Day
12 belongs to the grassroots activists I find everywhere I walk. These are my
day 12 heroes.
America’s corporate education reformers, policy makers, testing company CEOs believe that they hold every key, but this is not the way I see it. The view from on the ground is an uprising of the people calling for change in our schools. At every turn I see a beautiful tapestry of my people, a beautiful tapestry of America’s people, a glorious tapestry of Black, White, Brown, Yellow and every thread in between. I hear our children, I hear our parents, and hear our teachers at every step of this journey to DC.
Corporate reformers love their Comic Book heroes; they are forever waiting Superman but me I have found real heroes.
I find them in America’s schools, at music festivals, on country roads, on busy city streets, in back yard gardens, in church halls, and in our libraries from Connecticut to DC.
My hero’s are not driven by data walls,
My heroes are not driven by profit margins,
My heroes are driven by,
Hope and love.
Their only desire is to do right by America’s children.
My heroes believe in school equity, my heroes hand out flyers, knock on doors, and spread the word that schools can be more than a race to the bottom.
They are young,
America’s corporate education reformers, policy makers, testing company CEOs believe that they hold every key, but this is not the way I see it. The view from on the ground is an uprising of the people calling for change in our schools. At every turn I see a beautiful tapestry of my people, a beautiful tapestry of America’s people, a glorious tapestry of Black, White, Brown, Yellow and every thread in between. I hear our children, I hear our parents, and hear our teachers at every step of this journey to DC.
Corporate reformers love their Comic Book heroes; they are forever waiting Superman but me I have found real heroes.
I find them in America’s schools, at music festivals, on country roads, on busy city streets, in back yard gardens, in church halls, and in our libraries from Connecticut to DC.
My hero’s are not driven by data walls,
My heroes are not driven by profit margins,
My heroes are driven by,
Hope and love.
Their only desire is to do right by America’s children.
My heroes believe in school equity, my heroes hand out flyers, knock on doors, and spread the word that schools can be more than a race to the bottom.
They are young,
They
are old,
They
are tall,
They
are shot,
They
come all faiths;
They are on the left,
They are on the left,
They
are on the right, and they are in between.
My heroes are not hedge fund managers,
My heroes are not hedge fund managers,
My
heroes are not secretaries and commissioners of education,
My
heroes are not legislators,
My
heroes are not millionaires,
They
do not play golf with millionaires,
They
do not fly in corporate jets,
They
do not Play pickup basketball games what Hollywood stars,
They
do not have the White House on speed dial,
My
heroes are parents, who cannot afford to send their children to an elite
private school.
My
heroes are teachers who have to buy their own art supplies, pencils and the paper
for their classrooms.
My
hero’s are found in kindergartens to high schools all across America doing the
best they can do every day,
My
heroes are more than test scores,
My
heroes are not your data, and
My heroes are not your profits.
My heroes are not your profits.
The
intellect of my heroes is far too big for those tiny bubbles your standardized
test.
The potentials of my heroes cannot measured by America’s CEOs.
They are our future,
They are hope walking,
They are our children,
They are our teachers, and
They want their public schools back.
My heroes defend local public schools,
The potentials of my heroes cannot measured by America’s CEOs.
They are our future,
They are hope walking,
They are our children,
They are our teachers, and
They want their public schools back.
My heroes defend local public schools,
My
heroes fight high-stakes testing,
My
heroes want justice not more tests,
My heroes are beautiful,
My heroes inspire me,
My heroes are beautiful,
My heroes inspire me,
My
heroes are tireless, and
My heroes will not rest until they take back our classrooms and public schools.
Today this 10 miles is for every grassroots
education activist who speaks up, who knocks on doors, hands out the flyers,
and spreads the truth about our public schools,My heroes will not rest until they take back our classrooms and public schools.
I am sincerely humbled by the parents, the teachers, the activists who use social media, knock on doors, hand out the flyers of hope and leading our resistance.
Walking to DC,
Jesse
If you want to know what tune this walking man sang on his walk from Yonkers to the Bronx? It's Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBfjU3_XOaA <
