Blue Jay and Cardinals - The Scourge of Bibb County, Georgia
© Lea Moore
Thank for your patience in waiting on me these past couple of weeks, while I was on vacation. My visit to the West Coast, where the majority of my family resides, served only to prove what I have been discussing in the past couple articles. In the heart of the Deep South, there are many people who still maintain the mentality and the 1960's. Although they know in their minds that the law distinctly prohibits discrimination in the workplace and in the schools, they staunchly refuse to believe in their hearts that women, African-Americans, Asians, American Indians, and other minorities can possibly compete in the workplace at their level of competency.
When my husband and I visited my family, to attend my sister's wedding, I noticed an immediate difference in the way people were treated within minutes of landing at the airport. The races and ages were all mixed up together. no one gave us those ugly sneers as we walked down the corridors at the airport. We weren't stared at or glared at. In fact, no one really paid much attention to us.
It really was a treat, to be treated as if there were nothing different about our relationship.
Having seen this difference in cultural mentality, for the few short days we were away, then returning to get my youngest daughter registered for school, brought me to understand the extreme levels of racism and prejudice within this county.
I am determined, now more than ever, to bring this to the forefront of attention.
BLUE JAYS AND CARDINALS - THE SCOURGE OF BIBB COUNTY, GEORGIA
Is it just my imagination, or do the people who are being discriminated against not even realize there is another way of life? Is it possible that the entirety of the Bibb County Board of Education can't, or chooses not to, see what it is practicing?
There are a total of 48 schools within the district, give or take one or two, (it's sometimes hard to keep up, with all the construction going on).
Our teachers are the lowest paid in the nation. Our administrators, facility engineers, secretaries, bus drivers, and all other board employees--with the possible exception of the Superintendent--are also the lowest paid in the nation? Our education system is ranked the lowest in the nation. The Board has chosen to purchase lands costing millions of dollars for the construction of new schools, which sit vacant and unattended, and will probably stay that way for many years to come. As a result, teachers and paraprofessionals have been deleted from a system, which is already overloaded. Schools which, as little as one year ago, had 5-6 custodians, are now staffed by only two or three people who are required to do the work of twice as many.
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