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Rev. Al Sharpton, who is coming to Norwalk Tuesday evening to attend the NAACP rally, says he is not coming in support of Tanya McDowell, the Bridgeport woman arrested for sending her son to a Norwalk school. He says he is coming to support access to quality education for all students.
A press release issued this morning by National Action Network, Sharpton's civil rights organization reads: "Contrary to several reports, neither National Action Network, nor Rev. Sharpton, are coming to Connecticut in response to the case of Tanya McDowell because we have not investigated or looked into the matter extensively. We will receive information from the state NAACP pertaining to their involvement but until we review it, Rev. Sharpton, nor any other NAN official will address this case without having full knowledge of the particulars."
According to the release, Sharpton's attendance at the rally is part of a "continued national drive to encourage all young people to pursue educational excellence and for all cities and municipalities to have open access to students for quality education."
Sharpton has been an education advocate for the last four years, visiting cities across the country. The release continues, "Rev. Al Sharpton and Secretary Duncan will appear together in Los Angeles on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' this Friday at Crenshaw High School, and we see Rev. Sharpton's appearance tonight as consistent with our national drive for education and should not be confused with other issues."
Comments (1)
First we should be asking ourselves that if we have never walked in the same shoes on the same trail, do we have some bestowed higher order right to judge? Nobody commenting appears to have ever had to deal with unemployment, alcoholism, addiction, a disease or a disorder no less a combination thereof and toss in homelessness, just to make it interesting. What is apparent is how far we have traveled and how little we have progressed. It is sad to see that, even though its denied, how many barriers we erect to suppress. We have so many good people that really care and really want to make history and change what isn't working for far too many children. And even with the infinite supply and energy of good will, we are stalled. They're are success stories but the failures, well the failures no one wants to take ownership of. We have good people in a very bad structure and giving them impossible demands. We have financing issues, we have accountability issues, we have too less regulation in one area, we have too much regulation in another. Public education should adhere to national minimal standards with national resources that are so desperately needed.
By now, even the Scare Crow knows, what the problems are. But alas, the Lion cant find his courage and the Tin Man is rusted in repose since the last century. And the oil can? In the bankers vault. But of course.
With so many complex and frustrating challenges and so little solid solutions bubbling up to the top, often we look for who to blame, someone to take it out on. Race To The Top means there are allot of losers and looks more like a race to the bottom than to the top. We call them scapegoats or fall guys and yes even gals or good intentions and bad planning? But fall kids? Thats a new low. Some seem to want an easy target. A homeless young mother, on the streets with no help, no resources becomes an easy target. This helpless obviously uninformed desperate, destitute mom is now a hard core big time drug dealer and bank robber. Wait, what? Bank robber?
Has anyone one noticed how many trainloads of cash the banks are stealing? Actually buying out and corrupting our entire nation? Well that's another class altogether. But the jist of it is, you and me, as in US, are getting thoroughly, er, taken to the cleaners, shall we say. How many millions of units foreclosed, how many homeless? Massive corporate welfare? And they're profits are larger than ever? And we turn our backs on those activities don't arrest not one single banker, absolute zero accountability and with all the children, a generation falling through the cracks we point the finger on and bust one sole destitute homeless mother for keeping her child IN SCHOOL? Really? Is that what America is all about?
The inventions never invented, disease's not cured, lives not saved or prolonged, books never written, art never created, music never played, minds, all the minds that never open. All the enormous resources of knowledge is accessible to share and help all mankind progress further, faster, in a nano second, recorded and translated for infinite generations yet imagined - BUT and there is always a but, you cant access that information, none of it, nada, zip, g.t.f. outta here, cant access any of that knowledge unless your zip code is correct. Its not the color of the skin, now. Not the thickness of the wallet. Not even nepotism. No, NOW its your zip code. Not Racist? Would you like American flies with you bull burger?
Are there any teachers that would like to step up and explain it to a third grader? How about explaining it to us grown ups while your at it.
Sadly but pointedly some of, well, most of the comments are obviously biased, and/or misinformed. The us against them mentality, that really has no grasp of what the heck is really going on. But than again how many poor folks can pay 150 a month for Internet and a 2,000 computer and posses the basic public education reading, writing and computer skills they need to advocate for their childrens education in a public forum? They are all too busy shooting up dope and smoking crack to escape the tragic realities in which they are born trapped. Too busy robbing and killing, racing eachother to get into the prison system the fastest, right? So, the comments are not to be taken as representative of the entire community but does illustrate the struggle and substantial sterotyping and barriers a kid has to survive no less break free of. And for anyone to deny or dismiss these very tall and thick barriers, well they are either blind or corrupted of mind, spirit and/or intelligence.
It's always "the others fault." "Someone else broke it." "Why do we have to fix it?" That is what they called, in the old school days, an MCO, Masters, in "Copping Out". We all have to take ownership, ownership of our community, ownership of our children's future as well as ownership of our failures. Until we do that, collectively as a community and a society, we are just spinning our wheels and making noise and getting nowhere near the finish line.
If we cant give a kid a chance, if we cant do better than we are doing, what future does anyone have?
Unless, of course, your one of the bankers behind the curtain.