Julian Castro And HUD

Secretary Castro is attempting once again in American history to achieve greater housing integration in our country's communities.
Good luck, sir.
Any integration in housing will have to be accompanied by an integration of minorities with like social strata into middle classed majority communities.
Even that will be met with virulent resistance in many American communities.
When my own children were integrated in our school system through busing, the white parents in the
receiving school caused so much trouble every day that the teachers and the administration in the school had to wring their hands in frustration every day.
The professionals in our school suffered thus until the white parents had all successfully moved from the neighborhood, or gotten their children into some teeny private school concern.
When my eldest child was valedictorian at this same school in 1978, the white girl who was salutatorian exclaimed bitterly to her she got valedictorian because teachers favored black students.
The school had enough minority teachers and/or administrators to count on one hand. They went from having all white classrooms to having 60/40 white classrooms in a fortnight. They handled it well; but why in the world would they favor black children?
Today, this same daughter, a U of M grad (No. She wasn't a legacy, or an "opportunity student" at U of M.) is a computer digital trafficking expert. She has written contracts to sign two separate companies she has trained in Chicago to help with these trafficking and other technical computer concerns. She was an English major in college; because she had mastered computer science in high school.
She was second in command in the computer department for a while at the U of M Dental school.
She wrote training documents for the graduate admissions school at Cornell University for a while.
Even at ten, she was intellectually vigorous in her academic work. But she didn't bother to try to explain that to the little white girl. She kept pushing forward as best she could. In Michigan, however,
she and her personnel department have found it difficult to find people in Michigan colleges who are
ready to be trained in quickly changing and advancing technical fields.
Years later, my third born child had such high grades she was elected class president. By then, there were more black children at school; but white parents were always enraged.
Finally, though there was no way to challenge her 100% on every math exam, her principal devised a
poetry/fiction competition which was school-wide to show no favoritism was shaping academic recognition at the school.
She went to every classroom to collect writing samples which had only a number, given to a name by
each classroom teacher.
The administration and the music teachers and art teachers judged the anonymous writing samples.
It took some time. Sadly for so many who hated busing (as I had come to do) my little ten-year-old
class president won 1st place in the poetry competition, 1st place in the Haiku competition, and first
place in the fiction competition.
The principal was proud of her, but she explained on the loud speaker, and later even to me that the
submissions were judged as anonymous offerings. The child was prescient.
I wish she had had time to become a writer; but she is a systems and data analyst for a large public
school system.
The sister who was between these two excelled in music and sculpture, even at eight and nine years old. She graduated high school getting 100%, plus the 20 extra credit points in geometry, and passing her chemistry and physics classes while working toward her certified music diploma.
The last little one I sent to that school had a struggle from the day she arrived.
She struggled all along anyway though, because she could read at third and fourth grade levels when
she entered kindergarten. I didn't know it; but her sisters had taught her, and her teacher demonstrated it for me.
Long story short, she was so irritated she called her grandparents every other day to come and get her. Finally, she wound up at a school designated for gifted kids, and later graduated high school
as a National Merit Semi-finalist. She earned a four year scholarship to a private school through her
EAS ( Engineering Aptitude Search) exam.
I didn't bother her with the SATs. I believe she took the ACT at some point because I remember a near perfect score in Science.
I wish she had become an engineer. She has degrees in music.
Oh well, as I said Secretary Castro...Best Luck!