In Disasters' Wake- Betsy De Vos

By Jeff Bryant

A favorite talking point of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is to say that conversations about education should not be about “systems and buildings” but about “individual students.” It’s a skillfully crafted soundbite designed to cast schools as oppressive bureaucracies that limit the education opportunities available to children and families. It also differentiates schools from other essential public infrastructure such as fire and police protection, sanitation, and roads.

Few people question the need to have a fire department or an office responsible for transportation, but DeVos’s scripted phrase is an attempt to convince us that education has become a consumer good we can pick up anywhere and that schools are relics of a bygone era when we didn’t have the internet and other means of conveying knowledge.

But before DeVos casually dismisses the need to dispense with public education institutions across the country, she should look at the vital role schools and educators have played in responding to the string of devastating natural disasters that hit America this year.

When Hurricane Irma strafed Florida, over 6.5 million citizens were ordered to evacuate their homes in the flood zones. Thousands found shelter in schools. Broward County, north of Miami, converted 21 schoolsinto shelters to take in those having to flee Fort Lauderdale and other coastal towns. Palm Beach County schools took in 17,000 evacuees. Sarasota schools welcomed over 19,000 refugees. In Tampa-Hillsborough County, 45 of the district’s schools became storm relief centers, sheltering nearly 30,000 evacuees.

Read Paulo Freire

     Paulo Freire was regarded by many on left as one of the most significant educational thinkers of the twentieth century.   His most famous book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed  applies the ideas of  Antonio Gramsci and U.S. philosopher  and socialist John Dewey  to educational projects of organizers and educators working  along with the oppressed in a capitalist society.

In Brazil in the 1960’s, Paulo Freire and his coworkers taught peasants to read in about 30 hours using cultural circles. They developed a theory to explain their action. The theory required praxis, an interaction of consciousness, and social action on the side of the poor (Freire, 1972). Often working along side of  efforts of Liberation Theology, Freire, his students and allies formed teams of cultural workers to engage  peasants  in dialogue to develop literacy and to democratize knowledge, culture, and power in their societies.

The works of Freire and his teams have had a profound effect on literacy, political ,and education practices worldwide. Revolutionary projects in Brazil , Nicaragua, Cuba, Guinea-Bissau,  and elsewhere applied and developed his pedagogical  ideas .

“The ‘MLK 50th Anniversary’ celebration is a historical milestone that commemorates not only Dr. King's speech on campus but his vision for greater equality and justice for all,” Watson-Derbigny says. “For these reasons, we celebrate as a reminder to live out his dream daily by educating students for leadership, success, and service, and working to build vibrant communities that embody diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

"The significance of Dr. King's visit to Sacramento State is that it coincided with a shift in the political climate in the nation and a resultant change in the focus of the movement," says Robin Carter, MLK celebration co-chair. "He spent the last year of his life articulating a shift from civil rights to human rights. His speech on our campus highlighted his advocacy for this shift." - Dixie Reid

MLK 50^th Anniversary Celebration at Sac State, Monday, Oct. 16

Everything, other than the fundraiser brunch, is free and open to the public. Tickets are required for both the 4:15 p.m. gospel concert and 7:30 p.m. keynote address. To RSVP for events you wish to attend and to download free tickets, go to Sac State's MLK celebration page.

·       9:30 to 10:45 a.m., University Union, Redwood Room – Brunch to benefit student scholarships features motivational speaker Inky Johnson. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased online.

·       11 to 11:50 a.m. University Union, Hinde Auditorium – The March (1964), 33-minute documentary about the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where King spoke. Roberto Pomo, professor of theater, will introduce Richard Blue, brother of the late filmmaker, James Blue.

·       Noon to 12:45 p.m., University Union Ballroom – Keynote speaker Tavis Smiley discusses “Empathy and Economic Inequality.” The PBS talk-show host is the author of Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Final Year (no ticket required).

·       12:45 p.m., University Union – Unity march to Hornet Stadium.

·       1:10 p.m., Broad Field House lawn – Dedication of the Tree of Empathy commemorating King’s 1967 visit.

·       2:15 to 3 p.m., University Union, Redwood Room – “The Civil Rights Movement,” panel discussion featuring Clayborne Carson, professor of history at Stanford University and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. The moderator is J. Luke Wood, a professor at San Diego State and a Sac State alumnus.

·       3:15 to 4 p.m., University Union, various locations – Student workshops.

·       4:15 to 5 p.m., University Union, Lobby Suite – Student docents lead tours of the exhibit “Fifty Years Ago Today at Sacramento State: The Future of the Civil Rights Movement.” The exhibit is open for self-tours from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

·       4:15 to 5 p.m. University Union Ballroom – “Empathy, Empowerment, and Praise,” gospel concert featuring the MLK Community Choir and JJ Hairston. Ticketed event. RSVP required.

·       7:30 p.m., University Union Ballroom – Smiley delivers the keynote address, “The Death of a King: A Life of Empathy that Created a Movement.” Ticketed event. RSVP required.

Ethnic studies victories in Arizona come at critical time for the state and country - Education Votes

Ethnic studies victories in Arizona come at critical time for the state and country - Education Votes

Dolores Huerta - A Film Review

Dolores – A Film Review

by Duane Campbell

There is an important new film out – Dolores, the story of former DSA Honorary Chair Dolores Huerta and her fight for justice. (All DSA honorary chairs were eliminated by the 2017 DSA convention.) She is the woman holding the Huelga sign on the DSA landing page. If you want to be inspired by her struggle for social justice, go see the film.

Although at times ignored by the Anglo media, and at other times castigated as a red and an “outside agitator,” Huerta tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice alongside Cesar Chavez, becoming one of the most important feminists of the twentieth century. If you don’t know her story, you should ask yourself why.  She continues the fight on many fronts to this day, at age 87. With unprecedented access to Dolores, the film reveals important parts of the struggle for dignity and justice for farmworkers, as well as the raw, personal stakes involved in committing one’s  life to social change. 

Dolores, produced by PBS and Independent Lens, serves labor history well by accurately describing the often overlooked role of Filipinos who initiated a strike in Delano in 1965, which the nascent NFWA (National Farm Workers Association) joined to create the great Grape Strike that changed labor history in the Southwest.

Video clips in the documentary illustrate the hard work required to build a union -- particularly a union of Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant workers.   Former DSA Honorary Chairs Eliseo Medina and  Gloria Steinem, along with activist Angela Davis, provide historical records, commentary, insights, testimonies, and evaluations of Huerta’s important life work.

After negotiating the first union contract in grapes, Huerta moved to New York in 1968 to build the Grape Boycott, developing great union support for the effort to build a union for farmworkers. There she encountered Gloria Steinem and the New York feminist movement of that era.  Over the years, Dolores became a well-known Latina/Chicana feminist as well as a union leader. Her participation contributed to a broadening of the mostly white feminist movement of that time to include the struggles of working-class women of color.

Teacher Employment May Have Weathered Recent Storms, But Schools Are Still Short 327,000 Public Educators | Portside

Teacher Employment May Have Weathered Recent Storms, But Schools Are Still Short 327,000 Public Educators | Portside

Antonio Villaraigosa's long history with labor, teachers unions | The Sacramento Bee

Antonio Villaraigosa's long history with labor, teachers unions | The Sacramento Bee

California Becomes Sanctuary State

antiracismdsa: California Becomes Sanctuary State: Senator Leon  California Becomes a Sanctuary State With today’s signing of SB 54 into law, one of the most important parts of that l...

Lessons from Teaching Tolerance

It’s August 24 as I write this column. Twelve days ago, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, armed anti-government militias and assorted proponents of racist ideologies brought havoc to Charlottesville, Virginia.

Five days ago, a different scene played out in Boston.

The images and video from Charlottesville led the news for days. Boston was covered only briefly, and mainly as a “disaster averted” story.

But Boston has more to tell us about what we need to do.

When I taught high school students about Selma, Birmingham and Little Rock—and showed images of the white people who raged against threats to their cherished caste system—my mostly white students reacted with disbelief that anyone could be so far on the wrong side of history. They wanted to believe that, had they lived during those times, they would have stood against oppression and with the activists seeking justice. It’s a story many of us tell ourselves when we study history marked by prejudice and hate.

But, as it turns out, we do live in those times.

We are experiencing a fraught moment in which it is impossible to stay neutral. The students we teach in 20 years will want to know, “Where did you stand? What did you do to combat hate? How did you seek justice?”


“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”
—JAMES BALDWIN

In the past 10 days, I’ve read countless messages from educational leaders exhorting teachers to denounce hate and fearlessly teach about what’s going on. I’ve been one of those exhorting voices. Within hours, writer Melinda Anderson created #CharlottesvilleCurriculum and, just as we’ve seen so many times before (think Ferguson, Trayvon Martin, the aftermath of the presidential election), educators exchanged resources and ideas for teaching about race and having difficult classroom conversations.

How about if we also teach the #BostonCurriculum? There’s a lot we can learn from Boston.

Lesson #1: Love is bigger and stronger than hate. In Boston, about 100 people showed up for the so-called “free speech” rally to proclaim their right to spew hate; 40,000 people joined the peaceful counter-protest, “Stand for Solidarity.” Across the country—and in your school—most people are repelled by messages of hate. They want to take a stand. They just don’t always know how.

Dolores - A Film Review

Dolores – A Film Review

by Duane Campbell

There is an important new film out – Dolores, the story of Dolores Huerta and her fight for justice. She is the woman holding the Huelga sign on the DSA landing page. If you want to be inspired by her struggle for social justice, go see the film.

Although at times ignored by the media, and at other times castigated as a red and an “outside agitator,” Huerta tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice alongside Cesar Chavez, becoming one of the most important feminists of the twentieth century. If you don’t know her story, you should ask yourself why.  She continues the fight on many fronts to this day, at age 87. With unprecedented access to Dolores, the film reveals important parts of the struggle for dignity and justice for farmworkers, as well as the raw, personal stakes involved in committing one’s  life to social change. 

Dolores, produced by PBS and Independent Lens, serves labor history well by accurately describing the often overlooked role of Filipinos who initiated a strike in Delano in 1965, which the nascent NFWA (National Farm Workers Association) joined to create the great Grape Strike that changed labor history in the Southwest.

Millions of Children's to lose Health Care

By Amanda Litvinov

TAKE ACTION ›

Urge Congress to renew CHIP funding. CLICK HERE›

Health care coverage for nine million children is at risk, because funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) expires tomorrow and Congress has not reauthorized it.

CHIP was designed specifically to cover children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid, but cannot afford private coverage.

Signed into law in 1997 with strong bipartisan support, the program helps families with modest incomes access health services for their kids by keeping out-of-pocket expenses lower than they would be under other plans. More than half of the 9 million children served by CHIP are eligible for services provided in their schools through state Medicaid programs.

Karen Slade, a teacher’s assistant at Southern Alamance High School in Graham, North Carolina, knows first-hand how critical in-school health services are. She works with multi-needs students in the school’s Exceptional Children program.

“Our students all have different challenges,” Slade said. Some of those challenges are physical, and some are cognitive. They might require occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, medications or feedings, or a device that enables communication.

“For some students, school is the only place that they’re going to see the specialists we provide. They evaluate our students and start them on exercises and routines that the staff continues until their next visit,” said Slade, who has worked in public schools for nearly 20 years.

DOLORES - A Film Worth Seeing

A great film. A tribute to a great organizer !

SACRAMENTO SCREENING

DOLORES  |  1 hour 38 minutes

FRIDAY, SEP 22- THURSDAY, SEP 28

The Tower Theatre

Safe Schools - Safe Communities

Beatriz at Dinner |

Reverend Barber on White Supremacy

A Guide for Teachers: Immigrant and Refugee Children

Immigrant and Refugee Children: A Guide for Educators and School Support Staff

Now, more than ever, these vulnerable students need advocates in schools.



Teaching Tolerance, Issue 55, Spring 2017
December 8, 2016

This guide was created for educators, school support staff and service providers who teach, mentor and help open the doors of opportunity for undocumented youth and unaccompanied and refugee children currently living in the United States. Educators, school support staff and service providers are often the first individuals a student and/or family comes out to as undocumented.

Moreover, they are often the first ones to witness the impact of increased enforcement measures on students and their families.

Schools should be safe havens that embrace all students and families, regardless of citizenship and national origin, and that includes unaccompanied and refugee children. The 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe ruled that undocumented children have a constitutional right to receive a free public K–12 education, which provides the means to becoming a “self-reliant and self-sufficient participant in society,” the court wrote, and instills the “fundamental values necessary to the maintenance of a democratic political system.” However, today’s increased enforcement measures by the Department of Homeland Security and campaign promises made by the incoming administration threaten that right for thousands of undocumented youth and the 4.1 million U.S.-born children who live in mixed-status households with at least one parent or family member who is undocumented.

Note: SCUSD has declared its school sites Safe Grounds and prohibits ICE from enforcement action at the school site.


Facts About Undocumented Students

An undocumented student is an aspiring citizen who came to the United States without legal documentation or who has overstayed his or her visa. These students:
Often don’t know they are undocumented until they begin the college application process;
Don’t qualify for federal grants or loans, even if they are in financial need and their parents pay taxes;
Are racially and ethnically diverse, from all corners of the world, and are part of the 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.


Educator's FAQ About Immigration Raids
What impact do raids have on children and youth?

California Sues Trump on DACA

GREATER SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: California Sues Trump on DACA: California sued the Trump administration Monday over its decision to end a program that shields young immigrants from deportation, saying...

David Bacon to Speak at Sac State on Wed. Sept, 13

FILM IN HINDE, UNIVERSITY UNION   3 PM

KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT GUY WEST PLAZA  David Bacon, Free. 5:30 PM

as a part of the campus Farm to Fork celebration.  Sept  13. 

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. . . They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

-Donald Trump, June 16, 2015

In the Fields of the North/ En Los Campos del Norte by David Bacon

Univerity of California Press, 2017

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Reviewed by Duane Campbell

“We are not animals. We are human beings.”

In an impressive and important new book, David Bacon effectively counters the racism and xenophobia advanced by our current president and promoted in right-wing media by providing hundreds of photos and clear descriptions of the real life and work of the immigrants harvesting the food we eat.  

Bacon does so by interviewing farmworkers and photographing farmworkers in their “housing” and in their work. He reports and records the humanity of the thousands of people who come north to harvest our crops and to feed their families as best they can.

Photojournalist David Bacon has a long history of documenting the lives of immigrant people, including the important books:, Illegal People: How Globalization creates migration and criminalizes immigrants. (2008) and The Right to Stay Home: How US Policy Drives Mexican Migration (Beacon Press, 2013), as well as a long list of journal articles.

In The Fields of the North, Bacon uses his extensive and award-winning photography to tell more of the story. This is not just a book with some photos, but rather a series of extended photo essays (with over 300 photos)  showing that images and words have a combined power far beyond either words or images by themselves. Bacon tells the story of cycles of exploitation and poverty suffered by tens of thousands moving from season to season, working in the fields to harvest our food for subminimum wages, and facing the racism and political power of growers and their labor contractors.

California Colleges Undaunted By Trump's Decision To Phase Out DACA | HuffPost

California Colleges Undaunted By Trump's Decision To Phase Out DACA | HuffPost

Betsy DeVos’s Silence On DACA Says Everything About Her Support Of Education Opportunity

Betsy DeVos’s Silence On DACA Says Everything About Her Support Of Education Opportunity

Catholic Bishop Opposes Trump's DACA Act

Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto held a press conference Sept. 5 to criticize President Donald Trump's decision to end Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and expressed the church's support for those affected by the cancellation. Randall Benton The Sacramento Bee

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article171345167.html?#emlnl=Afternoon_Newsletter#storylink=cpy

antiracismdsa: Trump is Wrong on DACA : Resist

Trump is Wrong on DACA : Resist: Trump is wrong on DACA. We will not retreat. DSA Immigrants’ Rights Committee Statement on DACA President Donald Trum...

DACA Is Lawful

Xavier Becerra.

Attorney General, California

DACA Is Lawful And Making America Stronger

It is time for the Trump administration to fulfill our national promise to Dreamers and guarantee their safety within our borders.

                          



Over the last five years, Dreamers ― immigrants brought to the United States as young children by their parents without documents ― have paid fees, passed background checks and applied for work permits so they could step out of the shadows. They’ve earned a chance to fulfill their potential, contribute to our economy and enrich our communities.

The dreams of a brighter future that fuel these young people are made possible by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative, or DACA, which began accepting applications five years ago this month. Since then, nearly 800,000 young people nationwide have been granted the peace of mind to grow, work and study without fear.

These young people pursue careers that range from serving our country in the military to joining the ranks of police officers to teaching the next generation of leaders in the classroom. William Medeiros, who was brought to the United States from Brazil when he was six years old, proudly serves in the Army. He’s not alone. Harbinger Saini, a native of India who has also lived here since he was six, has been ready to fight for the only country he knows, wherever the U.S. military wants to send him. 

Yet, these are uncertain times for Dreamers across the nation. Many hardworking, patriotic people like William and Harbinger dread what could come next. The Trump administration has sent mixed messages about DACA. Some have taken this as a license to disparage Dreamers and scorned other hardworking immigrants who are simply labeled dangerous criminals. As the son of immigrants, I find such fearmongering repulsive. As the father of three daughters, I am heartbroken when I meet young people living in fear that their hopes and dreams will be dashed.