u.s. news Diaranson 5 Mei 2021

Some Black parents say remote learning gives racism reprieve

CHICAGO (AP) — Before another benefit to remote learning: Ali-Coleman chose homeschooling
schools shuttered during the being better able to shield their chil- for her own daughter partially due to
pandemic, Ayaana Johnson wor- dren from racism in classrooms. racism in schools. And while remote
ried every time she dropped her learning is different from home-
daughters off at school. White students have been far more schooling, she said she understands
likely to be back in the classroom, how the switch to remote learning
Johnson, a Black woman, says rac- with 52% of white fourth-graders re- would make Black parents feel more
ism is rampant in her predominantly ceiving full-time, in-person instruc- empowered and able to oversee the
white Georgia town. At her daugh- tion in February, the latest month racism their children are facing.
ters' school, a student once used ra- with results available from surveys
cial slurs and told another child he by the Biden administration. By con- Many remote learning parents have
doesn't play with "brown people." trast, less than a third of Black and also reached out to her for advice af-
She says teachers are quick to pun- Hispanic fourth-graders were back at ter seeing for the first time the racism
ish or reprimand Black children and school full time, along with just 15% their children face.
Ku Klux Klan flyers can be found in of Asian American students.
mailboxes. Remote learning also puts parents in
Even before the pandemic, concerns a better position to intervene if neces- Hayles said she has noticed discus-
"I knew from pregnancy on that this about racially hostile environments sary. sions among members about how
would be something we'd have to contributed to large numbers of Black remote learning has allowed Black
deal with," she said. "This is the kind parents turning to homeschooling, Many parents also say they feel more mothers to better shield their chil-
of area we live in, so you can imagine said Khadijah Ali-Coleman, co-di- empowered in having more control dren from racism.
that you're always going to feel pro- rector of Black Family Homeschool over what their children learn. While
tective of your children." Educators and Scholars. There has many schools largely ignore or gloss A mother of an 8-year-old son in To-
since been a surge in homeschooling over Black history, culture and voic- ronto, Hayles has seen the benefit
As schools reopen across the country, among Black families. es, remote learning allows parents to of remote learning in her own life.
Black students have been less likely better see what's missing. Most days, she works at a table beside
than white students to enroll in in- "Racism in schools plays a huge, huge her son to keep an eye on him and
person learning — a trend attributed role in a family's choice to do home- Johnson does this through efforts like the classroom, where a lack of diver-
to factors including concerns about schooling," Ali-Coleman said. "That socially distanced backyard African sity among students and staff at her
the disproportionate impact of the racism can manifest in a lot of differ- dance lessons. Tanya Hayles, founder child's affluent, predominantly white
coronavirus on communities of col- ent ways, from a teacher who crimi- of Black Moms Connection, an on- school is a concern.
or, a lack of trust that their schools nalizes every behavior to not recog- line network of more than 16,000
are equipped to keep children safe, nizing how curriculums exclude the Black mothers with chapters across "When your child enters the school
and the large numbers of students of experiences of Black people to not North America and Asia, said she system, you are no longer just a par-
color in urban districts that have been presenting Black children with the makes sure to monitor Black History ent," she said. "You're an advocate,
slower to reopen classrooms. same opportunities such as acceler- Month lessons to fill in any gaps in a detective, a cheerleader, so many
ated classes as white children." coverage. things. And in some ways, remote
But many Black parents are finding learning makes that work easier."

Groups sue over US program allowing pipelines on wetlands

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) to the industry. The Army Corps issued a The permit can be used only
— Environmentalists have new permit in January, say- for pipeline crossings that But opposition to pipelines
filed a new legal challenge The Center for Biological ing it expects the permit to be disturb a half-acre or less of has grown more intense in
to a U.S. government pro- Diversity, Sierra Club and used more than 8,000 times steams or wetlands. Critics recent years as the industry
gram that allows oil and other groups behind the liti- a year and affect 615 acres say that ignores the cumula- has been pulled into a broader
gas pipelines to be built gation won a court order last (249 hectares) annually of tive effects from hundreds debate over climate-changing
across wetlands, rivers and year that temporarily blocked wetlands and other bodies of of individual water cross- greenhouse gases that come
other bodies of water. the program, known as Na- water. ings along a major pipeline's from burning the fossil fuels
tionwide Permit 12. U.S. route. the lines carry.
The lawsuit filed Monday in District Judge Brian Mor- The groups behind Monday's
U.S. District Court in Great ris said officials did not ad- lawsuit said the agency failed The Army Corps has issued The permit has been used
Falls, Montana, alleges that equately consult with wild- to consider how that work nationwide permits since the to advance major projects,
the U.S. Army Corps of En- life agencies about pipelines' could affect endangered stur- mid-1970s, and they were including the Dakota Access
gineers has let companies potential harm to drinking geon, whooping cranes and put into law in 1977 under Pipeline in the Midwest, the
skirt environmental reviews water supplies and imperiled other wildlife that depend on Democratic President Jimmy Mountain Valley Pipeline in
of potential spills by granting plants and animals. wetlands. Carter, according to the Con- the Southeast and the Key-
a blanket construction permit gressional Research Service. stone XL pipeline from Can-
ada to the U.S. that has since
been blocked by President
Joe Biden, according to the
lawsuit.

Industry representatives ar-
gue the permit program has
been used for more than four
decades without major envi-
ronmental harm.

The Army Corps does not
comment on pending litiga-
tion but will be closely track-
ing developments in the case,
spokesperson Michael Izard-
Carroll said.