Virginia: on the cutting edge of civil rights

Breaking news: Virginia expresses 'profound regret' for slavery

I have nothing against such an apology, but it's Virginia's track record that makes such an apology appropriate. There are plenty of examples in recent history to show why this apology is important, but that's the problem--recent history.

Instead of apologies that do little, there's a real need for education, social assistance and efforts that will let the disadvantaged in our society get a fair chance. Education is the most important piece of the puzzle.

As the simplest example, I like to point to the Intel finalists. Roughly the same thing happens every year, so let's look at this year's results. There are 40 finalists nationwide. 12 of them are from New York.

Why such a disproportionately large number? Despite what many parents around here might like to think, I doubt that kids in New York State are any smarter than the average kids in other parts of the country. Certainly, there are other states (like Virginia, which had only 1 finalist) with plenty of resources to educate their kids.

But that's the difference. We actually spend on educating our kids. Yes, plenty of people here complain about high taxes. I especially love the people who make no bones about saying, "our kids are grown up, so why should we keep paying high school taxes?" (Excuse me, but Marc and I don't have any kids in the schools--you never hear us complaining about our school taxes.) In other words, while we have cheapskates here, too, the overall view in this state is that good schools are worth the cost.

You may feel I've strayed from the original point of this post, but I don't think so. I don't really expect to see Virginia become a beacon of civil rights. Their recent history of legislating homophobia--and plenty of other examples of the prevailing attitudes of many in that state--make me pessimistic in that regard. Yes, there are bigots everywhere (and there were slave owners in New York--there just isn't much of a question around here that slavery was regrettable, while recent comments by a Virginia legislator helped spark this apology, 140+ years after the fact); it's just that some places seem to have more than their fair share of hatred and bigotry.

I try to be more pragmatic. We need to push for a better educational system in this country. Education is the one reliable way to progress as a society. Education is the route to tolerance and, while we're at it, to a more productive society.

If we had a whole country of kids educated the way the average kid gets educated around here, imagine what a powerhouse this country really could be! We wouldn't have to worry about cheap labor overseas, because the average American worker would be doing things on a much higher level, and there'd be no need for those jobs to remain here.