The Journey for Justice is working with other civil rights groups to bring thousands of people to demonstrate at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York, where the first Presidential debate will take place on September 26. Details are below.
NEWS RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT: Jitu Brown
For Immediate Release 773-317-6343
September 15, 2016 http://www.j4jalliance.com
Thousands expected to demonstrate @ Sept. 26th presidential debate in protest of public education cuts in African American and Latino communities across the nation
“It matters to me who becomes the next U.S. Education Secretary…”
CHICAGO – A national coalition of parents, students, teachers and activists have vowed to travel to Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, on Monday, September 26th, and join with thousands of other people who will protest the first presidential debate due to cuts in public education and the impact on students of color. Activists, led by the Journey for Justice Alliance, have demanded Democratic nominee Sec. Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump release their respective K-thru-12 education platforms and meet with school leaders prior squaring off.
A coalition led by the Journey for Justice Alliance (J4JA) with more than 40,000 members from 24 cities across the US is galvanizing. Organizers say they will release a seven-point platform that tackles school privatization, the school-to-prison pipeline, standardized testing and a myriad of other failed education interventions that have led to massive school closings, charter proliferation and other schemes that have not improved education outcomes in urban communities.
“Our voices have been locked out of any discussion about public education during the race to the White House,” said Jitu Brown, national director J4JA. “Both Clinton and Trump have closed their ears to those of us who have protested, boycotted, waged hunger and teacher strikes demanding an end to corporate education interventions that have devastated students and schools.”
“Clinton, Trump and (Green Party candidate) Jill Stein have all been eerily silent on the impact of these bad policies and school-based cuts that have harmed African American and Latino students the most—yet they continue to campaign in our neighborhoods in search of our support,” said Brown. The award-winning activist gained national attention as the organizer and participant in a 34-day hunger strike to save Dyett High School in Chicago which forced Mayor Rahm Emanuel to abandon his plans to destroy the school.
Added Natasha Capers, public school parent from the New York City Coalition for Education Justice, “We intend to gather that morning in a national forum on what’s been happening to us in our respective communities,” she said. “There is massive charter proliferation in New York despite the fact that research shows charters do not improve education outcomes. It matters to me who becomes the next U.S. Education Secretary.”
The Alliance will release a national public education platform in a forum called “Public Education Nation” co-sponsored by the Network for Public Education Action, which calls for a moratorium on school privatization; federal funding for 10,000 sustainable community schools; an end to zero tolerance policies; national equity in assessments; an end to the attack Black educators who are being terminated from urban school districts in record numbers; an end of state takeovers of trouble school districts where there is only mayoral control and appointed school boards; and, an elimination of the over reliance on standardized tests in public schools.
Parents and teachers have repeatedly lobbied law makers in their opposition to the destruction of community schools at the expense of publicly-funded, privately operated charter schools and over testing.
“Where do the candidates stand on standardized testing and how those scores are tied to teacher evaluation,” said Nikkisha Napoleon, a public school parent in New Orleans. “Children in New Orleans have been devastated by racist education experimentation—and we’ve also seen a loss of African-American teachers in our city. Why is this happening in places like Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit? I’m angry that people who live in our neighborhoods, have a history with our children and understand our culture are being driving out of our schools. Where do the candidates stand on the loss of veteran Black and Latino teachers?”
Added, Hiram Rivera, a public school parent and director of the Philadelphia Student Union. “This is a movement for justice and equity in this country. Black and Brown people are united in fighting to make our schools matter, our lives matter and to have our voices heard. We are tired of handshakes and photo ops. We are tired of school closings, privatization schemes and the disinvestment in our neighborhoods. Clinton and Trump need to be held accountable—before they take the oath of office. I’m going to Hempstead because we have to make our voices heard.”
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The Journey for Justice Alliance (J4J) (www.j4jalliance.org) is a national network of inter-generational, grassroots community organizations led primarily by Black and Brown people in 24 U.S. cities. With more than 40,000 active members, we assert that the lack of equity is one of the major failures of the American education system. Current U.S. education policies have led to states’ policies that lead to school privatization through school closings and charter school expansion which has energized school segregation, the school-to-prison pipeline; and has subjected children to mediocre education interventions that over the past 15 years have not resulted in sustained, improved education outcomes in urban communities.
BATs is also doing a social media campaign to support J4J – please go here to get involved http://badassteachers.blogspot.com/2016/09/join-bats-in-promoting-education.html
This is good. We know that the Republican and Democratic party candidates hold horrific views on education policy. The former by their horrible rhetoric, the latter by their abject record of decades of pushing neoliberal corporate education reform. They need to be challenged on these issues.
It’s a shame that the “debates” will only feature the two corporate candidates, both of whom will tout privately managed charters, segregationist notions of “school choice”, and all the other trite reform gimmicks.
Add the libertarian party to the holders of horrific “ideas” on education and education policies. Libertarians want to abolish all public schools and replace them with home schooling and private schools. It’s up to the parents to educate their own kids, period, end of story. So what happens to the parents who can’t home school and can’t afford the private schools? Tough luck and/or go begging for charity. Libertarians want to dismantle all the social programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) and deregulate just about everything.
Agreed 100%, Ayn Rand inspired Libertarians like Gary Johnson are actually the worst on education issues. In fact, the three right-wing candidates in this race have views that are essentially the same as those of the infamous John Birch Society.
View at Medium.com
And Robert…they also condemn Jill Stein in this call to arms. She too has avoided talking about privatization and the damage done to African American students particularly in NY with Success charter schools.
Jill Stein is the only one who has not avoided talking about privatization and the harm to poor and minority students. Geez, stop the smears.
Dr. Stein has been very forthcoming about her views on education, on her campaign site, in her press release condemning the appointment of John King, and at every opportunity that she’s given to speak to the issues. (cf her positions on http://ontheissues.org/Jill_Stein.htm#Education ). She opposes vouchers, charters, common core, high stakes testing, segregated schools, etc. Her platform is what most of us have been fighting for our entire lives. Problem is that she is rarely given an opportunity to engage the public, so her views remain somewhat unknown.
This is the best news I’ve heard all week. It makes me wonder why Randi Weingarten isn’t demanding answers to the same questions. Why am I left to wonder and speculate about where Hillary stands on education. It would actually be nice to have her take a stand and let us teachers, who willingly or not, endorsed her, know what she plans to do.
YES…
The Stein/Baraka Green Party presidential campaign will also be at the Hofstra Debate demanding that ALL of the presidential candidates be allowed to debate!! In 2012, Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala were arrested and held for 8 hours (handcuffed to metal chairs) simply for attempting to enter the debates. This year the struggle continues! Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka must be allowed to debate! Why won’t Clinton and Trump debate them?? Why should the D and R parties be allowed to rig the debates in their favor?? If Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka got on the debate stage you would then (and only then) hear EVERYTHING about improving and preserving public education education! Then and only then will you hear criticism of charter schools! Then and only then will you hear about abolishing student debt and making higher education free. Then and only then will you hear about how to stop climate catastrophe and build a just, sustainable green economy that puts Americans to work. Then and only then will you hear about cutting the military budget and putting that money into public education! Then and only then will you hear about fixing our corrupt electoral system so that you don’t have to vote for candidates you don’t like just to keep out other candidates you don’t like.
If you really care about saving and improving public education you need to also care about how our democracy is in serious jeopardy. If we don’t have true democracy and get money out of politics, then nothing else will EVER get fixed. The Democratic and Republican parties are so corrupt that there is NO HOPE for public education with either in power. If the Obama administration didn’t prove that to you, I really don’t know what will. If you think Clinton will keep any promises she is making currently, then I have a bridge I’d like to sell you. Clinton is pro-TPP, pro-Fracking, pro- ALL wars, pro-monsanto and GMOs, pro-illegal coups of democratically elected presidents (like in Honduras), pro-death squad murders (of Berta Caceras in Honduras), pro-charter schools, pro-corporate rule, pro-lying to congress, pro-stealing primary elections within her own party, pro-stealing millions from Haiti after the earthquake through the Clinton foundation and forcing wages downward, and on and on.
VOTE JILL STEIN and AJAMU BARAKA for president!! Especially in NY state because Clinton is not in danger of loosing NY and if you help the Green Party get 5% of the vote, the party will get 5 million dollars from the federal government toward our next presidential election. We need to pass Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) or Rank Choice Voting so that the “spoiler” issue is non existent and there will be freedom to vote for who you want without extortion or fear. We need more parties, more choices, and more voices if we want to save this planet and bring true social justice to ALL. The Democrats and Republicans have shown time and time again that they are bought and controlled by money. Clinton already appointed Ken Salazar to her transition team. What does that tell you!?!?!?
Come to Hofstra and demand that Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka be allowed to debate!!
Like!
Jill Stein has not been “eerily silent.” Her Jan 12 response to the 2016 State of the Union address includes this para (among others on education):
Repeal incentives for privatization/charters in NCLB
The assault on public education has also been led by Obama and the Democrats–including the targeted closures of schools in communities of color, high stakes testing abuse, and the demonization of teachers and their unions. Incentives for privatization/ charters built into No Child Left Behind and the Every Child Achieves Act should be repealed. It’s time to fully fund public education respect and support our teachers, and to teach to the whole student for lifetime learning.
“Clinton, Trump and (Green Party candidate) Jill Stein have all been eerily silent on the impact of these bad policies and school-based cuts that have harmed African American and Latino students the most—yet they continue to campaign in our neighborhoods in search of our support,” said Brown….as seen above in the complete text of this article
Jill Stein is polling at 3%.
Just sayin’, the press release got that wrong. Voting Dem myself.
Today’s poll online, believe it is the CNN poll, shows Hillary ahead of tRump by about 9 points in head to head…but figured with Libertarian and Green, Hillary drops to only about 5 points ahead of tRump. Pragmatically, it seems clear that this is a Clinton v. tRump race…and we cannot let tRump win. ‘Nuff said.
No, tain’t Nuff Said.
Vote Jill Stein.
This is great!
Must add here, Kudos to Karen. This is what City Watch Today published yesterday about charter expansion in LAUSD. Must watch Karen’s terrific video.
“Making education great again!”
by Karen Wolfe
Oh, edu-friends! Sometimes I can hardly keep a straight face at the forces trying to destroy public education. So, this time, I didn’t even try. I hope you’ll laugh, too.
http://psconnectnow.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2869f80ed04cf4920bc82d22e&id=bc9bb700b0&e=ec6451c1ed
I wish you could have been in LA LA Land with me last weekend! I made a video for you in case you missed the charter rally in the valley!
Now that headlines from across the nation, of the NAACP, Black Lives Matter, the Network for Public Education, and the ACLU have all made clear—and John Oliver made hilarious—that the charter emperor has no clothes, the California charter lobby took its carnival to its favorite corporate reform playground, Los Angeles. Pacoima to be exact. The last bastion of that little inconvenience of democracy, the largest school district in the country that still holds school board elections, LAUSD.
Edu-friends, I thought I had stumbled into a Trump rally. It really made me feel like these folks are our only chance at making education great again.
“When I say ‘parent’ you say ‘power’!” Corporate reform champion and LAUSD board member Monica Garcia shouted.
There were t-shirts with catchy phrases like “Fierce Learner”. Although I don’t know who let the guy slip in with an off-message t-shirt that read, “Public education is not for sale”. Ha!
There were t-shirts with metaphors like Phoenix! I could almost smell the smoke rising from the ashes. Although, let’s face it, that might have been the fresh aroma of bull****. Some hoped you’d forget they were any metaphor at all. Could the M.I.T. t-shirts actually, officially, almost be connected to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology? Oh, who cares? Details, details!
The point is, these kids have a great shot at getting into a school like that because they received extra credit for attending this rally! Several of them told me so.
There were other ways to tell this was no ordinary rally. It was literally on—wait for it—AstroTurf! That’s right, edu-friends. Mere grass isn’t good enough for these disrupters!
It was like a carnival!
Just listen to this charter school principal shriek–I mean lead– the crowd.
“You have MORE accountability for MORE student learning! Can we do it? YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! SI, SE PUEDES [sic],” she cheered.
Only 5% of California’s students attend charters, but this rally looked like the whole world had descended to celebrate charters! They boasted 3000 attendees. The cop I asked estimated 900-1000.
So how did these folks get here? Nothing is left to chance by the charter lobby. They had buses! But it was billed as a march, so a march it will be! Buses dropped folks off three blocks away so they could march into the rally!
And at the pilgrimage to Pacoima, the messianic theatrics did not disappoint.
The charter principal tells the story of “throwaway schools” and trashes the idea of integration.
And if you think anyone in LAUSD has the solution, you just don’t know how to let private enterprise capitalize on a good old fashioned crisis. I couldn’t find anyone in LAUSD there to set folks straight.
Chan ends her dramatic oratory with the 1993 miracle of miracles, the charter school law. That’s the law that lets some students into a charter if they win the lottery.
By the way, what rally could be complete without a drawing of its own? Just fill out the address card and give it to CCSA Families. Gotta capture your personal data somehow.
And it’s going to take a lottery—or maybe that principal’s miracle of miracles—for our public school system to survive charter schools sucking them dry.
What are our district leaders doing about this? What of LAUSD Board member Monica Ratliff, a headliner at the charter rally?
“I believe that parents should have the right to choose the school that they think is best for their children: Charter schools, magnet schools, pilot schools, private schools, traditional public schools…” Ratliff said.
And if you think a debate about opposing views was a good idea, think again.
“Rhetoric that turns discussions about education into an us against them narrative is never, ever helpful,” Ratliff finished.
A narrative. So it seems that it’s all about a story. Is the story about re-segregation of schools? Or discriminatory enrollment practices? Or the bilking of millions of public dollars into private hands?
Edu-friend, that rhetoric is never, ever helpful! Especially with a new campaign beyond LAUSD where the charter debate is just icky. In fact, maybe she’s right. Maybe the real problem is those of us who talk about the problem.
But hey, politician’s speeches are nobody’s favorite part of a rally. And at this rally, EVERYBODY loves charters! In fact, they’ll pledge their allegiance to them, and that’s exactly what they did before boarding the buses to return home.
More about politics just in…Obama vetoed the Dem/Rep bill allowing US families to sue the Saudis for 9/11 terrorist murders. The entire Congress was unanimous as to supporting this bill. Next week they will override Obama for the only time in his presidency. Here is the quote from The Hill on Hillary’s position…
“Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also backs the measure. “Clinton continues to support the efforts by Senator Schumer and his colleagues in Congress to secure the ability of 9/11 families and other victims of terror to hold accountable those responsible. She would sign this legislation if it came to her desk,” said Jesse Lehrich, a spokesman for her campaign.
The legislation amends the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act to prevent countries involved in terrorist attacks on U.S. soil from invoking sovereign immunity, a legal principle that shields foreign nations from legal action.
JASTA has long been viewed as focusing on Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in the terrorist attacks. The so-called “28 pages,” part of a 2002 probe that was declassified in July, included some indications that appear to suggest links between a handful of Saudis in the United States and two of the 9/11 hijackers”
Chalk one up for Hillary in defying Obama on this. Under his administration, the Saudis have been buying our advanced weaponry and using it to murder innocents in Yemen. They also get their military training on use of this weaponry right here in the US from our military experts. Why? for their oil…and their endless cash for our weapons industry.
….and here is another issue that is critical to us all…and that sincere Dem legislators are fighting for…including Bernie Sanders who many of us voted for in the primaries, and who some have pilloried here for endorsing Hillary…..
“Democrats to Aetna: Answer our questions
By Rachel Roubein
Senate Democrats are displeased with Aetna’s responses to their questions on why the insurance company decided to leave the exchanges.
In a letter to the carrier sent Friday, the senators said Aetna didn’t answer any of their questions in its one-and-a-half page response “that accused us of making ‘unfounded accusations.’ ” The Democrats have given Aetna a new deadline, Sept. 30, to respond to their 12 questions.
After Aetna dropped out of the majority of its exchanges, a letter from Aetna to the Department of Justice emerged. It caught flack for suggesting that Aetna would leave the health insurance marketplaces if it’s deal with Humana wasn’t approved.
The letter was sent by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)”
Educators cannot just focus on schools, teachers, unions, and privatizers. We must broaden our perspective beyond our own needs. Educators are key to embedding democratic views in our students. Great to have this march and voice public education problems and possibilities…but there is far more to this election than charter schools and testing disasters.
BTW…any one of the signers of this letter to Aetna would have been a good Dem candidate for Prez…but we have what we have…and we must move forward and NOT lose this election.
This is great, provided we are not seeing the birth of a neo-Nader movement which will waste votes and guarantee Trump’s victory. Trump supports the privatization of education. And we all saw what Trump U was like.
The Clintons have a history of supporting education privatization too, at both the K-12 and university levels.
But go ahead and stick your head in the sand and tell me how great things will be in November if only we can keep Trump out of the White House. I’ll take no pleasure in saying I told you so. But I’ll say it anyway.
Dienne,
So are you willing to have an ignorant bully with fascist tendencies in the White House to keep Hillary out?
Same here on your last two sentences Dienne!
Nice to see democracy in action.