It’s the thick and the thin of another battle between the dems and the not-dems.  Ever since I first set foot in this area back in, I guess it was 1967 or 68.  Not sure.  At any rate, I was stationed at NAS Memphis.  I entered the place as a private and left as a lance corporal.

I did follow the politics here and I did find it interesting.  I guess, because I started following it almost since the beginning, I likely know something more about it than people who are citizens of Shelby Country.  I have something of an advantage.  I watched it as an outside observer.  By the way, what a mess it has been from the very start.

It has been a battle of egos, power, with a whole bunch of racism and anti-racism mixed in.  Then too, almost at the beginning of it all, someone went and shot Martin Luther King.  It was like pouring gasoline on a fire in an effort to put it out.  For a while, it was downright dangerous to walk many of the streets of Memphis after dark, regardless of the color of your skin.  There were parts of Memphis that were off limits for those of us in uniform.  Walking down Beale Street in uniform was something inadvisable for anyone, especially those with the paler skin.

Those who were Black were rightfully angry but there was some righteous anger on the other side too.  The fact that they never really determined who killed Mr. King didn’t help matters at all.  The man was told, sign on the dotted line and you won’t die.  He never had a trial.  No evidence was ever presented in a public trial.  They never proved the rifle shot the bullet and even went to great extremes to keep from finding out one way or the other.  Moreover, the one they incarcerated, we don’t know if he was guilty or if he just didn’t want to die.

Nowadays, many consider it water under the bridge and don’t like revisiting those days, but I believe it is one place where the deal got in the way of finding out what happened.  It might have gotten in the way of justice as well.  At the very least, they should have checked the weapon… before making the guy confess.

At any rate, it has been one big problem after the other.  If I were a good writer, I could write a book or two about it.  There was a lot that happened before, during, and after the assassination.

I will briefly go through a small part of the aftermath.  It would take far too long to cover it all.

1. The city of Memphis went from very slightly Republican to substantially Democrat.
2. After the Supreme Court came down with the bussing decision, it aggravated the situation.  The white populace in Memphis drastically dropped.  The white populace in the areas around Memphis increased drastically.  It was called white flight.  What it was; was doing what they could to insure their children went to good schools.  Oddly, it is no longer just whites deserting Memphis.  The cities and communities surrounding Memphis have become pretty integrated.  It would seem the Black people decided they don’t like the schools that are run by Democrats either.  I’d guess that they are also seeking a place where the taxes are more reasonable.
3. The Memphis city schools failed.  Despite the enormous amounts of money poured into them, they just were not getting the job done.  Hence, they dissolved the Memphis city schools and let the county take them over, which sounded like a good idea.  It didn’t work.
4. Some left the county; south, north, east and west.  I think my property value went up about 10 or 15 percent after that fiasco.  Some put their kids in private schools, those who could afford it.  Some of the cities in the county formed their own schools.  This really hit a sore spot with the now county schools.  Much of the money going into the county schools is now going into the little cities.  As another problem, some of the little city schools are in the county.
5. More than that it didn’t work.  After a couple of elections, those who were causing a disaster with the city schools are now causing worse problems with the county schools.  Moreover, they renamed Shelby County Schools to Memphis Shelby County Schools.  Hence, as one might figure, the city is now running the county schools.  Now, I ask you, who could have foreseen that one?
6. So.  After all is said and done.  They have the same problem as with Memphis schools.  Only, now the problems have grown to include the whole county.  They are, more or less where they started, but worse.

Now there are power struggles between the little city schools and the county schools.  It’s a mess.  It would take a long time to explain it all but it’s a mess.  There is fighting between the little cities and the county and the state and feds are getting involved.  That can’t be good.  Well.  It is just fine for me.  My house value just might go up another ten or fifteen percent.  Who knows?  If they continue to mess things up as they are, my house might turn into a really good investment.

However, the real disasters are the county schools.  Just as the city schools before them, they are failing.  15% of the third grade students are reading at third grade level.  90% or more of the students in the little cities are reading pretty well.  I don’t know about y’ll, but to me that spells failure for the schools far more than for the students.  I suspect, at the end of this year, when they test this year’s students, the reading levels might even be worse.

Now, after all this, they don’t seem to be able to find a superintendant.  They have been looking for one, I guess about a year now.

As I look the whole situation over, if I were qualified, I don’t think I would want the job.  Right now, it is starting to look like Mission Impossible.  I simply would not want to have my name and reputation attached to that nightmare.  Even if I had the qualifications, I simply would have no idea where to start to straighten out the mess.  However, my first best guess is start by firing some teachers and rewarding others.  It’s sort-of the thing that works in the private sector.  It always has.  It always will.  While the leadership continues to be too blind to see that, as long as they continue to bow down and worship the National Education Association, no one will fix anything.  This is true, no matter how much money they have.  It will only get worse as you throw money at the problem instead of fixing it.