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.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Coach tells Trump: Let's drop the big one. 

Bobby Knight compares Trump to Truman

“Harry Truman with what he did — in dropping and having the guts to drop the bomb in 1944 — saved billions of american lives.”  [Note to Coach Knight: Truman wasn't president in '44 and dropped the bomb in Aug. 1945. U.S. population has never reached a billion.]-- Mediaite

Hillary Clinton, yikes!

"I have a lot of experience dealing with men who sometimes get off the reservation in the way they behave and how they speak." -- Interview with CNN's Jake Tapper 

 Yesterday's May Day march in Chicago.

Larry Wilmore 

But I have to say, it’s great, it looks like you’re really enjoying your last year of the presidency. Saw you hanging out with NBA players like Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors. That was cool. That was cool, yeah. You know it kinda makes sense, too, because both of you like raining down bombs on people from long distances, right? What? Am I wrong?  -- At the White House correspondents’ dinner

Pedro Noguera

 “Like it or not, schools are competing for kids, and public schools don’t even realize it. Like it or not, that’s the set-up.” -- L.A. School Report

 Terry Mazany, the chairman of the NAEP governing board

 “This trend of stagnating scores is worrisome." -- New York Times

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

The mayor of San Francisco is sworn in — to boos and arrests

Valerie Jarrett on #RahmResign

“So I really shouldn’t comment on Chicago in particular because it’s under that investigation of [Loretta Lynch] hers.” In the interview with BuzzFeed at the White House Friday, Jarrett praised the protests, giving them credit for the current focus on the Chicago police.

“We’ve seen so many peaceful demonstrations. I don’t think we get sufficient credit to the demonstrators who are out there in the cold in Chicago — all over — demonstrating, trying to say we want change." -- BuzzFeed

Community activist Jared Steverson

 "As you can see, [Mayor Emanuel] is going to black colleges. He's going to places where black people and Latino people are because he wants to get us back before election time comes in the next three years," Steverson said. When asked if that could happen, Steverson said, "not at all." -- ABC7

Pedro Noguera

[ESSA] is not addressing the real issues related to poverty that are contributing to why those schools are struggling... Students respond well to teachers they know, believe in them, care about them, but also who teach in a matter that elicits a more active approach to learning, rather than just sitting and listening. -- Mother Jones

David Kirp

Mr. Cerf and Raz Baraka, who succeeded Cory Booker as mayor, recently announced that up to $12.5 million of the Zuckerberg gift will be invested in a network of “community schools” — sunrise-to-sunset schools that offer health care and social services, located in the city’s most troubled neighborhoods. -- N.Y. Times

Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan

"Families in Flint were forced to drink lead-tainted water while the administration scoffed at their concerns and cries for help. An entire generation of Michiganders now face an uncertain future because of Republican cuts to essential and life-giving services." -- Common Dreams

The sell-out disease

SEEMS TO BE A LOT OF THIS GOING AROUND LATELY.

Maybe SEIU #73 leaders somehow spread the sell-out disease to New Jersey.

Booker & Christie

The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) is now backing former Newark Mayor Corey Booker, one of its own worst enemies, for senator. Look, they even give him a full page on their website to prattle on about his love for school vouchers. On several occasions, Booker has let it be known that he wanted to make Newark N.J. the capitol of privately-run charter schools. He's also in bed (figuratively speaking, of course), with hated N.J. State Supt. Cami Anderson and her boss Chris Christie.

N.J. Blogger Bob Braun tries to make some sense of it all here.

SAVING AND TRANSFORMING PUBLIC SCHOOLS

I just got this week's special Saving Public Schools issue of The Nation and it's a good one. But the title is somewhat misleading. It's not just about saving public schools, but transforming them and changing the entire system of public education in the process.

The lead editorial, "Our Public Education System Needs Transformation, Not ‘Reform. I would argue, it needs transformation and reform. The great lineup of ed-activist writers includes: Dana Goldstein, Kenzo Shibata, Diane Ravitch, Lee Fang, Pedro Noguera, Gordon Lafer, Daniel Denvir, Michelle Fine, and Michael Fabricant. Don't miss.

The editors write:

A truly progressive vision for public education shouldn’t focus on stories of how a few kids competed their way out of blighted neighborhoods. Instead, it should focus on taking back that stream of money going to charter chains and corporate tax cuts and redirecting it toward schools anchored in strong communities and using proven methods for teaching kids—the very methods deployed in schools where the rich send their children. Indeed, the most disadvantaged kids should get even more support for their schools than their privileged suburban counterparts.

WAR!... Rahm has declared war on the city's retirees and has found some allies in the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals which has given the mayor the green light for his three-year phase-out of the city’s 55% city subsidy for retiree health care. This will be upwards of a 50% increase in medical costs for retired city workers, many of who live on a fixed income.

But if its war he wants, it's war he'll get. As Brother Fred points out:

Bad news for the employees. But bad news for Rahm as well. These employees are voters. 28,000 retiree voters.