Is this fascism rising in America?

Jaunary 6, 2021 capitol attackers pardoned, but the Sandwich guy WELL? 

 

I watch as National Guard, Marines, and masked ICE agents are deployed in our nation... Is this how Fascism in America rises?

"And if then the tyrants dare

Let them ride among you there, 

Slash, and stab, and maim, and hew,—

What they like, that let them do.”

“Rise like Lions after slumber

In unvanquishable number,

Shake your chains to earth like,

Dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you,

Ye are many-they are few 

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley ~

    I read Shelley and find myself wondering, is America falling?   have never feared for my nation’s future, until now. Donald Trump steps on our Bill of Rights every day. I include the first 10 amendments of The Constitution of the United States of America here to reflect my charge against this man. The first 10 amendments are America's Sacred Ground. 

In my view, this man has attacked the First Amendment since 2016. He repeatedly calls the press  fake news, and calls protestors thugs.  All the while praising the mob who violently attacked our nation’s Capital on January 6th. 2021. He diminishes Amendment 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 by ordering ICE Agents to snatch immigrants off the streets ~ without a warrant, in plain daylight, while hiding behind face masks.  They wear SWAT vests, carry high powered weapons, and refuse to identify themselves. 

        I find myself wondering, when will Shelley’s lions rise?  When will they come to see that they are the many; these thugs are the few.  Why not a national strike?  Shut down the economy.  Along with these modern day Detention Center Bastilles.  Shelley's Lions did not rise after the Massacre at Manchester in 1819 England. 

        But you and I remember.  We remember  Chile... Argentina... Italy... Spain...  and Germany. We have seen this before.  History repeats itself.  I wonder aloud ~  Where are the lions? 

I list my evidence below:

Bill of Rights

Amendment 1 Freedoms, Petitions, Assembly (Constantly attacks these)

Amendment 2 Right to bear arms (Support this one, but my thinking how long before permits come with loyalty pledges) 

Amendment 3 Quartering of soldiers (Has touch this one yet)

Amendment 4 Search and arrest (In my View ICE and his political DOJ office violate this one regularly) 

Amendment 5 Rights in criminal cases (Well not if you are an immigrant, Green Card Holders, and if he gets his way Birthright Citizens are in danger)

Amendment 6 Right to a fair trial (Depends on your loyalty)

Amendment 7 Rights in civil cases ( Well this one depends on if he wins in my view)

Amendment 8 Bail, fines, punishment, (Again not for immigrants sent to El Salvador, or any nation willing to take immigrants for a price)

Amendment 9 Rights retained by the People (I see loyalty pledges down the road)

Amendment 10 States' rights (This one depends on when they favor his position)

        For the first time in my life, I am very scared of Fascism rising in our United States of America. I am a teacher, a writer of prose, and Facebook Posts.  I am no Lion ~ only a teacher who, like Shelley, dreams of Lions Rising.  

    I saw this, heard this, and  read this before.  I remember, I am Jesse, 70, retired, and safe.  I can wait for these Lions to rise up. I can smoke my cigar, drink a little bourbon, and tell Toast (my dog) all that is wrong in America.  I can hope, and take comfort that there are Lions out there,  somewhere.  I chase my tears away with a puff on my cigar.  It is my silence that tugs at this old heart of mine.  It is apathy that keeps their eyes off me.  This safety condemns my soul... 

    What does an old  history/reading teacher do when the  president is trashing our sacred rights?  I am just a teacher, a recently retired teacher.  Do I stay quiet, while I smoke and drink the fine gifts they gave me when I retired?  I am no Lion, but I remember all too well hearing a Chilean Lion's unfinished song. 

I remember hearing about the Chilean teacher "Victor".  He was a poet, a folk singer, a Lion of Lions.  He carried no gun. He sang his songs. His Chile's traditional folklore inspired the working people of Chile.  General Pinochet kidnapped him along with thousands of Chilean citizens who protested the death of their President.  Thousands would be murdered, and thousands more would just “disappear”. The last time Victor was seen was at the university.  He was helping students distribute food and gasoline.  It was right there, with the students, that he was taken.  Victor Jara was targeted because he was a folk singer.  The army made an example of him. He was beaten and tortured.  He had been shot 44 times, when the students finally found his body in the streets ~ as a warning to "All Lions".  The Teacher, The Lion, is immortalized in American Folk Music by Arlo Guthrie in New York City   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vatEqeFmXdQ   

Make no mistake,  America supported Fascism in Chile, and Pinochet’s rise to power.  When President Allende was killed, so too was his nation’s democracy.  Why did Nixon fear President Allende enough to support Pinochet’s Coup?  Allende had just passed legislation which established the Chilean National Health Service, guaranteeing universal health care for Chile.   Nixon along with the CIA feared Allende's brand of democratic socialism would spread throughout South America.  Pinochet’s brutal dictatorship would rule for seventeen brutal years, from 1973 to 1990.   Pinochet lost a 1989 Plebiscite, and  free elections brought Christian Democrat Patricio Alywin to power.  There are no songs for Pinochet.  His only legacy is one of shame and pain.  He was indicted in 1998 by Spanish Baltasar Garzon, and arrested in London, where he was held under house arrest, and ordered to return to Chile.  There he was indicted and charged. He would die in shame before his conviction, no one sings  a memorial song.   Whose song is sung? Victor Jara ~ Chile’s Lion, songs from him and for him, are sung every year in Chile, and all over the world.  A recent movie, The Penguin Lessons,  has me remembering Chile’s Lion Teacher and Folk singer.  In 2006, Dublin, Ireland, I heard Christy Moore singing  Jara’s Song “Victor Jara of Chile lived like a shooting star He fought for the people of Chile with his songs and his guitar". 

His hands were gentle and his hands were strong. > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiKPu5WmOkQ  <

Art moves people to remember, to question, to reflect.  Art endures, even inspires Lions!  Fascism threatens everyone’s Freedom. We can be lions, or we can be silent. I chose to be a teacher of truth, a lion like Victor Jara.  So yes, I am scared for Our Country, Our  People, Our Constitution. It is so easy to enjoy my conversations with Toast in our yard... But Lions must roar!  Lions must warn the pride!  Lions must stand up to the threat!  I can bury my head in the sand as  America’s Bill of Rights and Constitution are under threat. But I am a Teacher...  a Lion...  I am writing to warn the pride...   November '26 and again two years following, November '28,  requires every Lion and Lioness to turn up at the polls.

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired this Teacher Lion tonight, it is Bob Marley’s Stand Up For Your Rights > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhJ0q7X3DLM <

A child born in Russia uses art to transform the world

As I watch in shock as President Trump and his followers take away funding form PBS/NPR, and the arts, I remember what Art does for us. It Liberates us. Why study Art?
Why art teachers?
After all children only need to read, write and to math to survive....
Art has this innate power to liberate us. This was a great show highlighting conceptual art, the art that defies simple descriptions. Art that breaks the rules, and occasionally breaks the law. Art that inspires, lifts, and redeems, transforms marginalized voices. Art defies labels, it last long after empires fall, it gives voice to oppress people everywhere. It sustains our souls.

Here is to all you Badass Art Teachers,
Dr. Jesse P. Turner
103.5 FM New Haven Readman: Truth to Power Hour host
If you have time klick the link to my radio show about art....

 Radio link to Dr. Turner's Truth to Power radio interview with Professor Ted Efermoff  today about art ion 103.5 FM New New Haven https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-xVvs0pmm0 

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my morning walk it is Don Mclean's " Vincent"
>  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHnRfhDmrk <

Dr. Louise Rosenblatt and What Race, Culture, and Politics have to do with low reading scores in Black and Brown Communities

 

There has always been two views of literacy, one that is simple, one that is more complex. There are many theories of literacy, but the simple Vs the complex are like ground hog day events. First, lets remove the smoke and mirrors of learning to read.  No one learns to read without learning phonics. We are forever rooted in endless reading wars about phonics Vs no phonics, this is the straw man argument. Yetta Goodman was my dissertation advisor, and she taught me to learn from those that think differently, we all have much to learn.  Now getting back to simple Vs complex views. Phonics is part of learning to read as is the texts use to teach children to read. Simple View proponents value the texts, just as Complex views valued phonics and fluency.  There is a great deal of science in both views, as Yetta Goodman said we have much to learn. Simple Yetta Goodman message the science never ends. 

Let me take you on a journey to 2005, and my conversation with Louse Rosenblatt at the National Council of teachers of English Conference.  

Dr. Dorothy Menosky, (the professor who sent me to the University of Arizona to study with Ken and Yetta Goodman). She knew I was deeply vetted in the literature of Louise Rosenblatt. Dorothy was my outside committee dissertation member, and she loved how I build Transactional Theory in my Literature Review. Dorothy was friends with Louise Rosenblatt, Dorothy told her about my work on the Tohono O'odham Reservation using Transactional Theory as the link to progressive education, American Indian Education, Critical Theory, and Whole Language together. At NCTE 2005 Dorothy arranged for Louise to meet with me for a one on one for two hours to discuss my dissertation. Talk about Transactional moments, this was Dorothy's gift to one of her favorite students. I would leave this meeting fully understanding the importance of my research on the Tohono O'odham Reservation.

My research is vetted not on any "Simple View of Reading", (The Simple View of Reading is a theory that attempts to define the skills that contribute to early reading comprehension. According to the original theory, an individual's reading comprehension is the product of her decoding skill and language comprehension (Gough & Tunmer, 1986). The key idea is that both the ability to decode and language comprehension are necessary for reading comprehension.) Key point is language comprehension is second in the simple view of reading. This second is the achilles heal of the Simple View of Reading, no manner how many rope treads they wrap around this view, the reader brings skills not themselves to the text, the rest is smoke and mirrors. 

The text in this view is primary, the reader is the recipient of text based knowledge, even deeper comprehension is text based in this view, you don't understand yourself, life, or the world better, you understand the text better. You bring nothing to the text. In the Simple View of Reading version comprehension does not connect to the reader's personal, social, cultural or political points of view. These are blurred at best. The reader is subservient to the text, and any measure of comprehension is fixed on the text. There is no multicultural literacy views, no cultural literacy views, no racial views of literacy, no personal literacy, no political views of literacy, no world views. Certainly you can see which side President Trump and his “MAGA” Education Reformers fall on. 

This is an old story, it goes back to the very beginnings of public education, one camp wanted obedient subjects, the other liberators. In DC 2025, Liberators are out, and we are losing the literacy battle in communities of color. This is not to say we were ever winning the battle, but at least we had a shot at literacy for freedom. The current reform demands teachers take no shots. 

Even our Black and Brown children who learned to read, see no point of reading in schools. I am a White Literacy Professor who dares to say it out loud, children of color need greater reason to read than knowing their ABCs. Combined this with banned books, school library closures, and defunding local public schools in communities of color, and you can see the NEW Jim Crow begins long before the polling booth. The Simple Views of Reading fits neatly into White Supremacist purpose of education. 

Douglass, F. (2005). Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave, (Signet Classics).

You can see both the Simple View of Reading and the Transactional view of reading in Douglass's literacy journey. His first exposure to literacy was from Mrs. Maud who was reprimanded by her husband for teaching Frederick his slave the ABCs. She saw no Libration value to reading. Most White women in the south read to kill time, make small talk, to think lightly, not deeply. This is not to say to was true for all southern White women, but Mrs Maud knew her place. Her husband would threaten great harm to Frederick Douglass if she continued. Her lessons ended there. Frederick did not see mere ABCs he saw freedom, liberation and independence in reading. His real literacy lessons began that day. 

My thinking is Frederick Douglass would side with the Transactional view of literacy.   "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free. "~Frederick Douglass Mrs Maud's ABC were not void of the evil and painful experiences of slavery. Mr. Douglass brought every lash, every humiliation, every painful loss to his ABCs, and because of what he brought with him, his lessons could not be stopped, he would become his own master of his ABCs. Frederick Douglass was a major common ground in my conversation with Louise that day, he is quote in my dissertation, but more than that his view of reading as freedom in rooted in every word in my work.  

My two hours with Louise began with the understanding " Texts are not expository or poetic, literary or non-literary on their own; those who give texts such labels are actually reporting their interpretation of the writer’s intention as to what stance readers should take. Instead, readers are free to choose their own stance, which guides his selective attention. This will fall somewhere in the efferent-aesthetic continuum. In other words what experiences readers bring to the text impact meaning. Each reader brings millions of life experiences that give each text a unique understanding. Think about it Women, People of Color, Immigrants, Jews, Muslims, Sheiks, Christians, and non believers bring their views to every text. This is what Frederick Douglass taught himself, he found his freedom in literacy. When you understand this, you begin to understand why CRT, DEI and anything multicultural threatens “MAGA” Education Reformers. 

For two hours, I shared how my Native Americans students perceptions of reading, writing, listening, speaking, and visually viewing and presenting positively improved the deeper we rooted our reading in Native American History, Poetry, Art, and books written by Native Authors. There were many AHA moments, and pushes to go further.  I came to understand the Critical Pedagogy, Multicultural Literature, Whole Language, Feminist Views, and Progressive Education are deeply rooted in Transactional Theory.  The gist of my view of The Simple View of Reading Theory is offers few pathways to Freedom from the text. Transactional theory questions the text at every level. While I see the science in the SOR View of literacy. I see freedom in the reader. 

I throw my hat into the Arena of Transactional Views  Literacy, like Fredrick Douglass I do not see mere ABCs, I see FREEDOM.
Bless by giants, here is to Louise and Dorothy, 
Dr. Jesse P. Turner 
Professor Emeritus of Literacy, Elementary, and Early Childhood Education 

This image is from my last visit to Dorthy Mensoky's home before she went to glory, and tea with Lousie. 

If you like to listen to the tune that inspire my morning walk and conversation with Dorothy it's Barry Lane's "If I ever had a teacher" 
https://barrylane.bandcamp.com/track/if-id-never-had-a-teacher

Quick simple reference for Transactional view of literacy > https://sites.google.com/site/readwriteliterature/home/about-reading/rosenblatt-s-transactional-theory <