A vacancy on the Virginia Beach School Board has the Virginian-Pilot up in arms, attempting to create a controversy and news (again).
Sandra Smith-Jones resigned five months after she originally resigned, when (shockingly) her attempt to serve via teleconference from Saudi Arabia wasn’t successful. The Virginian-Pilot pounded the drum for her to resign (rightfully so) and she finally did. Now that the time is nearing to fill her vacancy until an at-large election takes place in November, the Virginian-Pilot is banging the drum for racial ‘equality’.
Despite states like California and Michigan already banning affirmative action, according to the Virginian-Pilot, the Virginia Beach School Board should continue this outdated practice.
The laughable article claims that:
The board is under growing pressure to end that streak Tuesday when it selects someone to finish the term of Sandra Smith-Jones, who had been one of only two black representatives on the 11-member panel before she resigned and moved to Saudi Arabia.
The growing pressure? One school board member. Brent McKenzie.
“Racial and cultural diversity is extremely important in the field of education,” he said. “Right now, this board lacks viewpoints from different parts of the community, and I think we should use this appointment to fix that.”
Not exactly the cries of the multitudes.
What happened to the best person for the job? Why should race play ANY factor, let alone the predominant one?
I have ties to THREE of the five finalists who are being public interviewed for the vacancy; Scott Seery is a friend of mine, Mona Gunn is the mother of a friend of mine, and Leonard Tengco and I went to middle and high school together, he competed with my brother on the debate team at Tallwood High School, and is still a friend of mine.
Why do their races matter? The Virginian-Pilot doesn’t even identify the candidates until the bottom of the article, the just call them ‘two black woman and a Filipino man’! They’re not individuals or people with experiences or a resume, no no, they’re just one of two black women and a Filipino man.
And even when they DO mention their names (two lines from the bottom) it’s with the preface of their race!
the board will interview two black women[emp added] – retired Norfolk elementary school principal Mona Gunn and Sharon Felton, an administrative office specialist at Old Dominion University – as well as Filipino[emp added] attorney Leonard Tengco and Tim Crowley, director of international operations with Operation Blessing International, who is white.
I can’t tell if the Virginian-Pilot is employing bigots or just ignorant individuals. And don’t think the burying of the fact that Tim Crowley is white was an accident, no no, let’s make sure we tell our readers TWICE what race the others are BEFORE we tell them their names, but that Crowley fella, we’ll mention it in passing after his name and occupation.
Give me a break.
Thankfully Chairman Dan Edwards is the voice of reason here.
… Edwards said, he doesn’t believe it’s necessary to consider a candidate’s race.
“The obligation of this board is to pick the best person based on a variety of criteria,” Edwards said.
Glad to hear it.
Unfortunately, this is the latest in a growing shift in the Virginian-Pilot from reporting news to creating news. In the decline of the print media and the rise of digital media (new media. no apologies.) we’re seeing more and more the reporters various print sources taking a slanted view of the story they’re reporting/creating. Calling it ‘growing pressure’ yet there’s can only find ONE quote from one person to back the ‘growing pressure’? A line that the Virginia Beach Democrats and NAACP want a minority? *GASP*
Given the conservative nature of the Hampton Roads area, maybe the Virginian-Pilot would stop losing subscriptions if they stopped trying to stir up controversy. Just a thought.
In the meantime, we’ll left with more created news, while those in charge do the right thing.
