I Will Not Be Complicit In America's Apartheid Schooling

I am a proud member of the sister and brotherhood of resistance to systemic racism in our public schools. 

I am going name inequity in our public schools for what it really is. It is this constant violence of systemic racism against Black and Brown children in our public schools that feeds White Supremacy in America.

rhttps://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/schools-nationwide-brace-cuts-financial-crisis-70967682?cid=clicksource_4380645_2_heads_hero_live_headlines_hed Link to one of the many articles predicting the coming school budget cuts.

Imagine 170 years of inequity and injustice in our public schools? Now imagine Black and Brown children attending our public schools that never ever were fully funded? Parental Love requires giving children all they need to grow and prosper. America has refused to provide Black and Brown children what they need to grow and flourish. This refusal to give all America's children what they need to grow and prosper represents our national shame, but the sinful violence against Black and Brown children. The struggle before us is evident, complicity is a crime. A sin and crime against human decency and humanity.

Recognize the violence against our nation Black and Brown children in our education policies. Coretta Scott King informed America of what violence against Black, Brown and poor looks like "I must remind you that starving a child is violence. Neglecting school children is violence. Punishing a mother and her family is violence. Discrimination against a working man is violence. Ghetto housing is violence. Ignoring medical need is violence. Contempt for poverty is violence." ~ Coretta Scott King

So, now comes this pandemic that clearly focuses the light of injustice and inequity on these schools. Remote learning further pointed out a digital divide that exacerbated inequity in Black and Brown communities.

Now, a caring nation that values all children would remedy these inequities, not cuts budgets. Jonathon Kozol calls our public education system, "Apartheid Schools." Jonathan Kozol said:
"There is something deeply hypocritical in a society that holds an inner-city child only eight years old "accountable" for her performance on a high-stakes standardized exam but does not hold the high officials of our government accountable for robbing her of what they gave their own kids six or seven years before." ~ Kozol, (The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America).

Trust me, our work is to liberate our nation's children from 170 years of apartheid schooling. Until then, these budget cutters should be named for who they are. The leaders and evildoers of America's Apartheid School System.

Trust me, there is a connection between this police brutality that murders in Black and Brown communities and the brutality of inequity in our public schools.If you are silent? Then you are complicit in 170 years of white supremacy?
I will not be complicit in this evil. I am a member of the resistance uniting to save our schools.

I am a proud member of a community that rejects complicity,
Jesse The Walking Man Turner
Member of USOS

If you like to listen to the tune I listen to on my walk this morning? Its the Play For Change cover of "Teach Your Children". > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5AuFDHdrrg < 

Love Rescue me

The news of the past week has been so bleak. 100,000 lives lost to COVID-19, the brutal murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, just 2 weeks after the killing of Ahmaud Marquez Arbery. Moral Monday CT/Balck Lives Matter met last night online with people from all around the world. We said their names; we spoke ones not heard on the news as. There are far too many. It helped to be in community with others.

Yesterday I was lost, but friends and community found me, lifted me, and we listened deeply to our collective fear and pain.
Today I shall light my candle, say my prayers, and reflect on one of those lives of more significant works.
Today, I shall remember the life of Mother Teresa.
Her words fill me this day,
Today Mother Teresa's words fortify me.

"Peace begins with a smile.
There are no great things, only small things with great love."

"Happy are those.
Spread love everywhere you go.
Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

If you judge people,
You have no time to love them."

If you can't feed a hundred people,
Then feed just one."

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak,
But their echoes are truly endless."

"Let us always meet each other with smile,
For the smile is the beginning of love."

"Be faithful in small things because,
It is in them that your strength lies."

"Yesterday is gone.
Tomorrow has not yet come.
We have only today. Let us begin."
"I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts,
Then there is no hurt,
But only more love."

The struggle for justice is real, it is a struggle of many coming together. I am part of this struggle for the right to breathe, live, and strive for all people.

I am no Dr. King.
I am no world leader,
I am really quite small in ways of the world.

I am, however,
My Sister's keeper,
My Brother's Keeper,
And they are my keepers,

I am one seed of hope, among many,
A twig reaching for the light,
Together we are the coming forest of justice for all.

In the meantime,
I shall not hate,
I shall lead with love,
See me here,
In my silliness,
At my best.

I am a teacher, and
My superpower is not the letters after my name,
It is the love that fills my heart
My goal today is to remember,
I am not alone,
I am part of a community of loving usurpers,
Come to tear down hate,
I share lean on higher lives,
Today I shall call upon,
Mother Teresa's life and words.

I shall remember those words "there are no great things, Only small things with great love."
I am a small:
Man,
Teacher,
My works are small,
But, my works are filled with great love.

Love Wins,
Dr. Jesse P. Turner

Moral Monday CT Education Ambassador

The only song that I listen to over and over again on my walk this morning is "Love Rescued Me"
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjiRnY6xlDE <

Central To You: No More Summer Reading loss

In this COVID-19 Spring rush to remote leaning, we will spend decades trying to understand how much learning time did children actually lose.

My thinking is with summer fast approaching, we need to do all we can to avoid any summer reading loss. Consider spending 30-minutes with Nelba Marquez-Green, (The Ana Grace Project), and Dr. Jesse P. Turner the Central Connecticut State literacy Center discussing how to avoid summer reading loss.

Hoping you join Nelba and I as we support Parents, Step-Parents, Foster Parents,  and Grandparents prevent summer reading loss.

May 26, 9:PM EST

A quick read about summer reading loss:
Dr. JAMES S. KIM is an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and THOMAS G. WHITE is a senior research scientist at the University of Virginia discusses the negative impact that summer reading loss has on children of color, and possible solutions to summer reading loss in the following article.

Solving the Problem of Summer Reading Loss 

> https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/jameskim/files/prof_pub-pdk-white-2011-summer_loss.pdf

"Richard Allington and his colleagues (2010) tried this. They recently reported the results of an experimental study in which low-income children got books to read in three successive summers. The 1,330 participants were pre- dominantly black or Hispanic children who be- gan the study in the 1st and 2nd grades at 17 high-poverty elementary schools in Florida. Children were randomly assigned to a treatment group that received 12 books in each of three summers or to a control group that re- received no books. The children chose the books themselves. Each spring, they were brought to a book fair where they picked from a large selection of trade books. The results of this in- the intervention showed a small but statistically significant improvement in the children’s reading skills, particularly among children at the low- est socioeconomic level."

This summer may be the most important in the literacy development of our children in generations. Simple truth summer reading matters, and it should be a family affair.
Please consider joining us for this free Facebook Live Event on the Ana Grace Project Page.
> https://www.facebook.com/anagraceproject2015/

If you are wondering what the Walking Man listened to on his morning walk today its Barry Lane's "more Than A Number"