Next steps - anti war work

Obama campaign and antiwar work.

The Democractic Socialists of America position has been to not endorse any candidate. And, we passed a resolution saying that we adopted an anti imperialism in addition to an anti war position

So, if you live in Pennsylvania or Indiana, where there will soon be a primary, you will need to make electoral choices. And the California D.P. caucuses are next week. But, the active campaign season only lasts a few weeks in each state. After the primary- and in the other states- we should be educating, agitating and organizing.
Our task is to advance an anti war and an anti imperialist view as far as we can, to build the anti war movement.

One of the efforts has been Progressives for Obama. You can find their work at
http://www.progressivesforobama.blogspot.com

Two or more of the DSA Honorary Chairs have signed on along with an impressive list of leftists.
Also, on the same page, is a good guide to independent, ie. not Democratic Party, participation in an electoral season by Carl Davidson.
BTW. the effort of Progressives for Obama is not to accept the Obama campaign as it is- but to organize and to push it left, specifically on the war.

An alternative approach has been that of PDA which has done some good work within the D.P.

And, United for Peace and Justice has a strategy for anti war work in this electoral season.

So, there is more than enough to do. We need to move beyond the limited paralysis of punditry and make what we can of this electoral season.

Barack Obama on Teacher Preparation ?

A friend of mine mentioned that Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford was serving as an educational advisor for Barack Obama.
I kept watch.

The New Republic posted this.
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=df590bb6-b976-4ea0-9df4-c82be67aa73e&k=88525&p=1




So, with interest, I re read his plan for education. Here is one interesting piece:


Prepare Teachers: Obama will require all schools of education to be accredited. He will also create a voluntary national performance assessment so we can be sure that every new educator is trained and ready to walk into the classroom and start teaching effectively. Obama will also create Teacher Residency Programs that will supply 30,000 exceptionally well-prepared recruits to high-need schools.

Teacher Performance Assessment in California:

SB 2042, in 2000, required a major revision of teacher preparation in California based upon a new set of state standards and a set of teacher performance expectations (TPEs). The universities have responded by revising their programs. In 2042 the legislature created a system where the state must continually train new teachers to replace those driven out by inadequate working conditions. One element of 2042 required the development of high stakes performance assessment of California teachers (TPA) based upon the teacher performance expectations (TPE) to be developed by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
The problems with this are several. There is no evidence that TPA’s are valid measures of good teaching. To the contrary, our experience tells us that one-time all-or-nothing tests like the TPA are among the poorest possible ways to predict the likelihood that a test-taker will be an excellent California teacher.

Thus the California legislature and CTC have imposed an expensive, redundant accountability system – one the state cannot afford in its current budget crisis. It would be a gross injustice to add funding for this performance assessment into the budget when our schools are having to increase class sizes, lay off teachers, reduce career technical education, cancel transportation, and delay long needed school reforms.

So, I wonder if this is the kind of performance assessment Barack Obama is in favor of?
Duane Campbell





Duane

A tribute to Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta

César Chávez: "Presente"
By Duane E. Campbell

The spirit of Cesar Chavez lives on in the struggle for union rights and justice in the fields of California. Along with Dolores Huerta, Philip Vera Cruz, and others, César created the United Farm Workers (UFW) the first successful union of farm workers in U.S. history. There had been more than ten prior attempts to build a farm workers union.
The United Cannery and Packinghouse Workers (UCAPAWA) organized in the 1930's, the National Farm Workers Union (NFW) led by Ernesto Galarza tried to organize Farm workers in the 40's and 50's. In 1959, the AFL-CIO tried to organize again with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). AWOC had several weaknesses, including a top down leadership selected by AFL-CIO leaders, not by farm workers, and a strategy of working cooperatively with labor contractors. AWOC continued the prior efforts of Ernesto Galarza and the NFW in struggling against "braceros" or guest workers, contract workers imported from Mexico, from breaking strikes. A renewed "guest worker" bill is presently before Congress.
Each of the prior attempts to organize farm worker unions were destroyed by racism and corporate power. Chávez chose to build a union that incorporated the strategies of social movements and allied itself with the churches, students, and organized labor. The successful creation of the UFW changed the nature of labor organizing in the Southwest and contributed significantly to the birth of Latino politics in the U.S.
Today, under the leadership of UFW president Arturo Rodriguez, over 28,000 farm workers enjoy benefits on the job. They are incorporated into California's educational, health and civic communities. The UFW has shown the AFL-CIO that immigrants can and must be organized. In 2002 we won significant victories in the legislature and numerous elections.
César Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Philip Vera Cruz, and others deliberately created a multiracial organization, Mexican, Mexican American, Filipino, African-American, Dominican, Puerto Rican and Arab workers, among others, have been part of the UFW. This cross racial organizing was necessary in order to combat the prior divisions and exploitations of workers based upon race and language. Dividing the workers on racial and language lines always left the corporations the winners.
In the 60's Chávez became the pre-eminent civil rights leader for the Mexican and Chicano workers, helping with local union struggles throughout the nation. He worked tirelessly to make people aware of the struggles of farm workers for better pay and safer working conditions. It is a testament to Cesar Chavez's skills and courage that the UFW even survived. They were opposed by major interests in corporate agriculture including the Bruce Church and Gallo Corporations as well as the leadership of the Republican Party then led by Ronald Reagan. Workers were fired, beaten, threatened and even killed in pursuit of union benefits . Non union farm workers today continue to live on sub-poverty wages while producing the abundant crops in the richest valley, in the richest state in the richest nation in the world.
In response to corporate power, Cesar developed new strategies, such as the boycott, based upon his personal commitment to non-violence in the tradition of Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. César Chavez died in his sleep on April 23, 1993 near Yuma, Arizona.
Today Mexican, Mexican American and Puerto Rican union leadership is common in our major cities and in several industries. For myself and others, the UFW was a school for organizing. Hundreds of activists in labor and community organizations owe their skills to UFW training and experience. Along with improved working conditions, salaries, and benefits, training this cadre of organizers remains a major legacy of the UFW.
César taught us that all organizations have problems, that all organizations are imperfect. But, if you wait for the perfect organization, nothing gets done. Building popular organizations builds people's power, and democracy.
In creating the UFW Chavez organized thousands into a union and inspired millions. Children in school study his life. Many curriculum packages stress his emphasis on service to others. The service side of Cesar’s work was certainly inspiring.
The organizing side changed the Southwest and organized labor. In a 1988 campaign and fast Cesar focused attention on the many dangerous problems of pesticides used in the fields. Artists have captured his image in hundreds of ways. Schools, parks, and highways have been named for him. Establishing Cesar Chavez holiday in California and other states has increased knowledge of his contributions.
The movement led by Cesar created a union and reduced the oppression of farm workers. Many people, descendents of earlier generations of farm workers, learned to take a stand for justice. We learned to not accept poor jobs, poor pay, unsafe working conditions as natural or inevitable. Rather, these are social creations which can be changed through organizing for economic and political power. Dolores Huerta continues her important education and organizing work throughout the nation.
Now, thousands of new immigrants harvest the crops and only a small percent are in unions. The new generations of immigrants and migrant labor hardly know Chavez’ name nor his contributions. Yet, in other regions immigrants are being organized into unions such as Justice for Janitors, by activists who learned their organizing skills working with the UFW. And, Latino political leaders often made their first commitments on a UFW picket line.
Again, that generation is passing. A new generation of political activists, mostly within the Democratic Party, have emerged since the Chavez generations. (Hispanic Republicans seldom see Chavez as a hero figure). In the 2006 massive immigrant rights movements, several new organizing practices emerged. A new, significant Latino union and political base has been created.
Chavez' legacy to popular struggles, to Chicano/Mexicano self determination and to unions for the immigrant workers is beyond measure. He is present in all of our work. I plan to march on March March 29,2008 in memory of Cesar Chavez' contributions building a more democratic society for working people. You can find our more about this remarkable leader at www.ufw.org
And, www.chavezfoundation.org
Duane Campbell is a Professor of Bilingual/Multicultural Education at Calif. State University-Sacramento and the author of Choosing Democracy; a practical guide to multicultural education. (Merrill/Pren Hall.2004)

Obama, Race and the NY TIMES II

In the four articles printed in today's hard copy of the NY TIMES about Obama's More Perfect Union speech, none quoted or commented upon this quotation:

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many.

one article with out this quotation
second article with out this quotation
third article with out this quotation
fourth article with out this quotation

The above quotation from his speech was NOT INCLUDED in the excerpts from his speech printed in the hard copy of the paper today.

This is a significant omission, and a revealing one. It is okay to talk about race and racism as long as we don't link it to the economic structure of this country. Liberals (and the NY TIMES is nothing if not the bastion of liberalism) don't want to reveal or acknowledge the connection between economics and all the other strata (politics, religions, race, gender, etc) within which we move. Obama is wrong to assert that all americans share the same dream and that we can pursue our dreams not at the expense of other's dreams. Not so. Many people dream of a decent home, a safe and nurturing community, health care as a civil right, and a job that pays a living wage (such a dream if pursued collectively not a zero sum game). Others, however, dream of getting rich. And there's the rub. It is this latter dream that comes at the expense of the former dream.

If there is going to be an honest and open debate about race in this country (as Obama has just challenged us to have), it will have to include how our economic system depends on divide and conquer methods (race is one of those). Clearly, Obama thinks it should. It is up to the rank and file to create grassroots movements to put pressure on other power brokers to do the same. Obama is right to be hopeful, our system is extremely responsive to grassroots, popular pressure. Obama can inspire, create a rhetorical placeholder, but it is up to us, the people, to come together. And that takes a lot of tedious work as well as rewarding relationships.

Obama Transcends Racial Divisiveness with Historic Philadelphia Speech; Bill Fletcher on Movement Building

Obama really surprised me this morning with his
"A More Perfect Union" speech in Philadelphia. He spoke again about the unfulfilled promise of Brown v. Board of Education and the intensifying inequality in our schools and the need for a multiethnic coalition involving immigrants and everyone to come together to meet the challenges of our time.
But he caught me off guard when talking about Rev. Wright.
He resisted the tremendous political pressures to disassociate himself from his pastor and the African American community. He did this through an incredibly brilliant framing of his 'progressive' values through the telling of human stories which were connected to our nation's founding in Philly and our future with the story of young white campaign volunteer Ashley Baia. He managed to embrace both Rev. Wright and Obama's own white grandmother who he said had expressed prejudice and discriminatory attitudes at times that made him cringe. "These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love."
Obama also masterfully transcended the divisiveness of petty racial politics and individual racism to point the finger at the institutional racism and classism in American society and the “real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many.”

It is also encouraging to me that, like JFK, Chuck D, KRS-One or Malcolm X before him, Obama always manages to tie the future of our nation also to the energy and idealism of young people and their movements. He concluded:
"I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren."

Thinking more long-term beyond the November election longtime movement and labor leader Bill Fletcher identifies 2 important goals for progressive activists -
Burning Cane: Bill Fletcher: Obama, Enthusiasm, & Movement Building

But when the campaign is over, whether it is at the Democrat convention or in November, if there is nothing to build upon, the enthusiasm will evaporate as it has on so many other occasions after energizing electoral campaigns. I would suggest two steps:

1. Progressives for Obama:

While there are many progressives who have entered into the Obama campaign and are doing good work, there needs to be an independent voice and location to push progressive politics. I spoke the other day with someone working in the campaign that - as enthusiastic as she is - acknowledged that a number of the proposals her committee has been developing have simply been overlooked. My guess is that more of that will happen and the candidate will be increasingly influenced by financial
contributors and those forces he believes to be most significant. If the
progressive voice is only one among many, it will be drowned out. Progressives need to figure out where they can make a difference in the larger campaign as well as explain to their respective constituencies why they are taking the step of supporting Obama; what to expect and what not to expect from the candidate; and what can be done now.

2. Build locally-based, independent political organizations:

Electoral activism and energy is so easily and quickly lost. For those who have become motivated through this campaign, they should be
encouraged to build organizations in their communities and social movements that reflect progressive politics. Such organizations should be grassroots based and, among other things, aim to identify, train and run progressives for local elected office. Holding a President of the USA accountable - be it Obama, Clinton, McCain or Huckabee - will necessitate organization at the base, organizations capable of both putting people into the streets as well as getting them to the polls.
There are tremendous dangers AND opportunities in this election season. Casting caution to the wind and uncritically supporting any
candidate is a recipe for disaster. We must expect that there will be immense tugs to the Right on any elected official. If progressives are not prepared to push back and keep Obama’s feet to the fire then every reservation that many of us have about his candidacy will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Burning Cane: Obama's Crisis - learning from Martin Luther King and Malcolm X

More on Obama's Historic Challenge - from Martin Luther King to Malcolm X - from John Delloro's Burning Cane Blog, a grassroots organizing perspective on social movements and issues of race, class, gender and citizenship.

Burning Cane: Pastor Jeremiah Wright's Challenge

Activist Historian Scott Kurashige gives historical context to the crisis in the '08 Presidential Race for Obama:

Obama’s Crisis and MLK’s Hard Truths - by Scott Kurashige
Millions of Barack Obama’s supporters are asking, “What does he do now?” Everyone following the Presidential campaign has heard sound bites of his pastor Jeremiah Wright condemning American racism and imperialism in the harshest tone possible. In response, Obama has once again been forced to distance himself from a close associate, but this time he has had to do so more forcefully and urgently.
The first thing we need to do is to put this development into context. On the surface level, it is a critical moment in a bitterly contested campaign that has devolved into a back-and-forth match of denouncing and rejecting surrogates. But on a deeper level, it is a reflection of how Obama’s success has forced him to rise to bigger and bigger challenges. And for this reason, a moment like this was sadly inevitable, for there is no Obama path to the Presidency that does not require him to rise above charges that he is unpatriotic or that he is a Black extremist. Such is the inescapable reality of running for President as a progressive African American whose formative experiences came as an inner-city community organizer on the South Side of Chicago.
When confronting a moment of crisis, great leaders are those who can see through the fog of conflict and contradiction to envision a concrete path forward for the nation. What must also be understood is that great leaders do so not as individuals; they do so with the encouragement, involvement, and constructive criticism of millions of supporters. This is why there is a need not only for Obama and his aides to do some serious strategizing. Anyone invested in the short-term and long-term success of his campaign must do some soul searching and some deep thinking about the past, present, and future of America.
To challenge Obama and his supporters in this way, regardless of whether it is fair to do so, is to provoke an unprecedented debate that escalates the stakes beyond any election in recent memory. In order for his campaign to move beyond this crisis, he must do far more than prove that he does not stand for inflammatory rhetoric. Obama must redefine the meaning of love for America.

More

Obama, Race and the NY TIMES

Every once in a great while a little truth seeps out of the NY Times. From last Saturday, March 15th in an article about the controversy over Obama's former Chicago pastor:

“If you’re black, it’s hard to say what you truly think and not upset white people,” said James Cone, a professor at Union Theological Seminary and the father of black liberation theology, who has known Mr. Wright since he was a seminary student.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Los Angeles Educational Equity Leader Karen Bass Rises to CA Assembly Speaker

Congratulations to LA Assemblywoman Karen Bass who Thursday morning will rise from the State Assembly Majority Leader to become California's first African American woman Speaker of the Assembly, the 2nd most powerful post in the State. Bass will be sworn in as Speaker-designate of the Assembly Thursday morning and confirmed later in March by her colleagues.
Bass was elected in 2004 to represent California's 47th Assembly District which includes parts of Westwood, West L.A., Culver City, Baldwin Hills, Leimert Park, Hyde Park, Crenshaw and Mid-City. She is the former Executive Director of the Community Coalition, a South LA-based grassroots community organization, which she founded in 1990, to change public policy and improve the quality of life in South Los Angeles.
In a 2005 interview with the LA Business Journal Bass described her influences:

Q: You call yourself an activist. How did that happen?
A: I grew up in South Central L.A. during the civil rights movement and the Vietnam era, so being an activist was second nature. In fact, there was a whole group of people who grew up in L.A. when I did who have now moved on to public office, union leadership and the non-profit world. There was Antonio Villaraigosa (city councilman), Gil Cedillo and Gloria Romero(state senators), Mark Ridley-Thomas (assemblyman), Anthony Thigpenn (president of Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education), Julie Butcher and Maria Elena Durazo (union local presidents). We all knew each other when we were in our 20s and early 30s and have worked together for the last 25 years to build coalitions.

In Cal State LA's Women's Magazine LOUDMOUTH Bass described her Educational Justice roots in policy-making and grassroots leadership development just before she joined the state Assembly in 2004 :

What public-policy efforts have you worked on in the past,
and what policy do you hope to work on in Sacramento?
Before I get up there I’m going to have to focus, because there are really a lot of areas of public policy that I’m interested in and that I have a background in. Education reform is one of them. One of the first things I did when I started the Community Coalition is form a youth arm of the coalition. That was really designed after how I was raised as a teenager.
I was active in high school in the anti-war effort and in the electoral arena, and there were always adults around me who helped nurture my activism and also kept me out of trouble. And so that’s what we did with a group of teenagers, because I believe that teenagers absolutely have the capacity to understand and interact in public policy and that if you give kids the opportunity to lead in that way, then they won’t lead in a negative way. In my opinion, gang leaders — gang involvement is negative leadership, but it is leadership. And it is organization. And so the question is, Can you get kids to organize in a constructive way? And being an activist fits in with adolescent rebellion anyway because you’re rebelling, and if you channel that in a proper way, then you really win on several fronts.
You win academically because you really do have to study to be an activist, and you win personally because you gain a lot of confidence and positive skills, and you win in the community because you’re getting involved in positive change. Anumber of the young people that we’ve recruited over the years actually stayed with us throughout their whole adolescence and they’re who I’m handing the organization over to, because they’ve grown up now. Fourteen years later, they’re in their late 20s now, and they’re running things.
So, education reform is an issue area that I’d be involved in.
Foster care is another area. Criminal justice is huge. As I mentioned, when I started the coalition, its origins were a response to the war on drugs. Every issue I just named is related to the drug issue. If you don’t make it in our society, you know, you either participate in the legal economy or you participate in the illegal economy. Certainly the major employer in the illegal economy is the drug industry on one level or another, and when they get pushed out of school, kids are left to the illegal economy.
All of these issues are interconnected. What I have to do in this period is a very serious analysis of Sacramento to see where I can be most effective. I’m in the process of doing that now.

Read the Full Interview!

Free Multicultural Educators Conference: Sacramento

“CLOSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP: BUILDING NETWORKS TO SUCCESS”
Saturday, April 12, 2008 - 8:30 AM to 1:30 PM

California State University, Sacramento University Union
FREE Admission, Refreshments, and Parking
Sponsored by the Bilingual/Multicultural Education Department
California State University, Sacramento and the Bilingual/ Multicultural Education Department (BMED) are pleased to announce its 2008 keynote speaker, Dr. Francisco Reveles. In an educational era that is concerned about closing the academic achievement gap, Dr. Reveles recommends building strong, lasting relationships with our students, our colleagues, our parents, and other community members as a way to collaborate in setting high expectations that lead toward achieving concrete goals. Not all students think they have a future because they have lost hope. Educators who mentor students serve as support systems and role models that encourage them to succeed. Dr. Reveles believes that when students begin to feel successful, they are better able to take a stand, to feel empowered rather than impoverished. Developing students’ literacy is one of the best ways to help students feel successful. Learning how to read and write builds self-esteem and serves as a stronghold in every facet of their lives. Success in school builds momentum for students to head out into the world, not only having the skills to hold down a job, but to find their passion and create a career. Your respect, teaching practices, and own resilience serves as a guiding light.
The BMED department sponsors an annual Multicultural Education Conference to provide an opportunity for educators to join forces in their efforts to promote multicultural education in K-12 public schools in the Sacramento region. Approximately 45 break-out sessions will be presented by faculty, teachers, students, and community activists.

Conference Session Strands:
1) Parent/Community Involvement
2) Leadership and Advocacy
3) Closing the Academic Achievement Gap
4) Effective Multicultural Education in an NCLB Context
5) Social Justice Civic Involvement/Service Learning
6) Multicultural/Anti-Bias/Diversity Education
7) Technology/Technical Integration & Media Analysis
8) Empowerment through Critical Pedagogy
9) Curriculum and Strategies for English Learners

More conference information and Call for Proposals posted at http://edweb.csus.edu/bmed/conference/index.html;

or contact Maggie Beddow, Conference Chair, at beddow@csus.edu

Grace Lee Boggs on the Authenticity of Obama's Leadership - WE ARE THE LEADERS WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR

[Photo - Grace Lee Boggs and the late James Boggs]

Longtime movement activist/intellectual Grace Lee Boggs from Detroit has a way of analyzing the world in language we can all understand with a goal of transforming our local communities in new and uplifting ways.

Here's her great piece on Obama's leadership and significance. Thanks to John Delloro's Burning Cane Blog for posting this.

Obama is providing the authentic, visionary leadership we need in this period when our challenges are so great and our politics (as he puts it in The Audacity of Hope) so small.
That kind of leadership is very precious.
26 year-old MLK provided it in 1955 when he inspired Montgomery blacks, sick and tired of being sick and tired, to go beyond protest and manifest a more advanced humanity in their yearlong non-violent boycott.
Jimmy Boggs anticipated it when he said in his last speech to University of Michigan students in 1991 "I don't believe nobody can run this country better than me. I'm saying you better think that way. You need to stop thinking of yourself as a minority because thinking like a minority means you're thinking like an underling. Everyone is capable of going beyond where they are."
Liberals and radicals tend to be skeptical of this kind of leadership....

Grace's full post.

Grace's autobiography Living for Change.

Labor/Change to Win - Fired Up and Ready to Go with OBAMA

The 6 million member strong Change to Win labor federation announced its support for Obama.

Here are Chair Anna Berger's remarks:

Our members and the 40 million workers in our industries are real people who work hard picking the crops, stocking the shelves, preparing and serving our food, building, cleaning and guarding the skyscrapers of our big cities. They drive our buses and trucks.
They care for the sick and elderly and help us raise our children. They are the infrastructure of our society
For them, this election is about changing America to win a better future for our children.
We want a president who shares our vision and is committed to a practical program to translate that vision into action.
Action that will fix what happens at work by:
Protecting the right of workers to have a voice in their workplaces
Health care for every man, woman and child in America
Fair trade policies to promote job growth
Creating good jobs through rebuilding and expanding our nation’s infrastructure
Most importantly, we want a president who shares our dream and unites Americans in building a movement for change. ….a movement with the power to turn that dream into reality.
Today, Change to Win is proud to endorse Senator Barack Obama.

Here's a clip of Obama's speech at Change to Win's Convention in Chicago this past September:

Is Obama Progressive? - From Burning Cane/John Delloro

LA Labor leader John Delloro's blog Burning Cane has some great analysis for organizers and activists on the political significance of Obama's candidacy for President for our longer term social movements.
Check out John's views, along with Howard Zinn, Grace Lee Boggs, Bill Fletcher, Scott Kurashige, others.
Delloro is Executive Director, Dolores Huerta Labor Institute and a teacher in UCLA's Asian American Studies Department.

I met John in the early 90's through his student activism in LA and his leadership in APALA [Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance].

Scott Kurashige wonders if there are similarities between the negativity expressed by some of the "Old Left" of the "New Left" in the past with the criticism leveled against the Obama campaign by some of the "New Left. " Howard Zinn argues that the current concerted public attention with the elections is disproportionate to the amount of energy that needs to be given to direct action. Bill Fletcher suggests a measured "critical support" of the Obama Campaign.
Both Howard Zinn and Bill Fletcher raise valid points when one considers Obama's policy positions. However, Scott is also correct when you step back and examine the Obama campaign as a whole. Do we restrict the possibilities for social transformation if we limit our understanding of the Obama campaign to the legislative stands of the candidate? Are there opportunities offered by the Obama campaign to build real movement?

work hard and get ahead!

In today's NY Times article:
Higher Education Gap May Slow Economic Mobility
In spite of the bad news, they still try to maintain the myth of "if you work hard, are virtuous, you can get ahead" (with the corollary being that if you don't get ahead you are lazy and/or not virtuous). Here's the spin:

"There is some good news. The study highlights the powerful role that college can have in helping people change their station in life. Someone born into a family in the lowest fifth of earners who graduates from college has a 19 percent chance of joining the highest fifth of earners in adulthood and a 62 percent chance of joining the middle class or better. In recent years, 11 percent of children from the poorest families have earned college degrees, compared with 53 percent of children from the top fifth."

mmm....does that mean of the 11 percent of the poor who do earn college degrees, 62 percent of those have a chance of getting out of poverty? So about 9 out 100 have a chance, because they have worked hard and are smart?

(the conservative authors say that poor people don't do well because of family dysfunction. Paul Krugman has another reason )

Math and Social Justice Activists Unite! 4/4 Brooklyn

Creating Balance in an Unjust World
Conference on Math Education & Social Justice
http://www.radicalmath.org/conference
April 4 - 6, 2008 · Brooklyn, NYLong Island University, Downtown Brooklyn Campus

Conference Schedule:Friday, April 4th
School Visits
"Justice, Not Just Tests" event, co-sponsored by the New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCORE). Featuring: Monty Neill, Executive Director of FairTest; youth slam poets from Urban Word; and 8 mini-workshops led by young people from around the country on alternatives to standardized testing.

Saturday, April 5th
28 workshops to choose from, including: "Beyond the Math Classroom: Financial Literacy as a Social Justice Tool," "Discounting Iraqi deaths: A societal and educational scandal," and "The Mathematics of Marriage Inequality."
Keynote Speaker
Networking Lunch

Sunday, April 6th
Panel focusing on the question: "How can educators, organizers/activists and youth work together to use math towards social justice?" Featuring: Chad Milner and Hector Acevedo of the Young People's Project, Bob Peterson of Rethinking Schools, Elizabeth Yeampierre, from UPROSE, Nahyshene Molina, from FUREE and Rochelle Gutierrez from the University of Illinois
Action Groups

Registration InformationRegistration is FREE to school groups bringing students. Otherwise, the registration fee is on a self-selecting sliding scale from $25 - $300.Limited seats available in the workshops - so register soon!!! Virtual RegistrationCan't attend the conference? Get a DVD with video footage of conference events and electronic versions of workshop handouts by choosing our Virtual Registration. Sign up here.

Teaching for Change - Resources for Black History Month and All Year

During Black History Month and all year please support Teaching for CHANGE and social justice teaching. Below are titles from the Teaching for Change on-line catalog. In the DC area you can also purchase these and many more at their bookstores in Busboys and Poets.
For ideas on how to go beyond the “heroes and holidays” approach to teaching about African American history, we offer a free article on Heritage Months.
For Middle and High School

Free Classroom Sets

A Place at the Table
Illustrated stories on historic struggles for equality. Order individual copies or class sets for just the price of postage.

Freedom Song
One of the best films to teach young adults about the Civil Rights Movement.

Freedom Walkers
Finally a book that tells the full story of the bus boycott in which Rosa Parks was one of many heroes.
For Children Ages 7-10

Rosa
Nikki Giovanni's book is written for young readers without sacrificing the complexity of the story. The illustrations are radiant.

Black Indians
Traces relations between Blacks and Native Americans since the time of the conquest. Filled with inspiring stories.

Africa Is Not a Country
This book celebrates the great diversity of many countries in Africa as experienced by children at home, at school, at work and at play.
For Very Young Children

I Love My HairStunning illustrations, great message about hair and identity.

Shades of BlackBoard book with beautiful photos of children.

The Dashiki/El DashikiBilingual (Spanish/English) beginning reader set.
For Teachers and Parents

Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching
This award-winning text has lessons for all ages and background reading for teachers.

Lies My Teacher Told MeNew 10th anniversary revised and updated edition of this classic critique of US history textbooks.

Young, Gifted and BlackThree essays by noted scholars on promoting high achievement among African American students.
New option: If you want an item delivered that is not in our on-line catalog, you can now order almost any book, film, or CD from this commercial site, and the proceeds benefit the Teaching for Change bookstores. (Note that we do not select or endorse the ads on the commercial site.)

Thank you for ordering from Teaching for Change and supporting their efforts to promote and distribute social justice teaching resources!

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Math and Social Justice Teaching? AFSC's New Cost of War Project

The AFSC [American Friends Service Committee] has a great new teaching/community education resource - the Cost of War Project - check it out and also please sign the petition today to defund the war and refund human needs in Iraq and the U.S.


See also these great tips, resources and suggestions on how to teach math with a social justice approach from Milwaukee Math Teacher and Rethinking Schools leader Bob Peterson:

As a math teacher I try to integrate social issues into math on a daily basis. Unfortunately the Iraq War provides way too many opportunities. I just happened upon a new web site that might be very helpful for teachers and others concerned about the war.
I am sure many of you already know of the website: http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home
They calculate the cost using the current Congressional expenditures. I have used this site a lot as part of math and social studies lessons in my fifth grade classroom. I've written some of them up for Rethinking Schools -- for example see "Bring the War Home to Our Classrooms".

But now there is a new site that I think is very helpful --actually it's a whole new campaign initiated by the American Friends Service Committee. Check it out at: http://www.afsc.org/cost/
They calculate the cost based not only one what is being spent today,
but also future costs -- on debt, on taking care of wounded soldiers, etc.
So instead of $280 million dollars a day, they estimate $720 million a day and then they have a short video to got with it explaining what we could fund in one day's Iraq War expenditure. They have also launched a petition drive -- a form of protest that has been used by all social movements in our nation's history, and one that is very accessible to students of all ages.In terms of current events the use of the video is obvious. In terms of math instruction it could also be a powerful tool. Whether it's large numbers, place value, statistics, multidigit multplication and division, the short video could be a useful spark for some deeper mathematical thinking. It also points out to students the absolute necessity for people to be "mathematically literate" if we are going to change the direction of this country and put it on a more just footing.
As usual, I'd be interested in hearing from people who are infusing
social justice issues into their math instruction.
Sincerely,
Bob Peterson
co-editor, Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers

It's Diversity St***d

for those who argue for homogenous classrooms, by ability or otherwise, see this NY Times article
about Scott Page:

His recently published book, “The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies” (Princeton University Press), uses mathematical modeling and case studies to show how variety in staffing produces organizational strength.

SFFS E-letter

Check out upcoming events for social justice activists at SFFS blog
let me know if you want to subscribe to SFFS E-letter.

public versus private spending

consider public education as part of public infrastructure as you read below.

From article in yesterday's NY Times

(interestingly, John Hopkins is doing the same in Baltimore, according to The Wire last night)

The shift from public money to private wealth in shaping the nation’s cities is evident in national data. Government outlays on physical infrastructure have declined to 2.7 percent of the gross domestic product, from 3.6 percent in the 1960s. Philanthropic giving, in contrast, has jumped to nearly 2.5 percent of G.D.P., from 1.5 percent in 1995 and 2 percent in the ’60s.

Most of this money goes into endowments and foundations, or comes in the form of individual gifts, and then is increased through leverage. Of the $3 billion that Yale has spent so far on its vast building program, for example, slightly less than two-thirds came from gifts and from the endowment, which now totals $22.5 billion. The rest was borrowed, Mr. Levin said.

Yale now spends more than $400 million annually on its renaissance, nearly six times its outlays for construction and renovation in the mid-1990s. New Haven, by contrast, budgeted $137 million in the current fiscal year for all its capital projects, including those subsidized by state and federal governments. That is less than twice the amount budgeted in the mid-’90s.

Government investment nationwide has lagged for several reasons, say business leaders, academics and public officials. Tax cuts have helped to hold down overall government spending. So has the view, widespread in recent decades, that public investment is often inept and wasteful. . .

Perhaps most important, big businesses no longer put as much clout and attention behind public infrastructure investments. In an earlier era, corporations, many with deep roots in local communities, lobbied government for the railroads, highways and many other facilities they needed to operate successfully. And they served as a crucial fountain of local tax revenue.

But companies are more mobile today. And many of the urban manufacturers most dependent on public infrastructure have moved or gone out of business. The Winchester Repeating Arms Company, once New Haven’s largest employer, is among the departed. Yale, which pays some taxes and escapes others that most corporations pay — particularly property taxes — is now the city’s biggest employer.

Obama Wins in Iowa

A great speech. Also see the post at www.antiracismdsa.blogspot.com


Duane Campbell