Comments on: Kathlyn Gilliam: “Racist, Hateful And Dumb”

By: Joyce Foreman

Joyce Foreman — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:05:50 +0000

I was raised on the otherside of the Trinity (not by choice but because of Segregation) and appreciate the work that Ms. Gilliam and others did to bring some equity in education. The word “Segregation” stays with you because you were thought of as not being equal and therefore you were not given equal resources and tools for education.

None of us are perfect, but the community that she represented returned her to 3700 Ross Avenue for 23 years to be a voice for them.

The young people at Spruce touched my heart. I was hoping that they would have a chance to remain at their school with added resources.

By: Jesse Diaz

Jesse Diaz — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:07:05 +0000

The attempt to rename the Dallas ISD administration building in honor of former Dallas ISD trustee Kathleen Gilliam never had the traction it needed to succeed in the first place.

Where was the public internet survey sanctioned by the whole of the Dallas ISD board trustees calling for city-wide recommendations to rename the Dallas ISD administration building? Did anybody care to recruit Dallas council-member Dave Neumann so he could provide leadership for yet another poorly planned and thought out public survey that would set the stage for yet another rename controversy?

It does not take a rocket scientist to realize Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert nor anyone else on the Dallas City Council have yet to publicly apologize to Dallas’ citizens for their botched up survey to rename Industrial Blvd. While no one wants to admit it publicly, the Dallas City Council’s sanctioned botched up survey is the main reason a compromise is set in cement on the fact a major Dallas thoroughfare will be renamed in honor of Cesar Chavez later this summer or early fall of this year.

As for the ill-advised political theatrics played out by all three black Dallas ISD trustees on the Gilliam issue, well, there are 9 trustees on the Dallas ISD school board. The ethnic breakdown of this board is evenly split, one third white, one third Hispanic, and one third black. I’ll let anyone borrow my calculator next time a vote like this comes around again.

By: Buffy

Buffy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:49:49 +0000

Apparently Wick is a bitter man! If you were across the Trinity and on the receiving end of the 1950 – 1980 Dallas ISD school system, you would appreciate the stand that Kathlyn Gilliam took to ensure equal education for all. Calling an unequal educational system what it is/was/is required courage in the face of the breakfast club bunch that Wick aligned himself with. Personally, the way things are going at 3700 Ross, Mrs. Gilliam may be better of not having her name associated with that fiasco!

By: zeugil

zeugil — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:45:20 +0000

Myself and other reporters who covered DISD in the 90s remember Gilliam well for this line, used when it came time to vote on a hot-button issue and trustees had already spent an hour (or more) in discussion: “Now, what are we voting on?”. Good times.

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:36:11 +0000

As bad as he may be, if you don’t think Ron Price is way better than Kathlyn Gilliam, then you don’t remember Kathlyn Gilliam. Ms. Gilliam (along with Yvonne Ewell) did more to suppress racial and educational progress in the DISD (and consequently Dallas as a whole) than anyone else in the last 30 years. Until you’ve dealt with Kathlyn (and Yvonne), you don’t know what racism really is.

By: BLM

BLM — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:43:48 +0000

I think it is called ebonics.

By: GuiltyBystander

GuiltyBystander — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:32:58 +0000

Anyone else think that the DMN piled on teachers with the pic they ran on 20c. The pic showed teachers holding signs that said “No But Praise Why”. As explained in the cutline, the signs eventually lined up to say: “Praise But Why No Pay Raise?”
Did the photog snap a later, more sensical pic? Should the photog have tried to take a pic that made sense? Or did the Highland Park/Plano/private school-centric DMN take another cheap shot at public education?

By: amandacobra

amandacobra — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:16:04 +0000

Most confusing part of the Spruce students’ argument?

The reason given by the district for the closure: Another year of low performance on the TAKS test.

Students reasons for low performance: too much emphasis put on TAKS test

Not that I don’t think TAKS is pretty silly.

By: ll

ll — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:13:43 +0000

so we replaced Kathlyn with Ron Price because we thought he would be better. And how is that working for us (as Dr. Phil would say).

Ah well.

By: Topham Beauclerk

Topham Beauclerk — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:04:18 +0000

The you’ve-got-to-be-dead rule avoids a lot of hassles, but it doesn’t eliminate them. (See Cesar Industrial Chavez Boulevard.)