Say Brother; Ben Scott interview

Well let me say one that maybe thrills me with boredom has had something to do with getting on to something else. This September at the end Elise EPA filed a court injunction or attempted to get a court injunction against. The school committee elections charging that if effectively the at large election disenfranchise black voters do not give black parents lack of school children substantial representation on the school committee you testified as a point of on behalf of the end that way CPS would have some of your feelings about that. Well more than that say that blacks are not represented. It said lack of represent actually made their votes worthless. And this is what is what is

most irreparable injury. The fact that your vote is worthless has been destroyed by the system of electing people at large and constitutional principles of one man one vote. Meaningless. If the vote doesn't come to nothing so that was the main thing. Cases like this have to be proved on their merits. You can't just arbitrarily say that and have large system work. Certainly it's probably as good as any IF community where everybody is. Middle class in on the 40. You know the difference in shades of gray and very minor there could well be represented by several people all elected at once. But in a pluralistic nation there are cases when this isn't so and they have to be

proved for each case. So my feeling is that the cases very well can very well be proved in Boston that this at large system operates in an unconstitutional manner because it deprives the voting power of black citizens so that's really where I stand on it. But there's a why do you think it's. Essential to have black representation on school. Well. I suppose it has always been so but it is becoming more much more widely. I understood and accepted and. That blacks have special needs in this society which has a racist tradition and that they need to make special adjustments. They need special courses of training

special methods of identification in order to redress the biases directed at them. And by the society. This has finally been recognized as a rationale for action and something to. Work toward for years that. Blacks were just dark darker white folks and so we treat them all alike and so forth and so on when we don't ignore the facts that black exist. Blacks exist. This is now recognized as irrational and therefore in order to deduce what is the best thing in terms of education in terms of family services in terms of of of what not for blacks. We've come to the not so startling recognition that blacks themselves are to determine this. You see and so therefore the representation on the school committee of blacks. But

more important the representation of black ideas and translating them into action in the schools is the most important thing to get. The point is that if it were possible for white on the school committee to translate black ideas into action and positive programs in black schools I guess the case would be much weaker. But matter of fact it can. Generally speaking that can't be done and. So therefore. Blacks are injured by not being represented. You see this is the whole point. When you're not represented in two that injures you. What. Do you think. That parents can play that people can play and say this election or be on the scene. Morning range terms were broken people play in the future in terms of changing the system or making it. More relevant to. Our educational

needs right of course. I think that parents are going to be forced to run their own schools and they're going to have to get interested and involved in it because they're going to have the power to do it. I believe the suit will will will resolve it that way. Here in Boston. And so I think also that once once people have the power. And know that what they do is determinate and important then they will be interested in participating in other ways. That has been talked about is having a school committee that is supported by the mayor. How do you react to that. Well I think that it's it's it's a very insufficient remitting and probably no remedy at all. The idea being that the mayor can be relied on to appoint a representative school committee that will be sensitive to all the various. I

think that this is a fallacy a great suit so much depends on the man they apartment of the man. In the last election. I'm sure I would have pointed out quite different. School Committee from the from the one this male would appoint a matter of fact I think the committee she would have appointed would have been very similar one was elected. But. Aside from that there is this certain fallacy in saying that a self determined. Educated electorate needs someone to pick its representatives it's a minute straight. I simply don't see. The sense of it and. So and then. On the constitutional question of our suit where we're protesting about an administrative body even though it's a five man body being elected at large. To suggest that the way to remedy that is

to have that five man board body appointed by a person who is also elected at large simply doesn't seem to me to be anywhere near the kind of remedy that the injury to give me early in the year old to sit with a member of high schools where there was a lot of it. Student protest was one of community protests. What effect do you think that has had on the attitude of people this year. Well I think that people realize that there's been in spite of all the confrontations and. Agitations and demonstrations of injury and dissatisfaction that. No real transfer of power to the people has been affected. And they whether they articulate this or not they

must realize that what's needed is a new vehicle a new human proposition for transfer of power and the confrontation itself is not sufficient. And I think this is what we're trying to do in the suit. We're coming up with a new proposition for transfer of power. We're spelling it out ambiguously on ambiguously not is a privilege and we're not petitioning. Their representatives in the legislature the General Court of Massachusetts. We're not petitioning him. We're saying it is alright. To have the system change. Just as our constitutional right to have it changed. It's a big distinction between petitioning a board for influencing a legislature

and gain in all of these approaches that are normally done. I think this is what happened in a powerful sensitive men tried experiments with local governing boards. And the same people who are very staunch defenders of law and order felt that they had overstepped their mandate and by demonstrations strikes and boycotts they struck out against it to show that they thought those the Board of Regents and the governor. There had overstepped their authority. Now these are the same reasons that black militants demonstrates in schools. They think that the boards have overstepped their mandate Ana and are exceeding their authority. And this needs to be settled by judicial review. If it is a right for. Blacks to control their schools then it's no wonder they demonstrate when they don't.

And so this is the day. The thing that this suit is all about.