When A School Has Been Failing Its Students For Years, Only Racial Considerations Can Keep it Open

The standard leftist approach to failure of a government program is to reinforce it, and do it harder.

Eventually, the failure reaches such an extent it can't be ignored.

So Democrat Governor Whitmer, in reviewing the failure and impeding bankruptcy of the Benton Harbor School System has faced a hard choice and proposed closing the High School to preserve the rest of the school system. This is not going over well, especially as this happens involve some core Democrat constituent groups.

Bridge: Whitmer faces some backlash over Benton Harbor High closing

Interestingly, the backlash is not over the abject failure of the schools, but that a Black run school in a Black majority district might close. No one is disputing that the Benton Harbor's school system is a bankrupt dumpster fire leading kids to be not exactly educated. Unsurprisingly, the student level of performance is as lousy as its financial state.

For example, in the past 5 years, the High School produced three, yep count 'em three students that were ready to go to college.

3 Students in Five years.

That's a level of failure for a High School that would be hard to comprehend, much less defend, and should be considered completely unacceptable.

Yet, many are protesting the closure and are defending it on the grounds that closing it would force students to go to other schools where they might just get a shot at a decent education, or something. The argument is seriously being made that closing it would not help the students being failed by it.

The Detroit Free Press: Closing high school won't help Benton Harbor, or the city's students

Would this have even been an issue if it was a white-majority school failing this badly?

Interestingly enough, the school closure is causing a split among Democrat party constituents. The Governor is for the closure, as it, almost surprisingly, the Michigan Educational Association, and much hilarity is thus ensuing: The Detroit News: Bankole: In Benton Harbor, labor’s interests run counter to blacks.

This makes some people upset (See Bankole and his article above) because race issues trumps educational performance and its apparently better to have a Black-run school with failing educational performance and under-served students than daring to close it and send the kids off to surrounding schools to get a better education.

Get your popcorn ready, as this one could get interesting if the Governor will continue with the plan, or instead back down and leave the students in their current failed high school.

Benton Harbor Community "Gets Angry" Over Death Of Man Killed While Ambushing Police

There was a recent shooting by police in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

The Detroit Free Press: Mayor: Family seeking peace after Benton Harbor police shoot, kill man

Benton Harbor mayor Marcus Muhammad says the family of the man shot and killed by a police officer early Tuesday wants everyone to remain peaceful.

But, however, he understands there is anger in the community.

So, what's the anger about?

Well, it turns out the latest dindu nuffin and poster child for the BLM movement decided to turn his life around by shooting at police from a concealed ambush after a trouble call to a house, and the police promptly and quite properly returned fire.

Look, if you're going to hold a protest (or as such protests are often alternatively named, a riot, as Benton Harbor's "community" did in 2003) to protest your claim of police use of excessive force, and "get angry" about someone ambushing and firing at police, you've kinda lost your way, if you ever had it.

Most communities would lack much in the way of sympathy for, or anger on behalf of, someone who started firing at police from a concealed point of ambush.

Note of course the "community's" use of the now almost stereotypical "turning his life around" meme as reported by Fox 17 Benton Harbor community reacts to death of man shot by police:

Neighbors say Pavone Street is a noted high-crime area and say that Wimberly had turned his life around after several run-ins with law enforcement.

Turning your life around typically does not include ambushing and firing multiple shots at police officers, so the neigbors must have quite a flexible definition.

On top of that the neighbors are expressing disbelief that Wimberly was the only one to get shot:

Even after police detailed that they found two semi-automatic weapons on the suspect and about seven cartridges from one of those weapons, [Wimberly's friend Canvas] Smith says she does not believe Wimberly fired at the officers. "If he was trying to shoot and kill somebody, why was he the only one that got shot? No other officer was hurt. Haven't said anything about there was a bullet hole in the car anything. Just that he's dead out on the street and they didn't even have the decency to call the fire department or anyone to wash his blood up. His family had to get out there and wash the blood up. They treated it like it was nothing," said Smith.

Note that these people are serious, they vote, and can serve on juries . . . . .

Oh, and to add to the mounting evidence that Wimberely was indeed responsible for his own death by engaging in an ambush of police there's body cam footage showing Wimberly fired 7 shots at the police: Body camera video released in Benton Harbor police-involved shooting

This is probably not the best case for BLM types and their fellow-travelers to claim as an act of police misconduct, but expect Wimberly to get added to the list of BLM martyrs, and there's a good chance the Benton Harbor "community" may indeed riot over an attempted cop-killer.