Amy Goodman, host of “Democracy Now,” interviews Carol Burris, Keron Blair, and Jitu Brown about the Public Education Forum and the fight for equity and justice.
We are educating the public about the importance of changing the status quo.
Ahead of the last Democratic presidential debate of the year this Thursday, seven candidates appeared Saturday at the historic Democratic Presidential Forum on Public Education in Pittsburgh, an event organized by public education organizations, unions, civil rights organizations and community groups. We play highlights from the forum and get response from Keron Blair, director of the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools in Atlanta; Jitu Brown, national director of the Journey for Justice Alliance; and Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education Action. She recently authored a report titled “Still Asleep at the Wheel: How the Federal Charter Schools Program Results in a Pileup of Fraud and Waste.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Oh. My. Lord. How wonderful!!! Amy Goodman is the best!!! And what a lineup of guests!!! xoxoxoxoxxo!
The really great line from this, the one I would love to see made a rallying cry across the nation, is Jitu Brown’s:
In education, “we’ve done everything but equity.”
Great group. Jitu Brown is a force. I don’t remember hearing about him prior to the Forum. His words were a great highlight of the event for me. He continues in this interview. Would love to see him on mainstream media.
Jitu Brown was the leader of the hunger strike over Dyett High School in Chicago. I heard him speak at the 2015 NPE conference in Chicago. He is a force. My favorite quote from him, “You are not smarter than us, you are not better than us, and you do not love these children more than we do.”
Jitu Brown is a hero in my new book for his leadership of the Dyett hunger strike, which defeated Rahm.
Excellent choice as a favorite. Me too.
“Strike 3, Rahm’s out!
He beat him with a strike
Though not with fastball blast
No, Jitu got the mic
From Rahm with hunger fast
Jitu is a board member of the Network for Public Education. Yes, he is a force.
yes, and he’s been trying to do just that: now may he be a force fully unleashed
As usual, love your poem, SDP. Jitu Brown is an amazing person who, I believe, should be nominated for/receive a Nobel Peace Prize. I had the honor & privilege of sitting next to him at an education equity luncheon that was sponsored, in part, by the Center for Tax & Budget Accountability (its director, Ralph Martire, was on the U.S. Committee for Equity {I may not have that name quite right–it was a # of years ago}). The C.T.B.A. was a force in getting the equitable education funding formula passed in IL, although I–& many, many others–have found it to be faulty in numerous ways, & had argued against it (because, for one, it took dedicated funding for special ed.–as well as at least 25 other programs, including P.E. & school food programs–& lumped that into the money pot to fund this {&–BTW–this is not “fully funded”}).
Anyway–went off topic–inasmuch as Mr. Brown is such a powerful & forceful speaker, he is one of the most soft-spoken & gentlest of people in everyday conversation. (As I type this, I do so w/tears in my eyes.) We, in Chicago, in IL & nationally, now, are lucky to have a champion such as Mr. Brown.
And–if he isn’t nominated/doesn’t win a Nobel Peace Prize–he should, at the very least, receive a MacArthur Genius Grant.
He’d do the right things w/the money…
Oh–&, in reference to your next post, Diane–he sure wouldn’t use it (“IDEA Charter Chain…Lease Private Jet for $2 Million a Year”) to lease a private jet, & I’m quite certain, in his Journeys for Justice, he travels far more extensively than any (so called) “IDEA” exec.
I watch Democracy Now! nightly (unless I can’t stay up: it’s on at midnight here, on the Gary, IN PBS Channel): it is my #1 source for news, always real news. If I can’t stay awake, I watch it at democracynow.org. Amy makes sure to repeat the website several times during the broadcast, so people know they have access, even if she winds up being
taken off the air. (This is how I can continue to watch Lee Camp’s amazing Redacted Tonight: he was on RT {as was, I might add, Chris Hedges: no U.S. stations will have them, as they are too truthful & brilliant; the wonderful newscaster, the late Ed Schultz also had to go to RT–MSNBC kicked him off the air for asking Obama why he hadn’t put his “walking shoes on” & come to Madison, WI, during the teachers strike}, which was pulled from all cable stations. Redacted Tonight came before John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, & if you like that, you should look up Redacted on YouTube & watch.)
I hope–inasmuch as you were interviewed by Chris Hedges, Diane–to one day see you interviewed by Lee Camp on Redacted V.I.P.! Lee’s interviews last a half hour, giving viewers much insight & information.
I have already been invited to appear on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! when my book is published on January 21. Sometime that week