WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Women in Cook County Jail

Cook Country Board Pres. Toni Preckwinkle

"We had a delegation from South Africa that came to our jail to visit. They got to the end of their tour and they said, 'Where's the jail for white people?'" -- Ward Room

Prof. Salvatore Babones, Univ. of Sydney

Strangely, reform has gone from being a progressive cause to being a conservative curse. -- Salon

Jay Caspian Kang

“I kept thinking, Kids can’t learn if they’re dead.” -- NYT Magazine, Our Demand is Simple. Stop Killing Us. 

Arthur Costa, emeritus professor at California State Univ.

 “What was educationally significant and hard to measure has been replaced by what is educationally insignificant and easy to measure. So now we measure how well we taught what isn’t worth learning.” -- Quoted by Marian Brady, Washington Post

Rahm's takeaways from Ferguson

"The Chicago Police Department stops a shocking number of innocent people," said Harvey Grossman, the ACLU's legal director. "And just like New York, we see that African Americans are singled out for these searches." -- Chicago had higher stop-and-frisk rate than NYC

What did Mayor Rahm Emanuel learn from the events in Ferguson, Missouri. This is from the Justice Dept. report on its investigation of the Ferguson Police Dept.:

FPD Engages in a Pattern of Unconstitutional Stops and Arrests in Violation of the Fourth Amendment (P. 16)

Rahm's takeaway: Stop-and-frisk of young African-Americans is great but Ferguson is small-time compared to us. In fact, New York is small-time compared to Chicago. We're number one!

According to the Sun-Times:

More than 250,000 times last summer, Chicago cops stopped people for questioning without making an arrest — a practice that disproportionately targeted blacks, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.

It would be wrong to simply blame this practice on individual cops. Rather ACLU officials believe officers are under pressure from supervisors to make stops and show they’re “generating activity.”  In other words, stop-and-frisk is policy coming down the line directly from Rahm and his hand-picked Supt. Garry McCarthy. 

Then there's this:

The Justice Dept. report found discriminatory use of tickets and municipal fines inflicted not with the primary goal of administering justice or protecting the rights of the accused, but of maximizing revenue. (P. 42)

 Most strikingly, the court issues municipal arrest warrants not on the basis of publicsafety needs, but rather as a routine response to missed court appearances and required fine payments. In 2013 alone, the court issued over 9,000 warrants on cases stemming in large part from minor violations such as parking infractions, traffic tickets, or housing code violations. 

Rahm's takeaway: Here, just think red-light cameras and speed cameras. Or how about ticketing for minor possession or use of marijuana. It adds up to hidden, regressive taxation without raising property taxes.

John Oliver has the best take on this:



Post Mortem: Ferguson cops busted a guy for "Making a False Declaration", for initially providing the short form of his first name, “Mike” instead of “Michael” (P. 3).

Don't even think about it, Rahm. 

Students finding their voice, acting powerfully

Four days after 19-year old Tony Robinson was shot dead by a police officer in Wisconsin, protests have continued. Hundreds of high school and university students, some visibly grieving the loss of their friend, left classrooms and occupied the state capitol building yesterday.

The struggle continues -- I was impressed by the response of the Madison, WI school district leaders as hundreds of high school students joined their big brothers and sisters from UW in protesting the killing of Tony Robinson.

This from the Wisconsin State Journal:

Madison School District officials embraced the students’ rally by asking community leaders to come to the Capitol to ensure the students remained safe. They also provided seven buses for transportation back to school after the rally.

Students were not disciplined for attending, and could be excused by their parents, said district spokeswoman Rachel Strauch-Nelson. Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham and other district officials were at the rally.

“In general, we thought it was important that if students chose to demonstrate, that we ensure they are safe and provide positive adult presence to support our students as they express their concerns, grief and questions,” said Strauch-Nelson.

O-O-O-Oklahoma... The immediate and massive student response to the racist OU frat-boy ravings caught on video, has forced action on the part of the university president. Good lesson to be drawn here about the power of direct action. Fancy speeches are fine, as far as they go.

But the question remains, did they just discover the racist, white-only fraternities and sororities that dominate university social life at OU? Where have you been Pres. Boren?

For old-timers, the OU events might have sparked memories of the The Tulsa white race riot of 1921 which is rarely mentioned in history books, classrooms or even in private. With the number of survivors declining, in 1996, the state legislature commissioned a report to establish the historical record of the events, and acknowledge the victims and damages to the black community. Released in 2001, the report included the commission's recommendations for some compensatory actions, most of which were not implemented by the state and city governments. The state passed legislation to establish some scholarships for descendants of survivors, economic development of Greenwood, which was known as Black Wall Street at the time, and a memorial park to the victims in Tulsa.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

A sign, with bullet holes, along the historic route from Selma to Montgomery

Joe Hopkins, Selma veteran

“My mother told me I could get killed, and I told her we’re all going to die one day, but I was 17 years old and quick so they couldn’t catch me.” — New York Times

Barack Obama

It’s the idea held by generations of citizens who believed that America is a constant work in progress; who believed that loving this country requires more than singing its praises or avoiding uncomfortable truths. It requires the occasional disruption, the willingness to speak out for what is right, to shake up the status quo. That’s America. -- Selma Speech

Jelani Cobb

Ferguson’s is not a singular situation. It is an object lesson in the national policing practices that have created the largest incarcerated population in the Western world, as well as a veil of permanent racial suspicion—practices that many people believe will deliver safety in exchange for injustice. What happened in Selma is happening in Ferguson, and elsewhere, too. The great danger is not that we will discount the progress that has been made but that we have claimed it prematurely.​ -- New Yorker

Jodi Cantor, author of "The Obamas"

 "Michelle and Rahm Emanuel had almost no bond; their relationship was distant and awkward from the beginning. She had been skeptical of him when he was selected, and now he returned the favor; he was uneasy about first ladies in general..." -- Ward Room

 Robert Putnam, author of "Our Kids"

“At the beginning you don’t know you’re doing a study of the collapse of American social life — you’re doing a study of PTA membership. 'Our Kids' was like that, too. The more we investigated, the bigger we realized the problem was.” -- Washington Post

In an effort to placate anti-PARCC activists, Mayor Emanuel has signed an executive order barring the PARCC exam at the U of C Lab Schools.
— Matt Farmer (@mifarmer) March 9, 2015

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Author Mike Rose

If we determine success primarily by a test score, we miss those considerable intellectual achievements that aren’t easily quantifiable. If we think about education largely in relation to economic competitiveness, then we ignore the social, moral, and aesthetic dimensions of teaching and learning.  -- The American Scholar

Mayoral Candidate Bob Fioretti

“We’re the only one in the whole state that’s not an elected school board? Aren’t we shaking our head and saying: 'what’s going on here?' I think the school board needs it. It would reflect the diversity of our city.” -- Sun-Times

Mayoral Candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia 

“This is the board that closed our schools and cut the education budget, following Mayor Emanuel’s orders. Would this have happened with an elected board, responsible to the citizens?” -- Sun-Times 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The Police Aren’t Under Attack. Institutionalized Racism Is. Those who are trying to connect the murders of the officers with the thousands of articulate and peaceful protestors across America are being deliberately misleading in a cynical and selfish effort to turn public sentiment against the protestors. -- TIME

Belafonte and Williams

Jesse Williams (Grey's Anatomy)

“Police have been beating the hell out of black people for a very, very, very long time, before the advent of the video camera. And despite the advent of the video camera, there’s still an incredible trend of police brutality and killing in the street.” -- Washington Post

Adam Green

“There are a lot of unchecked boxes with Hillary Clinton when it comes to economic populism and corporate accountability,” said Adam Green, cofounder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “There are definitely red flags.” -- Boston Globe

The Nation

Needed -- 'Body cameras on bankers'

Some NBA hoopers wearing “I Can’t Breathe” shirts: LeBron James, Derrick Rose, Kevin Garnett, Kyrie Irving, Deron Williams, Jarrett Jack, Alan Anderson.

Matt Yglesias Tweets: "If your big worry is that water is too clean and children too well-nourished, here's some good news."

Yes, Republicans, threatening to shut down the government again, are preparing to roll back the school meal rules, phased in since 2012 and championed by first lady Michelle Obama, that require more fruits, vegetables and whole grains in the lunch line. The standards also limit sodium, sugar and fat.

Father Pfleger has a point

“Our justice system is broken. Body cameras don’t make a difference if we can see it and still don’t convict anybody.” -- Sun-Times

Rev. Jackson has a point--put cameras on bankers

The official reaction to police immunity for the killing of unarmed black boys and men Ferguson and Staten Island and Cleveland and Brooklyn has focused, not surprisingly, on the police. The president has created a Task Force on 21st Century Policy, with instructions to report in 90 days. He’s committed millions to put cameras on police. But he might be better advised to put cameras on bankers. Reckless, unaccountable and murderous police behavior must end, but the police are simply the gatekeepers assigned to keep order. -- Sun-Times

Tim Black's birthday party at Room 43.

Happy 96th to the great Professor Timuel Black. His birthday celebration Sunday night at Room 43 was over the top. And happy birthday to my favorite grandson, Oscar. The Big O turned 15 yesterday. Damn, that must make me...

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

St. Louis Rams protest Ferguson before Sunday's game with Oakland

Cook County Clerk, David Orr

“The mayor, with millions, has a hard time getting signatures on his petitions. Chuy Garcia in three weeks time, spending no money — all volunteers — got 60-some thousand. In another week, they probably would have gotten 90,000.”  -- Early & Often

Marcia Chatelain, Georgetown University. Started #FergusonSyllabus

 Every school isn’t the same.  Every school doesn’t want to delve into this issue in the same way.  And so for younger kids, I think we really needed to focus on feelings, what is it like when people are anxious or afraid or scared, and a lot of resources on children’s books that talk about emotions during times that are overwhelming.

For slightly older kids, I think that the paradigm of fairness, what happens when people feel like something is unfair, what happens when people feel like their rights aren’t being respected, you can engage in that conversation.  And for older kids, I think that this is an amazing civic lesson about the various responsibilities people have in a community and what happens when that trust is broken.  -- PBS News Hour

Rich Lowry, National Review

"The lessons of Ferguson are quite basic. Don't rob a convenience store..." -- NBC Meet the Press

Hillary: The sounds of silence

Hillary Clinton on Ferguson

"                         " -- New York Observer

Deval Patrick

"When democrats do stand for something, or as I have said in the past, grow a backbone ... we win." -- MSNBC

"Nor shall any state deprive any person of life . . . without due process of law." US Constitution, 14th Amendment
— Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) November 29, 2014

Where's Holder and the Justice Dept. in all of this?

Jesus Mary, this Bob McCulloch guy may be the single greasiest public servant I've ever encountered. -- Esquire's Charles P. Pierce

 Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, wept after learning the grand jury’s decision.“They still don’t care. They ain’t never going to care.” -- CBS Chicago

 The father of Michael Brown appeared at a news conference Tuesday wearing a T-shirt with the slogan, “No Justice No Peace.” -- NBC News

Smirking McCulloch

Woke up this morning still sickened by faux-prosecutor Robert McCulloch's smirking, racist, interminable "explanation" of the Ferguson grand jury whitewash of Michael Brown's murder.

The churning in the pit of my stomach lasted all night, as I watched the exclusive club of seated, nearly all-white "journalists" softball McCulloch and play along with the charade. Then to top it all off, there was President Obama on one side of a split screen, giving what could only be called an exercise in uninspired acquiescence, while on the other side of the screen, the tear gas was flowing.

Never was the disconnect between Obama and the young black men and women in the streets of Ferguson, victims of relentless police mistreatment and violence, more obvious. The president's professorial (I mean that in a bad way) ramblings were never more out of place. Never were his calls for "calm" more hollow sounding.

Two things McCulloch said last night stayed with me through the morning. They were his insinuations that both the Brown family and Eric Holder's Justice Department were complicit in the whitewash.

The first was easily dispelled by the family's own denunciation of the process. As for Holder and the J.D., it's not so clear.

Holder insists the federal probe of the policeman is ongoing and independent of St. Louis prosecutors. But since his initial trip to Ferguson, which was little more than an administration photo op, we have heard nothing about the department's investigation.

Holder visits Ferguson

Here's what McCulloch said:

As Attorney General Holder and I both pledged our separate investigations follow that trail of facts with no preconceived notion of where that journey would take us. Our only goal was that our investigation would be thorough and complete to give the grand jury, the department of justice and ultimately the public all available evidence to make an informed decision.

 I detail this for two reasons. First, so that everyone will know that, as promised by me and Attorney General Holder, there was a full investigation and presentation of all evidence and appropriate instruction of the law to the jury, to the grand jury.

According to McCulloch,  Holder was involved directly in gathering and presenting "evidence" (of what?) to the sham grand jury, where Michael Brown and family obviously had no advocate.

So, since neither Holder nor anyone from the Justice Dept. has responded to or rebutted McCulloch's claims, we're left with the obvious questions:  To what degree, if any, were the U.S. Justice Dept. and Attorney General Holder complicit with this travesty of justice? And what are they going to do now, if anything, to intervene and help bring at least a semblance of justice to the Brown family and the Ferguson community?

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Kate Manne

When, three days after the shooting, another white officer called the (primarily black) protesters “[expletive] animals,” it cemented many people’s fears that Brown had been slain in a similar spirit — the thought being that the officer responsible, Darren Wilson, saw Brown as an animal, or at least as less than human. -- In Ferguson and Beyond (NYT)

Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts

But a path can be traced from slavery to the killing of Michael Brown. -- The Worth of Black Men (NYT Magazine)

Bob Herbert to Bill Moyers 

“People need to start voting against the excessive power of the great moneyed interests. But more than that, we need a movement, a grass-roots movement that will fight for the interests of ordinary men and women…” Restoring an America That Has Lost Its Way

Karen Lewis

Bob Fioretti

 "She is a fighter and I know that she will bounce back, stronger than ever... But right now, we should all respect Karen’s privacy and give her the space she needs to get better." -- WBEZ

Mark Rosenbaum of the L.A. pro bono law firm, Public Counsel

"These are kids who desperately want to go to college and have nothing to do. It's like you're asking for the moon if you ask for an art class, an academic decathlon class, a literacy class." -- Deasy's inaction on Jefferson High fiasco is shocking (L.A. Times)

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Rich Miller

A quick note to Bruce Rauner: The next time you try to claim that Gov. Pat Quinn is "personally" under federal investigation (an allegation that, as far as anyone can tell, is not true), it's probably best not to say it while standing next to a different governor who actually is "personally" under federal investigation. -- Crain's

Marian Wright Edelman

Racially discriminatory school discipline policies contribute to the Cradle to Prison Pipeline crisis with a Black boy born in 2001 having a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison in his lifetime and a Latino boy a 1 in 6 chance of the same fate. -- Huffington

Chicago Trubune Columnist Eric Zorn 

I see that Emanuel's supporters are nervous enough about the prospect of a challenge from Lewis that they're already dialing up the histrionics, clutching their pearls and fanning themselves with premature and utterly phony concern over a "conflict of interest." -- Tribune

Doing "their jobs"

Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson

 "I'm truly sorry for the loss of your son. I'm also sorry that it took so long to remove Michael from the street. Investigators were doing "important work" trying to uncover the truth and collect evidence during those four hours...They were simply trying to do their jobs." -- CNN

NYT Columnist Frank Bruni

Around that same time, there were movements on scattered college campuses to attach so-called trigger warnings to texts whose evocations of, say, anti-Semitism or rape might prompt emotional turmoil in students. This echoed moves years earlier by officials at some elementary, middle and secondary schools to prune standardized tests of words that might distress students, either by summoning life’s harshness, reminding them of their deprivation or making them feel excluded. “Poverty,” “slavery,” “divorce,” “hurricanes” and “birthdays” were on a list drawn up by New York City educators, who later abandoned the plan. -- The Wilds of Education

A color-coded visual of Chicago's reform failure

Blaine Principal Troy LaRaviere

Thanks to Blaine Principal Troy LaRaviere for sharing this excellent color-coded visual on Reading Growth in Chicago's Public & Charter Schools. @TroyLaraviere on Twitter calls it a "visual of Chicago's Charter Reform Failure." He's right.

On one side, the chart shows the 45 CPS schools with the highest growth in reading scores. They are all public, with no charters, contract schools or turnarounds in the mix. On the other side are 45 schools showing the lowest growth, with 22 of them being charters, contracts or turnarounds.

This after more than a decade of test-based reform strategies under Daley/Duncan and now under Emanuel/Byrd-Bennett, leading to the closing of dozens of traditional public schools and the uncapped expansion of charters, contracts and turnarounds.

Given this data, how can Rahm and BBB possibly take credit for the slight overall bump in test scores reported last week? They can't, writes LaRaviere in this op-ed Sun-Times piece.

When mayor Rahm Emanuel recently heralded a small gain on the average Chicago Public Schools elementary “MAP” test results, I knew something wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t what he said; it was what he didn’t say. You see, this is the first year the MAP scores can provide a more decisive apples-to-apples comparison of charter schools and traditional public schools.

Author Nye and family

Good Read in WaPo by Naomi Shihab Nye, a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Growing up in both Ferguson, MO and Gaza has given her some insights few others share. I will definitely find a way to use this in my course this quarter. Thinking #FergusonSyllabus.

Ferguson was a leafy green historic suburb with a gracious red brick elementary school called Central. I loved that school, attending kindergarten through sixth grade there. All my classmates were white, of various derivations – Italians, French-Canadians, etc. My father was the only Arab in Ferguson. But he ran for the school board and won. 

Speaking of Charters...Feds from various agencies are bumping into each other investigating UNO's charter hustlers. This time around it's the IRS, according to the Sun-Times. Their audit involves nearly $37 million in bonds issued in 2011 for the UNO Charter School Network Inc., whose 16 campuses across the city receive a total of about $50 million a year in funding from the Chicago Public Schools.

In a letter to the Illinois Finance Authority, IRS officials said the 2011 bonds were "selected for examination because of information received from external sources or developed internally that caused a concern that the debt issuance may fail one or more provisions" of the federal Internal Revenue Code.

In June, UNO and its charter-school network settled a civil case filed by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission that accused them of defrauding investors who bought the bonds.

S-T's Dan Mihalopoulos reports:

UNO began in the 1980s as a Hispanic community activist group. Under Rangel, it moved into the lucrative charter-school business in 1998, expanding quickly with support from political figures including Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), former Mayor Richard M. Daley and Emanuel.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Bruce Rauner

 "I've worked with Rahm Emanuel and (former Mayor) Rich Daley because they control the schools," Rauner told the Tribune earlier this year. "And we've talked about school reform fairly extensively. We disagree on many things ... but on school reform we see things the same way. He believes in charter schools and competition and choice. He's starting to come around and be supportive of vouchers, which I am a definite believer in." -- Chicago Tribune

 Melissa Harris-Perry 

So, see, Ed? There’s no need for your teachers to change the subject. Because what we do as teachers is to offer guideposts, context, and space for disagreement. We can teach our students not to be afraid of the unknown and the complicated, by confronting the hard topics as well as the easy. Now is the time to teach, not to hide. -- Open Letter: How to teach students about Ferguson

 Chicago Tribune Editorial from Feb. 4, 2007

"Terrence Carter represents a new breed of principals who entered the profession from business through an excellent principal training program called New Leaders for New Schools. The program, which operates in Chicago and five other cities and is about to add two more, imposes higher expectations on principals." -- The Courant

Univ. of Illinois faculty members

 “With this vote of no confidence, the faculty of UIUC’s American Indian studies program also joins the thousands of scholars and organizations in the United States and across the world in seeing the chancellor’s action as a violation of academic freedom and freedom of speech.” -- New York Times

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Atty. Gen. Holder meets with students from St. Louis Community College

Eric Holder

“History simmers beneath the surface in more communities than just Ferguson.” -- New Republic

 Lesley McSpadden (Michael Brown's mother)

“We couldn’t even see him. They wouldn’t even let us go see him. They just left him out there, four and a half hours, with no answers. Wouldn’t nobody tell us nothing.” -- N.Y. Times

Tyona Fields 

“I’m praying to God we can get these kids in school because kids have been out too long,” said Tyona Fields, one of the cafeteria workers at Griffith Elementary School. School is scheduled to start next Monday. -- N.Y. Times

Rahm Emanuel

 “The narrative is: We’re the murder capital. Not close." -- Politico

Coltrane

Cornell West on Obama

"It’s a sad thing. It’s like you’re looking for John Coltrane and you get Kenny G..." --- Salon

Stephen Mihm

When we see broad areas of inequality in America today, what we are actually seeing is the lingering stain of slavery... Today, in the 21st century, it still casts an economic shadow over both blacks and whites: “Slavery.”  -- Boston Globe "Where Slavery Thrived, Inequality Rules Today"

Schools play a big role in the Ferguson story. It's a teachable moment in time.

Fergson teachers would rather be with their students in their classrooms. Instead, they spend the day picking up debris, including tear gas canisters, from local streets. 

SELMA, Alabama -- A sixth grade teacher at a Selma elementary was placed on administrative leave after having students reenact the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown that took place Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Mo. -- AL.com 

Ferguson schools remain closed today, 11 days after the killing of a local student and the ensuing protests. Why? It seems that the district leadership has abandoned its students completely to the streets. For many Ferguson students, school is where they get their only hot meal of the day. The Washington Post reports that a teacher in North Carolina has raised more than $80,000 in order to pay for food for kids in shuttered schools.

Ferguson-Florissant is considered a high-poverty school district because many of its students qualify for free and reduced-price lunches — 68% of them last year, though it is likely that the real percentage is higher as some families never filled out the paperwork.

CLASS WARFARE...The police shooting of Michael Brown and the ensuing protest is but one dramatic chapter in a much larger story of the widening black/white, rich/middle-class/poor economic and social divide and conflict.

Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writes in this week's TIME Magazine ("The Coming Race Ware Won't Be About Race") that Ferguson is not JUST about systemic racism, but about "class warfare" as well  and how America's poor are systematically held back.  But if there's class warfare in the United States, it's mainly one-sided. Brown's death changed all that in Ferguson.

Kareem cites a 2012 Pew Research Center report showing just half of U.S. households are middle-income, a drop of 11 percent since the 1970s; median middle-class income has dropped by 5 percent in the last ten years, total wealth is down 28 percent. Fewer people (just 23 percent) think they will have enough money to retire. Most damning of all: fewer Americans than ever believe in the American Dream mantra that hard work will get them ahead.

He might well have mentioned the schools in his portrait of growing economic inequality and accompanying racism. A look at Ferguson's two-tier school system would easily make the case. Michael Brown's own high school, for example, along with the district in which it resides, was stripped of its accreditation last year by the state, which then allowed students to transfer elsewhere with tuition and transfer fees paid by the unaccredited district, thus draining it of millions of dollars.

Compare this to Rahm Emanuel's closing of 50 schools, mainly in Chicago's black community. The only difference is that Fergusion's public schools system is suffering death by a thousand cuts rather than one.

EdWeek reports that black students in Ferguson schools are being suspended at much higher rates than white students and they are more likely to be stopped and arrested by white police officers outside of school. EdWeek also points out that these racial disparities in arrests and suspensions don't belong to Ferguson alone, but are repeated nationwide.

Art McCoy

There was some hope for Ferguson schools with the hiring of Ferguson-Florissant School District's first African-American school superintendent, Art McCoy. But the city's all-white elected school board (3/4 of district students are black) found itself at odds with McCoy's approach and soon forced him out. Students, parents and school activists have rallied around McCoy, demanding that the board to bring the superintendent back and even calling on them to resign.

McCoy tells Democracy Now:

As a school official and superintendent, part of my goal was to bring equity to the region by making sure that there was an adequate representation of principals and of teachers that matched the students that we served, and we made some strides in that area. The other initiative was to bring jobs. We were proud and I was proud to be a recipient of Harvard’s Pathway to Prosperity grant, one of three districts in the state to do so, to bring job-training skills, of advanced manufacturing and other skills, so that students can earn the skills, as well as receive jobs while they’re still juniors and seniors.  

More McCoy:

But I think riot is the language of the unheard, and protest is the speech act of a democracy that says, "You are a public servant and here to serve me, too." And I don’t blame those for voicing their opinion, but I do think we need people that are on the ground that represent all people, and not just by words, but by action, by deed, by creed, by ethnicity and intent. And so, I think that’s important.

ACROSS THE RIVER in Edwardsville, IL, teachers have been officially barred from talking to their students about the events in Ferguson. It's not a teachable moment, according to Dist. 7 Supt. Ed Hightower, who signed the memo banning any mention of Michael Brown's death or the ensuing protest. If students bring it up, ordered Hightower, "change the subject."

“Such comments have caused students and parents to lash out which is not healthy in the District 7 community,” says a memo to staff on Tuesday from Dennis Cramsey, principal at Edwardsville High School.

Teaching is not heathy. We get it.

Today's test question: Why do police wear camouflage?

WATCHING FROM CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Worst Media Coverage Ever Award belongs to CBS News for this morning's headline: Michael Brown Protests in Ferguson Hijacked by 'Criminals' : Cops. Unless by "criminals" the headline was meant to refer to the Ferguson PD.

As the violent and terrifying Ferguson siege by militarized police forces, heads into Day 10, I'm still awed by the courage, anger, and desperate resistance shown by the mostly-peaceful and disciplined community protests against overwhelming odds. More live (on MSNBC) late night images of courageous youngsters ducking and dancing their way past armored vehicles, through the barrage of rubber bullets and tear-gas canisters, even daring to pick them up and return them to their rightful owners, jar memories of Watts '65, Harlem '64, Prague '68, Chicago '68, Tienanmen '89, Tahrir Square '2013 and Gaza last month.

Yes, 10 days since the murder of Michael Brown by Officer Wilson and still no arrest. Still no charges filed. What we know for sure from the various autopsy reports is that Brown was shot 6 times (including once in the palm of his raised hand and one in the top of his skull) as he stood passively, hands in the air. How many more autopsy reports do we need to see and how many federal investigations do we need to take place before an arrest is even made and charges filed? The struggle continues. No justice, no peace!

CAUTION... Three of Ferguson's four public schools remain closed but that doesn't mean children aren't getting Civics lessons from street teachers after being abandoned by city leaders and school administrators. A note posted on the Jennings School District website said the decision was made "out of an abundance of caution," and that the district anticipated starting the school year today.

No gas or shots fired against Cliven Bundy

I almost forgot another near-battle scene, this one handled with patience and restraint by authorities. That would be the confrontation in April between feds and an armed band of white-supremacists led by robber of public lands, Cliven Bundy. Yes, race matters when it comes to administering justice. Another Civics lesson for Ferguson kids.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Ferguson Protester Lisha Williams. 

"It was no fight, it was no shots fired. The only ones who fired was police. All we did was march to the command center to fall to our knees and say, 'Don't shoot.' And they started shooting." --CNN

Malcolm London

Chicago poet, Malcolm London

"They don't talk about white-on-white crime in the news." -- Huffington 

Attorney Benjamin Crump

"What we're really asking for is simple justice. We're not asking for anything extraordinary. They just want what anybody else would want if their children were shot down in broad daylight." -- CNN

Justice Taney

Melissa Harris-Perry

 In 1857, Chief Justice Roger Taney declared that [Dred] Scott had no right to sue because as a black man he was never intended to be an American. Speaking of the clause in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal,” Taney wrote:
“It is too clear for dispute, that the enslaved African race were not intended to be included, and formed no part of the people who framed and adopted this declaration.” Taney went on to say that black men “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” -- MSNBC

 U.C. Prof. David Kirp

While technology can be put to good use by talented teachers, they, and not the futurists, must take the lead. The process of teaching and learning is an intimate act that neither computers nor markets can hope to replicate. Small wonder, then, that the business model hasn’t worked in reforming the schools — there is simply no substitute for the personal element. -- Sunday NYT, "Teaching is not a business"

Militarization vs. the Network Society

I was deeply moved yesterday evening, to be standing with more than a thousand fellow Chicagoans, hands raised in a gesture of solidarity with the family of Michael Brown and the courageous people of Ferguson, MO. Similar demonstrations are taking place in dozens of cities and on university campuses.

GAZA, MO...Coming on the heels of the Israeli assault on Gaza, the events in Ferguson, after the police killing of Michael Brown, raise so many questions. So many connections are being made. For one, I am fascinated by the role social media has played in both events, as a participatory, community and movement-building alternative or supplement to an ever-more tightly controlled news media. The military and police attacks on and jailing of journalists and censoring of news reports were central to both.

SEARCHING...As I was posting this, I did a Google search to find the articles I had previously read from NYT and other sources regarding Israeli censorship of  Gaza reports. I tried searching, REPORTERS CENSORED IN GAZA. Do it and see what you get. All the stories from NYT and others, seem to have been scrubbed and most of what you'll get are stories about Hamas censorship of reporters via Hillary and Netanyahu. How did they do that?

CASTELS...Preparing for the fall quarter which begins in a few weeks, I've gone back for a look at the writings and research on the topic of the network society by Spanish sociologist and USC prof, Manuel Castells. He was awarded the 2012 Holberg Prize, for having "shaped our understanding of the political dynamics of urban and global economies in the network society." 

The social networks, including live, amateur video streaming were key is raising awareness about the transformation and militarization of many of our local police forces.

I was also amazed to see how Twitter lit up during the #Ferguson siege with tweets even coming in from the West Bank, (many thought they were coming from Gaza -- they weren't) offering advice to protesters and residents about how best to deal with tear gas and chemical attacks.

Yesterday in Chicago

MILITARIZATION goes way beyond the police departments. You'll find it in the schools -- Chicago leads the nation in replacing neighborhood public schools with military academies -- and across the culture (movies, TV, advertising, sports, etc...).

But the militarization of police departments is the scariest, especially in black communities, where all-white departments, armed to the teeth with Afghan war killing power, seem more like an occupying force than anything to do with serve-and-protect. See  Bill Moyers' piece, "Not Just Ferguson: 11 Eye-Opening Facts About America’s Militarized Police Forces." Moyers says:

The “war on terror” has come home — and it’s wreaking havoc on innocent American lives. The culprit is the militarization of the police...Through laws and regulations like a provision in defense budgets that authorizes the Pentagon to transfer surplus military gear to police forces, local law enforcement agencies are using weapons found on the battlefields of South Asia and the Middle East.

WAR COMES HOME...Driving much of this is the Department of Defense's 1033 program, which Congress passed in 1997 to expand on a 1991 initiative, initially aimed at encouraging private sub-contractors to sell surplus military equipment meant for Iraq and Afghanistan to police departments for use in counter-narcotic and counter-terrorism situations. Of course there's no point in cash-starved communities spending billion on this stuff unless they are to be used. Look for two-three-many Fergusons to follow.

This from the Washington Post:

"We went through some pretty bad areas of Afghanistan, but we didn't wear that much gear," said Kyle Dykstra, an Army veteran and former security officer for the State Department. Dykstra specifically pointed out the bulletproof armor the officers were wearing around their shoulders, known as "Deltoid" armor. 

"I can't think of a [protest] situation where the use of M4 [rifles] are merited," Fritz said. "I don't see it as a viable tactic in any scenario."

NOWHERE TO RUN...I'll end now. My head is exploding with the sound of low-flying bombers and fighter planes buzzing my humble abode in Logan Square. Yes, Logan Sqare, NOT Gaza or Kabul. Speaking of militarization, it's the damn Air and Water Show. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. 

Waking up to a not-so-new American morning

"Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; ...or the right of the people peaceably to assemble" -- 1st Amendment, U.S. Constitution

“A riot is the language of the unheard.” -- Dr. M.L. King

This is supposed to be the 1st day of school in Ferguson, MO. Instead, the St. Louis suburb is shaken after another night of protests.
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) August 14, 2014

Shaken, disturbed, angry...that describes me this morning after watching the live streaming and follow-up news coverage on MSNBC of the violent, militarized police assault on the black community in Ferguson last night. The sounds and images of an unprovoked, small-town, 94%-white police phalanx moving on a crowd of unarmed, peaceful mainly black citizens, firing rubber bullets, tear gas and concussion grenades as they came, rekindled disturbing flashbacks of Watts 1965 and Chicago, 1968 -- two events that greatly shaped my own political consciousness.

Al Jazeera crew flees after taking a direct hit.

This was no police riot, but a well-executed Gaza-style assault on a defenseless community, still in shock after the cold-blooded police murder of Michael Brown.

High on the list of targets was the press with reporters being told to leave, turn off their cameras and stop recording well before the assault began. A camera crew from Al Jazeera was fired upon and reporters from the Huffington Post and Washington Post were roughed up, arrested and then released with no charges. A St. Louis alderman was also jailed. Many of the police had removed their badges and identification and arrested reporters tried in vain to get the offending cops to identify themselves.

 You can read WaPo reporter Wesley Lowery's chilling report of his arrest here. But while many in the media passively complied and others resisted as best they could, one courageous indy-media guy (I am Mike Brown Live) braved the bullets and gas and kept the live stream coming, capturing both the violent horror and the brave acts of resistance.

Twitter was also alive with reports and commentary. My own tweets were being re-posted faster and with greater frequency than ever before. I couldn't even keep them on screen long enough to read. Among the most interesting were the solidarity tweets coming in from Gaza, advising people in Ferguson on how to deal with tear gas.

 THE FIRE NEXT TIME...According the the Washington Post, St. Louis is among the most segregated metropolitan areas in the nation. Ferguson, one of the 91 municipalities in largely white St. Louis County, has seen its population shift in recent years. About two-thirds of the city’s 21,100 residents are black. That’s a significant increase from 2000, when blacks made up just over half of the population. White residents, who had accounted for 44 percent of the population, now make up just under 30 percent.

If this sounds familiar, it should. Chicago, and it's re-segregated inner-ring suburbs are only a hop, skip and a jump up I-55.