2016 WORD: The most potent weapon people have is not in Washington DC. It's the ballot, and the ballot belongs to the people!

People keep talking about what's missing from the debate on reauthorizing ESEA (NCLB).

All I think is who is missing?
Students!
Parents!
Teachers!

First in my blog tonight I have decided to share just a few images of the people I have met walking to DC. There are too far too many to share. You should know people of all colors, all faiths, and all political affiliations have come to share their stories of testing and punish pain. I want you to see how beautiful they are. This is the America CNN, MNBC and FOX never see, never put on the airways, this is the America mainstream media knows nothing about.
Second, at the end I want to share my analysis of the scam ESEA debates going on in our nation's capital. I want to lay out a simple truth about how to take our government back.
Readers I would love to hear you thoughts.

A simple truth, this is our nation. It's a government for the people by the people. These are our public schools, and they are not for sale. High stakes testing in our K-12 schools has to end. The time for test and punish is over. 
William J. Barber, II, Moral Mondays Leader and President of North Carolina's NAACP said: "We don’t send our kids to school to become skilled test takers... wrote in an op-ed in the Hill. "We pay our taxes and send our kids to public schools because we need future corporate CEOs, cardiologists and aerodynamic engineers, university presidents and school principals, urban planners and architects. Our sons and daughters can’t reach these heights when accountability in our education system hinges on standardized test scores, not cultivating intellectual opportunity."
Rev Barber gets it, Washington DC doesn't.
People say to me, Walking Man have you contacted mainstream media about your historic walk?
Yes I have reached out.  Let me be perfectly honest I do not expect them to come rushing to cover this walk against abusive high stakes testing in our public schools. I have come to see them as part of the problem, and in the service of the test and punish lobbyists. After all who are their sponsors?
We don't need to reach out to them. If we want them to pay attention then we should:
1. Start boycotting their sponsors.
2. Start protesting outside their studios.
3. Start asking your cable/dish companies to drop their news channels.

People always ask me, have you reached out to the Democratic party about your walk?
I have reached out to both political parties. Again to be perfectly honest I do not expect politicians to wean themselves from the massive test and punish political donation money tree. We don't need to reach out to them. We need to remind them we are their boss! If we want them to pay attention then we should:
1. Stop giving them political donations.
2. Start protesting outside their local offices.
3. Stop your party line, and start voting your conscience.

I am not walking for our Mass Media,
I am not walking for politicians,
I am walking for our nation's children,
I am walking for our nation's teachers,
I am walking for our nation's public schools.

I am walking, not begging to be noticed by the wealthy, the powerful, or the connected.
I am walking, because our nation's children, their parents, their teachers, and their public schools are suffering an injustice endless testing and punishment.
Trust me no one in Washington is listening.
I have heard children, parents and teachers crying.
I have offered a shoulder to lean on.
I have listened deeply to their truths.
I am delivering one message only at every stop at this point of my walk.

You are the ones we have been waiting for,
You are the heroes who can save our children,
You hold the most potent weapon in the history of any democracy!
You hold the ballot box!
That ballot box is our most powerful weapon, and it can change things on any given election day.
You are the people,
You are the power that gives power to every leader,
All you need to remember is, this is a government for the people by the people.

So I am no longer reaching out to the Mainstream media.
If we want their attention we must occupy our streets, our courts, and our schools. The key word here is "OUR" that's right these places belong to the people not them.
I am no longer reaching out to Political Parties.
Truth be told if we want their attention then we must use the ballot box.

I have listened, read and followed these sham discussions and debates about NCLB and reauthorizing ESEA act.
Listening to them on C-SPAN daily, I become convinced that these men and women represent not the people, but the lobbyist of the test and punish industry.

They have not heard the testimonies of:
Our children,
Our parents,
or our teachers,

My message is system is broken in Washington.
My message is the system is unjust.
My message is these elected officials have forgotten who they work for.
My message is ballot matters!
My message is we need to rally the people to our nation's capital in massive numbers.
My message is we need to be in their face at every turn.
We need Washington to understand the scam is over.

It's time to take the people's government back.
It's time to remind these elected officials we put them there, and we can kick them out.
In 2016 it's No Justice! No Votes!

If you like to know what I am listening to on my next 10 miles in the morning. It's Mankana's "We are the many, you are the few" https://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=aaplw&p=we+are+the+many+you+are+the+few+youtube+song