A school in Cleveland, Miss., was the last school to be desegregated; that was in 2016, after 50 years of struggle and a court order from a federal judge. Just 10 years later, there is talk about bringing back segregated schools. Now, it’s not exactly what you think, or at least that is what N.H. State Representative Kristin Noble said after her chats got leaked. Noble wrote, “Republicans have been self-segregating out of the leftist indoctrination centers for decades,” according to New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR). Instead of segregation by race, she wants segregation by right and left, Republicans and Democrats. What she does not realize is how unrealistic and unethical that thought process is.
Noble uses the word segregation lightly, as though this were not the state of our country over 100 years ago. According to NHPR, Republican Representative Mike Belcher of Wakefield wrote in an email that he interpreted Noble’s initial message as “an off-hand quip meant to be humorous.”
Why is segregation now being considered humorous? Segregation should not be something that is funny to speak about; it was a time of injustice and prejudice and not something that should be repeated in any form. They say history repeats itself, and it seems like they were right. It may not be exactly the same way, but it does repeat.
The United States is already politically divided, and it seems as though Noble wants the children to be divided as well. Why would we want to bring that type of division that we see on the news into the everyday lives of children? School is meant to be a safe place, a sanctuary for our children to learn, grow and create memories that pave the way for self-discovery, not a place for them to be segregated into the political views of their family members or state representatives.
In Noble’s statement, she said, “It’s funny to watch the Democrats feign outrage when I thought they’d be supportive of managing their own schools, with libraries full of porn, biological males in girls sports and bathrooms and as much DEI curriculum as their hearts desire.”
Her statement shows that her political beliefs are heavily influenced by her religious beliefs, which influences what she wants to see in school policies and the bills she passes.
Noble has sponsored many bills that bar public schools from teaching topics like critical race theory or anything with LGBTQIA+ ideologies, according to NHPR.
These bills that she has sponsored can withhold money under certain circumstances from public schools and remove the enrollment cap for the education freedom account program until they follow the ideologies of republican representatives.
Noble was never an educator, so why is she making such important decisions about education when she has no idea what she is talking about? Education should not be affected by someone’s political or religious beliefs; it’s about what is best for the children in the education system, how they can be better educated and ready to enter the work field and do it successfully. Not only that, but students should be free to coexist with anyone of any background, whether they are different politically, economically, socially, racially or in the way they identify themselves.
House Democratic leader Alexis Simpson wrote in a statement that, “Segregation is not a relic to be mocked; it is a living scar carved into our schools, our communities and our democracy,” and “It was built through violence, enforced by law and justified by indifference.” She is completely right. Segregation and that entire era of the United States is what we should be learning from, not what we should be returning to.
Arkayde Smith can be contacted at
arsmith@kscequinox.com
