A year has passed since my infamous polemic be-rating of Highland Park Independent School District for remaining a virtually all-white “bubble” while major private and public educational institutions (including SMU) have sought the diversity we have enjoyed at Woodrow for 25 years.
By telephone, I received some “attaboys” and some anonymous threats.
The mail ranged from “Voices like yours point us in the right direction. Keep up the good work,” from David Miller, to a four-page diatribe from a University Park resident.
The highlights: “We are seeing the destruction in our schools and society wrought by the violation of God’s laws of racial purity…90 percent of the world’s greatest inventions have come from the brain of an Anglo-Saxon…America has gone wrong since Truman’s racial integration of the U.S. military, the 1954 Supreme Court edict, the tide of immigrants (non-whites) into our land, repeal of the poll tax, homosexuals and intermarriage of the races.”
This reader also said we never lost a war until the encroachment of non-whites in our midst. I showed the letter to my classmate, Joe Jones ’76, and Joe asked: “Has he never heard of Gen. Colin Powell?”
Since my column, the Dallas Morning News has reported that HPISD students have begun a cultural exchange with students in South Dallas. They even took a field trip to the area.
Celebrating the Golden Year
U.S. Postmaster Marvin Runyon ’42 also delivers nice notes among the malicious missives. Margaret L. Cox ’63 of Lakewood wrote: “Carolyn Knox ‘63 is truly the mother of our class. She keeps all the addresses and info and gets us together every summer.”
Margaret says Carolyn is planning a collective 50th birthday party for the class this summer since they all are now turning golden.
That’s lucky, since “Carolyn has a gold and silver exchange, teaches business at Richland, is a psychologist who counsels AIDS patients free of charge, is writing a book on grief therapy, is an actress, and a graduate student. She is now considering going to seminary or law school.
Hard to believe.
“Yes, this is all true,” Maggie wrote.
From The Hall of Fame
Woodrow won 10 district titles last year and also became the high school with the most members in the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. According to former Lakewood resident Blackie Sherrod, there are eight: racer Carroll Shelby, bowler Bill Lillard, golfer Ralph Guldahl, diver Skippy Browning, miler Jerry Thompson, and footballers Davey O’Brien, I.B. Hale and Malcolm Kutner.
Blackie stirs up memories of the departed Dallas Times Herald, where I interned while attending SMU. Last month was the third anniversary of its demise. The Herald is now a parking lot. I hated walking across it last summer.
