Move past symbolism on race
The Houston Independent School District approved spending $1.2 million last year to change the names of schools that honored Confederate figures.
If politicians are going to spend that kind of money to address the racism that exists in our society, they could have done a whole lot more than symbolic gestures.
Perhaps the marching band at Austin High School could have used about $20,000 for new instruments so the band director wouldn’t have to go on Facebook and ask for people to donate their used trumpets.
Yates and Worthing high schools could have used some extra money to expand bus access for poor kids who have to walk to school.
Maybe HISD could have worked with City Hall to put up cameras to catch the businesses that illegally dump their garbage in vacant lots throughout black and brown neighborhoods.
The money could have gone to help the schools and communities that Houston’s black and brown people — the people you’d expect to be offended by the names — call their own.
No. Instead the Board of Trustees spent seven-figures to change the mascot at schools like my alma mater, Westbury High School, from the Rebel to the Husky, and switch Dick Dowling Middle School to Lawson Middle School.
I’ll admit that seeing my young black friends don blue and gray cheerleader uniforms and yell “Go Rebels” used to give me a hearty chuckle. The irony! But the irony only served as a stark reminder of where we had to be as a society that allowed such a thing to happen in the first place.
We’re in a place that still needs work and, in my opinion as a 30-year-old black man who grew up in South Park on Selinsky Street, there’s a whole list of things we can do to truly impact racial equality in Houston. Here’s what’s not on the list: Changing names or taking down statues that few knew about until recently. So what can Houston do? How about real access to government contracts for minority-owned businesses?
How about selecting an AfricanAmerican builder to construct the new Yates High School?
At the end of the day, equality boils down to economics. And that’s where we need to focus our efforts.
Bull Connor’s dogs and water hoses woke up a nation in the 1960s. White people were finally shocked into action when the images of his terror ended up on their television screens.
Little did Connor know, he was doing more to help the movement than he intended.
Tiki torches, no bills from grand juries and “show me your papers” laws like SB4 might do the same for the 2010s. But activists must focus their attention on intentional strides forward, instead of only on symbolic consolation prizes like school names and monuments.
It is harder to campaign on the more intractable issues when you can get immediate gratification from a symbolic shot.
So change all the street names and school names you want.
As William Shakespeare said, “A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.”
And discrimination would be just as foul.
Bring down all the statues you see, but what impact will we have had? What result will there be for those still under the reign of an unjust system?
It isn’t the weight of the statues that pressures police to pull over black people for traffic stops at a higher rate than their white counterparts.
It isn’t the height of the statues that keeps quality education out of reach in neighborhoods like Sunnyside and Kashmere Gardens.
If that we’re true, I’d be the first to shout: “Down with the statues.”
But instead I have to say: Once the statues come down, remember the rest of this stuff.
Houston has organizing potential — it’s obvious as folks from different backgrounds come together to start this conversation about race. I’m just hoping it goes beyond symbolism.
We have the ingredients to make this right. But we can’t accept a consolation trophy. Activists must go for the gold.
Douglas is co-founder of HoustonJustice. Org, a grassroots, member-led organization addressing racial justice, mass incarceration and justice reform in Houston. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.