The Colorblind Leading the Blind (part 3)

The recent controversy over the play Ten Little Indians (which is now being performed as And Then There Were None) is only the latest example of Lakota’s pattern of avoidance and delusion about race.

This is about a lot more than a play. The grudge between the NAACP and the Lakota School district has been going on for years, and both sides tend to emerge from the fray looking like the immature children they claim to be protecting. Before they got all this attention, the play was probably just the latest excuse to bicker.

The real point of contention in the NAACP/Lakota beef is the lack of diversity in Lakota’s faculty.

The disparity isn't just a matter of perception. The current minority student population is between 15% and 20% and the minority percentage among faculty is less than 2%. Having talked to plenty of fellow students who have attended Lakota schools and their parents (white, black, Asian, Indian, Hispanic, etc.), many feel the relative racial uniformity of the faculty is palpable.

So the complaint is valid. Even if the situation didn’t heighten the racial tensions at Lakota, at the very least it creates an atmosphere where figures of authority and respect share a cultural and racial perspective that is far too homogeneous given Lakota’s changing cultural demographics. Having spent 10 years in the school system, I’ve personally observed that Lakota students are growing more and more comfortable with having peers of various cultures and ethnic groups. But many seem uneasy – if not resistant – to the idea of people that are different from them being in positions of authority or even holding the spotlight.

Many in the Lakota community seem to feel that having a black sidekick is fine, but having a black boss or team captain is counterintuitive and uncomfortable, to put it mildly.

And of course, whenever any racial issue arises, no matter how benign, Lakota’s first priority tends to be silencing any discussion of race as soon as possible rather than addressing it head on.

The problems with the play itself have been exaggerated. But the underlying racial issues at Lakota are still being neglected. And not unlike other racial controversies (the Jena 6 come to mind) people rally behind an issue that isn't as cut and dry as they'd like it to be because it's something to which they can attach all of their other frustrations.

This is really about the death of a myth – a myth that Lakota is a pristine oasis where almost everyone’s rich and perfect. Life at Lakota is just like "Leave it to Beaver," right? It may be unpopular to acknowledge it, but racial homogeneity is a significant part of that myth. Many think when blacks and Hispanics are prominent features of a community, falling property values, crime, and poverty necessarily come with them like vermin carrying a plague. It's no secret that a significant chunk of the community believes diversity would spoil the paradise they imagine the suburbs to be.

I can't say I'm sorry to see that myth die.

~ Geoffrey Dobbins
Vice President, UCABJ
Lakota West Class of 2002