By Andre Harper
 
Kelly Williams-Bolar, an Ohio mother of two, made national news when she was sentenced to 10 days in jail and placed on three years probation after sending her kids to a school district in which they did not live. Although she lived in an Akron housing project, she used her father’s in nearby Copley Township so that her children could attend a better school district. This is against the law. The media immediately began to position the story as the ongoing persistence of racial prejudice in the judicial system and society.

Liberal activist Dr. Boyce Watkins commented “This case is also an example of how racial-inequality created during slavery and Jim Crow continues to cripple our nation to this day. There is no logical reason on earth why this mother of two should be dehumanized by going to jail and be left permanently marginalized from future economic and educational opportunities. Even if you believe in the laws that keep poor kids trapped in underperforming schools, the idea that this woman should be sent to jail for demanding educational access is simply ridiculous.”
 
This is the typical narrative that the media loves to perpetuate. What the mainstream media and Dr. Boyce Watkins failed to mention is why was this mother forced to take such drastic measures? The reality is, the ones that believe in what she calls “laws that keep poor kids trapped in underperforming schools” are the liberal politicians and labor unions that she defend. Dr. Watkins, a fierce Obama supporter, and the media purposely omit the role of the teacher’s unions and liberal opposition to school choice programs. In fact they purposely confuse the issue by conjuring images of Jim Crow, slavery, and any other types of incendiary language instead of acknowledging that this situation is the direct result of parents lack of educational choices. In cases like this, where the blood is clearly on the hands of liberal legislators, the media will focus on the symptoms instead of the solution because the Genesis of this problem points directly at liberals. They will use this as an opportunity to advance their racial and class warfare narratives instead acknowledging that the reason why concerned parents like Williams-Bolar resort to desperate measures is because liberals like Dr. Boyce Watkins and President Obama purposely fight to keep her kids in failing schools by prioritizing unions over parents.
 
One of Obama’s first acts as president was to ensure that stories like this become commonplace. The president signed the $410 billion dollar omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2009. It included a provision that lets funding for the Washington D.C.’s school voucher program to expire at the end of the 2010 school year. The program allowed about 1,700 mostly low-income and minority students to attend private schools as an alterative to the struggling D.C. public school system. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said “The president doesn’t believe that vouchers are a long-term answer to our educational problems and the challenges that face our public school system, where the vast majority of students are educated in this country.” In other words, Obama doesn’t care if parents like Kelly Williams-Bolar have to go to jail in order to have some kind of control over where their kid goes to school, as long as their union boss friends are happy. Do you really think that black parents going to jail and black kids condemned to failing schools will cause blacks to stop voting Democrat?
 
In true liberal sleight-of-hand fashion, after doing everything in his power to put parents like Williams-Bolar in desperate situations, Obama tries to use this opportunity to look like a hero. On his Change.Org website he is trying to pressure Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich to pardon Mrs. Williams-Bolar. The liberals will use this as another opportunity to make Republicans look like racists while the entire situation is a direct result of liberal determination to keep educational choices out of the hands of low income parents.  Conservatives need to be aware of how the media is going to shape this. They will never address the real reason which is the powerful unions and liberals whose existence depends on blacks staying poor and uneducated. We cant let them unjustly blame us. This is a great opportunity to go on the offensive for school choice.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Author and political analyst, Andre Harper, is the founder and president of The Knowledge Movement, LLC., focused on empowering communities to achieve the American Dream by defying oppressive political agendas. He is a former congressional aide and graduate of Florida A&M University. Harper is a decorated veteran of the United States Army and has been recognized by President George W. Bush, members of Congress, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. And several publications for his service to the community. He originates from West Palm Beach, FL, lived in Cincinnati, OH and now resides in Pennsylvania.

 He can be reached at www.AndreHarper.com