Marquis Harris Cannot Teach: He Would Create "Unrealistic Expectations" for Pupils
Sick & Wrong Department
| January 29, 2004
| Tim
Marquis Harris, a former foster child who has risen above his initial circumstances, has received nothing but letters of rejection when applying for teaching jobs in Georgia.
He writes, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
I am a 22-year-old African-American male and recent graduate of a respectable liberal arts college in Kentucky. I acquired a 3.75 grade-point average with a double major in Social Studies Secondary Education and sociology.
I was a Rhodes Scholar nominee, inducted into the Mensa society in May 2001, named to the National Dean's List for three consecutive years, successfully competed in intercollegiate forensics and served as student body president.
While in college I was also privileged to serve on mission trips to Mexico, Guatemala and Jamaica. In the summer of 2002 I was granted the opportunity to intern with Saxby Chambliss, who was then a U.S. representative running for the U.S. Senate. I served for two years as a court-appointed special advocate for the state of Kentucky....
As a young black male, I am often perceived as dumb, lazy, promiscuous and criminally inclined. If I sound at all pretentious for wanting to prove that I am anything but the above, then please accept my sincere apologies. In any event, lately it appears that my achievements have proved to be a liability rather than an asset.
Indeed; he cannot be hired anywhere, despite having applied for numerous jobs in six Georgia counties. Why? According to one set of school administrators:
Though your qualifications are quite impressive, I regret to inform you that we have selected another candidate. It was felt that your demeanor and therefore presence in the classroom would serve as an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become.
One has to wonder, to what students would Harris communicate an "unrealistic expectation"... after all, he has bachelor's degree and a good GPA. Certainly, high school students attend and graduate from college all the time -- some with good GPA's -- right?
Or, could they mean some specific subset of students? Perhaps African Americans students who might view Harris as a role model? Yes, it's clearly unrealistic to suggest minority students might be able to graduate from college. With a good GPA, nonetheless.
I hate racism.
Dissecting Leftism publishes an excerpt from a reader's letter which implies Harris' intelligence, as a threat to administrators, may have been a more likely motive:
Yes - there are Racists in Atlanta - racists who just don't want their Black students to have good role models - most likely the under achievers at the school - not the students, but the teachers and administrators who just can't stand someone that looks like them being a hell of a lot smarter.
That may be true, but I suspect a more powerful issue still may have been that Senator Saxby Chambliss, who Harris interned for, is -- dare we mention this? -- a Republican.
Indeed, Harris's troubles remind Michael Lopez of his own college experiences as a minority and apparent conservative:
Once or twice in my life I was the subject of great acrimony because I didn't fit very well into the pre-assigned role of the "Latino student." I mean, Wesleyan probably (I have no proof) let me in because of my last name. They probably expected someone who would contribute to the cultural diversity of their campus, who would join and strengthen their Latino student association, and would generally fit into a predetermined role. I say probably because, as I said, I have no real proof. But all signs point to yes. The quite clearly gave my name out to all the little minority activist enclaves, and it was equally clear that at the time of my attendance, conservatives were not really welcome on campus. From students I received all manner of epithets, most commonly something along the lines of "race traitor." You know how it goes.
Additionally, Marquis Harris recently left comments on Joanne Jacobs' blog which seem to also reflect his own recognition this may be an act of political partisanship. Excerpted:
I wonder if anyone has ever thought seriously why Georgia is ranked 48th and 49th in the nation on numerous educational standards? .... My long term goal is to be a legislator one day while concentrating primarily on education and child-social welfare reform. It never occurred to me to consider the consequences of my political affiliation - I guess I find it asinine that education is a partisan issue.
Amen. We can't allow diversity of opinion, can we, even (or perhaps, especially) if it also implies diversity of background and skin tone?
God bless you, Marquis. I know He'll use you somewhere, friend. Just keep plugging; we're all behind you. The world needs more people of your quality, integrity, and persistence.
Further Reading
If this story is indeed true, I work at a urban private school in Western Michigan that would be interested in interviewing this young man. His intelligence and achievements would be welcomed here! We actually encourage our students to aim high, even if they "over achieve"!!!
Marquis Harris is too dangerous to let in
__________________________
On the Harris case, possibly they felt he seemed "too white" or not liberal enough,
but IMHO, it seems to me that these days being a black male is a negative factor in employment.
Contrary to the scenario drawn by some conservaties of hordes of unqualified black applicants stealing all the good jobs, the Harris case shows a reality that is very different. Despite all the talk about "diversity" in many organizations, it serves mainly as a veneer, a lot of show and PR bull designed to warm the hearts of the gullible and allow some people to preen and feel noble. But behind the scenes it provides good cover for limiting the numbers allowed into the pool. Back in the 1970s, this was called "tokenism" -- once the organization in question has "a few", no more need apply. Asians have found this out too as regards admissions to top colleges. Quotas can work both ways- just ask black NBA old timers like Connie Hawkins and other stars of the 1960s and 50s, where only a designated number of blacks were allowed in, and roster space was reserved for less talented whites.
Contrary to all the happy talk and polite smiles, the "diversity" environment is often one of suspicion, resentment and fear. Tensions re college admissions are one example, but as regards employment, the fear of racial discrimination suits is always present- indeed the EEOC saw big increases in cases during the 1990s, a time when "diversity" was at its height. A black job applicant (especially a man) is simply seen by many as a potential "problem" down the road, a walking legal case so to speak. Black women are seen as less threatening and thus more employable.
The line about him causing "students to aspire unrealistically" is bullshit. IMHO, the real deal is that they felt they already have "enough" blacks and didn't want one more potentially dangerous colored boy (particularly one so articulate and well qualified) to disturb the peace.
I think more and more qualified black men are finding this out, even in so called "progressive" workplaces like universities or schools. A lot of "diversity" talk makes the gullible feel good, but in reality it is a cynical public relations ploy to cover other things. We used to think it was the low skilled, undereducated "ghetto" types who are undesirable, but Harris' case shows that this is no longer the case.
I was present at Asbury College with Marquis Harris. I would like to begin by saying that Mr. Harris is intelligent, but he is among a high percentage of very intelligent students at Asbury, a very highly regarded center of higher learning. His intellectual aptitude is perhaps his greatest asset; however, our greatest gifts are often times our greatest enemy. This holds true with Mr. Harris. Some students and faculty viewed Mr. Harris of having a case of elitism that he loved to brandish whenever he deems necessary. In addition to his pretentious demeanor, he often played the infamous “race card”, causing racial tension where none initially existed. Let me add that he was very Machiavellian in his approach. He often argued whichever side of the argument that best served him.
I do not wish to go into any more details that might cause Mr. Harris any embarrassment. I do wish to emphasize that his case is very, very special and a general conclusion should not be drawn on the basis of his lone experience. I promise that there is more here than meets the eye. Viewing the facts and statistics surrounding the overall placement of students of vast intelligence would better serve the formation of a conclusion on this topic.
Also, Meeting Mr. Harris would prove even more illuminating as to why he was not hired. Fortunately, everyone will have a chance to view Mr. Harris very soon. Mr. Harris will be featured as a model for a line of men’s make-up in the remainder of the year. Then you may judge for yourselves whether you would like Mr. Harris acting as a teacher and role model for your children and other future generations.
If Mr. Harris happens to read this response, I suggest that he take my advice in the future. Do not allow your private situations to be used as a springboard for advocacy groups seeking to stir up emotional reactions for their cause. It compromises your reputation and the reputation of the institutions that you represent.
I too was present at Asbury College while Mr. Harris was a student there, he was our president. For me to read something like this about Marquis is nothing new. To me it just sounds like Marquis is up to his old tricks again. Marquis is a very fine individual but i'm now starting to see a pattern of "stirring things up" wherever he goes.
As it was with the previous two submissions, I too attended college with Marquis. I would just like to say that, yes, Marquis is indeed intelligent and was involved in many extra-curricular activities at school. But it's all smoke in mirrors! While attending college with Marquis he would create situations (especially racially) that really didn't happen just to bring himself acknowledgement and to get 'special' treatment! He is a liar, an instigator, and is not the type of person I would want to teach my children. The fact that he has to constantly hide behind his past performances and successes should give you an indication as to the type of person he is. If these successes matched up with his character, there is no question that the schools in Atlanta would have hired him! Like a previous submitter wrote, all you have to do is meet Marquis face to face and the real person behind the GPA's and internships will be brought to light. Just please always remember that there are always two sides to every story, and this is no exception. You know how three peers from college coming forth to shed light upon the dark personality that is Marquis. Take note to what we say!
Greetings everyone. I first would like to thank Jane (from Joanne Jacob's Blog) for giving me the tip on these comments as well. I welcome them, it seems to be nothing but building up my legal case. I was not going to bring up any of these issues, but I feel forced to due to nature of the above comments. The racial incident that is being referred to was a pretty simple one and once I share the whole story, I will leave it up to the readers to form their own opinion. Let me first say as a preface (and unbeknownst to the authors of the above submissions) that I am by no means a racist, that my guardians who I have lived with since I entered the foster care system are white, the church that I am a member of at home in Macon, Ga is predominately white, and yes I attended a predominately white college. If there was any indication that I had a problem with color than I certainly would not have attended the school for four years. First, a brief profile concerning the school (you are alsw welcome to either go the website yourself, wwww.asbury.edu) or to contact the college President, Paul A. Radar for verification. Asbury College has approx. 1300 students on campus, during the 4 years that I was there, 7 were African-American (please feel free to email me and I can name them for you if you would like). My sophomore year, 4 out of the 7 African-Americans received hate mail in their mail boxes that said "go home nigger", followed by two more life-threatening letters. The police were involved and yes finger prints were taken, of all of the African-Americans, it seems there were several students who claimed that the blacks, or more specifically myself, wrote the hate mail ourself (or myself) "just to receive special treatment. It was inconceivable to believe that any student on a Christian campus would ever do such a thing. So yes, finger prints were taken, and a full investigation was conducted, our finger prints were only on the copies of the 1st set of hate mail sent to us - the ones we actually touched. The other two were intercepted by school officials before we knew about them and forensic analysis was also done on those to see if a set of matching finger prints were present. There was, but none from us. To the administration's credit they posted a reward in efforts to reign in the perpetrator(s), but to no avail, it was never found out who did it. Yes, we received special treatment, because one of the letters was life threatening, we were prohibited from staying on campus for a while and whenever we did have to go on campus -we had to be escorted - yes, special treatment. Yes, there were groups of students on campus who disliked me immensly. They disliked the fact that I constantly was concerned about the diversity of the school - or lack there of. They disliked the fact that I made it an issue that we were the only school in the state of Kentucky, public or private, that did not recognize Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday as a holiday, until I, along with several other student and faculty groups formed a proposal and brought it to the attention of the administration and board of trustees, who did in fact change beginning with my junior year. There were students who immensly disliked the fact that I was not satisfied with the way things were on campus and so instead I pushed for change. Having said all of that, let me now make three additional comments. 1) like the other postings, I am forwarding these responses on to Dr. Paul Rader (our college President), I believe he would enjoy reading them. 2) In all fairness, I would like to extend the same caution to the above-mentioned authors (who might I add, choose not to reveal their real names),it is one thing to give your personal opinion, but quite another to use malicious, defamaing, and calumniating remarks that are blatantly untrue - there is a fine line between free speech (even if it is hate speech) and libel. The above authors do not know the difference, it would appear. Like I am doing with the first Francis Asbury, those that followed are also going to be investigated as to uncover the real identity of your alias and you will in fact be served by my IT attornyes and co-workers at Alston & Bird,LLP, here in Atlanta - feel free to visit their website at www.alston.com However strongly you may dislike me or my tactics,it does not give you grounds to besmirch my name in a public forum such as this. 3) I want all readers to be fully aware of two things if you aren't already. a) Before printing the article, in the AJC, the editors did their own background investigation to ensure that my claims and the email were in fact genuine. I agreed to allow them to print it only after agreeing not to reveal the name of the principal (who is no longer employed anyway) and the school - they agreed. b) notice how it is my critics and not myself who insist on focusing on the racial aspect of the article. However, I believe the majority of the readers who read my article would agree that race was not the central focus of the article, it was intellect. As I stated before, I welcome all comments including those that are disagreeable with my own opinions (I have received several to date). However, the comments posted by these Asburians were vastly inappropriate and untrue. My email address is mlh@alston.com, I am more than happy to provide anyone with lawyers, judges, teachers, ministers, and children, who actually do know me and work with me on a daily basis and again they will not attest to any of what these "Asburians" have written. I can also provide to you the names of faculty, administrators, including the College President and community members who new me quite well while I was at Asbury and would attest that the "evil" depiction these commentors are given are inaccurate and false. Is it just me or am I not the only one that finds it interesting that the time in which Asburian 2 and 3 wrote and posted their comments are less than a hour apart. A coincidence? I think not.
Let this be the fourth time that yet another disgruntled classmate of Marquis' has reluctantly written in response to his outrageous claim of social injustice. His most recent declairation reaks of his old habitual practices on campus for four long years of study, or perhaps more reminiscent of the quote from the Moscow Central Committee in 1943(socialist Marxist) "Members and front organizations must continually embarrass, discredit and degrade our critics. When obstructionists become too irritating, label them as fascist, or Nazi or anti-Semitic....The association will, after enough repetition, become "fact" in the public mind." I merely quote this because I will not stand by and let a reputable school be discredited as discriminatory on the basis that a certain subject was not hired. Al Sharpton is notorious for committing this illogical falacy. Because this institution did not hire Marquis for the job does not constitute them as "racist." I can, off the top of my head, name three, well qualified, white males who searched for jobs for over two years. Yet, not one of them charged racism. These three men were rejected by, not six, but by more than twenty seven employers. One must not become so pius to think that their past qualifications automatically prescribe them the best person for the job. After all, the entire Vanderbilt Empire was founded by a man with no education whatsoever. I am confounded that Marquis, though an extremely gifted and intelligent person, would threaten previous Asburians by "penalty of law" (this may not be known by everyone, but can be substantiated) for merely stating their grievances, which is granted them by the Constitution of the United States, the law of the land and same right that Marquis has engaged himself. The moral of the story is this, do not make unsubstantiated claims such as Marquis' without expecting some resistence.
"Edgar"
I have no idea who you are because you choose not to reveal your name. Your comments are opinions and not defamatory (re-read yours and then the ones before yours). Secondly, I don't know if you have actually read the AJC article but if you have not you need to. There is no indication by myself that I was not hired because I was black. Those have been assertions made by others who have indeed read the article. Third, I find it amusing that you compare me to Al Sharpton, who I don't know personally, but dislike both his and Jesse Jackson's style; I am afterall, a Republican and don't share their views persay. However, it does not make oblivious to the fact that both racial and gender inequality are still rampant in America. Why don't you get to know me before making assumptions.
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If this story is indeed true, I work at a urban private school in Western Michigan that would be interested in interviewing this young man. His intelligence and achievements would be welcomed here! We actually encourage our students to aim high, even if they "over achieve"!!!
Posted by: Urban education supporter on February 11, 2004 01:41 PM