Back atcha GAK

Society is a constantly morphing entity, no doubt, with some changes appreciated more than others. While it's true there are changes I'd view to many other societies in the world as positive it's really not my business nor place to change them. Quite simply though, were I able to impart peace amongst all the warring factions in the world that would be the most positive change I could imagine, with the single greatest benefit to all concerned.

In my own country, which is of course my main concern, I have seen changes in our society that are less than desirable.

I've watched the dignity of the black population of the country rise and fall with an overall impact I view as negative in the long term. In the early 60s there was great social unrest as they sought equal rights, which were eventually granted through governmental policy changes in voting rights, hiring practices, and in no small part by forced integration in the schools. While these changes righted many incorrect policies and the overall metamorphosis of society relevant to them were overall positive, there still severely negative social impacts too.

In 1962 when I started 1st grade we lived in a city run segregated housing project with 3 areas, one for the blacks, one for whites and another for the Mescans, with each area having its own park and recreation center. Everyone in this project was poor but there was peace and dignity between the folks there and we got along fine. I can not remember even a single incidence of any kind between any of the races at my school and there was no racial tension I ever observed in our neighborhoods, hell, we were all just poor folks tryin to get along and make it.

By the time forced integration policies were implemented upon the housing project my Mom had remarried and we had moved to a different part of Dallas but what ensued in that project was an incredible increase in violence and crime, which lead eventually to most of the whites and Mescans moving out, even more crime, many of the once filled studio apartments there went vacant, were vandalized and eventually the whole place was closed and bulldozed some years later.

From my perspective the implementation of prez. Johnsons "Great Society" program where govt. attempted to right the wrongs of the social injustices to the blacks was the single biggest blow to the dignity and culture of the black population as it lead to the eventual abuse and gaming of the system, which while it was intended to give the black community a hand up, became a hand out instead.

Blacks were now able to receive subsidized housing, free food, free healthcare and even a monthly check for doing nothing but being black. While these policies and programs were heralded as a new dawning for the blacks in America by the well intentioned bureaucrats it (in my view) lead to the undermining of the dignity of the black segment of society and to be honest was discriminatory in nature as these same benefits were not extended to everyone equally.

In the early 70s the federal govt took the idea of forced integration another step forward by implementing policies that forced racial quotas on the schools. While black, brown and white people already lived together in many areas and neighborhood schools revealed this societal comingling, the federal govt began forced bussing of students to other schools to balance the ratios at all schools.

This also became what we call here an "unfunded federal mandate". The larger metropolitan school systems in having to comply with these new guidelines had to purchase, operate and maintain huge fleets of busses, leading to increasing (and unwelcomed) tax burdens on the citizens. School curriculums which were once varied throughout the entire district were now required to be equal, which lead to an overall decrease in academic achievement. While some neighborhood schools had done better than others academically, this "equality" push lead to an overall dumbing down instead and the losers were the very students this was all supposed to have made it better for.

This detracted from the overall sense of community people once enjoyed in their local neighborhoods and there was a lot of resultant tension when students were then forced to attend schools in areas where they felt less welcome, afterall, they weren't in their neighborhood and students from outside their neighborhood were now filling the seats of their neighborhood schools instead.

This governmental intervention here in Dallas lead to many whites moving outside the Dallas school district to suburban schools which were not effected by these policies. By this time our family was livin in such a small town in the suburbs and the influx of students in our schools lead to a drastic change there. While the influx was of whites into a predominantly white community the attitudes of the former Dallas school kids was quite different from those in our little town. While our local school system had been rated as in the top 10 statewide for scholastic achievement, that soon began to dwindle and today that same school systems rating is in the slightly less than average range.

There's lots of other things I could relate here about other social changes I've viewed, but this diatribe has already run long enough, so let me just close by saying that while societal change is inevitable, that does not mean its outcomes will always be positive