Dear Mr. President Trickle Down Economics does not make America Great!

Dear Mr. President, it appears you and I have a disagreement on what would make America great. Your economic plans appear to be deeply rooted in those failed trickle-down economics. Once again the poor shall be forgotten, refugees shall be persecuted, the sick, windows and orphans shall be told fend for yourselves. While the wealthy, the powerful, and connected shall be put first.

Ha-Joon Chang, the author of 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism said: “Once you realize that trickle-down economics does not work, you will see the excessive tax cuts for the rich as what they are -- a simple upward redistribution of income, rather than a way to make all of us richer, as we were told.”

For nearly 40 years now the needy have waited on trickle-down economics to lift working people. Once again Washington plans to go back to that tickle-down well of despair and immorality. Wall Street is jumping for joy, reaching new heights daily, and laughing all the way to the banks.

A warning Mr. President, if the poor do not get justice in this world, they will get justice in the next. Scripture states: Deuteronomy 15:7-8, 10-11 “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs…You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. For the poor, will never cease from the land; therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.”

A warning America, trust me on this one thing God sees all, knows all, and will never view the richest nation in the world that favors it's wealthy, it's powerful, and the connected at every turn, while ignoring the poor as great. Every day we mistreat the poor, refugees, widows, orphans, and our sick is another day America is not great. Mr. President, I plea with you make "America Great," lift our poor, embrace refugees, help our widows, our orphans, and our sick. It is simple, we will never be one nation under God until we honor God’s call to lift our brethren, and our poor with open hearts.

Until then may God forgive us,
Jesse The Walking Man Turner

PS A word to all you Legislators, Education Reformers, CEOs, Billionaires, and Policy Makers. You can't improve our public schools in poor urban and rural communities, without improving those communities and the lives of the people who live there. If you like to listen to the song that inspired my morning walk over the mountain today? Its Up To The Mountain by Patty Griffin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA6Q5-Ap3o8

In Between the madness, remember this? What we teach in public schools matters

Beyond Close Reading!
Beyond high-stakes testing!
Beyond their Ed Reform scams!
What matters!
In between the madness of appointing Betsy DeVos the United States Secretary of Education. Someone with no experience working in public schools, or even having attended them. Between America's madness of endless high-stakes testing, and school choice scams. Remember this one important point teachers and parents? What we teach in our public schools matters!

Cesar Chavez said: “We need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens this community - and this nation.”

At our CCSU Literacy Center we held our 15 Annual Black History Month Read-A-Thon as part of NCTE's African Read-In this past Monday. We hold Read-A-Thons every month. In March, it's Women's History. In October, we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, in November we celebrate Native Americans. In December, we celebrate our Immigrant Roots, Come April we celebrate poetry, and in May we celebrate our veterans and peace.
At Read-A-Thons:
We wear pajamas,
We wear sports gear,
We wear crazy hats,
We wear costumes,
We wear dance outfits,
We bring our pillows,
We bring our stuff animals,
We bring our little brothers and sisters,
We even bring our big brothers and sisters.

No one reads in chairs,
We read on the floor,
We read under tables,
We read on sleeping bags,
We read on beach towels,
We read with flashlights,
We read with buddies,
We read in the hallway,
We read on the stairs,
We read,
We read and we read.

Our Read-A-Thons, promote reading stamina via 90 minutes of continuous reading and talking about reading. They promote reading for pleasure via student choice. Kids pick what they want to read.
Something beautiful and powerful always take place at our Read-A-Thons. Something not written into any of our objectives. Something bigger than close reading!
We come to know each other,
We come to respect each other,
And we come to value each other.

I wonder if in this rush to measure and test close reading, we miss the real power of history?
I wonder if we are turning children away from reading for pleasure?
I wonder if with close reading history becomes a chore?
I wonder if we might be missing the real potential of history?
History  as the power to bring us together!
You know the power to cherish and preserve the ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens our America that Cesar advised us to teach?
Harmony, respect, and dignity aren't written in our Read-A-Thon objectives, but they are everywhere.
Reading feeds our souls, and our young people's souls are so very hungry for real reading America,
Jesse The Walking Turner

If you are wondering what song this Walking Man was listening to on his walk over the Avon Mountain this windy day...its the version of "Teach Your Children Well" by Play For Change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5AuFDHdrrg

Another meaningless ranking falling short of jusitce

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http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/the-states-with-the-best-and-worst-schools/ar-AAm3g5w?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp - page=1

Above is a link to a Wall Street Journal 24/7 article discussing the 2017 Quality Counts Report from Ed Week.

Coretta Scott King said: "Poverty can produce a most deadly kind of violence. In this society violence against poor people and minority groups is routine. I remind you that starving a child is violence; suppressing a culture is violence; neglecting schoolchildren is violence; discrimination against a working man is violence; ghetto house is violence; ignoring medical needs is violence; contempt for equality is violence; even a lack of will power to help humanity is a sick and sinister form of violence."

These rankings always focus on quantitative observable and measurable outcomes, and almost always pass over the research showing "out of school factors" such as how "poverty" impacts public education.  They seldom address what Coretta called society's violence against poor people. They view poverty as some intangible outcome, some mythical possibility, something out there that needs mentioning, but too big to ever address directly.  They mention it, and run from it. They retreat to rankings as if they prove some form of objective American innocence. America we may wash our hands in objective rankings, but this blood of generations of ignored poverty will not wash off.  
Dr. Paul Thomas in his reply to rankings rightly reminds us about those out of school factors: "that 60-80+% of those measurable outcomes; and thus, outcome-based data of educational quality are more likely a reflection of social conditions than school-based quality. "

When this 24/7 Wall Street article mentions poverty it uses the words "MAY NOT". "By contrast, “children living in low-income areas [may not] have the resources to help them get off to a good start.”
What is this "MAY NOT," but another cover up.  

My Momma, taught me sometimes a man has to jump up and testify. Allow me to jump us and testify on this "May Not" bull.
Having been a child who experienced poverty, hunger, and even homelessness, let me set the record straight:
No one learns in school on a hungry stomach,
No one pays attention when there is no heat at home,
No one learns when the electricity has been cut off at home,
No one learns when you have no home to go to after school,
No one learns without the medicine they need to heal and live.
Only Bureaucrats, Policy Makers, Politicians, Billionaires, and those who have never known poverty use the words "May NOT".
A truth to power from the Walking Man nothing destroys learning like poverty.

If America truly wants to lift our poorest public schools? America needs to lift our poorest communities.
Good Jobs matter,
Full stomachs matter,
A living wage matters,
Health care for all matters,
Affordable housing matters,
Quality Early Childhood Education Matters,
Sick leave matters,
Facing up to institutional racism matters,
Ending the School to Prison Pipeline matters,
A pathway to citizenship matters,
Pensions matter,
Unions matter,
Libraries matter,
Hospitals matter,
Free Mental Health Care matters,
Real Super markets and affordable public transportation matters.

What doesn't matter is America's rankings,
What doesn't matter is more tax breaks for billionaires. 
What never mattered is 40 years of trickle down economics that never made it to our poorest cities and rural communities.
What would matter? Is ending this constant failure of our 50 states to make the eradication of poverty their number one priority.

Poverty always matters,
Any nation that does not do all it can do to end poverty is committing a crime against their most vulnerable citizens.
The world's richest nation cannot claim to hold any moral mantle of justice, when it has failed to lift the poor for generations.
It is simple America, our greatest sin has always been our failure to lift up our most needy children, parents, and families.
Our greatest threat is not on our borders, but our indifference to our poorest brothers and sisters growing in our own hearts. 
Our silence and apathy is our greatest sin,
Jesse The Walking Turner



If you like to listen to the song inspiring my walk this morning its Phil Collins "Another Day In Paradise" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiUQE5bJKFU