THUMBS DOWN Color Their World

THUMBS DOWN to Rev. Clarence Glover, the Dallas Public Schools’ “special assistant for intercultural relations,” for peddling pseudo-scientific hogwash I and spouting divisive rhetoric. Lecturing to a meeting of school trustees, Glover ran through the tired litany that blames the district’s problems on racism-white racism, of course, because, see, white people hold all the power and only those in power can be racists. But how can the honky help it? Glover’s theory of “melanism”-built on the zany notion that melanin not only determines skin color, but behavior as well- holds that those of European descent are genetically disposed to love material things, not people. Yes, those Euros are a cold, Volvo-hugging bunch. But African-Americans-heck, all minorities, for that matter-have different melanin, and so they care most for “interpersonal relationships.” Given their records as perennial Melanists, it’s hardly surprising that board member Kathlyn Gilliam wants such discussions at every board meeting, or that trustee Yvonne Ewell called for “a profound understanding of our oppression” as a means of improving board relationships. They would substitute racial scapegoating for education. Kudos to trustee Bill Keever, who spoke out against melanin-mania, but what possessed Superintendent Chad Woolery, who declared the meeting “a good learning session”? Finally, Glover’s nonsense is disheartening in another way: Here is a supposedly educated man, charged with counseling the trustees who run our school system, espousing a theory that has no more scientific basis than numerology or astral projection. The district’s science teachers should demand an apology. And Glover should be sent packing, to sell his mumbo-jumbo to other suckers.