Page 4 - DemoFlorida Sentinel 3-5-21

Letters To The Editor
Following Trump Impeachment Trial, America In Dangerous Place
School System Moving Towards ‘Separate But Unequal Schools’
AMPA – Following the outcome of the impeachment trial of
Donald Trump, I re-read your editorial of January 29, 2021, concerning the “Code Of Conduct For President.”
Your assessment of this man’s behavior was accu- rate and revealing. Yes, #45 did everything but “shoot somebody on 5th Av-
enue” and get away with it. I listened to a Demo- cratic Congressman on TV and this is what he said, “America is a dangerous place to be right now.” I to-
tally agree.
This man is free and
“on the loose” with more than 78 million memerized supporters wrapped around his fingers. All of them are anxiously await-
ing for him to tell them what to do. (He already has donations totalling more than $275 million to finance his 2024 cam- paign.)
America’s only hope right now is that Donald Trump will lose some of the many other lawsuits against him. (That’s my prayer, anyway.)
C. N. WILSON
AMPA – For the last 10 years through op- eds graciously pub-
lished by the Florida Sentinel when I submitted them, and over a period of 5.5 years as a local radio station community affairs host, I've painstakingly sounded the alarm in our community that sooner or later "urban schools, gen- erally identified as pre- dominately black schools, would face the day of un- precedented closures and mergers.
The result would be less of our kids staying near home, more busing and less quality balance of ed- ucation and sincere com- munity connections.
Headline of February 15 in the major local news- paper, "Hillsborough eyes closing, merging schools to help fix budget woes." The School Board Admin- istration talks about under enrolled schools, meaning 30% and above to close or merge. May I remind my fellow citizens, the district has been talking about re- districting and/ or rezon- ing for the last 15 years and as much as it was needed, nothing of signifi- cance countywide was completed.
Today, the administra- tion says, ‘hey, we can merge, close down and even outright consider some schools to be offered up for surplus property to be sold.’ Do you remember all the uproar about the closing down of B. T. Washington, located in Ybor City - Tampa Park area? Don't think for a minute that's not one of the urban schools to re- view.
How about the under enrollment at Just and nearby Dunbar Elemen- tary?
What's the true plan for Stewart Middle Magnet, which really needs to be rebuilt at its present loca- tion. A reminder that the previous city administra- tion was exposed for try- ing to engineer a backroom deal to sell Just, Stewart and Blake and the city then lied about it up to the end until they finally admitted the truth. Not
one Black elected official, anointed community leader or even legislator at the time said nothing after the devious plan was ex- posed. I wonder why!!
Currently, the Meacham site is a commu- nity garden, yet with B. T. Washington nearby, no- body in our community, previous or presently, in- cluding selected school board member for District 5, has said anything. What is the under the table dis- cussions about both sites? Why haven't the other school board members in the county stepped up as they, too, have Black vot- ers in their respective dis- trict, etc.
Should the Black com- munity continue to ignore what's happening to our urban or inner city schools, we're gonna find our kids being bussed fur- ther away from home, lack of community school, pos- itive connection and the list goes on and on to the future demise of a positive community.
Ask yourself why our even new school board members and I mean all of them continue to act like nothing is going down. To some extent based on my own 50 years of observing and documenting school board decisions I'm "PLEADING," don't sit and remain quiet.
Finally, regardless of the misdirections of the school system even prior to the new superintend- ent’s arrival those three schools on the river are still in play and just hope that the Tampa Housing Authority and the current Mayor Jane Castor step forward in truth and transparency to say what is their position(s) now and reveal any past discus- sions with anybody re- garding the schools on the river.
You might not have liked the late President Ronald Reagan, but what he said back then during his time in office still holds true today and that is, "TRUST BUT VERIFY."
ROBERT PETE EDWARDS Concerned Community Advocate
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Overcoming Division
ivision is defined as: “A disagreement between a person
or persons, producing ten- sion, anger and hostility.” I have seen this definition within my own family and community. I have diverse family members and friends that are a wonder- ful mix of cultures, ethnic- ities, and political parties. We all can agree to dis- agree, but there should not be a wedge that sepa- rates and divides us or make us hate each other. We should not di- vide into a space of hatred towards one another.
I can recall experienc-
ing hatred as a youth growing up in Polk County in Lakeland, Florida. At a very young age, I was sub- jected to cultural and eth- nic hatred toward me. I could have been militant, but God would not let me have that spirit in my heart. You have to fight through hate and division, it’s not easy, but it can be done.
A human being is not born with hate in their heart, when he or she en- ters into this world. It is up to us as citizens to work through the devices of di- vision and hatred. That is a task that takes decency,
compassion, and a desire to want to treat people with humanity.
Unifying, working to- gether as a collective group, to make positive change is more productive then having a divided mindset. We can work to- gether, building relation- ships to bring about solutions, solving local and national concerns.
In conclusion, division is destructive, but unifica- tion is constructive. Work- ing together brings positive outcomes.
DR. SHANDALE TERRELL Lakeland, Florida
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