Los Angeles Wave "Soulvine Columnist" Betty Pleasant comments on the termination of Anti-Semetic Occupy LA Supporter

Blogger notes: As many media outlets chime in on the Anti-Semetic comments of former LAUSD Teacher and Occupy LA supporter Patrica McAllister, the likes of the LA Times and LA Weekly must make way for these "rich comments" of LA Wave Newspaper "Soulvine Columnist" Betty Pleasant. Enjoy this enlightening commentary on the state of race relations as seen through "the improved vision" of South LA's longtime news commentator---Scott Johnson. 

LA Wave Newspaper "Soulvine Columnist" Betty Pleasant.

Former LAUSD Substitute Teacher Patrica McAllister at Occupy LA.

HYPOCRITES, ALL OF THEM — LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy summarily fired substitute teacher Patricia McAllister Tuesday afternoon for a bigoted, disrespectful remark she made about Jews when interviewed by a news reporter while she was participating in the Occupy L.A. protests at City Hall on her own time. I watched her say it on TV, and believe me, she could have righteously assailed corporate entities all day long without reverting to the Nazi-era sentiment of attacking the Jews for the bad economy. But my concern is this: People in high places, in low places and in places in between have been attacking, slurring and vilifying African-Americans ever since there were African-Americans and they all went merrily along their way.

When Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamonte was in office, he called us “n---ers” while making a speech to a ballroom full of people. Nobody called for his head but me — and he kept it. Then there was that crazy Republican Party official in Orange County who circulated a picture of President Obama as a baby chimpanzee, and, despite the outrage she ignited among us Blacks, she didn’t lose her post. And what about that awful postage stamp Mexico issued depicting Blacks as monkeys? As far as the McAllister matter is concerned, my most significant beef is with LAUSD’s hypocrisy. In his press statement announcing McAllister’s termination, Deasy states the school district “will never stand for behavior that is disrespectful, intolerant or discriminatory.” Oh shut up Deasy!

LAUSD has been nothing but “disrespectful, intolerant and discriminatory” to African-Americans for years — in the hiring and firing of personnel (remember Adm. David Brewer et al.?); in the implementation of educational programs (remember when they had summer school for Spanish-speaking students only?); in the cavalier rejection of Black parents’ involvement in decision-making affecting neighborhood schools (remember the Clay Middle School takeover?); the institutionalized disregard for the underachievement of the district’s Black students (remember the African-American Learning Initiative, which the board adopted and then shelved?). And finally, remember how the discriminatory operation of the district that led to the U.S. Department of Education’s 19-month-long civil rights probe of the LAUSD was settled last week? Did you know the department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, Russlyn Ali, a Black woman, expanded that federal investigation to include forcing LAUSD to implement actions to raise the achievement level of its Black students? Until then, the probe was all about Spanish-speaking students.

The only thing McAllister did Tuesday that was different from what Deasy and them have been doing all along, is that she stepped on the third rail, and therefore, had to go. LAUSD is a bunch of hypocrites.

Your thoughts ..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14