Yesterday I participated in the first day of Occupy the DOE, where parents and teachers spoke out against DOE policies that demand high-stakes testing and school closings. In my own presentation, I urged the DOE to stop its punitive policies and instead to follow the positive agenda of the Network for Public Education.
According to an account I read later, an earlier speaker used offensive language, calling Michelle Rhee an “Asian bitch.”
I was not there to hear it, but I was appalled when I read about it here.
I want to make clear that this kind of language is unacceptable and intolerable. No one should resort to racial, ethnic, gender, or cultural slurs to express their views. It is just plain wrong.
I don’t use that kind of language, and I encourage others to have a high personal standard of civility.
We must be able disagree about ideas and policies without getting personal.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Agree with you whole heartedly. That is also my personal requirement in my writing, tempted as I may be to write otherwise.
Wrong, Diane didn’t say it so she should not apologize for anything. The person that said it should. Any ways, no she isn’t an “Asian bitch” but a North Korean Spy Agency Plant sent to the US to destroy American public education so that the ROK will rightly takes its place as the top dog nation of the world.
I can agree with using the word “Bitch.” However, it is personal. This is a war declared by them. They chose the rules of war not us. You must fight on even ground. People in education seem to not understand what they are dealing with is it any wonder this has happened? Continue to play patty-cake and you will get wiped out. CTU is the one on target. Declare war on them with the people and concern for all being taken advantage of. If I was a nice guy for the last 20 years nothing would have gotten done. We are daily in the political mess of legislation. This is not a nice game. For instance, we beat Measure J in L.A. which was a 1/2 cent sales tax until 2069 worth $90 billion, with interest $200-300 billion in under 3 weeks with less than $25,000. I do not think that has ever been done before. So what do the wonderful democrats in California do? Well, the fourth bill up this session is one to take the passage of the transportation bonds from a 2/3 vote to 55%. Now there are 8 bills to lower the bond passages from 2/3 to 55% to put the entire state into “Permadebt.” The California Supreme Court just decides that school districts must now show the costs of litigation concerning special education cases because it is the publics money not their personal money. Within two hours the democrats again are planning within several hours of this to “Gut and Amend” a bill at the last minute to wipe out that decision. Can’t have the pesky public knowing what is going on, now can we? Democrats in power are now right wing republicans in reality as they are bought and sold by the same people. We are in real time are you?
Please, colleagues, disregard George Buzetti’s crude and meandering distractions. This is not constructive input.
Chemtchr,
Can you please explain why we should listen to George? Please give firm examples why what he says is wrong
Thanks,
Duane
Let me ask you this chemtchr “how many wins do you have in your pocket?” How much have you been involved in what it takes to win against the big power? I have done that for 20 years and win, do you? Teachers do not know it all. They have let this go to into the trash basket. When they were being falsely charged with child abuse they came to me not the union as the union was involved in destroying them with LAUSD. I am the only person to have LAUSD audited. Do you think it was playing tinker toys to do that? I am a democrat and every democrat fought this audit. So, when you have done it talk to me. Now, tell us all, “What have you done that is tangible?” I wish this was not what it takes, but I learned a long time ago what it takes and that is what I do. How do you think CTU is taking on Emmanuel? Karen Lewis knows this is war and she is fighting it as such. I just listened to her last interview on the Real News and she gets it and when the rest of the teachers and public in this country finally get it they are finished. Why do you think that Deasy and Barr gave up on Venice High recently? It was combat, not shaking hands. Unfortunately, that is where we are and they determined the rules of the game. We have them in criminal justice and transportation also. Is a $10 billion overrun on the “Subway to the Sea” enough or $15 billion wasted on school construction at LAUSD or now over 115,000 students not showing up at school everyday. No teacher has done this and it is their professional responsability. They all say to me “You do it.” So I do. When are they going to start to be responsible for their own profession and income?
I find the use of this term deeply disturbing, racist and sexist. Michelle Rhee does not represent women or Asian-Americans, nor is “bitch” acceptable language to describe a woman regardless of a person’s opinion of her. She is the leading representative of an educational movement and philosophy which I find destructive and abhorrent. I only hope that this speaker’s words do distract us and the media from the message of our movement.
Is sociopath OK???? I refuse to be politically correct. That is how you lose. They do not play by those rules. Tell it like it is. The truth shall set you free even if it is uncomfortable. And this truth is very ugly and done on purpose and not for our benefit. I, in public, by not being politically correct, have made Deasy run from the boardroom multiple times, Embaressed Duncan when in Pico Rivera and 1/2 of the public left in disgust over him leaving after only 15 minutes when he was supposed to be there for 2 hours and his people asked us to get everyone we could there and we did. In fact, about 1/3 of the people there. When he turned to leave I shouted “He is leaving to go get money.” He was, Scott Folsum put online the fund raiser he was going to in the helicopter. They freaked out, mahem. This is not being a nice guy and they do not deserve more. I will not let them get away with this, how about you?
What is the “truth” being spoken by using racist, sexist epithets?
Keep after em, George and thanks!!
I agree with you. Terms that are racist and sexist are never acceptable. The same goes for language aimed at someone’s religion, ethnicity, disability, or sexual preference. This has nothing to do with political correctness. This type of language is aimed at dehumanizing someone. The greatest evils in human history have often been accompanied by these types of slurs. There are countless other ways to frame our arguments and fight those whose policies harm so many. Your terms “destructive” and “abhorrent” work.
I should have made it clear that I am agreeing with Steven.
But it’s okay to denigrate teachers with the same crap, eh?????
You did make it clear, Middle School teacher, and thank you. Even though most posters do agree with Daine and Steven, it’s hard to follow the thread because a couple of people blanketed every single positive post in this discussion with off-track rants and nasty nuggets like,
“I can agree with using the word “Bitch.”
“But it’s okay to denigrate teachers with the same crap, eh?????”
Neither Steven nor Middle school teacher implied any such thing, of course.
Let me repeat Steven’s excellent comment, correcting his typographical oversight :
“I only hope that this speaker’s words do NOT distract us and the media from the message of our movement.”
And, in fact it has already been used, all day, to do just that. But this isn’t just a public relations mess, it threatens the core and conscience of our movement. I teach “Asian” students, and Hispanic, Arab, Caribbean, African, African-American…
If Ceresta Smith actually used the words attributed to her, from a podium representing me and my work, I am offended. If she did use those words, I hope she will apologize to Michelle Rhee, as well as to my students and her own, and to all of us she let down by her lapse.
I hope Diane offers her the opportunity to do that on this blog, or another forum. And if she is able to express an understanding of how her speech was hurtful and damaging, I am prepared to accept such an apology.
I teach students, I don’t give a crap about the demographics of who are in my class.
at what point is it okay to call Obama an “N” word? No matter how bad anyone may think his policies are, it is never okay to use it. Same here. be honest–im assuming we’re all teachers here, let’s act like it.
We would not allow our students to use that language. Let’s walk the talk!
I was the only white person when Obama’s people met with the Black community. You should have heard the Black Community say what they really thought about Obama. It was not nice. He sold out his own people and they told them so in no uncertain words. After all the threats I have gotten by talking honestly about Obama I really appreciated that the leaders also thought the same thing. I am not a teacher and why should only teachers be here. In my experience teachers know nothing of the law, finance and many other subjects and that is why they are getting raped. They do not understand how the system works as a system. We call this community. Obama is not our friend and he does not need to be called the “N” word as his own people use all the time. And that is a racist thing. Only one race can use a word and no one says anything? Teachers cannot, it seems, do the real work and stick their neck out or it gets chopped off. That is why people like me that their system cannot touch need to be active. No teacher could have gotten LAUSD audited for “Falsely Charging Teachers with Child Abuse for Whistleblowing.” They could not take away my job as at that time I had my own business. What am I going to do fire myself?
George,
You are right about a lot of things. Thank you for the work you do.
Sometimes I consider leaving the teaching profession just so I can go whole hog in opposition to these people. They can’t hold anything over your head if you no longer work for them.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll lose my job due to low VAM scores or whatever.
George, are you a troll or a fool? You’re degrading an important discussion. Your whole line of discourse is so repulsive and ignorant, I have to believe that’s your only aim all along.
Since you aren’t a teacher, why don’t you bloviate somewhere else?
Chemtchr,
I normally agree with what you write and say but in this case I have to disagree with what you have to say about George. It does, to me, reek of political correctness in the worse fashion.
Duane
No doubt, an apology was required. Rhee is just one of the representatives of a so-called reform movement that does damage to our kids, our school and our communities. Hand in hand with corporate sponsors, privatization, union busting, teacher degradation and devaluation and one dimensional pseudo assessments and curriculum, our kids are being made ready to take their assigned slots in our 21st century economy, under the guise of meritocracy..
We all know about the research on the relationship between income levels and academic achievement; it has been around for ‘ages’. Yet the role of income inequality in schooling is swept under the rug by those who have coopted and misused for their own purposes the historically valid idea of educational reform
It is no surprise that that we have learned of cheating scandals conflicts of interest, when there is so much money at stake for the private sector, which could well be utilized by the public schools. No doubt there are Atlanta-like situations just waiting to be uncovered. if those who resist “educational reform” would organize and actively investigate.
Likewise, those “Educational Reform” resisters must challenge the assumptions that underlie that movement and make their challenges insistent and vocal. Active resistance involves publishing articles that counter the lies and misrepresentations that have assumed the role of commonsense ‘truth’.
Public education is not only under fire. It is being undermined and challenged on all fronts. Those who resist will be trampled, unless there is organized resistance to the takeover and destruction of the public schools. Local resistance can only be successful when it is supported and coordinated regionally and nationally.
Yes, epithets are never polite. What is far worse is the harm that Rhee has done and will continue to engender to schools, kids and communities.
.
No, no apology was required by Diane because she was not the one wrote the “slur”.
Some truths are indeed best left unsaid.
The truth is what it is and should never be neglected no matter how ugly it is. The truth shall set you free. Too much political correctness.
The truth about this woman is bad enough. There is no need for names.
Linda Johnson: yes! yes! yes!
Diane is “In it to win it!” as the pop phrase puts it. You can’t win by disarming yourself and handing your best weapons—the moral high ground & facts & logic & compassion—over to the edubullies. The low road has been—and is—THEIR game plan, e.g., the mind numbingly ridiculous sneers and smears directed at Diane. And note how Diane, in the way she and others have handled those unwarranted vile assaults, have managed to turn one of the edubulllies’ most powerful weapons against them.
Diane’s website is an ANTIDOTE to the poison of the leading lights of the charterite/privatizer movement, not a CONTRIBUTOR to their noxious ideas and behaviors.
This isn’t a technical question. It goes to the heart of not only how to win but what you are trying to achieve. Winning the battle for a “better education for all” cannot be achieved by using the toxic weapons of the self-styled “education reformers.”
I am being very presumptuous here, but I think I speak for the majority of posters on this blog and some others when I say we are on a different road than the edubullies because our destination—a “better education for all”—is different.
We are not going to get there by using their landmarks, signals and directions.
Just my dos centavitos worth.
KrazyTA,
But the problem to me is that it wasn’t Diane that said these vile things, and therefore there should be no apology from her. She, nor anyone has the right to apologize for some one’s elses words.
Duane
KrazyTA you are completely correct. If you did not do it, it is not your problem. Lay the problem at the feet of whoever did it and never take the blame for what someone else did.
Yes Linda, yes.
Her criminalness must be laid out in detail. Don’t need to call names for that in public. There is more than enough information on this to throw her in the garbage where she and her puppetmasters belong.
I agree, but there is no need for Diane to have apologized, she wasn’t the one who made the statement.
Duane,
I thought a lot about the issue of apologizing. How can I apologize for someone else’s words? I was trying to stop our movement from being discredited by the ill-considered words of one person. I felt that the article was unfair, because it made that one comment the focus of a rally that represented the heartfelt views of educators. I wish he reporter had listened to the other speakers. I felt she focused on the negative. That was unfair.
Diane,
I appreciate the thinking behind what you wrote and your explaining why you wrote what you wrote. To me it would have been better to have written what you just did explaining that.
Thanks,
Duane.
P.S. I hope you and the pooch enjoy each other for many years. I have a chocolate lab that I “rescued” a year and half ago from a 13 month life on a 15 foot chain with little interaction whether with humans or dogs. He’s been a “project” but my son’s American Staffordshire Terrier, aka, pit bull, puppy has helped him to learn to show some happiness. Been an interesting and learning mix for all.
🙂 THX for the brief LOL moment.
Using such invective undermines our cause.
I have no respect for Ms. Rhee’s policies and behavior — and, I feel that she may have “sold her soul” to the devil — however, these things have nothing to do with her race or gender… Let’s leave it to the right to bash those “groups” who frighten them!
It is very sad but Michelle should realize she needs to step away because she is causing too much harm and pain. Not even Hillary Clinton was called that name when she ran for President in a very close and emotional run. Michelle is lost. She started right, she seemed as she cared but she lost her way.
If she really cares deep inside about kids she should step out and let others on the ed reform side to deal with the issues. Many others on that space also resent her because nobody enjoys to be part of something like this. What the teacher said was wrong but that is just a symptom of a bigger problem which is the tremendous divide that exist in the issue. Michelle stepping out would bring people closer.
She has done enough damage and people, even her own supporters, are moving on.
I’m so sorry to hear that a speaker at the rally used racist and sexist language. Even if we disagree passionately with the person at whom the invective was aimed, disparaging that person with slurs will never be ok. Thank you, Diane, for taking the high road and issuing an apology, even though the offense wasn’t yours.
Totally disagree. It’s not Diane’s position to apologize for someone else’s words.
I agree completely with Diane. Although I oppose Rhee’s stance on virtually everything in education, referring to her in that way was uncalled for, racist, sexist and very unprofessional. It also reflects poorly on teachers.
I have a problem with how another organizer called on teachers to start “cracking skulls,” too. That was Shaun Johnson from @theChalkFace with Tim Slekar. While I appreciate and like those guys a lot, and I agree that teachers really need to get into action, it concerns me that our detractors may think he intended that as a literal call for violence –though I don’t personally believe that it was.
I think that, whenever we present our case in the public eye, no matter how frustrated and angry we are feeling, it’s very important that we maintain our professionalism.
“Cracking skulls” is the kind of thing that can come across very differently in print than it does in speech, depending on the delivery.
The comment about Rhee, not so much.
Am I wrong or did this articles tone seem a little negative towards the people who are rallying against corporate reform? I could be, but she seemed to insinuate that people were complaining instead of fighting for what they feel is right. Did anyone else get that, or am I over sensitive?
You are correct in the slant to the article’s tone. This pro-corporate-reform-funded publication.
From the Education Week section on their funders-
http://www.edweek.org/info/about/philanthropy.html?intc=thed
“Today, portions of our work are underwritten by the Atlantic Philanthropies, the California Endowment, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the GE Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, the MetLife Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the NoVo Foundation, the Noyce Foundation, the Raikes Foundation, the Wallace Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and an anonymous funder.”
I was disappointed in several points made in that article. A writer’s perspective and motive go together. I would really have to hear the racial slur myself to believe it. There was so much that could have been said about the movement that wasn’t. The writer must be in some reformer’ s back pocket, just bored with this issue.
“I would really have to hear the racial slur myself to believe it.”
If she didn’t say it, she’ll deny it. (Wouldn’t you deny saying such a thing if you were falsely accused?) But she won’t deny it, because although she doesn’t appear to be brilliant, she’s almost certainly smart enough to know that somebody has a video of it. Someone always does.
It is amazing what I have taken on video. LAUSD is so scared of it that they have had 9 police, a canine unit, Asst. Superintendent and Greg McNair, #2 in the legal office there to prevent me from my legal right to record a public meeting. They are soooooo stupid I have on audio and video them saying this “We don’t care about the law. You can record the conversation outside. Outside they state that LAUSD can do anything it want to. It can make up anything they want to and the lawyer talks with a friend of mine who is a primary person in a Title 1 $2.5 billion lawsuit when that is illegal with him not having his lawyer there. They even said they do not care about the U.S. Constitution or my press pass. Later, as a result of a call a T.V. station shows up. They only have a press pass and are allowed to video where I was not. This is how they roll. The trick is I have it on both audio and video. You can see Michell Rhee, Deasy, DFER California and more at George1la at You Tube. Can’t say you didn’t say it when on video and audio. Audio works good also. The faces at the same time are fun also. With audio you can put a recorder in your pocket and they will never know it is there. Have done that also a few times and it is amazing what you get next to what they say happened.
Keep after them, George, and thanks!!
*or* just bored with this issue.
I detest and loathe Michelle Rhee because of her conscious decisions and policies in education. I wish the worst upon her for this, but never would my anger and “wishes” stem from or be directed at her gender, ethnicity or any other trait outside of her politics.
Putting Ms. Rhee down for her gender, her ethnicity, her weight, her sexuality, etc. is only diluting our power as an organization and as educators.
Please – whoever did this – find more poetic and factual ways to launch against Michelle Rhee and any other reformer.
We must fight fire with fire.
The focus needs to be squarely on the arguments for why the reforms are a betrayal of our children and country by the Rheeformers. Media looks for the distractions like angry language and name calling to move away from the core issues and serious target of
the cause of that anger and the movement to reveal the truth. The public education system of our country is being attacked and dismantled by market share investors with the audacity of believing they are saving the country from those they believe unworthy of themselves. People are hurting and with that comes very often loose lips and unfortunate barbs. Prejudice and personal attack do not make the case but inflame the war. I am all for winning the argument and the war through good argument and tactics worthy of countering the enemy of our children and our way of life, but this can be done by not stooping to the lowest common denominator and becoming who we reject.
I think people should stop using the word reform. Gates and Co have hijacked that word and distorted its meaning so that anybody who opposes school privatization now appears to oppose improving public education. As soon as somebody says they are against “reform” they are already playing on Gates’s turf.
I think the real issue here is the buying and selling of student data through Common Core, InBloom, Achieve, etc . If more people knew about the changes to FERPA, the goal of surveilling children from kindergarten through high school, college and the workforce, and the plan to sell the data, more people would be outraged. What these corporations want is free market capitalism with communist social controls. Thesis (capitalism) atithesis (communism) synthesis (InBloom).
If the data mining aspect of privatization is stopped, I don’t think private charters would be as lucrative or attractive for vultures like Gates and Broad because data mining is where most of the money is.
Susan, I want to know more about data mining and the selling of student data. Where is a good place to get informed? I have family members who have been asking me about it and I don’t feel that I know enough. Thanks!
I got most of my information from the links I found on this blog, and from those, I was able to find out more. The first thing to know is the the federal government has changed the privacy law FERPA to allow the sharing of student data with corporations without parental consent.
NYC Public School Parents is another site that has good information about InBloom:
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2013/03/inblooms-student-and-teacher-data.html
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/03/data-sharing.php
http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/privacy-big-data-and-education-more-about-the-inbloom-databases_44/
Achieve is another data collection company that I learned about here yesterday. The data collection is tied into Common Core. Common Core must be stopped.
http://www.achieve.org/P-20-data-systems
“For states to evaluate and understand the impact of particular policies around graduation requirements, assessments and preparedness for postsecondary, they must follow students through K–12 into postsecondary and the workforce and establish feedback loops to the relevant stakeholders to make informed decisions that improve policies and practices around increasing student preparedness.”
http://www.achieve.org/our-board-directors
http://www.achieve.org/contributors
Susan, thank you very much!
I was there with a front row seat listening intently. You said no such thing!
Krazy TA, I just love edubullies. I am going to use it from now on. Thanks for the critical thinking.
George Buzzetti: I sincerely admire your passion but remember that you can get a fair hearing on this blog. I, for one, look forward to your posts [not that I always agree with them].
Look at it this way: a certain type of widely used standardized tests include ‘distractors’ (wrong answers to multiple-choice items). Racist and sexist language are like ‘distractors’ in the broad public discussion—both in the specific meaning as used in test design as well in a more broadly used sense.
We don’t need ‘em, we don’t want ‘em, we can’t use ‘em. The edubullies need ‘em, use ‘em, want ‘em.
Notice how I worked “edubullies” in there?
🙂
You keep on posting, I’ll keep on reading.
Fair enough?
🙂
We need to identify the problem, not label with racial rants. We are better than that.
All this hand-wringing. Someone who was wronged lashed out and said two wrong words. The person who said it should apologize. Just like Rhee finally sort of apologized and said she probably might have been wrong for happily firing that unsuspecting principal on camera, effectively ending his career perhaps forever. Betcha he had a few choice words he’s glad he didn’t say out loud.
It’s kind of unfortunate that we need always to take the high road, let’s remember the down and dirty dealing we’re fending off, and give ourselves a break for a minute. Even Jesus got really mad at the garbage going down at the temple. Give the person who “mis-spoke” a bit of the same forgiveness we keep giving our dissembling, equivocating politicians, who actually do our whole country real lasting damage.
At least the alleged cusser was honest about her feelings. Was it Kathy Griffin? I really like her.
Ron, you are a teacher with some sense, Thanks. Experience with these kind of people is what I have. I constantly as “Why are they asking me to do their work?” I only do it because they do not, their union does not and our youth and society do not deserve this. If this is what has to be done no matter how ugly the stakes are too high to stop. I have the skills to deal with them and I use those skills. So, I am not a teacher, so what. Teachers do not own the schools, the public does. My best friend, Richard Arthur, who is one of the founders of UTLA, turned around the most criminal and violent school in the U.S. in 1970, Castlemont High and the SLA tried to assinate him twice agrees with me. After Castlemont he then helped to found Whitney High School which is the top performing public high school in the U.S. for more than 25 years. There is something to success rather than losses. We believe in success or what we call “Outcomes.” We need “Positive Outcomes.” If this does not happen we are finished as a society.
George, I am a teacher and have been one for 16 years. But more importantly, I am a parent to four children. As a teacher I dislike corporate education reform, but as a parent I truly despise it. I think in the end I am less “a teacher with some sense” and more just “a father”.
My oldest will be going to high school in a couple of years. I do not want him to end up as some goddamn guinea pig or moneymaking data point for these bastards. He has already missed out on some facets of school that I had when I was a child, because they have been steamrolled by the corporate reform movement.
In their hubris, these “reformers” are beginning to piss off parents, and that if anything is what will spell their damnation.
Ron, thank you. You and your children is why I do this. I got started when in about 1990 my former girlfriends son started high school in Bellflower, Ca. After two weeks when I got back from my shop He still did not have any books or homework I asked what is going on. He told me they did not have any books. I exploded as being someone who reads a lot and knew from my schooling, 7 solids in high school and sports, that you cannot learn or study, and I did a lot of that, without books and materials in the classroom. We went to the Bellflower board meeting and amazingly enough after both of us spoke there was a 10 minute discussion and they decided since they did not have much money they would buy used books and do it themselves. In one month they had those books. At that meeting the principal of the school told me about the L.A. County Annual Financial Reports. I went and bought the latest. That is when I learned that all they did is lie to us.
A few years later after listening to teachers nationwide complaining about spending $1,000-1,500/year of their after tax income on textbooks and instructional materials and supplies I decided to compare those line items in the preliminary budget and the audited actuals and I found that they budgeted and did not spend $250,000,000 that year alone. I found this to be true for 10 years. Then I spent the next year convincing Amy Pyle at the L.A. Times to write the story which was called “In a Book Bind.” As a result of that came the Schiff-Bustamente legislation which added $1.5 billion over three years to every school districts textbook and instructional materials and supplies budget on top of what they already received. The L.A. Times called me just before they printed the story and told me that those at the top said that if I wanted my name or my non-profits (The Association for Accountability and Equitable Education) name printed in the story they would not run it. Everyone else who contributed almost nothing to the story had their name printed. I did not care as I accomplished my goal or “Outcome.”
Now, if anyone wanted to know where I started there it is. No teacher, union, civil rights group or anything else did this. I always ask WHY? Most are compromised is the answer. Just look at who funds them. Look at both of the national teachers groups today. Compromised and with the privatizers. Is not Randi a graduate of the Broadfathers Academy? What more can I say. I am also the Director of Policy for the Congress of Racial Equality of California. The founding family has over 114 years of continuous civil rights. Also, we are CORE-CA not CORE because Celes King III, the founder of CORE-CA saw the civil rights groups being bought up by the corporatists and wealthy and legally separated California from the national group. We do not take their money. We run totally on our beliefs and convictions and never without serious investigation and documentation inside of the law also using politics and the law to accomplish our goals and Outcomes. I would ask you to look at what has happened to Reverend Pinkney of Benton Harbor by the NAACP and this is a perfect example of what I am talking about. Too many today speaking as if they are independent are really compromised. Caution is important concerning who you trust. We work in all fields. Education, criminal justice and transportation are big ones with us. CORE-CA is also the sponsor of the largest MLK parade in the U.S. We believe in our youth and communities futures and that is what we fight for. When you rock the boat there is always blowback. I have been threatened many times. So what.
Thank you KrazyTA. No one agrees with anyone all the time. We have to take them on directly. They really cannot handle it. Ask Arne Duncan what I did to him in Pico Rivera when he tried to leave after being there for only 15 minutes when he said he would be there for 2 hours after he asked us to bring everyone we could. We got people from San Diego, Santa Barbara and San Bernadino to drive for hours for him to just take off for a previously planned fund raiser. I shouted “He doesn’t care about you, he is leaving to go get money.” I was correct as later posted was the invite for the fundraiser. He was embaressed. We spent more than an hour with students after this, they left. Students have no problem telling you what they think if they know you are for real and really care about them. I gave them the instructions on how to use the CDE website so they could do their own research. Knowledge is Power and that is not KIPP. Those of us who are very experienced on the outside should be listened to. I do not know many teachers who have any political skills or know how to play this game. That is why they ask for my help and I give it. I just do not play stupid silly games. This is serious business with large stakes in the future at risk.
Duane, I condemned the phrase “Asian bitch” as utterly unacceptable to me or my movement. In the strongest terms, I call on anybody who wants to defend that language to sit down and shut up. You say you “don’t give a crap” about the demography of your students, and object to my determination to defend mine from hearing filthy characterizations like “(any ethnicity) bitch”. What if kids watch the tape of yesterday’s speeches (yes, it’s there)? You say that “reeks of political correctness”, then assert you “generally agree with” me.
No, you don’t agree with me. You must have misunderstood me. I and many others have literally dedicated our lives to the work of educational justice, minute by minute, decade after decade. Right wing pigs on Fox often denigrate it as “political correctness”, using that cowardly phrase to defend their own racist or sexist statements.
I spent this day with my students, teaching them agency, power, trust and self confidence in every way I know how. The fact is, I know a lot of ways. My room was set up in low light, with incandescent and fluorescent light sources, gas discharge tubes, and a 35 year old spectrometer taken apart so they could dial the rainbow across the sample compartment, and read the wavelength of each color. They moved around each other with ease, using plastic Project Star spectrometers which are now literally as old as they are. One of them figured out how to take a picture through the spectrometer with his phone, of the 546 mercury line in the overhead fluorescent.
It rarely happens that one of my students uses language like “(any ethnicity) bitch” against another, because I do know how to create one small environment where they don’t want or need to do that. They’re grateful for the respite. Because I know what an honor it is to be their teacher, they treat me and each other with care, kindness and respect.
Decade after decade. Now, everybody can decide whether they want to attack my sanctimonious determination, or listen to me when I tell them such language is never okay, and we can’t tolerate it.
Well done. This really should not be complicated at all.
Chemtchr,
“RIGHT WING PIGS (my emphasis) on Fox often denigrate it as “political correctness”, using that cowardly phrase to defend their own racist or sexist statements”
Need I say more?
I just reread Diane’s post after wading through all of the hullabaloo over whether she should have apologized or not. I didn’t see an apology. I read a rejection of the use of prejudicial slurs. I agree with Diane that we gain nothing if we sink to using the tactics of the lowest common denominator. Diane would not be an effective spokesman for saving public schools if she chose to attack the opponents of public schools by swearing at them.
The word apology is in Diane’s title.
2old2tch: if I had my way, your comment would begin this entire response section of Diane’s posting.
We would have made a good team in the classroom: we are on the same wavelength and you lead well with both your heart and your head.
KrazyTA is proud to have your back.
🙂
Thank you, KrazyTA. Not to get maudlin, but I am sitting here with tears in my eyes. I miss teaching so much I can feel it in my bones.
If you miss teaching so much start subbing and or look across the country to areas where they are still hiring.
I am subbing. Moving not an option. Age a barrier.
I find it odd that Diane would write an apology because she was not the one who supposedly spoke the words. Besides this, I think Michelle Rhee is a big girl and certainly she did not come out saying that those who would be against her ideas are now calling her insulting names too. She’d have just let it go, as I think Diane should have too.
Maybe, maybe not.
A reader on this blog asked me my reaction to the ethnic slur made referring to Rhee. I wrote a comment, then decided to say it louder in a post.
I don’t play by the same rules as Rhee. She goes around the nation insulting teachers and trying to persuade the public as reactionary legislatures and governors take away their right to have a collective voice, cut their pensions and their health benefits, and remove any job security from them. That’s wrong and I will say it’s wrong again and again.
But I won’t condone the use of ethnic or racial slurs.
My rules include civility, courtesy, fairness, and reason. Is it fair that someone who makes $50,000 to give a speech for one hour attacks teachers who make that much in a year? Is it fair that she belittles people whose jobs are so hard and so valuable to society?
Of course it’s not fair, but look at how much your apology has taken us all away from our real goal of saving public education. If you had wanted to make a comment about this I’d have written your comments to the perpatrator of the insult instead of to the general population where it’s been blown all out of proportion and taken on a life of it’s own.
Diane would have been tarred with the comment if she didn’t denounce it. And the woman who said it appears to have no interest in apologizing. So Diane did the smart thing. Fiorillo is correct below–Rhee and her supporters are loving this, and I’m sure they’re tucking it away for future use.
Ahh, yes they are loving this, I agree, but for all of different reasons than you suggest. It’s been made a mountain out of a molehill.
I’ll say it again. Diane did not apologize. She condemned the use of racial and ethnic slurs. Her objection should be a no-brainer.
If Diane did not apologize than her title should not have had the word Apology in it.
Lol…I agree with u Diane but a lot of negative things have been said about her. But it was nuanced and the bitch word only implied and not used.
On behalf of United Opt Out National I offer the following statement: While the words may not have been appropriate they were meant to express the racial disparities that occur systematically in our education system. This disparity is evident in administrative discipline, the closing of neighborhood schools and the school to prison pipeline. While it is a difficult subject, the discussion of these racial disparities is a valid one and should be addressed in the future. We look forward to all of us engaging in this difficult discussion.
It is offensive to assert that the words “Asian bitch” “may not have been appropriate”, because it leaves open the interpretation that they also may have been appropriate. They were absolutely not appropriate, and should never be tolerated.
Even if we aren’t “Asian”, there are Asian students among our children deprived of their educational rights, Asian educators among our colleagues, Asian families in the communities we serve, and Asian elders playing go with the other elderly people in our parks.
Racial animosity within the DC community was deliberately sown by Rhee and her enablers, and they are still harvesting the damage it has done to our communities and our children. Those who foster racial hatred serve the other side in this debate, for their own advancement, have no leadership role anywhere in our movement.
Your statement should be amended to read,
“The words spoken were completely inappropriate and hurtful, and we apologize for them to Michelle Rhee and to the communities still struggling under the racial divisions her policies have helped foster. The speaker was attempting to address the racial disparities …”
Everything else you write is true, but it is worse than useless if it is used to fuel hatred and division among our people. Consider me opted out of your organization until you straighten this out.
Oh my chemtchr…you want to: “Consider me opted out of your organization until you straighten this out”. I’m flabbergasted, really, until they straighten this out! What ever happened to the old childhood saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me”? Definitely, though I know that names hurt, but to opt out over this, give me a break…I’m surprised you’re still a teacher with all the name calling that goes on.everyday in schools, in workplaces. And what about the wars we’ve been in around the world, these are some of the biggest insults ever, and will you send a letter to President Obama letting him know you are opting out over your paying of taxes until he straightens out this nation?
Elin says,
“I’m surprised you’re still a teacher with all the name calling that goes on.everyday in schools, in workplaces.”
My students don’t use ethnic slurs in my classroom. Sometimes, children have arrived midyear from peoples or countries at war with each other, and have found safety, shelter, and room to grow past the hurt that has been inflicted on them from all sides. In a time when opportunists find quick rewards for setting people against each other in their own communities, this is as important as it was in 1962. That’s when I first consciously dedicated my life to stopping it.
I’m still very much a teacher, and I’m surprised by your own snide presumption about what that means.
Right on!
All I’m saying here is that if you would opt out over an inappropriate remark, and one no doubt fraught with anger over what’s been happening to public education, and you are not able to let it go because there are really many more inappropriate things that happen every day, then perhaps you would have long ago become to stressed and have quit the profession.
Peggy,
What you offer here is even more insulting than just staying silent.
Are you trying to build a movement?
What Ceresta said was unacceptable.
If her point was to point out racist policy, using bigoted rhetoric undermines her credibility. By issuing this insulting non-apology, you are saying that United Opt Out agrees with the bigoted terminology.
I am an educator, a unionist, and a fierce and vocal opponent of corporate education reform.
You, Ceresta, and the United Opt Out movement has lost an ally in me.
I will continue my (strategic, thoughtful) fight against the likes of Rhee, but I will do it with my current allies because the UOO movement has lost all of its credibility and has shown itself to be more of a liability than an asset to the movement.
What Diane did here was set a good example on how you build a coalition. Call it modeling.
People make mistakes and when they do, they must be held accountable for them.
All that Ceresta and the UOO had to do was issue a one word statement.
“Sorry.”
I’m not sure why that’s so difficult but until you all do that, this is a big win for Rhee and her PR machine.
Sincerely
An Asian American Educator
Dear Asian American Educator,
Do not leave the movement. We need you. What Ceresta said was inappropriate and unforgivable. No amount of frustration should excuse the use of ethnic slurs.
Stay with me. I will fight for you.
Diane
Dear Asian American Educator,
I personally felt it important for Ceresta to speak for herself, as quite honestly, I, as a white female who grew up in suburbia cannot begin to fathom the context, the background, from which Ceresta speaks. So, I waited for her to write her response which I now repost as found on our FB group page. Please accept my sincere apologies.
Ceresta writes:
In his discourse titled “Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau cited three courses of action that can be taken when one feels laws are unjust: comply without vocalizing complaint, comply but engage in activity to encourage change, or outright break laws and engage in civil disobedience. Thoreau had a barometer to help guide when to engage in the third choice. He said if a law is unjust and harms others, it is time to break the law.
I deliberately broke the laws of decency and political correctness during my opening statements for the kick-off of Occupy the DOE 2.0. as I cited the inequity and harm that is being caused by complicit minorities that have allowed corporate reform proponents to harm all children and minority communities in ways that have widened the gulf of racial inequity. After citing the inequity between how the African American superintendent and educators of Atlanta Public Schools and the Asian American Chancellor of D.C. Public School were dealt with after it was alleged that both school systems were wrought with standardized assessment irregularities that could possibly indicate fraud, I was cited as hurling a racial slur by saying black women in contrast to the Asian bitch. Taking in or out of context, many would agree it was simply a descriptive adjective when I used the word Asian. Taken in or out of context, many would argue it is a racial slur. My concern is that the members of the Asian community find it offensive and a direct attack upon their race. I apologize to all those in the Asian community that see it as such and took offense. I thank all those in the Asian community that clearly understood the parallelism used to show a problematic inequity that should be addressed.
As an African American that has and continues to be battered in a society that was born and continues to be raised in racism that goes unchecked and is supported by well-paid minorities, I find it extremely difficult to be decent. Many can understand why. And if we do not find it in our hearts to acknowledged and change the fact that in these contemporary times, black people, with the aiding and abetting of other minorities, continue to suffer the worse persecution out of all ethnic and cultural groups while a guise of protecting the most vulnerable is pushed by an oligarchy that is most concerned with maintain absolute power and control, my poor choice of wording will pale in comparison into what will be realized in the future. Honestly, other black folk and I can’t take much more.
What an utterly ridiculous “apology” from what I can only conclude is an utterly ridiculous person.
Dear Asian American Educator,
This is the worst setback I’ve seen for our national effort to unite different cities and rural areas, to defend our schools. My hope is that this ugly incident can shine some light on a wedge that threatens the unity of the communities themselves, because this is a teachable moment.
As you do continue to build toward greater unity and cohesion, with your current allies, you can heal some of the damage that’s being done. Please, colleagues, reach out to parent groups and embrace the struggle to unite and heal our communities.
Ceresta describes a situation where she apparently finds racial divisiveness a useful organizing tool at the local level, and she’s unwilling to let go of it. She truly does feel isolated and injured, because the corporate reform strategy of using Rhee, or Hispanic political figures, to directly attack black communities is meant to provoke exactly this deadly dynamic. All are isolated, and the true community of all our people is broken.
People are way too politically correct. You need to call it what it is. Rhee is no educator she is a destroyer and planned it from the beginning to be that way. Until educators get the message and act in a manner required to win a WAR they will lose. In L.A. we joined all communities rich and poor and all colors against the common enemy, the Metropolitan Transit Agency (MTA). We stopped $90 billion, without the interest, with less than $25,000 in under 3 weeks. We were not nice guys. We stated the truth and barely won. One vote above the limit is a win. I have seen elections won by 7 votes recently. Does the public want to win and save our children, schools and society or not is the question. If so, you must be political. Most people run from politics as it disgusts them and that is just how they want it. I am tired of people coming to me and saying “You do it.” Even when I give them the tools they sit on their butt and watch T.V. most of the time especially in the education world and that includes teachers, almost all of them any way. The teachers who do not tend to sit around are the ones falsely accused of a crime so that the district can illegally and without evidence or “Due Process.” It is not only factual but psychological warfare. Right now education is in what the “Art of War” calls the ‘Killing Field.” This only happens when you ignore the rules of the game they are playing. We do not do that and we get “Outcomes” which are good for society not the thieves.
I have to agree that the original, offensive comments of the speaker needed to be addressed with an apology. Have we forgotten that Diane was crucified for merely reporting someone else’s remarks using an inappropriate analogy. In a Twitter attack, Diane was credited with making the remarks when she never even indicated that she agreed with them.
I also agree that we cannot be afraid to speak up for what is right. We need to frame our side in a way that people will listen, support our message, and carry it out to the masses.
We need our own spin doctors to come up with consistant phrases that can be used to convey our messages about reform. Heaven knows we have heard enough bs from the other side that is repeated over and over by their soilders. Then we hear the same bs phrases and ideas picked up by the media, and them repeated by friends and family. We need our own talking points!
I’m reasonably certain that Rhee and her cohort, though they might have feigned outrage over these unacceptable comments, are pleased at the distraction they have caused, and the potential opportunity it provides to tar their opponents.
People say foolish, stupid and detestable things all the time, and it is the person saying them who should apologize. The rest of us should calmly reject racism and sexism, and then continue our efforts to fight these people.
After all, what the so-called reformers are actually doing is monstrous, and exceeds by many orders of magnitude this ugly little distraction.
I agree Michael.
As a member of UOO I am sorry. Please the take time to listen to and hear all the messages delivered by the passionate advocates that have come to DC to speak for children, teachers, and neighborhoods across the country. http://www.livestream.com/califather?utm_source=lsplayer&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=footerlinks
Diane did absolutely the right thing in disassociating herself and this movement from a racial slur made in a public forum. Some of the responses here are reminiscent of Republicans trying to defend their members’ offensive remarks. The blog was reporting and highlighting what was newsworthy. I think it was newsworthy but not commented on that an event whose organizers had predicted a thousand people was only drawing dozens. They had complained earlier that they were getting no media response, but maybe just as well.
Last time I checked, “Asian” was not a perjorative, but an accepted adjective.
To insist it is racist reveals a condescending, racial superiority.
Those who are destroying public education by chopping it up and selling it to the highest bidder by enabling charters (siphoning money, parent triggering) are B****es and B****rds and history will uphold this judgment.
It may have been brute to say B****, but it was accurate.
Furthermore, It was necessary to identify which B**** was the focus of the conversation to distinguish from other education (de)formers like Levesque (Executive Director for the Foundation for Florida’s Future) and Allen (founder, Center for Educational Reform and self-proclaimed author of ALEC Parent Trigger language).
By providing the qualifier “Asian,” listeners had no doubt which female education (de)former was the point of the paragraph.
I know and have worked with Ceresta.
She is NOT racist.
She is harshly critical of the individuals and corporations that are turning public education into a profit feeding-frenzy.
Regards,
Shawn Beightol
http://www.shawnbeightol.com
Shawn, I agree with you. Political correctness only works for the other side. You have to call it the way it is and it is very ugly. This is not patty-cake this is warfare. These are not nice people. Thanks for not falling for their game. If I was a nice guy, and for awhile in this game I was, I could get nothing done and they would not even listen to me. I get in their face and the audience goes crazy and those who watch on T.V. tell me all the time “I think just what you say, wish I could say it that way, thanks.” You can watch the superintendent either run from the room or watch the fun with the body language. The point is instead of just ignoring the situation they have to react and that is the point.
I wanted so badly to attend this event, but due to scheduling was not able. I was disappointed at the lack of coverage by not only the media, but also by the people who were there. I was hoping to see more in real time on social media. However, I do think the UOO has done a good job of posting post-event coverage. The racial slur made by Ceresta was inappropriate and did much more harm than good for public education. Thank you Diane for apologizing. For someone like me who is just starting the process of getting involved with this movement, the comment and coverage of it made me a little nervous about just how much can be done if the people speaking on behalf of public education resort to racial slurs and name-calling. Let’s try and focus on facts – there’s enough of those to sink several corporate reform “battleships”.
Just focusing on the facts does nothing if you do not know what to do and what game you are playing in order to achieve the “Outcome” you desire. This is warfare and most educrats believe that you can play patty cake with the other side. I tried that for awhile and found they do not care. All they understand is direct confrontation with the facts. You have to shake them up into the core of their minds. These people are sociopaths. Read the “Art of War.” Read military history and political history. When did patty cake make the power move, NEVER EVER!!!!! We are successful as a result of knowing who and what we are dealing with and have strategies to deal with it and we do it without a lot of money just brainpower. This is WARFARE. I don’t like and you don’t like it that way but these are the rules and the way the game is played when there are high stakes.
I am appalled by Ceresta Smith’s comment. Diane, have you seen this woman’s Facebook page? She uses foul language, refers to those African Americans who don’t agree with her as uncle toms, refers to rich “White” fat cats, and uses the word “hoe” in another demeaning term for women. If these are the people you have in your movement, then you should be very distressed. She teaches children? Maybe she is the problem.