Say What?! Bloomberg Compares Himself to Martin Luther King, Jr.

My head spun when I read in the New York Sun:

Mr. Bloomberg, speaking about his education policies, made a remark that raised eyebrows: "We are doing the things, I think, that if Dr. Martin Luther King was running the New York City school system, he would have done. And I think that if you were running the New York City school system, you would have done."

Mr. Perkins, who said he received phone calls yesterday from constituents concerned by the remarks, called the comparison to King "arrogant" and "an insult." He said the claim was insulting "especially when you realize that, within the community, there's a great deal of anger and disappointment at how the schools have been functioning under this administration."

Mr. Perkins added: "Parents have felt left out of the process, and they've felt that the schools are not measuring up. In fact, frankly, folks are fleeing the public school system."

A City Council member of Brooklyn, Letitia James, said, "To invoke Dr. Martin Luther King's name, given that a significant number of the schools in Crown Heights do not have computers, do not have science labs and math labs, is really an affront to the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King."

Let's see: Bloomberg has stepped up punitive high-stakes testing to an unprecedented degree, alienated parents, given high-priced consultants raises while cutting school budgets for after-school activities, spent $80 million on the ARIS test-scoring computer system, held countless students back without giving them much-needed academic support...

No one slips and compares himself to Dr. King. This kind of comment betrays a deeply out-of-touch relationship with the on-the-ground reality. Step into the city's public schools and you hardly see the stewardship of Dr. King.

Last Friday night, I attended a community meeting at the Bronx Library Center on Kingsbridge Road. People were coming together to figure out how to turn the vacant Old Fordham Library into a community center. The mood was constructive and optimistic, but let me tell you, there was no special love in that room for Mayor Bloomberg and his education policies.

It doesn't have to be this way. They mayor doesn't have to alienate the minority community and then liken himself to one of its greatest heroes. "What would Dr. King do?" might be a good guiding question to consider seriously, not to invoke publicly as a self-aggrandizing farce.

But I'm not holding my breath with this mayor. Probably the best thing that can happen now is to end autocratic mayoral control of the schools when the issue comes up for renewal on June 30, 2009.

Dan Brown is a New York City teacher and the author of "The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle."

Comments

[meanguy]

actually, he didn't, dan...do you get an extra serving of kool-ade for making up stuff?

[meanguy]

i guess i missed the part where bloomberg compared himself to dr king...or did you just make that up?

[THEhillbilly]

This is very likely one of the lamest snivelfests ever posted here. There's nothing at all to support the shrieking headline claim that Michael Bloomberg compared himself to Martin King.

[EinChicago]

How dare anyone exact the Lord Almight Obama Hussein make any comparison to Doctor King. I demand that Bloomberg be cermemoniously drowned in a 500 gallon vat of Obama Kool-Aid immediately!

[S1m0n]

That's ridiculous. Bloomberg is comparing policies, not personalities. Does wearing a WWJD bracelet indicate that the wearer thinks they're Jesus?

[standforpeace]

I don't know, but maybe I'll distribute a few WWMLKD bracelets.