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Thursday, July 7, 2016

What matters when injustice and inequity are the norm? That someone march!


Senator Robert F. Kennedy said: "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?"

Today I pack this "why not march" Walking Man's bag for the train to DC.
I am going to the Peoples March for Public Education and Social Justice.
Why, because truth matters!
Why, because equity for all matters!
Why, because justice matters!

What if no one shows up?
So what ~ I'm showing up!
What matters is, that I was born to be a man on a bridge over trouble waters...

What matters in a nation where 49 states spend more money on their wealthy schools than their poor schools?
That someone march!

What matters when 15 years of failed education reform test and punish becomes ESSA "let's do it all over again"
That someone march!

What matters when politicians put "For Sale" signs on our public schools?
That someone march!

What matters when Presidents, Senators, Members of Congress, Governors, Mayors, State and Local Legislators reduce Children and Teachers to data?
That someone march!

What matters when Black, Brown, and poor local public schools are abandoned to make way for Hedge Fund Charters Schools for Profit?
That Someone march!

What matters when grit, rigor, and no excuses education shames, demoralizes, and leaves millions of Black, Brown, and poor children behind?
That Someone march!

What matters when states chase dying children who are in hospice care, just so they can test them?
That someone march!

What matters when Special Needs Children are tested at levels they can't understand?
That someone march!

What matters to One Man Standing on a Bridge for Justice?
That HE marches!

What matters, is NOT How Many March, but what matters is That Someone Marches!
Jesse The Walking Man Turner.




If you like to know what this walking man is listening as he packs his bag for DC. It's an Indigenous rights classic, Little Things Big Things Grow song by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody is based on the story of the Gurindji Strike, a walk-off and strike by 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants and their families in August 1966 at Wave Hill cattle station in Kalkarindji, Northern Territory. The strike took place mainly due to work and living conditions but ultimately became about the return of Gurindji peoples' land. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAONlfoNVuY

1 comment:

  1. We seem to be on the wrong page in public education; I was reminded in my diversity class (for MA in Spec Ed) of this and of how hard it is, because we are trying to get this message up to the top of the "totem pole" as teachers.

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