Dallas Justice Now Releases Open Letter to Park Cities Residents Calling Park Cities Chattergroup a Tool of White Supremacy
Dallas Justice Now, a social justice activist group
dedicated to ending institutional racism and creating opportunities for the
black community in the segregated city of Dallas, is today sending an open
letter to Park Cities residents critiquing Park Cities Chatter. Park Cities
Chatter is an invite-only Facebook group and appears to only accept white
members. Amy
Genender Dallas Justice Now contends that Park Cities Chatter perpetuates
racism and is a force in keeping Dallas segregated.
To that end, Dallas Justice Now’s new Co-President, Ndure Cain released the following open letter directed towards the residents of the wealthy Park Cities enclave.
Dear Park Cities Residents,
Jim Crow lives on in Dallas. According to the UC Berkeley
Othering & Belonging Institute, Dallas is the second most segregated city
in Texas and the 15th most segregated city in the country. If you have any
doubts, you need only look at the demographics of the exclusive Park Cities
enclave. According to the United States Census Department, black people make up
just 0.3% of all Highland Park residents and 1.5% of University Park residents.
It is clear that this is how residents like it since the demographics have
barely changed over the decades.
Highland Park is not 0.3% black because of rednecks in
pickup trucks with confederate flags or seething white supremacists with tiki
torches as evil as both groups are. Instead, it is a white only neighborhood
because of a more subtle and far more pernicious type of racism. To get the
best picture of it, just look at the Park Cities Chatter Facebook group
available exclusively to Park Cities residents. We do not know a single black
member of the group, do you? Park Cities Chatter exists to give white
privileged people a forum to assist other white privileged people to further
their privilege and keep out people of color. As a result, Park Cities Chatter
is a clear tool of white supremacy. In the group, wealthy Park Cities residents
share how to get their kids into prestigious colleges, avoid “bad” teachers at
schools, and get the best GPA for their kids. This serves to keep the “in
group” in and the “out group” out.
Our community isn’t given access to the group so we are not
told about the latest loophole to “game” the college admissions system, the
best teachers, or the best counselors. Instead, our schools in South Dallas are
given the worst teachers, the highest ratio of kids to counselors, and
regularly receive the lowest graduation rates and the lowest proficiency scores
in reading and math. It is precisely because of racist groups like Park Cities
Chatter that our historic College Pledge is so important. White folks have
stolen so much from us and use Park Cities Chatter to preserve and perpetuate
their privilege. If white parents stepped up and gave black students the
opportunity to attend prestigious schools, maybe we could start making progress
towards remedying the growing wealth gap between black and white families.
Invite-only neighborhood groups like Park Cities Chatter have been around since the end of Jim Crow---formed initially to push homeowners not to sell to black families therefore denying us access to buy homes, build wealth, and send our kids to good schools. Many of their members may not even know it, but by being part of an exclusive invite only group like Park Cities Chatter, they are furthering white supremacy.
Sincerely,
Ndure Cain
Co-President of Dallas Justice Now
Contact
Ndure Cain
Ndure@DallasJustice.org
Michele Washington
Michele@DallasJustice.org
