A poignant piece of history
Under-construction aircraft carrier honors Black sailor who was a Pearl Harbor hero; his story resonates at shipyard, in community
Living in Newport News’ Southeast Community, Darnell Prigmore sort of knew that the familiar Doris Miller Community Center on Wickham Avenue was named for a Navy hero, but he didn’t learn Miller’s whole story until he got curious about the name of a Fordclass
carrier that he and his team at Newport News Shipbuilding are working on.
Michael Lawrence, a shipfitter who has worked on every one of the shipyard’s carriers since 1990, got curious too. So did a younger colleague, welder Jessica Rosser, whose mom is a regular at the community center.
They started digging into the story this Black History Month because the carrier Doris Miller will be the first named for a Black American, and the first named for an enlisted sailor.
Miller’s is the story of a Texas farm kid who joined the Navy in 1939, serving as a mess attendant and cook, some of the few jobs
institutions; TJ is ranked the best high school in the country by U.S. News and World Report.
But Black and Hispanic students have long been woefully underrepresented at both schools. Out of roughly 1,300 students at TJ, only 31 are Black and 47 are Hispanic. At Maggie Walker, Black students make up about 7% of the student body, even though the Richmond-area population it serves has a much larger African American population.
Similar controversies have erupted over plans to change admissions policies at some other elite public schools in the country, such as Lowell High School in San Francisco and Stuyvesant in New York City, where, like these Virginia schools, most of the students are Asian American.
Qarni convened a working group last summer to study potential solutions. The group considered eliminating a reliance on standardized tests and awarding admission by lottery to all applicants who meet certain qualifying standards. Another option would set aside a certain number of slots for applicants based on geography, so neighborhoods with large Black or Hispanic populations could benefit.
Ultimately, though, the legislation put forward in the General Assembly was less forceful. It merely would have required the state Board of Education to issue guidance to Governor’s Schools on admissions and diversity policies.
The bill passed the House of Delegates on a 58-41 vote but died in the Senate, where the Education and Health committee voted 9-6 last week to kill it. Centrist Democrats including Majority Leader Dick Saslaw and Chap Petersen voted with Republicans to spike the bill.
The legislation’s death doesn’t mean changes aren’t happening, though. The Fairfax County School Board voted to overhaul admissions at TJ, despite a fierce campaign by proponents of the existing system.
A standardized test that had been a linchpin of TJ’s admissions process has been scrapped in favor of a more holistic approach that also ensures geographic diversity.
A group of parents at TJ is suing to reverse the changes, arguing that it will water down the quality of the education. A conservative legal group also is considering a lawsuit, arguing that the changes amount to an unconstitutional racial quota system that discriminates against Asian Americans, who make up 70% of the TJ student body.
Changes are also underway at Maggie Walker, though its process is more cumbersome. Each of the 14 jurisdictions that feed into the Richmond-based school selects potential applicants based on their own criteria.
But a standardized test that is given to all applicants is not being used this year, based on concerns about on-site testing during a pandemic, and some hope to remove it permanently.
Rasheeda Creighton, a Maggie Walker alumna who has advocated for increased diversity at her alma mater and other Governor’s Schools, expressed disappointment that the Senate couldn’t pass even a watered-down version of the proposed changes. She said opponents in northern Virginia seemed to drive the discussion, dismissing a Maggie Walker community that is much more supportive of change.
She said she’s offended by arguments equating increased opportunity for Black students with a lowering of standards.
“This IS systemic racism,” she said.
The racial tensions were on display during Thursday’s Senate committee debate. When Petersen said the student body of TJ is 80% minority, Sen. Louise Lucas, who is African American, interjected.
“For people who look like me, I would appreciate it if you would put a better definition to ‘minority,”’ she said. “I know you’re not talking about people who look like me.”
Petersen clarified that his reference includes the 70% of the TJ student body that is Asian American. He went on to say that immigrant communities feel like they are being shamed for being successful academically.
“It’s become a lightning rod, and it’s been serving to stigmatize a very hard working community in Fairfax County,” Petersen said.
The bill’s sponsor, Del. Roslyn Tyler, singled out Saslaw and Petersen for blocking it, but said in a statement that she considers the effort a success “because it allowed students, alumni, teachers, administrators, elected official and other stakeholders to have a public conversation on racial biasness, inclusion and lack of diversity at the governor schools.”
She said she is confident that the Northam administration will push for reforms even without the legislation.
LE PECQ, France — By taking meat off the menu at school canteens, the ecologist mayor of one of France’s most famously gastronomic cities has kicked up a storm of protest and debate as the country increasingly questions the environmental costs of its meaty dietary habits.
Children in Lyon who were regularly offered such choices as beef and chicken in rich sauces found their meat option missing this week when they returned from school holidays. In its place: a meatless four-course meal that Lyon City Hall says will be quicker and easier to serve to children who, because of the coronavirus pandemic, must be kept apart during lunch to avoid infections.
City Hall insists that the meatless meals are temporary and that school canteens will again offer meat options when social distancing rules are relaxed and children again have more time to dwell on their food choices and to eat.
The meat-free menus still contain animal proteins. This week’s planned main courses include fish on Monday and Friday and eggs — either as omelets or hard boiled with a creamy sauce — on other days. Children also get salad starters, a milk product — often cheese or yogurt — and dessert.
Still, farmers saw red. Some drove farm vehicles, cows and goats in protest Monday into Lyon, which is fiercely proud of its rich restaurant culture and signature dishes, many of them meaty.
Protesters’ banners and placards extolled meat-eating, proclaiming “meat from our fields (equals) a healthy child” and “Stopping meat is a guarantee of weakness against coronaviruses to come.”
The government’s agriculture minister, Julien Denormandie, also weighed in, accusing Lyon City Hall of “putting ideology in our children’s plates.” He and other critics argued the measure would penalize children from poorer families who might not be able to eat meat outside of school.
“From a nutritional point of view, it is absurd to stop serving meat,” the minister said Tuesday on RTL radio. “From a social point of view, it is shameful.”