Full Court Press

Finally .....someone is thinking about the kids and the A & B programs in most major sports. A scheduling nightmare ...at best ...for some of these schools.Bolingbrook High School a perfect example of the false racist argument that is being fabricated by uninformed politicians and talk show hosts.Bolingbrook is a school that just wants its athletes to compete at all levels in all sports. End of story, to bring a racial slant into this school district, those people have no clue at all.
The new alignment hopefully puts an end to scheduling problems. Let's move on.

this is a joke !!! If this was an all black conference set up by blacks it would be ok , but since white schools started this it is racist.

White flight is something minorities should have gotten use to by now,the SICA controversy is just another story to spin for those who claim racism does not exist.The race card has been played on blacks for 400 years,if white teams want to seperate they wont admit it's racially motivated they will just try to rationalize it away and hope it goes away.When are they going to learn that we are going to have to learn to live together or die alone,no matter what color we are,running away from each other is not the answer.

Stop talking about the SICA stuff, nobody cares.

You must care ,though you responded like most people do who dont have a clue.Do you think racism will go away by just ignoring it?I dont think so.Sica controversy is a issue some people wish would be swept under a rug,fortunately the fans wont let it and I for one am glad for open discussions on this subject.

So what if white schools want to form their own conferences? Are blacks that dependent on whites that they can't have sporting events on their own? There is nothing wrong with having spearate conferences based on race. Most people of all races are more comfortable being around their own people anyway. What with BET and some colleges only being for blacks as two examples. Whites should be able to have the same "whites only" institutions if they want. I see no benefit to the kids in forcing them to be around other kids of different races.

Roman responds: This is an argument for ensuring conferences aren't segregated. Sports can be an invaluable facilitator in races getting to know each other. Separation breeds ignorance of each other, and fear.

black colleges and BET were started because some whites refuse to interact or reconize black people.this purpose seperation of conferences is bottom line: racist, plain and simple
i just wish people would put the cards on the table and tell the truth. be a man or women and tell the truth. if you're racist, just admit it.

I am white female and will admit that this story has been very interesting and scary also. If the schools were willing to go to mediation a couple different times according to the stories that makes me wonder if there was something to this. I pray that our schools are beyond stuff like this but the numbers run in the SunTimes last week don't look good. This is something that should not be pushed to the side and I am glad that you are writing about it. People are talking about it whether people want to admit it or not.

No I am not sick of the SICA story-and it should not go away. There has to be room for discussion when incidents at this level arise as it relates to our children. Black and White students, adults, and children we have to work together, go to school and hopefully someday LEARN to live toghter-but until that utopia arrives, we must, at least for the sake of the children, continue to put them together. That includes parents letting their bias go and think about their children. This controversy appears to be about parents "irrational" concerns about "travel"-as if that is not veiled enough to see through. LEt the kids play and Parents stop putting your bias upon them!! The White parents are the racist and trying to place theirs racist demands on their children. They should be ashamed of themselves. This is what you are teaching your children-

Roman responds: Such statements as "the white parents are the racists" always are counterproductive. It is NEVER useful or accurate to paint any group with one large brush stroke.

Maybe the white parents involved in this SICA issue don't want their kids to get jumped at school like that white honor student at Kennedy High School did by four black students. This is just another example of whites being attacked as racists when it doesn't apply. The black schools could still go on with their sports teams, this doesn't force them to eliminate their teams. As for Roman's response, you are entitled to your opinion but most people don't feel it's important to interact with other races.

Roman responds: How are we going to get to know each other unless we interact? We all live on the same planet. And it's pointless to cite one example of an interracial fight as a reason to segregate the races.

re:Jerry, Roman....

I don't know about the SICA, but I will say, I grew up in, and went to St. Charles "77", when there was one school in town, we have been in the upstate 8 for many, many years. I still go to all home and away basketball games, with the exception of 2 schools, for the very reasons you explained Jerry. These are not feelings of racism, this is common sense and being safe.
It's not that I feel insecure, or unsafe with St. Charles kids playing black kids, or schools, because there is no fear during home games. But again there are 2 schools in the conference, that it's just plain stupid to travel to unless your extremely cautious and that kinda takes the spirit out of what is intended with the event.

I hear you Jim. It's much more important to keep you and your family safe than to prove how "tolerant" you are.

I guess black people should feel most threatened actually seeing the majority of mass murderers and criminals are white,but for some reason I dont see black flight,why because we still have to live with each other.and relate to each other so trying to run is actually cowardly.Of course sometimes the media and others have a tendency to spin a story the way they think the readers will agree on,or fight about.All of us want to protect our children black or white ,at kennedy H.S the problem is overcrowding.The sica controversy just brought back alot of memories of times that most americans are not proud of.Times when segregation was the norm.I am glad that most americans have developed a better understanding of each other. Well just keep running, soon you will look around and see you are the only one still running.

If a schools feels it is not a good fit for ANY conference, for ANY reason, they should be able to exercise their option and make a change for whatever reason, within the rules. They should be able to do so without being scrutinized by any insecure persons, or groups that disagree.

First off, you should know by now that the politicians that usually starts these accusations of racism use it to their benefit, not "for the greater good" as most claim. Everyone has an agenda, whether its race, money, power or convenience, there's an agenda. I’m not so naive to think that racism doesn't still exist. But, I also believe our society chooses to try to "fix" the problem by "righting past wrongs� (i.e. affirmative action and the likes), which only magnifies the problem rather than solves it. True equality should be society’s goal. Second, think back to the days when the SICA conferences were first created (I’m not old enough, so I’m going to make some assumptions), they were structured by location (Dolton, Riverdale, South Holland, etc). Doesn’t it then make sense to restructure those conferences by the same format??? The southwest suburbs are the fastest growing area in Chicago, so the former conferences no longer made sense. Again, I think this issue is a good way for politicians to get their name in the paper, a way for the papers to sell more and a way for the Jesse Jackson’s of the world to further divide this country.

This issue is also a waste of time because the most important thing for a high school kid to do is to get an education. This "diversity" rallying cry is the biggest con that's being put forth on the American people. Learning how to read and write has nothing to do with wheather a kid of a different race is sitting next to you in class or across from you on the playing field.

Everyone doesn't get it. It 's about economics, race and class. This is the problem. Education funding has such a low prority in the State of Illinois. You have poorer communities who disproportionally taxed through real estate and property taxes. Because of this, there cannot be a level playing field. Look at the communties who pulled out. Homewood-Flossmoor, Lincoln-Way, Lockport etc. They have thriving communities that fund their schools, and their sports programs. So the scheduling issue tends to be a more convienient reason to pull out. Communities such as these never have to worry where their next dime or dollar for schools are coming from. Here's an idea. How about conferences who have schools that have more resources than others in their conferences have a resource budget for sports, music and other school activities that can help those poorer schools? It seems to me that a simple Inter-Governmental Agreement between the schools to help fund the conference is all that is needed. Or is it that some schools feel that it's not their problem? The truth is until Guv, Blago stops playing politics with disadvanted communities and their children, it's not going to stop. Affulent communities historically will vote against referendums, while poorer communities support them. Just review education referendums from the last couple of elections.In my opinion, Afican-Americans who now live in more affluent communities have more of a responsibility now more that ever to push a tax increase so situations like this will never happen. Why? many of them have friends and family, who are still bound by the states stupid way of funding education in our schools.Because of it Music suffers, Sports suffers and most importantly our children continue to suffer...

Linclon-Way and Lockport and the other more affluent suburbs have no responsibility whatsoever to fund schools in Harvey, Thornwood, Richton Park, etc. People in Lockport pay their own way and they should not be forced to financially support other people's kids by supporting schools in different suburbs that have nothing to do with them. I mean, I'm thinking about buying a bigger condo right now in a different part of the Loop. Why don't you help me with the down payment even though you never met me and you have nothing to do with me. As for pushing for higher taxes? Please, throwing more money at a school will not help anything because it will not improve parenting skills of kids. Which is the biggest problem for kids in so called "disadvantaged" schools. Anyway, our real estate taxes are too high now as it is, they should be lowered.

I went to a SICA school, (Bremen) in the late '70s. At that time, conferences were realigned. We went from having Sandburg, Reavis, Lincoln-Way, and Oak Lawn in our conference to having Oak Forest, Tinley Park, and TF North in our conference. The realignment took place to match school and program size.

My friend's son is a Senior at Bloom Trail this year. He played football in his freshman year, against Lincoln-Way, Sandburg, Lockport, and HF. All of those schools had 30+ players on their A AND B squads. Bloom Twp. suited up 15 kids on each squad. They were beaten soundly, and in the cases of Lincoln-Way East and Lockport, not very graciously. According to an acquaintance who worked at East, their rationale was "why should we accommodate Bloom by combining squads, what about our kids"?

When I first saw that meetings were taking place to realign based on school size and scope of program, I thought it was the wise thing to do. The Bloom kids were not competing on a level playing field with most of the others in their conference. Neither were the kids from Thornton or Thornwood.

I have been saddened by the turn of events in the SICA issue. Subtle and overt racism between schools took place back in my time, and it takes place now. The best example of this in my time was Bremen and Oak Forest, two schools now caught between the major warring factions. But, in my experiences and observations, the bigger problem then and now is the scope of programs. It is rich vs. poor.

While I am sad to see SICA going away, it is probably best. It was too large. Also, shifting populations and fluctuating tax bases made inequeties inevitable. Most conferences are made up of less than 15 schools. SICA's 33 to 35 schools made for too many cooks in the kitchen.

Some people i have noticed are letting the sica controversy show the real side of them. What does Jesse Jackson have to do with sica? Racism has done more to divide people than anything. I remember the same things were said about Martin Luther King.there are disadvantaged schools. we dont care if people agree or not. right is right, we shouldnt make diversity a bad word or run from another human being under the guise of some faked indignation.Like I stated before we are all human beings all equal in Gods eyes.yet the same arguments I heard to rationalize white flight in some areas of Chicago are being used in this SIca controversy,Schools cant do as they please. always they have to follow the law.Bragging about how many condos you have or how you are proud of others when they expouse racist views is counterproductive to people getting along. Hopefully they will find a Fair solution to this Sica controversy.

I played Basketball and Football at Thornridge from 88-92. Our football programs were horrible, and that translated to losing seasons 3 out of 4 years. Basketball was another story we won conference outright or tied for it all 4 years. Sica is too big and the schools should be grouped by size/won lost record. some schools in sica are just good in everything and that's something you can't control. I think what the chicago public league has done with its football and basketball conferences has been very successful," Morgan Park, Hubbard , Simeon, Lane Tech are just a few that have won state playoff games in football and have even reached the simifinals. Schools of similar size should compete against one another. Sica may have a few members who share racist views but overall it should be about students being able to compete with their counterparts and recieve a quality education.

What part of a Lincoln-Way school board member using the phrase "poor blackie" disparaging Rich Central, East, and South by saying "Why are they failing? Because of what's in 'em." is about school size. I know that person doesn't speak for everyone, but it certainly is not a good representation of the decision-makers.

Those who argue that the SICA cotroversy is about school size forget one crucial element present in schools across Chicagoland. Schools with large Black enrollments are not as large as those with largely white enrollments. You simply don't see the 3,000-5,000 student mega schools with large black enrollments. If the intent of the defecting schools was to get away from the schools with larger black populations, then this is a relatively easy excuse.

The 14th Amendment protects not just against "intent" which is so difficult to prove even with racist comments made by school board members, but also "impact" which is undeniable with what is going on in the SICA. High schools sponsor athletics because they believe that there are valuable lessons to be learned through sports and interaction with peers of similar interest from different schools. What are the students learning from this?

The SICA controversy is simple:

An individual school has the right to go to the conference they want

VS.

A school funded by state and federal monies must follow state and federal law by not discriminating by segregating themselves from predominantly black schools in a 33-year old conference

And then the other issue, besides racism, is:

School funding:

Tax rate in Lincoln-Way school district is $1.68 per $100 assessed valuation

VS.

Tax rate in Thornton school district is $4.61 per $100 assessed valuation

(Source: ISBE website)

Thus, the indidviduals who can least afford it, and most need extra services, pay the higher proportion of their disposable income to taxes.

My guess is that there are many people out there who are unfamiliar with the term "white priviledge." And that African-Americans do not seem to be able to attain that privelege is of no concern to the many who do not understand, or who tire, of the SICA controversy...

I'm really starting to get aggravated by everyone playing the racist card everytime something of this nature happens. Sure maybe alot has to do with politics or econimical motivation, but race i doubt! I'm not White or Black so I consider myself neutral on the topic, but i want everyone to know that the choices people make shouldn't always have to be scrutinized. And I really want to get this out, I do see it unfair for black organizations to have exclusive groups and are deemed ok because "they are always treated unfairly and need to establish such activities" on the other hand if a White person wants to do this it's racism. If it's ruled on by the court system then it's unconstitutional.

Come on people get with the program, this is the 21st century seems to me this is getting old. How can we progress when we always regress ourselves. We slam other nations for not conforming to human relations yet we can't even get along here and is blanketed by our government. were all scared because of terrorist yet we terrorize ourselves everyday.

All I want is to work get a good education for my kids and leave all the nonesense behind and live in a powerful united America. across the world everyone hates us and we deemingly hate ourselves. is there any peace?

I live in the Lincoln-Way community and I can tell you there is racism out here and it actually makes me sick. We talked about this issue during Easter and it is really really sad. How many times do people talk when a person of color moves into their area?? I have lived here since 1986. We notice it with police and who is pulled over and small things like that. I love the school system; I love the town; but I dislike the fact of what goes on with some people. When Maureen Jagmin made that call last year, it made me sick because I know that is how some people out here look at things. We all want the best for our kids and I want the best for mine. But when our kids go away to college, it is not all white or all just black at most places. We need to prepare them and I hope that people sit back down and realize this is very important to the future of our community and area. I would like to also add that I do not stand for what was said by our former school board member.

There is no such thing as "white privilege" today, in the year 2006. Quota based programs such as affirmative action has created "black privilege" today. But to get back to the SICA issue, the bottom line is if these white schools want to break off on there own it is there right to do that. And whatever the reason is, wheather it be white flight, student enrollment size or whatever it is doesn't matter because this is supposed to be a free country and we all are supposed to have the right to associate or not associate with whomever we want. And unless I am misunderstanding this issue? Black schools will not have to eliminate any of there sports programs if white schools break off on their own, correct?

I am a Black male, I live in the South suburbs, and yes, I am sick of the SICA controversy. I am also sick of my Black brothers and sisters falling into the trap of thinking that we MUST have White inclusion to legitimize our lives. White people have always run, and probably always will: FINE. Please note, it is not prejudice or anger that shapes my opinion. My opinion is driven by the belief that our community contains an excess of talent, skills, and resources to promote and participate in state-of-the-art high school sports activities. Our focus would be better served on improving the schools that remain from an educational and disciplinary perspective. To be sure, there may be some racial motivation behind the SICA split, but let's face it people, our kids are a little bit out of control. At the end of the day, that is not anyone's fault but our own. They grow up in our houses, not some White person's. We need to reign them back in with a little love and some tough discipline. There is no reason that special police operatives must be hired to police our high school's sporting events. I'm embarassed by that. Our focus should be on improving every facet of our schools, particulalry education, as it breeds power. The energy we are exhausting on the SICA split would be much more beneficial to our children it it were used to weed out those teachers and administrators that make it a practice to under-educate our children whether those educators are Black or White. That my friends, is a battle worth fighting. If we can accomplish these things we will find people of all races running toward us as opposed to away. Peace

You forgot My Man They ran from Martin Luther King what was he guilty of?And yes you have a right to run but minorities and others have a right to seek inclusion.I dont like others claiming the race card is being played with the sica controversy because the reality of it is The race card ha been played on blacks for 400 YEARS SO GET WITH IT.If you dont like america and its diversity tough.The issue is about children of all colors receiving a
quality education,how can that be accomplished with prejudicial policies against anybody?You have to remember affirmative action was made to level the playing field,but some people mostly rascists have used it as a rallying cry to cry in their soup,like one of the previous gentlemen stated we dont need to be included(inclusion)to feel validated, yeah its 2006 so its a shame people are so afraid of each other, but if you are confident in yourself people such as that are spitting in the wind.Anyway can you blame minorities for being somewhat sensitive and distrustful about the sica controversy?Sometimes people who claim they want freedom of choice are the main ones who deny others their constitutional rights.You may never change rascists mind they need God.The United States was built on the backs of blacks and other minorities, if rascists havent learned by now that by promoting this agenda they are jeopardizing their childens safety also by creating a environment of hatred and violence.Dont blame others for violence when you have planted the seeds in your own children from your fear and ignorance. We can learn to live together or we can die alone as fools,its our choice.

This issue does not deprive anyone of getting an education. All this split from the conference would do is create different opponents for sports teams to play. And the only reason I brought up affirmative action is because a previous poster mentioned "white privilege", which is as we all know a thing of the past today. All these schools want to do is associate with their own people. I just think it is so hypocritical for some people to say kids of different races must mingle with each other while those same people lecturing probably have no friends of a different race, probably only eat lunch in the company lunchroom with people of their same race, and sit on the commuter train and talk with only people of their own race.

Did I notice a different tone in someones writing(blog)we are all the same race ,the human race .I have been in the medical field over 25 years and most people are the same .I have seen them at their worst and at their best.Sometimes a healthy debate is necessary for a better understanding of each other.Thanks roman for the forum.

Is this race or economics?

It is race AND economics.

The difference is that in America's free market economy you can always be competitive and say screw the little guy who doesn't have the money that you have.

However, it is also the United States of America, that has a constitution, a 14th Amendment that guarentees "equal protection of the law", and does not permit discrimination based on race.

Do you remember back in this case when the Andrew H.S. Athletic Director was quoted in the Sun-Times saying something to the effect that "not everyone gets to belong to the country club"? Well, that pretty much points out the two sides of this case.

One side says: I have enough money to get into the country club, and screw the rest of you.

The other side says: This is the United States of America, and publicly funded schools should be for ALL people, EQUALLY (not just the rich on one side of the tracks (I-57), and the poor on the other side).

This whole racism slant is nothing more then a sad attempt by those against the reformation to try and get their way.

The sad truth here is that these people are trying to prey upon a real issue such as racism and use it to their advantage even when anyone with a brain can clearly see from the facts that this breakup makes sense for the schools leaving.

A previous poster said that the 14th amendment does not permit discrimination on the basis of race. I guess he or she has never heard of affirmative action.

For those thinking that this whole SICA thing is just a bunch of whining, a couple of predominantly black districts crying racism because they didn't get their way, well think again...

Go to www.dailysouthtown.com and click on the "editorials" and you will see that the Daily Southtown's all white editorial staff has endorsed putting SICA back together. That's right, the Daily Southtown, with offices in the heart of Tinley Park, now knows the whole story and endorses doing the right thing.

I am glad people are finally seeing through the hype and realize race is a important factor in alot of peoples daily decisions ,it should not be but it is.Affirmative action was made to balance the playing field not discriminate.Their is enough misinformation and racial code words used already to incite fear and devisiveness.Im glad the daily southtown has the common sense to see through all the hype concerning SICA.Roman thanks for the forum.