CTU President joins with Jesse Jackson at Operation PUSH
Rev. Jesse Jackson hosted a packed audience at Operation PUSH on Saturday, September 3, 2011. Included in the program were a large Gospel choir and a wonderful singer. Two bands, from Alabama A & M Hampton University, each with about 50 or more young college students, both inspired the audience. Rev. Jesse Jackson stated that “we are marching the highway of opportunity.” We need music, art, and athletics in our schools to provide a good education. Jackson added that we need jobs. Our homes are being taken from us while money is going to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks to the September 4, 2011 PUSH meeting while the Alabama A & M University band stands in front of the crowd. Substance photo by Jean Schwab.In his Labor Day remarks to PUSH, we need to rebuild, Jackson said . “Put America back to work. Jobs and justice now. We need young people because strong minds breed strong change. We need more education, to pay our teachers, longer-better school days, jobs justice. We need all parties involved in education to meet.”
Karen Lewis of the CTU spoke next, stating, “Music is not an extra. Music belongs to our children. Music is about competitive patterns: how you string the music together. Education makes you a full person, to do better. For many years education has been narrowed. So music was cut out - except if you lived in some zip codes in our city. Music has been cut out. This is morally wrong. It used to be that people had to make sacrifices equally to educate children. Who makes the sacrifices now? Our children. Banks are foreclosing in our neighborhoods and they are also doing that in our schools when they blame the teachers, custodians, parents and students. An average teacher’s pension is $40,000, which does not create the deficit problem. People are saying that you cannot trust teachers when they are demonizing them. This is a real war- a war on the soul of our children, a war of middle class because we can’t fight the war if we are standing in mud that will not let us move.”
Rev. Jackson mentioned that it was a great day but he had the pain of sadness. He said that 1/8 of our students can’t afford to get into college. Students get a student loan, graduate, and cannot afford to get married. They live with their parents. They can’t buy a house or car in this stagnated economy with no job. Jackson stated that this is a re- segregation - a race segregation and gender segregation . In Detroit, 97 percent of the people live outside the city and can not get to a job.
He said Obama proposed $50 million for jobs that Congress had rejected. One problem is lack of transportation to jobs that are too far from those who need them. Jackson said everyone should be familiar with the Tenth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution because they relate to state‘s rights and ending slavery. They stop our right to easy access. There should be equal access for public education. Some people would risk sinking the ship in order to get rid of the captain. Jackson also talked about top executives and companies that make a lot of money, then get a rebate so they don’t have to pay their share of taxes. Jackson summed up this by saying that we are facing a challenging time: “Stay in school. We will fight for you but you must fight for yourself.”
Concerns voiced by Teachers attending the program:
Yolanda Thompson -Mann School" "What kind of plans are in place ? What hours? for the longer school day) What about after school programs- Are the children going home after dark? ( 5-6)"
What about after school activities- practices and games? What about safety?
Rosemary King- Madison School: "I enjoyed seeing Rev. Jackson and the CTU working in partnership so the teachers have a voice in the schools. I believe that the 90 minutes should be focused on constructive instruction instead of making money. I do believe that teachers should be paid for the extra time spent. We are the only profession whose job never ends. You don’t need to add time to us because time never ends. We always had longer days but today we have to worry about word walls and using programs that are not research based to be effective. Now they talk about global competition. You can’t compete if you keep cutting art, music and have no computers, Ipads, Smart boards, TV shows from other countries and different states. Books don’t help if they keep changing the series every few years and we don’t have the new technology. Our schools don’t have the new technology. Also teachers have to be involved in choosing the books that they will be using."
Pam Edwards - Mann Elementary: "This program with the two bands speaks to the power of young people. What we see outside is a rumor with young people getting into trouble. But when young people have the opportunity and support they can do great things. Every subject can encompass every thing drama, music, and the arts. Taking music out of schools is a tragic thing in our American Society."
Sheila Wesonga an LSC member at Murray Language Academy told Substance that Karen Lewis spoke very well on the mark about cutting programs. "I know that my children have done well because they had music and arts in school," Wesonga said. She told Substance that one of her children is going the St. John's University in New York and the other is attending Howard University in Washington D.C.
