This morning I asked you to comment on whether I should post less about Trump and more about education.
Hundreds of readers responded.
Most said that politics and education are inseparable. One reminded me of Dewey’s classic book “School and Society,” which reinforced the point that we educate children so as to prepare them to build a better society. We teach them civility so they will be civil to others. We teach them to think and inform themselves so they will be thinking citizens. Over time, if we educate our children well, it will make our society better. We invest in our future by educating our students well.
A few readers said I should write about education and leave Trump alone. This is actually impossible, because Trump wants to destabilize and defund public education. He and his choice for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, want public schools to compete for dollars with charters, cybercharters, religious schools, for-profit schools, and home-schooling, all funded by the public. He is not proposing new funding to pay for all these choices. He intends to defund public schools by dividing the funding many ways. The preponderance of research says that none of these alternatives are superior to public schools. Some are far, far worse.
Then there is Betsy DeVos. What an insult to educators and parents and students to select a Secretary of Education who is unqualified and hostile to public schools. She has spent thirty years dedicated to school choice.
So the bottom line is that I will Tweet the news that you can easily find on mainstream TV and radio and newspapers.
But I will continue to write about education, the politics of education, the history of education, and the importance of public schools.
I will continue to post silly things and funny things that appeal to me.
I will continue to oppose privatization of public schools, demonization of educators, and the misuse of standardized testing to rank children and schools.
I count on you to join the conversation. Keep me informed.
Oh, and I will write whatever I want.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Here! Here! Disruption is what we need right now and you are carrying the banner far and wide. DO IT!
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“I will write about Trump when necessary but I will emphasize education.”
What you said.
😎
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Right On!
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Thanks, Diane. What you do is very important, as you could see by the number of responses to your request. Count me in as a positively gruntled reader.
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Brava!! Well said!! Thank you for your insightful, courageous work!
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I missed your poll, but keep it up! Absolutely politics is inseparable from education. As it is from most aspects of our lives. Thanks for all you do, Diane.
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The only time education is separate from politics is when a body is dead. I have worked with some zombie teachers who say they have no interest in politics. I believe they are just afraid of conflict and democracy. Yes, there are days when one has to close it all out or go nuts. But to be alive and interacting with others is politics.
Keep it up!
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I agree, I feel disheartened when people in education can’t see the big picture, but I’m a school counselor-social worker and my training included systems so I guess it’s almost automatic.
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Keep writing. We need motivated.
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Thanks Diane! Your blog is vital for those of who support and honor public education and classroom teachers who have made and continue to make a difference in lives of their students. Historically this is the public institution that has been the avenue for many of us who overcame poverty through education. Thank you for your important contribution to our Nation through your support of educators and public education!
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Works for me. Thank you.
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I’m sick to death of the public employees in the federal government prefacing “public schools” with “failing”.
They would never do this with charter schools and I live in Ohio so I know there are “failing” charter schools despite the endless hype and promotion.
Why would I want these people invited into my son’s school when they consistently use this language? In what possible way can that benefit him?
let’s try this: “the failing US Department of Education”. How do they interpret that? Positively? Does that sound like I want to support and cooperate with them? Of course not.
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All good points, Chiara. This despicable “ourfailingschools” meme/bumper sticker has been going on for quite some time. I remember Lou Dobbs snarling out “ourfailingschools” any time he spoke about our schools. Chris Christie refers to NJ schools as failure factories. “Ourfailingschools” is part of the propaganda onslaught, attack and assault on our public schools, all funded by the billionaires’ boys’ and girls’ clubs. As they say, if you repeat a lie long enough, it becomes fact in the minds of the uninformed.
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Chiara,
When I was on the board of the Thomas B Fordham Institute, it began authorizing charters in Ohio. I cast a dissenting vote because I believe think tanks should not be activists but places to think about what to do. The first dozen charters TBF opened were academic failures. One was led by a man who embezzled school funds. That was a contributing factor to my change of mind about reform. The board’s attitude was “close them and start new ones.” Mine was “this is not reform.”
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I respect your decision, but look forward to be engaged in the debate.
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Great!
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Thank you, Diane. I love your posts and appreciate your straightforward approach and your courage. One element of education writing that seems important to me is the way the belief system that some call “reform” and others call “privatization” doesn’t skew particularly left or right in the same way that many other issues do. I was a huge fan of Obama–except for his education policy. The NY Times, which always does seem to skew liberal to me, has until very recently been appallingly pro-privatization, pro-charter, certainly pro the Bloomberg/Cuomo educational agenda. And there are quite a few liberal writers whom I respect except for their position on education.
I’d be interested to hear more about where this is coming from.
I’m not a policy expert, just an interested public school parent.
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Parent,
The charter idea began in 1988 as a liberal idea. Charters were supposed to recruit the students who had dropped out, the students who were disengaged, and discover new ways to motivate them. They have evolved into corporate chains and vehicles for privatization. Some liberals never saw the change. Some see charters as “saving the talented tenth.”
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Love it! Thank you!
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Can you imagine the uproar if Jeb Bush and Betsy DeVos were running a political campaign where they used the phrase “corporate charters”?
My God, I could hear the screams of outrage from here. Yet they often use “government schools” to deride public schools and all these paid advocates “for children” don’t say a word.
Give me the upside of inviting the anti-public school US Department into our school. If they’re professional critics of public schools who offer nothing positive perhaps they should put that in the mission statement, just so we’re all clear on what the job is. I’m not sure we need 4400 MORE paid critics of public schools but perhaps there aren’t enough of them freelancing in the philanthropic sector so we need a public sector set as well.
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A quote from MLK: “Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education” In my own blog I have a category Basics. Two things keep humans going beyond food and shelter: sex and education. Always keep in mind our ancestors in tiny groups and how they handled things: they procreated and taught the young how to survive at least until they, too, procreated. All the rest is interesting but non-essential. The MLK quote lifts us out of the education-as-utilitarian mode; when boys and girls were taken into the wilds to be initiated, they were taught character. While the family and religious institutions are major players in that process, so are schools. DeVoss is leading the way to a definition of character that revolves around devotion to one religion for all and making little cogs to fit into the machine. That’s politics and this blog is the site from which to fight….. for true education.
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This is a smart strategy, Diane. Much of what is happening in the White House and in Congress will impact education, so ignoring that would be short-sighted. However, repeating a lot of general, popular, political news that most of us hear on the radio, see on TV, or read in a newspaper or on-line may not be so necessary.
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Despite being tuned into news on TV, the radio, and the internet, I still have seen two major stories break right here on Diana’s blog, so I vote for her signaling us on such items. I just skip things that do not interest me.
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I’m with you, pbarret, and while I have perhaps heard about some of the events, the discussion around them is often valuable. Someone is always providing useful links. I am not a tweeter even though I have an account; I just can’t adapt to the sound bite environment. Even though some of my posts could just as well be tweeted, they are usually responses to much longer comments that would not have the same impact crammed into tweets. I know I will still enjoy the blog, but I will miss being able to use the blog to connect with other resources that people highlight. I guess I will have to stop being so lazy! 🙂
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.@BetsyDeVos tells @PaulWJR she believes in a great public education & she says “all schools should be great for the kids that they serve.”
Oh, please. The US Department of Education doesn’t even hire public school graduates to run the US Department of Education.
If she “believes” in it shouldn’t someone in that place come out of a public school? Public education is great except for the leaders of the US Department of Education. They must be graduates of private schools.
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Chiara,
Translation: she loves only GREAT public schools, the ones in ritzy suburbs that get high scores. The other 80% should be replaced with charters and vouchers.
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THANK YOU, Diane!
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Diane,
Keep doing what you do. You have earned that right. Don’t change a thing.
RR
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You are the BEST!
Thank you and Thank you to John Dewey who is bone rattling in his grave at this very moment over the State of The Union.
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It’s your blog, Diane, we all benefit from it, and education is inseparable from politics. Proceed as you see fit.
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I agree that politics and education are inseparable. While I admired Obama on so many levels, his allegiance to Arne and their indifference for public education was one of two areas I never could agree to with him. OTOH, Trump and his sheer ignorance about the basics in governance are not only breathtaking but MUST be dealt with daily. The major news media helped create him with their free coverage of his endless stump speeches, so we should, in any way possible, counterbalance that. That would include, if necessary, a Blog devoted to education and his political appointment of Ms DeVoe and her attitude of qu’ils mangent de la brioche to the public schools. King Donald, his Marie Antoinette, Ms De Voe make a great pair slouching toward disaster as the Bastille (I mean, the White House) crumbles. JVK
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Thanx so much for your leadership……the journey continues!! ~Dayna
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Well-stated and fully informing. Thank you!
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As the saying goes, you go girl!
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Thank you.
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Thanks for thoughtful reply to you “poll” sounds like you are still the best!! Bravo!! Regards Eva
Sent from my iPhone
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As astute of a decision as possible. Gracias.
And an understandably difficult one for you no doubt as tis true that education cannot be separated from the political, and it’s not meant to be. At the same time the politics of education are just one part of politics in general and we need an open forum like this to be able to discuss the part of the political realm that effects the most innocent in society, the children of school age. And that realm is large enough to have resulted in millions of views for the last, what almost five years.
And wise it was to solicit input from your readers. Thanks, again, Diane, for providing “a site to discuss a better education for all”.
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Thank you! May your energy and health remain high!
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I lost this post for a while with a 404 notice. I am glad it is back.
This is a duplicate of a reply I posted elsewhere.
You are not the only curator and creator of news having this problem.
Several weeks ago, a really fine observer of sports in Cincinnati who writes for our local newspaper was asking his readers about the same issue.
He is known and respected because he minimizes the ratings schemes and endless stats in favor of observations about the business and culture of sports generally, and in this city.
Well, it turns out that he could not ignore Trump, and DeVos. His readers were surprised and some were angry. He has a special needs son. He is not an amateur in reading character, whether from locker room talk or blasts from television. In any case, the very fact that he addressed his problem as a regular columnist really boosted my confidence in his integrity—as a person and as journalist.
By now you should have ample confirmation of the value of thinking about the issue and a way forward that makes sense to you. Nowo
I don’t know if you can access this, but here is the link.
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/columnists/paul-daugherty/2017/02/02/doc-stick-sports-s-getting-harder-do/97414414/
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Laura, I think I accidentally deleted then reposted the original
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You go girl!
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I just have to comment on “you go, girl”. Many years ago on a listserv we got into a battle over teaching methods that took a strong political tone (“the Liberals have destroyed education” etc.). At one point, someone posted “you go, girl” and the response was truly bizarre: something about what that represented, the dissolution of proper behavior, the decay of society, and on and on. Apparently, girls aren’t supposed to “go”.
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I encourage you to continue writing and speaking out on the issues that are important to you. The answer to speech you do not like, is more speech.
And, I also encourage you to give consideration to views which are in opposition to your positions. There is no Ying without a Yang.
Think about it.
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Charles,
The purpose of this blog is to promote better education for all.
School Choice means schools choose. Not families. The public schools enroll all kids. Charter and voucher schools don’t.
If you believe in privatizing education, you won’t persuade anyone here.
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Better Education is a laudable goal. All citizens should work towards achieving this goal. There is one type of non-public school which accepts all kids, and that is home schooling. There are about 1.5 million children in the USA (exact numbers are difficult to obtain). These children are just as entitled to a quality education as any other child.
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Charles,
Home schooling is the right of parents. I would not recommend home schooling because some parents are poorly educated. That’s not my definition of “a better education for all.” How many parents are experts in history, chemistry, biology, physics, foreign languages, literature and the arts?
If parents choose to home school, they should not expect to be paid by the state.
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Home schooling is not a solution to anything. How many parents can home school? Millions of parents have neither the time nor the inclination to teach their children: one parent families in which the mother has to work at two or three part time jobs, families in which both parents must work to make ends meet and the list goes on. At best, only a small fraction of American parents have the means and inclination to teach their children at home. Home schooling does not exist in Finland and home schooling is illegal in Germany. Both those countries have universal health care and tuition free university education. We are forbidden from having such sensible programs in the US.
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I would like to point out that most homeschooling parents know they are not experts in all subjects. We see ourselves more as facilitators of our children’s education. Many community colleges offer dual enrolled classes, where teens can start by age 16. Another option is to hire a tutor, or for groups of parents to hold co-op classes, where those classes are taught by experts, or former teachers. The internet has also provided many options, with videos, online classes, YouTube, etc. While there are probably some students who fall through the cracks, there are also students who fall through the cracks in public school.
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In Meyer v. Nebraska and Farrington v. Tokushige, U.S. Supreme Court cases of the 1920s, the fundamental right of parents to direct the education of their children was established. These two cases are cited frequently, with respect to the right to home-school.
I have known many home-schoolers, and I have served as a volunteer adjunct teacher (electronics) for home-schooled children. True, not all parents are equipped to serve as home-school teachers. But with the internet, and other media, the kids can get virtually all of the information that is promulgated in a traditional school. In Australia, children on ranches in the outback have been home-schooled for decades. There is also the “School of the Air” see http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/school-of-the-air .
Home-schoolers often get instruction from adjunct teachers (like myself). They can get lecturers from a local university or museum to assist as well.
Home-schoolers often “trade off” each others children, to cover different subjects. Home-school children/parents join associations, and do mutual events like field trips to museums,etc.
Professional educators often push the (laudable) concept of smaller class sizes. When children are home-schooled, the class size is very small.
Thank God we do not live in Finland/Germany or some country which forbids parents from teaching their children. The “government” does NOT have “dibs” on our children’s minds.
No one is suggesting that home-school parents should be paid by the state. BUT- Since home-school parents are paying taxes to the public purse, to be spent on education, is it not reasonable, for these parents to get a rebate on services they are not using? And if a rebate (voucher) is not possible, should not they get logistical/administrative support from the local public school? And why not let them obtain books and media from the local public school?
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In preparing for the demands of the global economy, home schooling is okay for highly educated parents. Not for most.
May I remind you, Charles, that this blog is dedicated to “a better education for all,” not a few.
We have now had this exchange at least six times, Charles. Say something new.
Home schoolers are not entitled to a penny of public school funds because they don’t use them. That’s akin to giving a rebate to people who don’t have children or those whose children are grown.
Charles, do you write these comments just to annoy me? Or to waste my time? Write it to The 74.
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“…Since home-school parents are paying taxes to the public purse, to be spent on education, is it not reasonable, for these parents to get a rebate on services they are not using?”
No, Charles, it is not. We are paying taxes to provide a public school system that is available to ALL children not our own individual children. We are free to go outside that system for our children if we so choose, but we are not free to expect to be paid back because we choose not to use the system. I pay my taxes for providing a public good. I still pay for it even though my children are no longer in the public schools. Should I get a rebate? Perhaps it would make a little more sense if we paid taxes on the basis of a head count. No kids, not cost or minimal. One kid, two kids,… Of course the cost of running a school system is not just based on the number of bodies. Infrastructure costs do not decrease or increase incrementally. The percentage of families who have children in the schools could not fund even a single school in my community.
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Remember: Somebody paid for you.
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Not somebody, everybody in your community.
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Maybe some of you should just go off the grid altogether. That way you don’t have to be like the angry 16 year old in my class who arose out of his desk to declaim, “I don’t want my tax money going to send some Black kid to college!” Wouldn’t it be rich if that Black kid turned out to be a doctor who saved his life? This occurred in the 90s, so this notion that White people…… oops, sorry: hard-working people, support all the lazy minorities and lazy foreign aid recipients has been around a long time, back into the 50s. The very idea that we should not pay taxes to support the education of “Our Kids” is as un-American as it gets. Since I don’t ride a bicycle, I’ll stop paying the portion of my taxes that construct bicycle lanes. Let ’em fend for themselves! Let ’em die in a ditch!
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Q In preparing for the demands of the global economy, home schooling is okay for highly educated parents. Not for most. END Q
Agreed, not all parents are equipped to be home-schoolers. I knew a woman in Bowling Green KY, who had a high-school education, and home-schooled her kids. She won a national award (presented to her personally by the late Phyllis Schafly). All of her kids were admitted to top colleges.
Q
May I remind you, Charles, that this blog is dedicated to “a better education for all,” not a few. END Q
-of course. Are not the 1.5 million home-schooled kids, part of “all”. Are not the millions of students enrolled in non-public schools, part of “all”?
From the National Center for Education Statistics:
In school year 2013–14, some 5.4 million students (or 10 percent of all elementary and secondary students) were enrolled in private elementary and secondary schools.1 The percentage of all elementary and secondary students enrolled in private schools decreased from 12 percent in 1995–96 to 10 percent in 2013–14, and is projected to continue to decrease to 9 percent in 2025–26 (the last year for which projected data are available).
Q
Home schoolers are not entitled to a penny of public school funds because they don’t use them. That’s akin to giving a rebate to people who don’t have children or those whose children are grown. END Q
-I agree wholeheartedly. Home-schoolers are not enrolling their kids in public schools, and are therefore not entitled to money spent in the schools where they are absent!
I write my comments, not to annoy anyone, nor to waste time. Nevertheless, I believe sincerely that “all” means “all”. Our nation spends over 6% of GDP on education. And all of us have a stake in our children’s future. I am not satisfied to leave it all to the professional educators.
It takes courage to present views, which are in opposition to your own. I congratulate you.
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Home-schooling does not provide a better education for all. It may provide a good education for a few, but a worse education for many whose parents are not educated.
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Has home schooling increased in recent decades? If so, can we not attribute to it some of the divisions in our country? Bob Putnam, in Our Kids, describes the small town and school he and I attended in Ohio in the 50s. Everyone shared that community experience. He decries the shattering of that experience. I have met one person who pulled her kids out of public school b/c of the anti-Hispanic atmosphere in the school; otherwise, home schoolers I have met look down on the values of the hoi polloi, believing their religion, their life style, their values to be superior. And they may be, but if your parents don’t want you soiled by the riff-raff and ragamuffins in public school, how will you learn to understand those ragamuffins? If you only watch Fox News and MSNBC, how will you understand how “the other half” thinks? We are truly fracturing.
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Dr. Ravitch, I have faithfully followed your blog for years, I’ve read your books, I’ve talked positively about you to others. But I must say your comments regarding homeschooling are disappointing. If this were truly education for all, one would hope we could discuss the benefits of homeschooling, instead of constantly being shot down, or told to go away. Rather, after many years, the sense I have gotten time and again is that if one does not fully support only public school as the only viable education for all students, then their comments are not welcome here. I am a former public school teacher from a rural district. I am a former public school student from a great system in the suburbs of NJ. Based on my experiences, I, and thousands of others, realize that homeschooling can be a better education for children. It is absolutely false to be told that only highly educated parents are capable of homeschooling their children. Could I ask that you learn more about it? Have you read any books, or articles that do not bash it, but rather show the benefits? One book to start with is Family Matters By David Gutterson. While it was written years ago, it does provide a rational perspective of homeschooling works. Thank you.
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Beth,
Homeschooling is fine for those who have the educational resources to provide it. But when parents who did not graduate from college or even high school home school, that is not a good thing for the children. They absorb what the parents know, and are never exposed to interchanges with students who are different from themselves, and are never taught by qualified teachers of physics, history, etc.
You have a right to home school. I have a right to think that, aside from a relatively small number of highly educated parents, it is not a good idea. It is certainly not for everyone. Don’t you agree? Do you think that uneducated parents should homeschool their children?
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I agree with you that many parents are successfully homeschooling their children. Where I wouldn’t agree is with policy decisions to take funding from public schools to support individual home schoolers or even co-ops of home schoolers. I believe there are ways that public schools can choose to support home schoolers, but that is a local district decision based on local conditions.
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Dear Dr. Ravitch, I appreciate your reply. First, I disagree that only college educated parents are capable of homeschooling their children. While I would say that parents need to be educated themselves, how would you define educated? I see parents who want the best for their children, and are motivated to provide them with a safe learning environment as qualified. Many enjoy learning along side their children. Second, it’s a bit of a sweeping generalization to say that homeschoolers will not be exposed to those who are different than themselves. Homeschoolers in an urban setting are more likely to encounter all sorts of people, while public school students in rural settings are more likely to associate only with those who are just like them. Many homeschoolers encounter people of all ages, while public school students are segregated into same age classrooms. With that said, I am excited that you don’t mind a dialogue, even if have to agree to disagree on some aspects of homeschooling. Respectfully, Beth
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i didn’t mind the 45 information, but i missed your poll, not that my one vote would have made a difference…i believe your compromise is fair, and i support you…i follow you on twitter, so will keep up w/ news articles there….thanks one more time for the work you do, and yes, by all means, share your quirky-ness….we need laughter more now than ever! ~~ kathie, BAT, warrior…..
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It should, it has to end ,when is the meteor coming . Even if we impeach him we will be stuck with a continuing nightmare, under Pence or Ryan . The founders really made an incomplete document. They were honorable ,though elitist, at the time the Vice President was the runner up. Blame this on the founders they never consider a recall referendum. .
So has anybody gotten a good nights sleep since election day?. What would most of us give to be bashing Clinton for corporatist policy, in every sector of the economy, including education. There is no discussing Education outside of Politics and the Economy . Not being a teacher or parent of school age children , I didn’t come to your blog to read about pedagogy. I came to your blog after reading “Reign of Error”. Because it seemed to always post articles showing the economies effect on education and educations role in the economy. I came to be interested in the subject of Public School education, after seeing Tillerson’s ad about education failing , as if Exxon cares about our children. The attacks on education mirror the first attack leveled by Tillerson’s Business Round Table an organization formed in 71+- to break the construction unions. The education wars are economic battles. Economics as per my first poly sci course , quoting Harold Laswell ,”is who gets what”. “Politics is who determines who gets what.”
Thank you Diane ,don’t ever stop covering politics.
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Right now, I wish we had a parliamentary system. These fools would be gone.
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“So has anybody gotten a good nights sleep since election day?”
Depends on the definition of a “good nights sleep”.
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Sleep, I do, but I wake up anxious, wondering if we’re all still ok. I came across this from New York Magazine, which seems quite apt:
“With someone like this barging into your consciousness every hour of every day, you begin to get a glimpse of what it must be like to live in an autocracy of some kind. Every day in countries unfortunate enough to be ruled by a lone dictator, people are constantly subjected to the Supreme Leader’s presence, in their homes, in their workplaces, as they walk down the street. Big Brother never leaves you alone. His face bears down on you on every flickering screen. He begins to permeate your psyche and soul; he dominates every news cycle and issues pronouncements — each one shocking and destabilizing — round the clock. He delights in constantly provoking and surprising you, so that his monstrous ego can be perennially fed. And because he is also mentally unstable, forever lashing out in manic spasms of pain and anger, you live each day with some measure of trepidation. What will he come out with next? Somehow, he is never in control of himself and yet he is always in control of you.”
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/02/andrew-sullivan-the-madness-of-king-donald.html
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I like your plan to tweet the mainstream and blog what we cannot find much anywhere else but here. I rely on you for information and links to information I can’t get by reading the newspaper. So, I probably sound like a broken record, but thank you, Diane.
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2nd
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Trump cannot be all bad. After all, THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON DURING THE OBAMA YEARS REGARDING EDUCATION said he resembled jfk. Could Bill gates be wrong about anything?
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Dewey also said that politics is the shadow cast on society by corporations. There’s no way you can examine schooling without examining politics and ipso facto corporations themselves. One weeps for America.
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Diane,
You do what you want. You’re fine just the way you are. You are a shining beacon of advocacy, even if I don’t agree with all your tactics. The pushback movement would be NOWHERE without you. Keep up the excellent work.
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Thoughtful as always. Thanks for carrying the torch!
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Up to Charles at 1:18 PM, who says, “Thank G-d we are not Finland…”
Are you kidding, Charles? You are obviously a newcomer to this blog–go back to the archives & read some of Diane’s posts RE: Finnish education &–especially–their RATE of CHILDHOOD POVERTY. There isn’t one! But–what’s the rate here, in the good old U.S. of A.? Pretty, pretty high…MUCH higher than it should be for the wealthiest nation in the world. And, w/this administration, it’s going to get far worse.
I think I can speak for most readers, here (because this blog, after all is said & done, is “a site to discuss better education for all.”) that we wish, indeed, we were Finland…or, at least, more like it.
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It’s your blog, so do whatever you feel is appropriate.
Consider yourself our teacher with your followers a class full of students eager to learn.
In other words – “Go for it!”
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Flos56,
Thanks for that. My blog is a combination living-room and classroom.
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Dear Diane Ravitch, Every letter you send us (your Public Education supporters) gets better and better. Your energy and perseverance are remarkable. *Public Education* is the backbone of Democracy … and as we lose one, so do we lose the other… in effect, replaced by Fascism. Sorry that I do little more than forward your ‘letters’ to spread the word. I will be 86 in March … and my energy level goes down and down. But all your readers support you and urge you to keep going. Meanwhile… Betsy deVos … is a criminal mistake – not just an accident. Thank you, Jenefer Ellingston, DC Statehood Green Party
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