Plano Not Helping Out

[MidtownCoog]

Looks like Plano needs to get with the program. You KNOW this was intentional.

Paperwork First? Plano schools pick process over people.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...n2.426522b.html

[Lowbrow]

I'd love to say I was suprised.

[RedScare]

What a Christian AND American thing for these caring people to do. There are so many people in the United States that don't follow rules. I'm glad the good folks at Plano ISD aren't ignoring the rules JUST so a few poor and homeless kids can get educated.

[kjb434]

If someone wanted to find someone to call a racist, I think we found the first one in all this mess: Plano ISD.

[Lowbrow]

If someone wanted to find someone to call a racist, I think we found the first one in all this mess:  Plano ISD.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I graduated from a rival high school to Plano. I remember at least one black football player. (kidding aside... I think the district is about 6% black)

[nmainguy]

...and you would want to send your child to a school in the city with one of the highest teen suicide rates? Because...?

The best thing that could happen is for this story to go national and show what a good Republican Family Values Community can really be.

[MidtownCoog]

6% black)

My high school was less than that.

But I sure hope they would help out.

[Guest danax]

OK, I'm going to be a potential pincushion again, and I'm not defending Plano, but come on, they are obviously thinking that "in general" (yes, predjudice) these people will bring down their school district and probably flat out don't want them. Is their generalization valid? Is New Orleans a paradigm of educational excellence? Or maybe they don't want them living in their city. Again, are their assumptions that these are not a group of highly productive citizens valid? Could they also be afraid of white-flight? It might not be sensible but it's real.

They might be using statistics as a basis for their prejudices. Is this a crime? What is the difference between statistics that indicate that New Orleans is high crime, low education and low income and that there is a positive correlation between low income and both of the above and, say, statistics that indicate that the Cowboys are likely to have a lousy team this year therefore, based on that analysis, someone decides not to invest in season tickets this year?

And aren't we being prejudiced to assume that Plano is being "racist"? Shame on all of you.

It just irks me a bit with all of this super-sensitive treatment everyone uses when it comes to generalizations about groups of people based on statistics. If you don't use available information for decision making, then you are a fool, right?

Again, I'm just trying to cut through this P.C. or whatever you want to call it and present the truth. The fact that they're poor and from New Orleans is working against them, and rightly so. The place was a dungheep for the most part and others are wary of the same effect occuring wherever they land. How much of this prejudice, if that's really what it is, is based on those thoughts and how much just because they're black is unknown.

If these were middle-class blacks from suburbia with low-crime productive pasts would Plano's reaction be the same? There still might be prejudice based solely on race, I don't know, I've never been to Plano. If so, then THAT would be racism, not the other.

[RedScare]

Nice try, danax. The people in Plano are turds, and no amount of defending by you will change my mind.

BTW, this aint PC, this is plain wrong.

[Guest danax]

Nice try, danax.

[nmainguy]

My post was not to defend Plano exactly but to point out is that it seems that no one is talking about the validity of concerns regarding the relocation of these thousands of people in certain communities. I could be wrong because I don't watch TV but have internet and I HAIF a lot  . Call it PC or another name but it shows the hyper-sensitivity to all discussions where there is a so-called racial component these days, unless it's white bashing, then it's ok (people in Plano are turds). And no, I'd say the same thing if I weren't white. If a bunch of redneck Okie refugees from a drugged out part of some city were to land in an upscale black community in Atlanta would there be total acceptance? Maybe there would be, just food for thought.

When we get to the point where anyone of any "race" can express legitimate concerns about a group, then we will finally be out of this phase. It's a balancing of the pendulum after centuries of oppression so I understand it's part of our harmonization process as a world, and I can detach from it and see it as such. But, when I see the balloon of b.s. continously float past I eventually get the overwhelming urge to pull out a hatpin and pop it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have no problem calling anyone of any race, creed or color "turds". It's just the way I'm built.

Here's my problem with statements like this: "the relocation of these thousands of people in certain communities."

It's the code phrase "certain communities" that always sets off an alarm in my brain. So let's try not to pretend what the people in Plano are doing. It is race-based, class-based and potentialy unlawful per federal law.

[RedScare]

Why, pray tell, are the good people of Plano so much better than us? And just to correct your own stereotype, I'm not blaming whites. I'm blaming close minded uppity assholes.

Lubbock, Amarillo, Corpus, San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth and numerous others have down the neighborly thing by accepting these FAMILIES into their schools. Only Plano has taken the prejudiced approach and they should be roundly condemned for it.

My very own sister lives up there, and I can hear her explaining it away, refusing to admit the real reason, all the way from here. She would give you that 'other side of the tracks crap', just like she did to me when I dated a girl from Texas City.

I'm sorry people, this country has a huge problem with ignoring its less fortunate, even while it adopts policies that create more less fortunate. And if this country continues treating its poor like feral dogs, the dogs are going to bite. Sticking our collective heads in the sand and telling the poor they are imagining things will not make it better.

We reap what we sow. Sow intolerance, and it will be returned in spades. The racial intolerance may be subtle, but the economic intolerance is blatant. I suspect that most of the people on this board are not independently wealthy. The economic intolerance that you are excusing will someday come to bite you, too.

[Guest danax]

I have no problem calling anyone of any race, creed or color "turds". It's just the way I'm built.

Here's my problem with statements like this: "the relocation of these thousands of people in certain communities."

It's the code phrase "certain communities" that always sets off an alarm in my brain. So let's try not to pretend what the people in Plano are doing. It is race-based, class-based and potentialy unlawful per federal law.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There was no code phrase intended. I was thinking more in terms of rich areas being concerned about poorer people from a city with a bad reputation moving in and lowering the lifestyle that they currently have. Selfish? Maybe, but it is something that any human would ponder, is it not?

We've all seen how NIMBYs are right there stopping various projects that are deemed as negative but when it involves human beings, no one is allowed to say a thing. And I realize there are laws that cannot be broken and I agree with the laws, I'm just trying to point out that when the same thinking as so-called NIMBYism takes place with people instead of toll roads, it's instantly attacked as racism, even if their fears are somewhat justified. And, those who dare make their fears known run the risk of vicious hate attacks from the "more tolerant".

[MidtownCoog]

Danax's comments have convinced me that Plano deserves a GIANT tornado to rip it to shreads.

[RedScare]

Danax's comments have convinced me that Plano deserves a GIANT tornado to rip it to shreads.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, and after the F5 hits, they deserve this response from Michael Brown and FEMA:

"Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29. Brown said that among duties of these employees was to

[RaiderDude]

I'm from DFW and I'm truly not surpirsed at how Plano is acting. Plano people are very stuck up and they are very quick to tell you they are from west Plano and some even go as far giving you their subdivision lol. Most of us other DFW folks either say Dallas or Ft. Worth when asked where we're from. (I'm saying this because I'm a student here at Texas Tech in Lubbock and the question of where you are from always arises)