The Presence Read Online Free PDF

this is to set the gifted schools in the center cities.”
    â€œIn the slums?” The senator was shocked.
    â€œRight in the middle of minority neighborhoods,” Robinson explained. “Pour a bunch of government money into renovating one of the old schools, make it into a model kind of place. They’ve done one in Raleigh, and it’s pretty incredible. TJ walked me through it. The neighborhood has been totally transformed in just five years. I’m not kidding you. Five years. Rich families raise a stink because the neighborhood’s not safe for their kids, so police protection picks up. The area gets too hot for the nasties, so all of a sudden it’s kind of a nice place to live. New people start moving in. Not the really rich—they mostly send their kids to private schools anyway. Upper middle class, young professionals. Minorities living next door to whites. I tell you, the difference is incredible.”
    â€œWhy haven’t I seen this?” The senator looked at both of them accusingly. “You’re telling me something like this is going on right under my nose and I’ve never even heard about it?”
    â€œReggie, it’s one school in the whole state,” Robinson said soothingly. “Four hundred kids out of how many? A hundred thousand? We only found out about it because Case made us go down and look it over.”
    Silverwood held his peace. There was little to be gained from stating the obvious. Senator Reginald Erskins was rock-steady and well-informed on the issues he considered primary, but he turned an almost blind eye to everything else.
    Erskins gave his staffers enormous power. On secondary issues they made both the initial and final policy analyses, then simply told him how to vote. In return the senator demanded unswerving loyalty. Anyone foolish enough to disagree with him on a primary issue was given five minutes to pack.
    Some senators knew every state legislator back home by their first name. They considered it a matter of principle to know exactly how each felt about issues of key interest to the state. Erskins held no such views. He had once been heard to refer to the state legislators as those folks riding at the back of the bus.
    The people had elected Erskins because of what he stood for. His job was to make his stand as hard and fast and noisy as possible. Any issue not directly related to this premise was shunted aside for his staffers to handle. So it was no surprise that he had not heard of the recent developments in education, nor that he had only a vague knowledge of TJ Case. Education was nowhere near the top of Senator Erskins’ list.
    â€œTJ Case is real strong on building the equal opportunity concept into this program,” Silverwood went on. “He gets pretty hot about racial bias in schools.”
    â€œWhat does he call it?” Robinson smiled his tight little grimace. “‘Teaching our children the absolute worst of what we are,’ something like that.”
    â€œâ€˜Showing a casual disregard for the basic teachings of Jesus Christ,’ “ Silverwood said. “I like that one best.”
    â€œSo did the papers,” Robinson agreed, adding for the senator’s benefit, “He’s a strong Christian and makes no bones about it.”
    â€œYou really like this fellow, don’t you?” the senator observed.
    Robinson hedged in his best political manner. “He’s impressed a lot of people, Reggie. Right across the color line.”
    â€œI seem to recall that the papers made a big thing of his endorsement,” the senator said.
    â€œWent all over the district with me,” Silverwood agreed. “Introduced me to all the local leadership. Made I don’t know how many speeches.”
    â€œWe about worked that man to death,” Robinson said.
    â€œWhat are you trying to tell me? That he did all this out of the goodness of his heart?”
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