Buttars: Not a "Racial Bone in My Body"
None by KCPW
Senator Clarifies Brown v. Board of Ed Comments
(KCPW News) State Senator Chris Buttars (R-West Jordan) says his dislike of the seminal civil rights case Brown vs. Board of Education does not make him a racist."I don't think there's a racial bone in my body," says Buttars, adding, "I don't see Black and White, I see people. I always have."
Buttars was responding to a Logan radio reporter's questions yesterday about his plan to run legislation regarding judicial retention when the conversation veered toward the 1955 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ldesegregated public schools nationwide. In that interview, Buttars called the court's decision quote "wrong to begin with." The senator stands by his comments:
"There's some things that Brown vs. Board of Education did that was wonderful, as I mentioned, by getting some of these minority kids in schools with more money, but in a lot of ways, once again, it broke up the educational system that was designed to maximize the number of minority kids in many schools in the South -- that was my concern."
To hear more from Senator Buttars on this issue, download the Midday Metro podcast from our website.
Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2009 KCPW
1. Curtis Linton said:
It is interesting that Senator Buttars says that "I don't see Black and White, I see people," in that "racial color-blindness" is in fact one of the greatest causes of institutionalized racism. As a White person, when I claim to not see color, then I assume everybody is like me--like my color. But they are not, they are different--each of us with a rich and unique racial and cultural identity. As a national expert in addressing the issue of race and racism in schools, one of the biggest deterents that I have observed to closing racial achievement gaps occurs when schools claim "color-blindness" and hence treat all students as though they were White. When this occurs, students of color who act differently tend to be seen as problem students rather than unique students. In the schools I have observed where all racial achievement gaps have been closed, the educators embrace difference rather than try to erase it. Consequently, students of color come to believe that the school represents them and respects them rather than expects them to conform to a cultural standard that is antathema to their home and background. For schools to close their gaps, educators that are White and that are of Color need to accept students for who they are and raise them to a common standard of success rather than giving up on them to one degree or another when they show up not like the norm in the school. I would love to talk more about this. Please contact me at 801-414-7504 or at curtislinton@hotmail.com. Thanks, Curtis Linton
3. craig said:
Mr Buttar does not see color. He goes to church with all white people. The people in his neighborhood are all white people. And he works with all white people. hmmmm
2. Spencer said:
Buttars claims he isn't racist towards white or black but what abour brown? He supports punishing children of illegal immigrants for the actions of their parents. He supports taking away the dreams of children who have been raised here and are American in culture and language, as they hardly know any other country. He supports punishing innocent children who are not criminals but victims of a broken immigration system. If these children cannot dream, cannot have a hope to attend college and normalize their status in this country, we are encouraging poverty, gangs, crime and second-class residents. When these children graduate from a Utah high school after at least 3 years in school and have stayed out of any legal trouble, Buttars wants to take away their ability to receive an education. And that to me is cruel, unfair, and borders on out-right racism.