Standing in designated lines to drink water and use the restroom, having to eat at separate restaurants and once again being banned from certain establishments. I can see it all too clearly as we slowly regress back to the days of segregation.

Some cities and states including: Charlotte, NC; Little Rock, AR; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; Denver, CO; Miami/Dade, FL; Lee, FL; Hillsboro, FL, Okalahoma City, OK; Topeka, KS, Wilmington, DE; Cleveland, OH; DeKalb County, GA, Missouri; Mobile, AL; Buffalo, NY; Boston, MA; Chattanooga, TN; Muskogee County, GA; Norfolk, VA; Phoenix, AZ; Fort Worth and Houston, TX; Savannah, GA; Prince Georges County, MD; Benton Harbor, MI; Rockford, IL; most of Ohio with the exception of Dayton and many more cities and states, continue to contribute to returning to these backward days by having their desegregation orders terminated; In effect, causing the re-segregation of the public schools. The moment I heard the news, a sense of shock, disappointment, sadness, anger and shame overcame me as I thought of all the great historical African American figures that shed blood and tears fighting for this crucial civil right. It further saddened me to learn that African Americans lent a hand in overturning these orders.

One of the reasons given for pushing for the end of desegregation was that the inner city parents were tired of their children enduring long bus rides to attend suburban schools. Another was they felt the money being used for the children to participate in the desegregation program was taking funds away from the inner city schools. And lastly, they thought the children were losing their sense of community and heritage.

All of these are valid reasons, and I agree full heartedly that the children should be able to attend schools in their neighborhoods that have the same educational standards and up kept facilities as those located in the suburbs; However, if one is to be realistic, this is not a change that is going to come over night, and I'm not sure if ending desegregation is the answer.

First of all, most of the schools in the inner city are falling apart to the point that some of them should be condemned and since most of them are already operating at a deficit, there isn't any funding available to bring them all up to code at one time; In fact, here in Saint Louis, Missouri, ever since the Desegregation Capital Funds was established in 1999 when the city reached a desegregation settlement to end the program, the school board has been dipping into the 180 million dollars without approval.

In the settlement, it was stated that the money could only be used for the acquisition of land or building of new schools, but the past superintendents had been borrowing from it without approval, to fund operating expenses. This along with the closing of schools, the cutting of programs vital to the children learning and the elimination of jobs should be proof enough for the parents to realize that ending the desegregation program alone does not end the inner city schools budget shortfalls.

One of the major reasons the school system here in Saint Louis keeps having budget crisis is because the school board is continually spending money that we already don't have. Here in Saint Louis, Missouri, within the past 3? years, we have had 6 superintendents, each making anywhere from 140,000 - 250,000, and the last superintendent, who seemed to be making some positive changes, was forced out by the school board this past July after serving only 15 months of a 5 year contract, without any explanation to the parents or students. We now have a 7th interim superintendent being paid 210,000 a year to step in as a replacement.

Not only is she the interim superintendent, but she is also president and part owner of the company that's been designated to audit the school district, although she claims she has temporarily stepped down from that position. Now being that the district is already operating at a 50 million dollar deficit, it is unbeknownst to me how they can afford to pay out the rest of the last superintendents contract, pay her salary and also pay her firm to audit the inner city schools. Secondly, many of the inner city public schools are still trying to regain full accreditation due to the fact that they are not performing at the standardized state levels.

Our public school system is in such shambles right now that both the people and the Mayor of the City of St. Louis are begging the state to take over the school system, and unfortunately Missouri isn't the only state doing this. In fact, this is a nationwide epidemic because Helena, AR; New Orleans; Baltimore, MD; LA and many more states have experienced the same thing. Now epidemic may seem like too harsh a word to describe the current state of the inner city public schools, but when looking at the definition, which defines it as a disease that attacks or affects many individuals in a community or a population simultaneously, then this is exactly what is occurring within our educational system. Right now we have masses of youth who are not getting the basic educational skills needed to survive in society.

Unfortunately a lot of them can't even speak correctly, let alone get through a job interview, and it is not only affecting this generation, but it will also infect the next one as these same youth become parents themselves. Lastly, due to the low income factor and the crime and violence that some of the children attending the inner city schools have been exposed to, they sometimes tend to bring this same behavior into the schools, making a difficult learning environment for both the students and the teachers.

I'm not saying that suburban schools don't have some of these same issues, but whereas the inner city schools are sometimes more prone to be a little more lenient in their disciplinary actions, due to the fact that they have to constantly deal with this issue on a day to day, the suburban schools are quicker at addressing the problem and trying to diffuse it before it escalates into a bigger one.

As far as heritage and community goes, that was lost a long time ago when parents stopped caring about passing down the struggles and victories of our ancestors and also when the people in the neighborhood stopped looking out and caring for one another. I can remember being a kid and not only having to worry about my family disciplining me and keeping me in line, but also having Ms. Tiny next door and the entire block keep a watchful eye on me to make sure I wasn't behaving mischievously.

Nowadays people are either too self absorbed and too fearful of the lack of disrespect and disregard the youth have for their elders, that they don't bother saying anything anymore.

Although I do understand parents wanting to find a solution to regain control of the inner city schools in their neighborhood, I have a problem with them voting to pull their children out of schools that have a clean environment, structured educational system and strong budget and throw them into one that is run down and plagued with problems.

It seems like the more content we become with the progress we have made, the more backwards our thinking becomes. What has happened to our society where we now have to bribe and beg our children to go to school, when it was once considered a privilege and an honor? And what has happened to us where we are beginning to betray our ancestors by overturning the very rights that they fought to enforce?