Wilma, > > So the carving up of Philadelphia public schools IS a national story. It's > just one that corporate media won't tell. Not in Philly, not in LA, not in > Kansas City or anywhere, for fear that ordinary people might try to write > themselves into a leading role. Polls show that the American people don't want > their schools privatized, and don't believe education should be run by > business people like a business. People want to take the money we spend on > wars and bailouts and use it on education. Telling the story might give people > the notion that the ultimate power is in their hands, not of mayors and > chambers of commerce or the so-called ³CEOs² of school system. It's time that > story was told, and more of us heard it.
Reflecting on the Roebuck/Muhammad race, this paragraph really resonated. One of the things that struck me about this election is the powerful role that the internet and alternative media played in Muhammad¹s and her funders¹/handlers - defeat. The neighborhood listservs, especially UC Neighbors, galvanized grassroots opposition to Muhammad very early on by facilitating people¹s ability to talk to each other. Alternative media, the City Paper and West Philly Local and yes, even Tony West, did the early investigative digging that raised the early questions about where her money was coming from and the agenda behind her candidacy. From there, citizens started asking questions and googling madly, searching and finding new online resources to investigate candidates campaign finance reports, Google street view of ³Women for Change²¹s headquarters . . . . and people shared what they learned online. And then even better, outstanding, investigative reporting on this tiny local race with huge ramifications appeared on Alternet. And out of all of that communication and information people formed their opinions and made their decisions. Educated, informed, thoughtful decisions, in my opinion. One night, close to Election Day, I searched philly.com for articles on Fatimah Muhammad. I found a bit of stuff, but I was astonished at how little there was. Many people reading this are probably saying, ³Well, duh . . .² I get that many people gave up on mainstream media the day the Internet was invented, but not all of us are geeks. I loathe Twitter and I am a Facebook refusnik on principal. My undergrad degree was in journalism, at one time I thought I was going to be the next Bob Woodward. And, corporate or not, there was a day, before their staffs were decimated, in part by hedge-fund guys, when the Inky and Daily News were outstanding newspapers doing outstanding investigative reporting. Capitalist, profit-driven principles fail the media as much as they do the schools.They still are, in spite of everything, hence the most recent Pulitzer, and they are worthy of saving, IMO. But I couldn¹t help feeling wow, they have become so irrelevant. Bob Baer had a column about how boring this election was. Yes, I understand how local this fight was, and so how intensely we all felt about it, but the issues were citywide, statewide, national issues the role of unlimited private funding in politics, and the privatization of public schools. I haven¹t been this emotionally invested in an election in 27 years, since I was a naïve 17-year-old working on her first and last - electoral campaign. But reading philly.com headlines dominated by the results of the irrelevant GOP primary nonrace, rather than real local news that real people cared about, and that had broader political meaning . . . . I cut my political teeth on the antiapartheid movement, back in the late 1980s, and that was amazingly empowering what we did here ended apartheid half a world away. That experience inspired me to become a community organizer, to teach others so they could have the same experience of empowerment that I did. But after 10 years of trying to influence my own country, I quit in defeat, burnt out, not empowered (although I think some folks I worked with felt empowered.) I don¹t know that that is my failing, I think it may just be that it is much, much harder today for those of us outside of the 1% to feel like we can affect anything. In the wake of Citizens United, that is probably far more true. I had given up, more than I realized, on my faith in the power of grassroots folks to make a difference. But I just witnessed it happening. And I have hope again, for the first time in a long time. Thank you, neighbors, for that. This is a story that someone should tell. ;-) The story of the 188th district, of the Muhammad/Roebuck election, is that informed, organized, intelligent citizens with access to technology can in fact beat back the moneyed interests. That is what I used to believe, back in the day . . . I have hope now that it can still be done. And that is the story that should be told. I¹ve toyed with telling it myself, but that will never happen. But someone should. ;-) It¹s an awesome story. :-). Good guys win, bad guys lose . . . . . Kimm On 4/26/12 7:18 AM, "Wilma de Soto" <wil.p...@comcast.net> wrote: > Why Isn't Closing 40 Philadelphia Public Schools National News? Where Is the > Black Political Class? > By Bruce A. Dixon > Created 04/25/2012 - 13:50 > > By BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon > If some racist made an inappropriate remark about the First Lady or her > children our national "civil rights leaders" Obama fans all of them, would be > all over that. But standing up for ordinary black children is something our > leaders just don't do much any more. When was the last time you heard > Sharpton, Jealous or any of that tribe inveigh against school closings and the > creeping privatization of our schools? > > Why Isn't Closing 40 Philadelphia Public Schools National News? Where Is the > Black Political Class? > By BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon > > In what should be the biggest story of the week, the city of Philadelphia's > school system announced Tuesday that it expects to close 40 public schools > next year and 64 by 2017. The school district expects to lose 40% of current > enrollment to charter schools, the streets or wherever, and put thousands of > experienced, well qualified teachers, often grounded in the communities where > they teach [4], on the street. > > Ominously, the shredding of Philadelphia's public schools isn't even news > outside Philly. This correspondent would never have known about it save for a > friend's Facebook posting early this week [5]. Corporate media in other cities > don't mention massive school closings, whether in Chicago, Atlanta, NYC, or in > this case Philadelphia, perhaps so people won't have given the issue much deep > thought before the same crisis is manufactured in their town. Even inside > Philadelphia the voices of actual parents, communities, students and teachers > are shut out of most newspaper and broadcast accounts. > > The black political class is utterly silent and deeply complicit. Even local > pols and notables who lament the injustice of local austerity avoid mentioning > the ongoing wars and bailouts which make these things ³necessary.² A string of > black mayors have overseen the decimation of Philly schools. Al Sharpton, Ben > Jealous and other traditional ³civil rights leaders² can always be counted on > to rise up indignant when some racist clown makes an inappropriate remark > about the pretty black First Lady and her children. > > But they won't grab the mic for ordinary black children. They won't start and > won't engage the public in a conversation about saving public education. It's > not because they don't care. It's because they care very much about their > funding, which comes from Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation, from Wal-mart > and the Walton Family Foundation, from the corporations that run charter > charter schools and produce standardized tests. > > To name just one payment to one figure, Rev. Al Sharpton took a half million > dollar ³loan² from charter school advocates [6] in New York City, after which > he went on tour with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Newt Gingrich [7] > extolling the virtues of standardized testing, charter schools and educational > privatization. > > Bill Gates delivered the keynote speech [8] at the latest gathering of the > National Urban League. And the nation's two big teachers' unions, NEA and AFT > have already endorsed Barack Obama's re-election, and will funnel him gobs of > union dues as campaign contributions, despite his corporate-inspired ³Race To > The Top [9]² program which awards federal education funds in proportion to how > many teachers are fired and replaced by inexperienced temps, how many schools > are shut down, and how many charter schools exempt from meaningful public > oversight are established and granted public funds. > > The fix has been in for a long time, and not just in Philadelphia. Philly's > school problems are anything but unique. The city has a lot of poor and black > children. Our ruling classes don't want to invest in educating these young > people, preferring instead to track into lifetimes of insecure, low-wage labor > and/or prison. Our elites don't need a populace educated in critical thinking. > So low-cost holding tanks that deliver standardized lessons and tests, via > computer if possible, operated by profit-making ³educational entrepreneurs² > are the way to go. > > The business class can pocket the money which used to pay for teachers' and > custodians' retirement and health benefits, for music and literature and gym > classes, for sports and science labs and theater and all that other stuff that > used to be wasted on public school children. > The national vision of ruling Democrats and Republicans and the elites who > fund them is to starve, discredit, denounce and strangle public education. > Philly and its children, parents, communities and teachers are only the latest > victims of business-class school reform. And they won't be the last. > > One of the recent CEO's of Philadelphia Public Schools was a guy from Chicago > named Paul Vallas. Vallas's previous job was head of Chicago's Public Schools > where his ³innovations² included military charter schools and wholesale school > closings to get around local laws that school parent councils veto power over > the appointment of principals. Vallas was succeeded by Arne Duncan, now > Secretary of Education, and arrived in Philly in 2002. > > As CEO of Philly schools he closed and privatized chunks of 40 schools, > leaving town for post-Katrina New Orleans where he closed more than 100 public > schools and fired every last teacher, custodian and staff person to create a > business-friendly citywide charter school experiment. After his post-Katrina > destruction of New Orleans public education, Vallas went to post-earthquake > Haiti to commit heaven only knows what atrocity on the corpse of public > education there. > > So the carving up of Philadelphia public schools IS a national story. It's > just one that corporate media won't tell. Not in Philly, not in LA, not in > Kansas City or anywhere, for fear that ordinary people might try to write > themselves into a leading role. Polls show that the American people don't want > their schools privatized, and don't believe education should be run by > business people like a business. People want to take the money we spend on > wars and bailouts and use it on education. Telling the story might give people > the notion that the ultimate power is in their hands, not of mayors and > chambers of commerce or the so-called ³CEOs² of school system. It's time that > story was told, and more of us heard it. > > Kwame Toure used to say that the thing to do is join an organization and pick > a fight. If you can't find an organization you like, he said, start one and > then pick a fight. It's that time in Philly, and in Los Angeles and New York > and wherever you are. It's time to stand up for our children and > grandchildren. > > To find out more about the bipartisan war against education, check > outhttp://dumpduncan.org <http://dumpduncan.org/> [10], and sign the petition > to dump Arne Duncan. Go tohttp://substancenews.net <http://substancenews.net/> > [11] for news of the national struggle for education and democracy. Listen to > Education Radio at http://www/education-radio.blogspot.com [12]. Visit the > blogs of Susan O'Hanion [13] and Diane Ravtich [14] online, and a hundred > other similar places. See for yourself what real principals and teachers have > to say about standardized testing [15]. It's time to pick a fight, to join > something, or start something. > > Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report, and lives and works > in Marietta GA. He is on the state committee of the Georgia Green Party and > can be reached at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com. > >
