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SEGREGATION ACADEMIES STILL EXIST
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Christopher Young
March 1, 2024
LA Progressive
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_ Despite the law of the land, lawmaker’s find workarounds to
maintain segregation funding through charter schools _
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Sometimes you just have to go see for yourself. Sure enough, after a
three-hour drive from Jackson in overcast conditions with a few
sprinkles, there it was at the height of a hill, 1 Chiefs Drive in
Senatobia – Chief Country – the K–12 private school named
Magnolia Heights School. Other names besides private exist, like
independent and preparatory, yet the most authentic is segregation
academies. At one time there were 57 of these academies in
Mississippi, six of those are now closed,
per [link removed].
Per www.magnoliaheights.com
[[link removed]] they’ve been in business since
the 1970-71 school year with initial enrollment of 225 students. The
school’s history page on the website begins with this sentence:
“Magnolia Heights School was the dream of a group of citizens who
felt the need for alternative education in the Tate County area for
any child interested in a college preparatory education,” as if
public schools don’t do the same. State Representative John Thomas
“Trey” Lamar III is not only a graduate, but currently serves as
Vice President of Magnolia Heights Board of Trustees. Lamar (R-08
Lafayette & Tate) since 2012, is also chairman of the lower chamber
Ways and Means committee and has drafted legislation to funnel federal
funds through the state to private schools; HB1663 to name just one.
[Rep.John Thomas Lamar, III, from www.legislature.ms.gov.]
Rep.John Thomas Lamar, III, from www.legislature.ms.gov
[[link removed]].
Keeping their white kids segregated from black kids is always their
version of “alternative education” despite the laws against it and
the conscience of the nation. The Brown v. Board of Education decision
was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954, mandating public
school desegregation – no more separate but equal shenanigans. In
the 1976 Runyon v. McCrary decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
private schools that discriminate on the basis of race or establish
racial segregation are in violation of federal law.
Today, Magnolia Heights School has an enrollment of 695 students
according to a lady in their office during this writer’s February 8,
2024, visit. I was told a lady named Jacqueline would have answers to
my questions about enrollment and demographics of enrollment. I left
my card and received assurances I would hear from her, but that
didn’t happen as we went to press a week later. Perhaps it was use
of the word, demographics? Their website indicates they have 64
teachers – 100% of the faces look white. They have this rotating
photograph thingy on the home page, I count 63 faces all total, 61 one
of them are white faces. Another page spoke about their National Honor
Society inducting 25 new members, the photo has 50 faces total, 49 out
of 50 are white faces.
Looking back, “from the mid-1960s to 1980, as public schools in the
Deep South began to slowly desegregate through federal court orders,
private school enrollment increased by more than 200,000 students
across the region—with about two-thirds of that growth occurring in
six states: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina,
and South Carolina. During this time, the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) vacillated in its allowance of tax deductions for private
schools…leading to a Mississippi-based lawsuit against the IRS in
1969 in which federal courts issued a preliminary injunction denying
exemption to private schools that were segregated by race. Following
this court order, the IRS adopted a non-discrimination policy applying
to private schools in 1970, though it took eight years to be
implemented,” per [link removed]
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Nancy Loome, executive director of the Parents Campaign, a
public-school advocacy group, told Mississippi Today in April 2022,
“During and following integration in the 60s and 70s, lawmakers
diverted much-needed funding and resources away from public schools
and into private segregation academies,” she said. “It was wrong
then, and it is wrong today. The public’s funds belong in the
public’s schools, and our constitution makes that plain.“
In October 2022, Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Crystal Wise Martin
blocked a state law that put $10 million of federal pandemic relief
money into infrastructure grants for private schools. On February 6,
2024, a three-judge panel of the Mississippi Supreme Court led by
Justice Leslie King heard oral arguments and a ruling is pending.
Mississippi’s residents pay dearly in a multitude of ways for not
prioritizing public education and its funding. We are currently ranked
#49 overall by [link removed]
[[link removed]] and others. We passed a law in
1997 for Mississippi Adequate Education Program but haven’t followed
it in 15 years. This state fought against the equitable funding sought
for HBCU’s in the Ayers case for nearly 30 years. Too many
wrongheaded people elect wrongheaded leadership, and we suffer and
remain at the bottom.
Using personal funds to support one’s alma mater happens on the
daily, but folks like Representative John Thomas Lamar III, just 43
years old and a former law clerk in the Office of Governor Haley
Barbour, well, they go about it differently – like a cowpuncher
heaving a lasso around the necks of all Mississippi taxpayers to
pony-up the desired funds for their alma mater and other segregation
academies who already receive exorbitant tax-credits. Do you suppose
it is a coincidence that it was Representative Lamar who authored
HB1020 – aka Jim Crow 2.0 - the blatant abruption of black power in
our 80+% Black City? He received his training at Magnolia Heights
School, where the website is overflowing with words, with the
exception of these three - Black History Month.
* school segregation
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* Mississippi
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* Charter schools
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