Syndicated columnist William Raspberry’s
breathless about Colin Powell’s “mission to
save America’s children.” I might be
breathless, too, if Colin Powell’s mission
wasn’t so strikingly similar to the phony
mission of a another ex-general that
education expert Powell supported, the late
Seattle Schools Superintendent St. John
Stanford.

Raspberry writes, “This former war hero and
former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- this charismatic and inspiring leader who
might have been anything from an enormously
rich corporate CEO to president of the
United States - has chosen to lead the
rescue that some of us only talk about.”

Actually, Powell probably passed on
campaigning for the presidency because he
found a much more profitable gig. As
plugged on “60 Minutes” last Sunday, Powell
is one of a group of motivational
entrepreneurs who are raking in piles of
money giving feelgood talks to people who
want to be told they can succeed in life.
I’m not saying it’s an unethical racket, but
I don’t see Powell rolling up his
sleeves and tackling the dirty jobs in
education – like
putting corrupt school officials behind
bars or shaming
teachers unions into doing what
teachers pay them to do.

But don’t tell that to Raspberry – he’s
breathless: “The
obvious [Colin Powell] analogy is to
the Civil Rights
Movement of the 1960s…” (or Amway
Soap). “As was the case
with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
and other leaders of
the earlier movement, Powell is happy
to be the charismatic
catalyst - helping local organizations
raise the money and
enlist the recruits they need,
inspiring the worriers among
us to become activists, and spreading
that life-changing
umbrella.”

I can’t imagine Powell following in
King’s footsteps,
because he wouldn’t be a charismatic
hero to white America
if he campaigned for equality for
African Americans. Can
you imagine Powell flying into Seattle
and scolding the
Seattle Chamber of Commerce for the
disparity between white
schools like Eckstein and Laurelhurst
and the Rainier
Valley’s Rainier Beach High School???

In a society painfully short of genuine
heroes, Colin
Powell’s just another dud. If John
Stanford were still
alive, he'd probably be at Powell's
side as the Joint
Chiefs of Staff of America's War for
Kids cornered the
market on bull.

Reference: “Colin Powell’s mission to
save America’s
children,” Syndicated columnist William
Raspberry, Seattle
Times or P-I, April 18, 2000

David Blomstrom, GeoBear@geobop.com,
4/19/00

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