Seattle Public Schools Neglect of Black Children
- Cassie Bliley
- Mar 8, 2018
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 14, 2018
The prominence of de facto segregation in Seattle’s central district left entire populations of black students with unequal access to education and limited resources to succeed. The lack of black teachers and administrators working in the public school sector created a shortage of black voices, experiences, and values in Seattle's education system.[1]

“From the beginning, the black child should be accorded the understanding that he is, has been, and will be of himself, an important human being .”[2]
The Miseducation of Black Youth
The miseducation of black youth stemmed from the Eurocentric curriculum that was teaching students how to reproduce the current white power structure. Everything was taught from the white perspective, perpetuating white values, histories, ideals, and viewpoints. This manipulation of the mind was another form of white domination in the form of epistemic violence.[3] The production of knowledge is not an innocent process. It involves power and privilege because historically, the dominant white culture has had the power to silence the past. Silencing in the making of sources, in the creation of archives, in who gets to narrate what stories, the agenda behind what ultimately becomes "history" is revealed when our understanding of valid knowledge begins with the presence of the colonizer.[4] This Eurocentric, masculine production of knowledge erases personal and cultural stories that have contributed to our nation and history as a whole. Education works as a tool of social control because it continues to privilege only the white community while minimizing the humanity of people of color.
The Afro American Journal

The white perspective is not equipped to successfully teach black students because it does not accurately reflect their lived reality. The curriculum in Seattle public schools and across the nation was a destructive and irrelevant experience because there was little to no material that portrayed black people as uniquely cultured people.[5]
To combat this epistemic violence and give a voice to the black community, Cliff Hooper used the Afro American Journal as a platform to denounce this Eurocentric system and the implications of white privilege. In his weekly column titled “Education”, Hooper advocated for self-determination in the public sphere of education, pushing for “greater oversight in the education of black youth by the black community”. [6] He believed that it was important to integrate self determination because it was under the "umbrella of black authority" that the black community could finally define their own history and create opportunities to thrive outside of white ideals of being.
Hooper criticized Seattle public school for putting black students "through a system that [failed] to thoroughly explain where they have been, where they are, and where they are going. "[7] Part of the struggle for greater black control meant building a curriculum that allowed students of color to see themselves reflected as important and prominent members of history and in society. Ultimately, the black community was taking a stance against the reductionist perspective that was upheld by the Eurocentric curriculum.
[1] Doug Blair, “Black Power and Education in the Afro American Journal 1968-1969.” Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, 2005. http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/news_blair.htm.
[2] "Relevant Education", Afro American Journal (Seattle, WA). August 28, 1968.
[3] Thomas Teo, “What is Epistemological Violence in the Empirical Social Sciences?” Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2010.
[4]Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, "Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History" (Boston, Mass: Beacon Press), 1995.
[5] James Turner, "Black Studies: A Concept and A Plan" Cornell Chronicle (New York), October 2, 1969.
[6] Blair, Doug. “Black Power and Education in the Afro American Journal 1968-1969.” Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project. 2005. http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/news_blair.htm
[7] Cliff Hooper, "Education", Afro American Journal (Seattle, WA) Oct 24, 1968, pg. 7.
Comentarios