The streets of Kenosha

Demonstrators pray while protesting the police shooting where an unarmed black man was shot several times in the back in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

The Sheriff of Kenosha claims to have never seen the video of Jacob Blake being shot seven times in the back by his police officers. If he's not lying -- which he is -- he's the only living soul who hasn't seen it.

To those who are critical of NBAers and WNBAers for going back to work after a one-day wildcat strike, forget it. Especially WNBA sparked an unprecedented movement against racism in the sports community. The real question is, why didn't organized labor join them in their walkout?

Trump's gun thugs.

Here's an excellent NYT piece on white supremacist Stephen Miller, the man behind this week's RNC attempt to conjure up a “radical left” hellscape.

What's up with more stupid provocative shit on CTU's Twitter pages?

This the latest one showing union support for performance artists pretending to behead Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos via guillotine. Union r&f will have to figure out if this messaging speaks for them. So far, CTU critics are being attacked on Twitter as "Bezos lovers".

.@CTULocal1 is facing serious blowback over this tweet, including from the head of their parent organization, the @AFTunion. @rweingarten https://t.co/XGvRc21vyq

— WBEZeducation (@WBEZeducation) August 28, 2020

I'm guessing WaPo hater, Pres. Trump is smiling at the idea of assassinating Bezos as soon as he finishes using that guillotine on the union leadership itself. That's probably why AFT Prez Randi Weingarten had no choice but to come out openly and criticize the tweet. I doubt that Randi really believes Sharkey and Gates favor guillotining at this time and I'm sure she will pull her critical tweet if she hasn't already. But at a time when the streets of Kenosha and other cities are filled with gun thugs, it's probably not the time for more misdirected, pro-violence messaging, especially from union leaders.

No doubt Bezos is a rich prick. He's one of a small group of billionaires that has amassed billions more in personal wealth during the pandemic. But this isn't just about him. It's also about us.


What I'm reading...

Here are two books that may help guide you through these difficult times. The first City Schools and the American Dream 2, by Pedro Noguera and Esa Syeed is hot off the press and offers up a valuable tool for educators trying to rethink schooling and school reform in the post-pandemic era. The book combines some solid sociological study with practical lessons from urban schools that have taken on racism and social inequality the right way.

The second is Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community” by Dr. Martin Luther King, which was the last book MLK penned before his assassination in 1968. It's a series of essays in which he makes clear that he was neither a Marxist nor a doctrinaire socialist; he instead advocates for a united social movement around radical reforms such as a guaranteed income.