Black lives matter? Then support charter schools

 'It is hard to see any racial issue that matters as much as education'



Thomas Sowell  "Ordinarily, it is not a good idea to base how you vote on just one issue. But if black lives really matter, as they should matter like all other lives, then it is hard to see any racial issue that matters as much as education.

"The government could double the amount of money it spends on food stamps or triple the amount it spends on housing subsidies, and it will mean very little if the next generation of young blacks goes out into the world as adults without a decent education.

"Many things that are supposed to help blacks actually have a track record of making things worse. Minimum wage laws have had a devastating effect in making black teenage unemployment several times higher than it once was.

"In my own life, I was very fortunate when I left home in 1948, at age 17 – a high school dropout with no skills or experience. At that time, the unemployment rate of black 16- and 17-year-old males was 9.4 percent. For white males the same ages, it was 10.2 percent.

"Why were these unemployment rates so much lower than we have become used to seeing in later times – and with very little difference between blacks and whites?" . . .

"Apparently, these black children’s futures do not matter enough for black politicians – including the president of the United States – to stand up to the teachers’ unions. The teachers’ unions produce big bucks in campaign contributions and big voter turnout on election day.
"Any politician, of any race or party, who fights against charter schools that give many black youngsters their one shot at a decent life does not deserve the vote of anybody who really believes that black lives matter.