Dear Mike,

C-SPAN (BOOKNOTES, WHICH RUNS ON C-SPAN TWO) IS DOING A 3-HOUR SPECIAL ON JONATHAN’S ENTIRE CAREER STARTING AT NOON EASTERN TIME THIS SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, THE DAY AFTER JONATHAN’S BIRTHDAY. IT’S A VIEWER CALL-IN PROGRAM AND WILL REACH OVER A MILLION PEOPLE.

Jonathan will be there in the C-SPAN studio to answer questions callers throw at him, and I expect many of the callers are going to be vicious right-wing types who despise everything he stands for. It would be great if teachers, former students, educators, and just plain friends who know what Jonathan is like and how hard and long he’s worked for kids like he ones he’s described in the South Bronx and Boston, feel like calling-in to give him some support. I’m sure Jonathan will be questioned about Shame of the Nation, Amazing Grace, Letters to a Young Teacher, and his other books and all the issues they raise about unequal, segregated schools, NCLB, corporate privatizers, the testing mania, etc.

I know he’ll be speaking out on behalf of all those idealistic and terrific teachers who write to us and tell us that they feel that everything they value (and the public system as a whole) is under withering attack. Knowing his views on charter schools (the kind that are run by private groups, especially for profit), I assume he’ll have to disagree with President Obama if this comes up. It probably will. Perhaps, even if you can’t call in, you’ll spread the word, by website or other means, to as many good folks as you can.

THIS SUNDAY, C-SPAN TWO, STARTS AT NOON E.S.T. (11 A.M. CHICAGO, 9 A.M. LOS ANGELES.) -- Jonathan’s friend, defender, ally, and co-worker, Melanie Harris