John Walker, Little Rock Attorney, Says New Arkansas Lottery Discriminates Against Black Students

Little Rock attorney John Walker says new Arkansas Lottery discriminates against black students because of ACT test score requirements.

Can we all get along, despite the color of our skin? Attorney John Walker, who fought schools in Little Rock in a desegregation claim for years, now claims the new Arkansas Lottery discriminates against black students. According to the Today's THV, Walker said, "[Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.] would oppose the lottery and it's government proceeds hypocritically given to those who already have. " Lottery officials raised their first year scholarship expectations by $10 million.

Walker said the scholarships soon to be awarded would require an ACT score of at least 19. But he says the average ACT score of black students in Arkansas is only 16. Walker says, "So when you set that score, you know the likely number of people who will be able to met that qualification. On the other hand, the average act score of white students is 21. What this means is the state benefits will continue to flow disproportionately to white students to the detriment of black students."

"They have just as much opportunity today as I do," said Mike Rankin, who heard Walker's remarks on the radio. He says the lottery scholarships should have some minimum requirements. Rankin says, "Same as for my kids. And if their parents would take time to teach their kids then their points and their scores would be up like my son and daughter. My son and daughter can't get some of the scholarships they need because they're white."

Walker also said black students would not be able to benefit from Advanced Placement courses to boost their grade point, because those classes are full of white students. Walker offered no solution for what he called a civil wrong. Statistics from the department of education confirm the average ACT score for Arkansas black students is 16.7. Source: Today's THV

Is it me or is it a shame that the bar is being set lower and lower for black children in this country to give mediocre performance in schools. What about giving the students the tools to achieve beyond their wildest imagination in schools. It is so easy for these so-called black leaders to jump up and throw Dr. King's name around, but they are forgetting that he took his education seriously. He graduated from Morehouse College with a B.A. in 1948, attended Crozer Theological Seminary where he attained a B.D. in 1951 and went on to Boston University where he got his doctoral degree in 1955.