Duly Noted
- G. Noelke
- Jan 11, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 13, 2024
In the 1930's my Grandmother, Nan Noelke (aka Nan Lackey DeLong), worked as a teacher for the Mertzon Independent School District in this building at Commerce and Duncan streets. The District was segregated then, and it was known at the time as the "Mexican school". (Her teaching contract literally identified it as the "Mexican school". ) She was supremely interested in equality throughout her life, and during her time as a teacher there she successfully lobbied the Board of Trustees for textbooks for her students. Hispanic children at the time were not provided textbooks by the District. Read more about this building and education law at the time.
"Duly noted" is a great phrase that means "officially recognized". In a manner of speaking, everything that gets approved in the minutes of a public meeting is "duly noted".
When you are attending a public meeting you should pay close attention to the discussion on the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting. History is literally being being recorded when the previous meeting minutes are being approved. While it may sound like officials are just editing spelling and grammar, it is really much more than that.
To make my point, here are some approved Mertzon City Council minutes from a recent meeting that are pertinent to my advocacy and that are now "duly noted":
Specifically, this is what I am referencing: PUBLIC COMMENTS: George Noelke spoke to the council about the repairs that need to be done on Fleming St. as well as his opposition on the city using cement on repairs. He also addressed the council with his opinion on the closing of 3rd Street and again reminded them of the flooding issues not resolved that were caused by the last construction project of the school."
As a part of that, here is part of my public comment strategy for community reform: protest before your government does wrong, protest while your government is doing the wrong, and protest after your government has committed the wrong (but do it before complacency sets in and the community accepts the wrong as a new normal and your government attempts to build on the error of its ways).
Here is how you start:
"Go down to City Hall and see what is on the agenda for the next council meeting—garbage collection, water supply, it does not matter which one—then go and learn everything you can about it. Read past reports, talk to people, learn the topic until you know it as well as anyone. Then when you get up to speak, or to make a suggestion for change, your voice will be heard because you are knowledgeable. That is how reform works."
US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.
Of course, the "flash in the pan" advocacy I have rejected elsewhere on this blog can, at least initially, also be effective. The flash in the pan advocates I reference here in these 2020 minutes got their gym located on their ideal location. But their approach is causing our government to flood itself with devastating long term consequences. Such actions have not created opportunity and community. And, those same advocates are nowhere to be found as the next superintendent, Superintendent Moore, seeks to build on past efforts (ie, closing a street). Where are those same flash in the pan advocates now when her proposed street closure does not involve a $10 million dollar athletic facility? They are absent, but they have left behind what appears to be a trail of government waste...
Such things are duly noted, if not in the City's or District's meeting minutes, then on this blog. For sure, citizens cannot leave history to be recorded solely in meeting minutes.
Education law related to this building:
At the time my grandmother taught in this building, 1934, the 1896 Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson was the law of the land. The case permitted "separate but equal" educational facilities. My grandmother's actions of lobbying for textbooks during this era was more than a statement about her good character and values. Her actions were evidence that Plessy v. Ferguson was flawed and incorrectly decided. In fact, while this building was at most separate from the District's 1909 main building, by 1934 what we can draw from her advocacy efforts back then was that Hispanic children in our community were not being treated equally, as required by Plessy, because they were not even provided textbooks at school. Ponder that for a moment. That's shocks the conscience, doesn't it? And, from personal experience in both buildings (where she taught and the 1909 building), the facilities are far from equal; the 1909 building where Anglo children were educated was far superior. It would not be until 1954 in the Brown v. Board of Education case that the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Plessy and found that "separate but equal" was unconstitutional. If you or someone you know was involved with the desegregation of the District in Mertzon in the '50's please let me know. By that time my grandmother had left teaching and was ranching down in Crockett County with my grandfather, Aubrey DeLong. In the 60's and 70's the building was no longer being used as a school. During those years it was used by St. Peter's as a community center for after Mass get togethers. That's where I learned to enjoy Mexican food as the true comfort food. The building's history, though, necessarily meant that it was not a place of comfort for the children who attended school there before Brown v. Board of Education.
Again, please reach out to me if you have any particular knowledge about desegregation in Mertzon in the 50's.
Copyright 2024 G Noelke