From the Mouth of Chris Stewart

With folks paying attention elsewhere, Chris Stewart chimed in on his blog earlier in June.

For weeks I have resisted getting mired in an unproductive public discussion about a visit that I made to Burroughs Community School.

This is believable... as he rarely likes to get involved in public discussions over bad mistakes.

My attention is focused on the restructuring of our school district and there is little to be gained by engaging in anything that does not help improve things for our students.

Isn't that pretty much what he said regarding the last time he painted someone as a racist in public?

However, my silence has allowed hearsay and speculation to outweigh the positive conversations our communities are having about race and equity in Minneapolis Public Schools.

To be fair, Chris... the gravity of your own statements allowed hearsay and speculation in to the public forum. You did this to yourself.

To be clear, I did not call the Burroughs community any name. However, I did question the appropriateness of a message from the Burroughs Site Council that openly states which kids of color they find “preferable” for purposes of achieving diversity.

...and you did that by calling the principal of Burroughs a racist.

I remain clear on the fact that no public school community shall establish preferences for students on the basis of race, culture, ability, economic status, or non-traditional family status.

Unless the group is black? In that case, by your standards, you want preferences.

Advocating for programming that serves a single ethnic group simply cannot be used as an excuse for the rejection of other groups. All children are welcome in all of our schools.

I also have challenged the troublesome messages authored by some parents of Burroughs students.

...by calling them racists?

The distribution of flyers in a public school that use the invidious and divisive language of America’s disgusting busing era is simply unacceptable in 2009. To follow that with a poster that labels some children as “losers” also crosses the line.

Because you wanted to call them losers?

The posters suggest that it is the students who will lose out, Chris. You've mischaracterized the message... or intentionally misread the message.

Par for the course for you.

These inappropriate messages are not isolated...

Which is what we've said for years, Chris... you've made inappropriate messages to many folks. You worked to avoid the consequences then, and you're avoiding the consequences now.

When is the next election for the Minneapolis School Board? You're up in... 2011, right?

in fact, they add to a large volume of culturally narcissistic email and letters...

But no worse than calling blacks with whom you disagree "Uncle Tom" or "Coons".

...I have received over a period of several months. Together the messages create a shrill and insufferable collective body of evidence that reflects a difference of values between some folks in that community and the Minneapolis Public Schools as an institution serving all children.

This guy loves re-runs.

The Twin Cities Daily Planet mentioned Stewart's "say nothing" blog post.

Kip Wennerlund is a parent of two Burroughs students and co-chair of the school’s advisory board that drafted the statement. He said Burroughs parents are willing to discuss problems with the statement’s wording, but faulted Stewart’s approach as confrontational and is distracting all parties from the important work that needs to be done.

“It says nothing about excluding anyone else,” Wennerlund said. “No matter how many times they try to say it does, it doesn’t make it true. People at Burroughs would be happy to talk about what more we could do to address issues of diversity. But it’s hard to get to that point with anyone who’s called your principal, your school community, racist.”

And, Stewart is quoted with another marvelous statement... showing that he's not there to represent Minneapolis students, their parents, and schools.

“If you have direct access to all media outlets, to all legislators, to the power base of Minneapolis, if you write the most checks to every politician in the city, if you just expect to get access to power at all times, I’m probably not your board member and I’m OK with that,” Stewart said.

What he's saying is that white people have unfettered access to various mediums, politicians, money, etc.