“Almost all of the diversity of our youths was in a single school district,” says Pete Buttigieg. “I was slow to realize.”

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg told Reverend William Barber that he didn’t notice South Bend’s public schools were segregated.

Buttigieg is the mayor of South Bend.

“I have to confess that I was slow to realize — I worked for years under the illusion that our schools in my city were integrated… But what I slowly realized… if you looked at the county, almost all of the diversity of our youths was in a single school district,” Buttigieg said in an interview with Rev. William Barber III.

Yes. “All the diversity of our youths was in a single school district,” is a weird formulation.

But that he didn’t realize that integration was an illusion in his city?

Buttigieg is either a liar or suffers from too common a white blindspot.

In Indiana, more than 70 percent of black students attend a non-white majority school,

In 2015, several South Bend schools showed concentrated black enrollment, inconsistent with county racial realities.

So, when did Mayor Buttigieg notice?

As the data shows, the segregation of South Bend schools have a long history and is consistent with segregation throughout Indiana schools.

Indiana schools, like Illinois schools, are primarily funded by local property taxes which reinforces racial inequality in public education.

The New York Times:

The inequity of education finance in the United States is a feature of the system, not a bug, stemming from its great degree of decentralization and its reliance on local property taxes.

 

Buttigieg: "I have to confess that I was slow to realize — I worked for years under the illusion that our schools in my city were integrated… But what I slowly realized… if you looked at the county, almost all of the diversity of our youths was in a single school district." pic.twitter.com/ijGcT7uFJZ

— The Hill (@thehill) December 1, 2019

As mayor, Pete Buttigieg turned a blind eye to racial segregation in his county's schools for years.

Now that he's running for president, Pete thinks he's being crafty by "confessing he was slow to realize…" to excuse his negligence as mayor. #PeteButtigiegIsALyingMF https://t.co/gdmtlzSAWl

— anti-fascist sister (@BernForBernie20) December 2, 2019

I personally asked him about School segregation this spring. However, I have not seen it addressed in any of his subsequent policies, let alone, during his tenure as mayor: https://t.co/qd1Og9Q843

— Amy Vaz (@amyvaz3) December 2, 2019