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Of slavery and Harrisburg
Got a very interesting e-mail from loyal reader Charlotte Hummel yesterday.
She’s a member of the William Penn School Board. She always keeps a keen eye on school issues, and I know I can count on her to offer an insightful analysis when we start talking about schools and money.
But yesterday she had a great take on the minor flap surrounding the comments made in Harrisburg by outgoing Sen. Vince Fumo, D-Phila. Maybe you heard about them. In debating a piece of legislation that would recognize marriage as being between a man and a woman, Fumo dissented. Passionately. In making his point, he told a Philadelphia pastor who was backing the legislation that it was wrong. Along the way, he basically said that just because something becomes law, doesn’t make it right.
Then he lit the match to the fuse. He indicated he believed some of his colleagues, if given the opportunity, especially by a secret ballot, would approve slavery. That would be no less right, Fumo argued.
That raised a lot of eyebrows. Later he said he was simply exaggerating to make a point.
Hummel thinks he might have made one, but not the one he intended.
Here’s her comments about Harrisburg and “slavery.”
“I'll let others fuss and fume over Sen. Fumo's hyperbole about the Pa. Legislature hypothetically having the votes to enact a slavery law. I would argue that they pretty much already have.
“Over the last 30 years, members of the Pa. Legislature have knowingly perpetuated a government-sanctioned system of educational apartheid in this state that will enslave many of our children to lives of intellectual and economic poverty and social disenfranchisement. Back that up with full funding for prison systems and there you have it. I have to wonder if anyone else is as frustrated and appalled as I am by how very little "fuss" there is about that reality on the part of most citizens and the media?
“Finally, I wholeheartedly agree with Congressman Chaka Fattah who has often said that the level of inequity in public education in this country is THE civil rights issue of our time.
“Can I get an Amen?”
Amen, Charlotte!
She’s a member of the William Penn School Board. She always keeps a keen eye on school issues, and I know I can count on her to offer an insightful analysis when we start talking about schools and money.
But yesterday she had a great take on the minor flap surrounding the comments made in Harrisburg by outgoing Sen. Vince Fumo, D-Phila. Maybe you heard about them. In debating a piece of legislation that would recognize marriage as being between a man and a woman, Fumo dissented. Passionately. In making his point, he told a Philadelphia pastor who was backing the legislation that it was wrong. Along the way, he basically said that just because something becomes law, doesn’t make it right.
Then he lit the match to the fuse. He indicated he believed some of his colleagues, if given the opportunity, especially by a secret ballot, would approve slavery. That would be no less right, Fumo argued.
That raised a lot of eyebrows. Later he said he was simply exaggerating to make a point.
Hummel thinks he might have made one, but not the one he intended.
Here’s her comments about Harrisburg and “slavery.”
“I'll let others fuss and fume over Sen. Fumo's hyperbole about the Pa. Legislature hypothetically having the votes to enact a slavery law. I would argue that they pretty much already have.
“Over the last 30 years, members of the Pa. Legislature have knowingly perpetuated a government-sanctioned system of educational apartheid in this state that will enslave many of our children to lives of intellectual and economic poverty and social disenfranchisement. Back that up with full funding for prison systems and there you have it. I have to wonder if anyone else is as frustrated and appalled as I am by how very little "fuss" there is about that reality on the part of most citizens and the media?
“Finally, I wholeheartedly agree with Congressman Chaka Fattah who has often said that the level of inequity in public education in this country is THE civil rights issue of our time.
“Can I get an Amen?”
Amen, Charlotte!
posted by Heron's Nest at
7:20 AM
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