It tells the story of a Black couple in Oakland, CA who went to their local property tax accessors office and requested a reappraisal of their home. Knowing that the home values in the area had declined - they indeed received a reduction in their property taxes.
As I analyze and scrutinize "popular Black political policy" I can't help but notice the conundrum that is often created when the Black consumer of benefit is also the distributor.
There are a few key times when this deadlocked situation is created:
- Public Transit Union workers demanding more money vs the Working-class riders having to bear fare increases as a result
- Altered qualification standards for the placement of public school teachers that are met with claims that "Black majority schools receive inferior teachers". (ie: The grievance that too many science teachers in the inner city are not in fact certified to teach the subject)
I would like to add another bullet point to this list.
The observation that the same group of Community Leaders/ Educational Activists who decry the "funding gaps" between "our" schools and those in the "suburbs" (read between the lines - 'the White folks') while they are absent from the playing field as a multitude of Black people go to their property tax accessors office and make a "withdraw from the SCHOOL BUDGET" per their demand for lower taxes due.
Is There Any Better Way To Show That Your People Are Valuable Than To Prove It Via Your Own Dollars?
Document this as more evidence of the empty rhetoric that is incumbent within the Black Establishment position. On the issue of "resource provision" to the Black community - particularly in support of development and education of our children - the claim is: "IF you value us EQUALLY to the next man - PROVE IT via the resources that you send our way". This claim will typically be preceded by some study which shows the gross gap in funding between an "urban" school district and a "suburban" school district. Jonathan Kozol and the NAACP will join together denouncing the "racism" that is displayed per this data sample.
If only it were so "black and white".
The use of property taxes as a means of educational funding has been assailed by activist groups for decades. As the story goes - since Black Americans own less property - this amounts to "disparate funding outcomes" and thus "structural racism" where the benefits that have been passed down by the advantage of the slave owners on to his descendants are maintained - still today.
The aforementioned trend for property tax reductions by Black home owners in majority Black areas throughout the nation won't be identified as a threat to school funding by those who "self-prescribe" our ailment.
They have yet to recognize the other half of the "equality rule" - Show your equality by what you offer up to society in proportion of your capabilities to do so.
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