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From the Sun-Times:
Leaders of 11 south suburban public high schools said Monday their planned split from a 35-school athletic conference had nothing to do with race.But a call Sunday from a school board member’s home phone to a Chicago Sun-Times reporter’s voice mail raises questions about racial motives because of the language — which included the term “poor blackie” — used in the recording.
The woman on the recording did not identify herself, but caller ID indicated the call came from Lincoln-Way high school board member Maureen Jagmin’s home in Frankfort. The caller phoned a reporter, but instead of hanging up, continued to speak to someone who was with her, leaving that conversation on the reporter’s voice mail.
I guess lesson number one would be, “always make sure you’ve completely hung up the phone before saying what you ‘really’ mean.”
“. . . It’s getting to the point where I’m tired of the welfare, tired of the mentality that poor blackie because let’s give them a job so they can be supporting themselves and, be, make them work. You know, forget this I want to be a bum type of thing. I think it’s a forever problem in this country, you know, it’s never going to go away in this area here.”
Jagmin denied it was her on the voice mail. Whatever. On a day when a federal judge’s family was slain, possibly by white supremacists, I’m in no mood to hear any excuses.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Mar 1, 05 @ 9:50 am
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Isn’t it amazing how someone can break into your home, assume your identity and pretend to be a bigot…just to ruin the reputation of a well meaning school board member. I hear she’s hiding in Florida in a place called Archie’s Bunker.
Comment by Paul Wednesday, Mar 2, 05 @ 3:20 pm
I’m going to play Devil’s Advocate. I grew up in the school district being discussed, and it has definately gone through some changes over the last 10 years. Racism is the ugly generalization of a people based on the limited understanding of a few. But then again, much like good satire, sometimes there is a small component of truth to the claims. Rather than ignore the elephant in the room by pointing a finger at a bigot, maybe some one needs to look at the legitimacy of her assertions. As a resident of the area being discussed, I can admit her claims are not entirely baseless. The schools are one step away from boot camps, gang activity is on the rise, and test scores are on the decline (compared with other illinois schools).
Comment by Ammano Thursday, Mar 3, 05 @ 5:02 pm
It is unfortunate that being honest can hurt you. I also believe that it is a shame that she is under fire, when the African-American race can say whatever they want and get away with it, like it’s no big deal. If the roles were reversed you can bet that there would be no resigning taking place.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 7, 05 @ 7:15 pm
She is resigning because her school district would not take ownership of her comments. Loose lips sink ships and she turned the answering machine on herself as I understand the chain of events.
She is an elected official and therefore her views are construed as representative of her constituents.
There probably was some truth in what she said and had she left out all of the derogatory lingo, she probably could have written a letter to the newspaper to express her views. As was duly noted, her rantings were not “ready for prime time”.
Comment by paul Monday, Mar 7, 05 @ 9:03 pm
I grew up in Richton Park and lived there for 12 years. My parents moved me away because they did not want me attending Rich South High School. The neighborhood was changing and not the safest.
Having said that, I went to Lincoln-Way East High school and graduated from there. I met Maureen Jagmin on one occassion, and it was akward (she was boasting about her son to me at batting cages).
It’s sad, but her comments, while resemble the truth in a way, she 1) is a public official and needs to watch what she says… 2) her choice of words was poor. Calling those schools a “zoo” and using “poor blackie” is terrible. I understand she did not realize she was being recorded… but as a public official, what you say can and will be used against you if need be. Her opinion is her opinion, but there are more appropriate ways to state them, while allowing you to be truthful, but without being insulting.
Comment by Martin Sunday, Mar 13, 05 @ 2:04 am