I recently wandered through the Mount Pleasant library, killing time and waiting for something-I forget what-to happen.  Behind me were two men, speaking Spanish, probably from El Salvador, browsing what is a notably sparse Spanish-language section of this library in what is a predominantly Latino neighborhood. The shelves in the English-language area were pretty spare too, frankly, though the kids’ section seemed well stocked.

In browsing I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but a book with a stark black and white cover got my attention. It’s called The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. Unsure what I’d read, I pick it up and discover that the author, Jonathan Kozol, has put into words a lot of what I’ve been feeling while working and living in Columbia Heights. Though the book was issued in 2005, not much has changed, at least as far as I can tell.

While Washington DC is becoming demonstrably more diverse in its adult population than it has been in the recent past, I have yet to meet a single Asian or white high school student at CentroNia. What few white children I do see are young, probably children of young parents who will move them to private schools or the suburbs before they leave elementary school. DCPS demographics information, I believe, demonstrates the pattern as well. Those who remember learning about Brown v Board should reflect on the current state of integration in urban schools…it’s deeply disheartening. White flight, privilege, and the growth of the suburbs have created what can only be called segregation.

So what does this have to do with Public Media Corps? To paraphrase Kozol, it is my firm belief that if we all knew each other better, we’d be better off. I believe public media has the potential to be a powerful force to connect the urban and suburban, if not as neighbors, then at least at in dialogue. In helping students to get a computer, get online, and understand the tools freely at their disposal, they gain the capability to understand not just with people like you, but people different from you.  People in other countries, people in suburban schools, people half your age or twice your age.

I grew up in the suburbs of DC, and attended a pretty diverse Catholic school. I had black as well as Filipino, mixed-race, white, Latino, and Asian friends. Probably one of the more distressing moments when I was recently here was while conducting a radio workshop with a girl I’ll call Ruby. She had previously attended a public high school here in the DC, but was now one of the few black students at a mostly white private school. To hear her say the white children she was in school with weren’t her friends made me want to work all the harder.