Prison Education & WUSTL.... Public Event/McLeod Lecture September 24th at 4 PM....

Rebecca Ginsburg, Associate Professor, Departments of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership and Landscape Architecture; Co-founder and Director, Education Justice Project, University of Illinois

September 24, 4 pm

Washington University, Hillman Hall, Clark-Fox Forum 

(new Social Work building near Forsyth & Skinker)

Rebecca Ginsburg is director of the Education Justice Project (EJP), a college-in-prison program based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. EJP offers for-credit courses and other educational activities to men incarcerated in a medium-security state prison. In this lecture she’ll describe EJP, share stories of its students and make a case for other institutions of higher education working within prisons. Her position is that such engagement not only serves incarcerated individuals and the broader society, but also the university, its students and faculty.

RSVPs appreciated; please follow this link.

After the lecture, please join us for a reception and additional programming, the opening of the conference "From Mass Incarceration to Effective and Sustainable Decarceration":

5:30 pm - Remarks by Mark Wrighton, Chancellor, Washington University in St. Louis

 

6:15 pm - Welcoming remarks

                 Maxine Clark, Founder, Build-A-Bear Workshop & CEO, Clark-Fox Family Foundation

                 Bob Fox, Founder and Chairman, Newspace & Founder, Casa de Salud

 

6:30 pm - Keynote speakers

                 Glenn E. Martin, JustLeadershipUSA

                  Vivian Nixon, College and Community Fellowship

 

The pros and cons of school choice: A better education at the expense of public schools?

The pros and cons of school choice: A better education at the expense of public schools?

St Louis: Educators for Social Justice

Join the Educators for Social Justice Group at our upcoming events! We encourage you to invite your colleagues as well! 

Conference Planning Meeting: Sunday, September 20 from 2:00-3:00p.m. at Maplewood Richmond Heights Elementary School (1800 Princeton Place). Please join us for our second planning meeting for our 2016 Educating for Change Conference. All are welcome! 

11th Annual Educating for Change Conference: Saturday, February 27, 2016 at Maplewood Richmond Heights Elementary School. Our 2016 Conference theme will be: “Powerful Educators, Powerful Classrooms, Powerful Schools.”

Inquiry to Action Groups (ItAGS) Coming this Fall: Inquiry to Action Groups (ItAGs) are study groups for educators to come together to learn more about a topic and take action. Past ESJ ItAGs have focused on topics including: Race & Education, Social Justice Children’s Literature, Culturally Relevant Teaching, Art & Democracy, Media & Education, Social Studies for Social Justice, and more! We are currently looking for facilitators to lead ItAGs this fall- facilitators choose their own topic and meeting dates. See the attached flyer for more info. Please visit our website to learn more and submit your proposal to facilitate an ItAG- proposal deadline extended until September 18: http://www.educatorsforsocialjustice.org/itags.html

Read about the hunger strike for Dyett school in Chicago

The outcome of years of corporate-style education reform and the dismantling of the public neighborhood school.  Read more at: http://www.teachersforjustice.org/p/hunger-strike-to-save-dyett-high-school.html

Report on Education in New Orleans Post-Katrina: The Impact of the Charter and Choice Upheaval...

Excellent insights.

http://neworleans.edweek.org

Ferguson protester who threw back tear gas cannister in iconic photo is charged : News

Ferguson protester who threw back tear gas cannister in iconic photo is charged : News

St Louis: Women Leading Local Struggle for the Environment

Prisoners In Their Own Homes womensvoicesraised.org   Follow us on:    In Our Backyard -The World's Oldest Nuclear Waste Site  Thursday,  September 10, 2015  6:30 coffee and conversation 7:00 program   New Location The Heights Maplewood-Richmond Heights Community Center 8001 Dale Avenue Richmond Heights, MO 63117     (Just east of South Hanley near I-64) free and open to the public   Karen Nickel, Dawn Chapman, Debi Disser - founders Just Moms STL "I go to bed worrying. I wake up worrying. Will my 5-year-old get cancer?"  "The odor is so bad, you can't even walk outside. We're prisoners in our own homes." These are the words of two St. Louis mothers who live near the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton. Their neighborhood is a childhood cancer cluster. Their children are suffering from many health conditions due to the nuclear waste landfill and smoldering fire in their community. But the voices of moms are being heard. Just Moms STL, founded by three mothers who live in Bridgeton, is calling for a clean-up of the toxic waste.  Their message: "EPA Save Our Children" is building momentum. Missouri's elected officials in Washington are calling for a clean-up. But Dawn Chapman, a co-founder of Just Moms STL is skeptical that the EPA will keep its promise to deliver a remedy by January 2017. This while more children get sick. And Bridgeton residents breathe rotten air when they go to the park, grocery shopping or out their front door. Come hear  Dawn Chapman, Co-founder, Just Moms STL and Ed Smith, Safe Energy Director, Missouri Coalition for the Environment update us about efforts to clean up the toxic waste dump they live with every day.

Why it's hard to judge charter schools on MAP test numbers

Why it's hard to judge charter schools on MAP test numbers



Brutal spinning of poor performance by charter school supporters, when it is clear that charters are no better, and often worse, than neighborhood schools.  And, their other implicit effects (resegregation, skimming of students, taking resources from the public schools) are ignored.  This is another sign of media capture by the corporate agenda, with interviews only done with pro-charter advocates.  Dale Singer and KWMU, you can do better than this.

St Louis Public Schools: Give Retired Teachers a Cost of Living Adjustment. Don't give away their future to the hedge fund managers

Along with the state takeover of the SLPS, those who now control the teachers' pension fund are spending heavily on advisors, trips, and a portfolio that is way too complex, while refusing to grant cost-of-living adjustments to elder and retired teachers.  Inform yourself.

MISSOURI RETIRED TEACHERS ASSOCIATION AND PUBLIC SCHOOL PERSONNEL 877-366-MRTA 3030 DuPont Circle Jefferson City, MO 65109   August 21, 2015 Call to Action! Action Required!  St. Louis City Retirees' Petition for Respect and Fairness Dear Residents and Retired Educators of Saint Louis City and of Saint Louis County:   This is a CALL TO ACTION! MRTA is initiating and promoting a petition campaign in Saint Louis City and Saint Louis County asking for a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for the Saint Louis City Education Retirees. The Saint Louis City retirees have not received a COLA since 2006 and have lost 25% of their buying power. It is getting difficult for them to make ends meet. This is an issue of respect for their years of public service and of fairness as most education retirees in Missouri have an automatic COLA written in Missouri Statutes.   Our goal is 5,000 signatures or more by December 1, 2015. Our purpose is to compel our elected officials of the General Assembly to use their influence or to introduce legislation to remedy this injustice. We also want to compel the Saint Louis State Appointed School Board, and the Board of Trustees of the PSRS of Saint Louis City to remedy this injustice.    Signatures are best. Supporters may sign the petition online:  http://missouriretiredteachers.org/st-louis-city-education-retirees-petition-for-respect-and-fairness/    THE WORLD IS RUN BY THOSE WHO SHOW UP!!! It is up to you. MRTA's strength comes from membership. Thank you for being a member. IF NOT, join MRTA today by clicking HERE.   Please feel free to forward this email and contact MRTA if you have any questions or need anything our contact information is below. THANK YOU!! P.S.  Through STRENGTH IN NUMBERS we also want to use this petition to show our strength to fight off any attempt to reduce retirement benefits of active Saint Louis City educators or legislating the Saint Louis City employees into a 401(k) system. These will be legitimate threats coming in the next Legislative Session of the General Assembly in January 2016.   THANK YOU for being counted as a member of MRTA! MRTA organized in 1960, is the oldest and largest retiree association in Missouri consisting of 24,000 public school retirees.  At MRTA the education retiree and educator pension benefits are our #1 priority.  Jim Kreider MRTA Executive Director mrtadirectorkreider@mrta.org 877-366-6782 STAY CONNECTED

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Do State Takeovers of Public School Systems (like St. Louis) lead to disenfranchisement of African American and Latino Communities? New Report

New Report Finds Link Between School Takeovers and Disenfranchisement of African American and Latino Communities 

** Read the report here: http://bit.ly/1KCu88L **

Today, the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS), a coalition of nine  national organizations that together represent more than seven million parents, students, educators and community members, released a report arguing that state takeovers of public schools and districts are systematically targeting  African Americans and Latinos and denying them the right to run their schools.

Read the report here: http://www.reclaimourschools.org/sites/default/files/out-of-control-takeover-report.pdf

The report, launched as students across the country go back to school, critiques what AROS calls an intentional effort to remove local control so that schools can be privatized without the opportunity for communities to voice their public opposition. The report examines some of the most prevalent state takeovers of schools and school districts.

Key takeaways from the report:

• Recovery School District, LA:  Created in 2003 but used in 2005 to seize virtually all public schools in New Orleans, the state-run RSD has now converted to charters, or closed all of the 107 schools it seized.
• Achievement School District, TN:  Modeled after the RSD, the Tennessee ASD has removed 29 schools from the Memphis and Nashville school districts.  All but one of those schools has been handed over to a private charter operator.
• Education Achievement Authority, MI:  After decades of disinvestment and under-funding, the State of Michigan seized control of the Detroit Public Schools in 1999. In 2009, after a brief return to local control, the State again installed an Emergency Manager with control over the district. In 2012, the state created the Education Achievement Authority and removed 15 schools from the already-state controlled district. The results of these takeovers have included massive financial deficits, plummeting enrollment, school closures, high teacher turnover and more. Student academic performance is unimproved.

Despite the failure of these “achievement districts” to achieve much of anything for the students and families who lose control of their local public schools, legislation to create more of these state-run districts has been aggressively pursued across the country this year. In the past six months, three additional states have created state-run districts: Georgia, Wisconsin, and Nevada.  Similar bills  have been proposed in a half-dozen other states.

In conjunction with the report launch, AROS groups across the country will be taking actions on the ground in their local communities. 

“Districts that have been weakened by years of disinvestment are now being declared ‘failures’ and seized by the State,” said Keron Blair, Director at AROS.  “Communities are being inundated with a flood of failing charter schools that suck resources from their public schools and cut off community access and democratic engagement. 

“It's one thing for states to take over schools and provide high-quality institutions, but it is quite another to highjack schools from communities and hand them over to private interests that don’t have the best interest of children and communities at heart.

“Each and every student should get a chance at a more equitable quality of education regardless of where they live. It’s time for local and state officials to put a stop to the takeovers.”

The coalition’s recommended model for sustainable community schools includes:

• Curriculum that is engaging, culturally relevant and challenging, with a broad selection of classes and after-school programs in the arts, languages, and ethnic studies, as well as AP and honors courses, services for English Language Learners, special education, GED preparation and job training;
• An emphasis on high quality teaching, not high stakes testing;
• Wrap-around supports such as health care, eye care and social and emotional services available before, during and after school and provided year-round to the full community;
• Positive discipline practices such as restorative justice and social and emotional learning supports, and
• Transformational parent and community engagement in planning and decision-making. This process recognizes the link between the success of the school and the development of the community as a whole.

AROS demands that the rights of parents and communities to make decisions about their schools be returned to them and that they are provided with the resources necessary to establish sustainable community schools, that the ability of citizens to use their civic engagement capacity to impact their schools and communities be expanded. 

###

The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) is a national community/labor table of organizations of parents, students, teachers and community members who are fighting for the public schools our children deserve.  

The Myth of the New Orleans School Makeover

The Myth of the New Orleans School Makeover



Privatization hurts the poorest of the poor, and charter schools are part of the problem.

One Year After the Ferguson Protests, Just a Few Reforms Have Succeeded

One Year After the Ferguson Protests, Just a Few Reforms Have Succeeded

Meet the Flexians - Using Ethnography to Understand the Corruption of Democracy

Meet the Flexians

District-by-district MAP results show continued struggles in some area schools

District-by-district MAP results show continued struggles in some area schools



The real story here: Charters are underperforming public schools, despite the fact they have more political, and often financial, support.

Families feel bite as schools add, raise fees for supplies, activities : News

Families feel bite as schools add, raise fees for supplies, activities : News

The Dismantling of the Normandy School District

The Dismantling of the Normandy School District

Fight, Vikings: New film chronicles decline in Normandy schools

Fight, Vikings: New film chronicles decline in Normandy schools

In documentary, ex-board member explores Normandy schools' decline : News

In documentary, ex-board member explores Normandy schools' decline : News

Why Science Fiction Is a Fabulous Tool in the Fight for Social Justice

Why Science Fiction Is a Fabulous Tool in the Fight for Social Justice

Danforth exits Bryan Cave, joins Dowd Bennett law firm : Business

Danforth exits Bryan Cave, joins Dowd Bennett law firm : Business

Ferguson protesters disagree over who should receive donations : News

Ferguson protesters disagree over who should receive donations : News

Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex

Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex

Enterprise founder and family give $22 million to children and education efforts

Enterprise founder and family give $22 million to children and education efforts



Philanthropic capitalism at its best (tied to private prisons on one side, but buying dependence on the other)

So many fronts: Students 4 Change on Carceral Education Regimes -- 5/23 9-11 AM

So many fronts: Monsanto March Saturday 5/23 at MOBOT

 

Asian and Pacific Islanders For Black Lives Matter (5/31 2-4 PM St John's Tower Grove)

Missouri board of education blasts new school bill, sees hope for Normandy

Missouri board of education blasts new school bill, sees hope for Normandy

From top of her class at Riverview to a harder path in Kirkwood : News

From top of her class at Riverview to a harder path in Kirkwood : News

School transfer bill rightly expands options for parents : News

School transfer bill rightly expands options for parents : News



Disagree.

A closer look at income and race concentration in public schools

A closer look at income and race concentration in public schools

On the importance of corporations and institutions as objects of struggle

On the struggle against criminal corporations (Jacobin)

"This emphasis on disruptive protest against key institutions does not mean that electing and targeting politicians is always unproductive. We are not arguing that the party in power makes no difference. But the influence of corporations and other large institutions means that the enactment and implementation of progressive policies may depend on first neutralizing that influence through direct pressure."

We saw the midwest miniature version of this here in St Louis not too long ago

How charter school proponents - backed by big monied interests – are corrupting school board races & democratic process across the country: Los Angeles, a case study:

Los Angeles School Board Race: Attack Ads and Lies Aplenty

IFCLA: In Honor of Saint Óscar Romero

Why Missouri unions see right-to-work as a threat : Business

Why Missouri unions see right-to-work as a threat : Business

St Louis Board of Education: Passes resolution to encourage Gov Nixon to veto HB 42

Via Susan Turk, St Louis Schools Watch:

The St. Louis Board of Education voted this evening to ask Gov. Nixon to veto HB 42.  The resolution also encouraged the legislature to sustain the veto.  Since it did not pass with enough votes to override a veto, there is hope that if Nixon vetoes the bill that his veto will be sustained.

The bill does nothing to fix the transfer law and expands the use of charter schools and virtual schools.

Students organizing for change: against the carceral and punitive schooling regime

Editorial: Gov. Nixon must again veto bill that ignores transfer crisis fix : News

Editorial: Gov. Nixon must again veto bill that ignores transfer crisis fix : News

Join struggle for democracy, against Peabody Coal and Slay collusion to destroy it: Take Back St Louis, Tuesday May 12, 2015, downtown

Dear friends, Over the past year, the demand for justice in the region has never been stronger. Thousands of St. Louis residents and hundreds of thousands across the world are standing up to police brutality and demanding that Black Lives Matter. As we continue to find the pathways forward for the region like our recent success in reforming the municipal courts, we know that justice will be incomplete without creating a different, sustainable economy that works for everyone. Job training programs are not enough -- we must create a fundamentally different economy that returns economic power to local communities and moves us away from corporate capitalism.  Last year, many of you were active in the Take Back St. Louis initiative, a resident-driven initiative that gathered over 36,000 signatures to get on the city ballot. The Take Back St. Louis initiative would change our local economy by encouraging the city to invest in projects like large-scale urban farming, weatherization and retrofitting programs and renewable energy installation on vacant land, particularly on the Northside of the city.  We know this initiative challenges the status quo because the ruling class of St. Louis is terrified by it. Instead of letting it go to the voters in April 2014, Mayor Slay worked with Peabody Coal to block it from the ballot. This Tuesday, May 12th, Take Back St. Louis will be in the Court of Appeals to challenge the Mayor and his corporate friends on our vision for the city.  Please join us this Tuesday May 12th at 8:45AM at the Old Post Office (815 Olive St., across from Culinaria downtown) for a press conference before we head into the Court of Appeals. Now more than ever, we must contest with the ruling class’ vision for St. Louis. We know that the city has plenty of resources -- the millions of dollars they give every year to developers and corporations, large departments of “development” experts and thousands of vacant lots. We have to force them to use those resources how we want.  If we’re successful in the Court of Appeals, we’ll be back on the ballot and have an opportunity to put forth a different vision of how St. Louis should run -- a city where there is investment in Black communities, where there is full employment, where the local economy is based on sustainable development not coal corporations. Join us from the press conference on Tuesday, May 12th at 8:45AM and then the court hearing at the Old Post Office (815 Olive St.). Toward a more just St. Louis,

Tomgram: Michael Gould-Wartofsky, The New Age of Counterinsurgency Policing | TomDispatch

Tomgram: Michael Gould-Wartofsky, The New Age of Counterinsurgency Policing | TomDispatch

When Black Writers Were Public Enemy No. 1

When Black Writers Were Public Enemy No. 1

Organized Labor Should Spend the Rest of 2015 Training Workers How to Fight - Working In These Times

Organized Labor Should Spend the Rest of 2015 Training Workers How to Fight - Working In These Times



With a strike school curriculum.

Brutal truth: no such thing as equal opportunity for the poor, in St Louis or anywhere else

Damning graphic on inequality in St Louis, and suggests why the corporate model of philanthropy, charters, volunteerism – amid the dismantling of democratic participation – will do little to help change it:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/03/upshot/the-best-and-worst-places-to-grow-up-how-your-area-compares.html?_r=1&abt=0002&abg=1

St. Louis burning: What killed the babies near Weldon Spring? | Al Jazeera America

St. Louis burning: What killed the babies near Weldon Spring? | Al Jazeera America



Environmental injustice in St Louis county, ongoing.

Riots work: Wolf Blitzer and the Washington Post completely missed the real lesson from Baltimore

Riots work: Wolf Blitzer and the Washington Post completely missed the real lesson from Baltimore

Perspectives on the ShowME15 movement: Low Wages and Fast Food | Economic and Political Weekly

Low Wages and Fast Food | Economic and Political Weekly

Prison services are profitable niche for Bridgeton company : Business

Coal is bad, profiting from prisoners is worse.



Prison services are profitable niche for Bridgeton company : Business

Wash U Students Against Peabody, et al: call for community to clean up the university's board of trustees....

BG with Argentine Public Radio: Los disturbios en Baltimore evidencian la violencia que sufren los afroamericanos

Los disturbios en Baltimore evidencian la violencia que sufren los afroamericanos

Learning to demand rights, early: student action today re: a park in Old North

Good Morning,

Students 4 Change, the youth project of Metropolitan Congregations United, will have an action today down at City Hall. The students in the Old North neighborhood are seeking renovations to their local park (Strodtman Park) to make it a safe and dignified place to play. The Parks Department, which has been very accommodating following our widely-covered January public meeting, has offered to pay 75% of the cost of the capital cost for making the remaining fixes, if only our alderman, the venerable Mr. Bosley, pays the rest.

Mr. Bosley has refused, so the students will run an action at 4:30  at the board of aldermen (city hall rm 230). They will be asking Mr. Bosley to commit to funding making the park safe.

I am asking for adult support if you are free to join us at 4:15. Email me back or call at 314-489-8935 if you can join us!

-- 

Brittini Gray
MCU Community Organizer
314-367-3484 Office
314-489-8935 Cell
http://adarkskinnedgirlspride.weebly.com/blog.html

Baltimore’s violent protesters are right: Smashing police cars is a legitimate political strategy

Baltimore’s violent protesters are right: Smashing police cars is a legitimate political strategy

Ferguson Commission will measure recommendations by three questions on racial equality

Ferguson Commission will measure recommendations by three questions on racial equality

Demonizing Teachers, Privatizing Schools: The Big Lies and Big Plans Behind the Atlanta School Cheating Scandal | Black Agenda Report

Demonizing Teachers, Privatizing Schools: The Big Lies and Big Plans Behind the Atlanta School Cheating Scandal | Black Agenda Report

This is the kind of analysis and critique St Louis' corporate-dependent elites try to mask with cheap philanthropy: Ferguson Hosts a Fortune 500 Firm—So Why Was It Relying on Fines and Fees?

Ferguson Hosts a Fortune 500 Firm—So Why Was It Relying on Fines and Fees?

Chileans confront riot police by dancing the national 'cueca' music: File under creative struggle

In historic vote, aldermen send civilian oversight of St. Louis police to Mayor Slay

In historic vote, aldermen send civilian oversight of St. Louis police to Mayor Slay

Troops referred to Ferguson protesters as 'enemy forces', emails show

Troops referred to Ferguson protesters as 'enemy forces', emails show

MO Legislative Black Caucus sponsors Town Hall "State of Black Missouri" 4/18 1-3 PM

Reminder Message from Joe Adams, State Representative - District 86

Dear Friend,

I would like to remind you of the upcoming Town Hall Forum, “State Of Black Missouri”, sponsored by the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus (MLBC). The event will be held in St. Louis this Saturday, April 18^th from 1:00 – 3:00 pm, at the Greater St. Mark Family Church, 9950 Glen Owen Dr., St. Louis, MO  63136.  Presenters will update you on what legislation is being proposed and voted on, and how it will affect you and your community. This is a great opportunity to meet your elected officials from around the state.  As always, your input and participation is appreciated as it helps us to shape the debate in Jefferson City.  Please make an effort to join us and let your voice be heard.

Please feel free to contact me at my district office (314-862-7877), or my Jefferson City office (573-751-4265), with any questions or concerns you might have.  You may also contact Representative Michael Butler at 573-751-6800.

As always, thank you for your friendship and support.  Together, we will build a stronger Missouri.

Kind regards,
Joe Adams

PS: Missouri Legislative Black Caucus Calls On Leaders To Pass Police Body Camera Bill
http://kcur.org/post/missouri-legislative-black-caucus-calls-leaders-pass-police-body-camera-bill

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Panel of great speakers on "Protest" @wustl. Friday 4/17 at 5 PM

This is the analysis we need - supportive, reflective, and critical, re: Fight for 15: Low-Wage Workers Struggles are About Much More Than Wages | Opinion | teleSUR

Low-Wage Workers Struggles are About Much More Than Wages | Opinion | teleSUR



Fight for 15’s approach is unorthodox, but it is constrained by organized labor’s history. Class-struggle unionism has been abandoned by labor leaders who act as junior partners to corporations, like SEIU and Kaiser Permanente, the UAW and auto companies, the machinists union and Boeing, and the building trades and real-estate developers. Many union leaders are also in the pocket of the Democratic Party despite it being in the pocket of Wall Street. 

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address: 
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Low-Wage-Workers-Struggles-are-About-Much-More-Than-Wages-20150415-0036.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english

Historians circulate petition against censorship at MO History Museum, Anthropologists should sign too, Museum director is an Anthropologist

By way of the collective (SLSProject did not initiate this petition):

Background

On March 19^th , the panel discussion “Ferguson to Ayotzinapa to Palestine: Solidarity and Collaborative Action” was scheduled to take place at the Missouri History Museum. The panel discussion was intended to illuminate histories of state violence and to be a platform for connecting community activists fighting against oppression. Two days before the event, the museum contacted event organizers and demanded that the subject of Palestine be removed, or that organizers reschedule the event at a different location. This entailed not merely the removal of the mention of Palestine in the name of the event, but the removal of a representative of the local Palestinian community from the panel. As a result of the museum’s demands, all panelists and organizations involved agreed to cancel the event, stage a protest on the steps of the museum, and rescheduled the panel discussion at a different location.

In a public statement on their website, the museum shifted the blame to event organizers stating that “significant” changes had been made to the original proposed event. While the original proposal included only Ayotzinapa and Ferguson, a revision occurring shortly after added the subject of Palestine to the event.  Museum staff agreed to the addition and publicized the event online. Museum staff rationalized their last minute demands to event organizers in email correspondence stating, “The conflict we are running into is the comparison between the events in Ferguson and the actions of the Palestinians. Some people see these events as comparing apples to oranges [emphasis added].” The community activist groups who were a part of the panel see commonalities across their struggles—economic injustice, state violence, and unequal access to resources. 

Contrary to the museum’s statements, a Freedom of Information Act Sunshine request revealed that the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) emailed the museum president two days before the panel discussion expressing dismay at the event’s content. Within 90 minutes the museum president responded, thanking the JCRC director for bringing the issue to her attention and stated that the museum was contacting event organizers to deliver an ultimatum. The museum, in an effort to placate its critics, is now proposing to organize a moderated panel on Israel and Palestine. They have contacted the JCRC and Anti-Defamation League to assist in planning; they have not contacted the Palestine Solidarity Committee, which was a part of the original panel.

This petition will be delivered to the Missouri History Museum and released to the press during the Organization of American Historians annual meeting, which will be held in St. Louis from April 16^th-19^th. Please sign the petition to protest the Missouri History Museum’s actions and distribute to your colleagues.

Resources for more information:

Cancellation of panel:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-hart/palestine-solidarity-cens_b_6909486.html?

Museum Statement: http://mohistory.org/node/56647

Emails between Museum and JCRC: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/03/missouri-palestine-pressure

LINK TO PETITION:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1iPmytVpUJEHJjwNOTpnvdP1ZbKSnnF_zEZdHRSpswgo/viewform

Handy Self-Improvement Guide for White People (and for some POC), by Barnor Hesse

Check the bankers' faces: Protester disrupts European Central Bank press conference - live updates

Protester disrupts European Central Bank press conference - live updates

Ferguson and the Fight for 15 | Washington University Political Review

Ferguson and the Fight for 15 | Washington University Political Review

Talk on Race and Radicalism in the US and Latin America @wustl, Wednesday at 5 PM

After you show up for the @ShowMe15 rally, here's a talk you can go to:

For those who didn't know Eduardo Galeano's work, you might want to

Tribute from Ben Dangl:

Eduardo Galeano’s Words Walk the Streets of a Continent

By Benjamin Dangl

The world lost one of its great writers today. Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano died at age 74 in Montevideo. He left a magical body of work behind him, and his reach is as wide as his continent.

During Argentina's 2001-2002 economic crisis, Galeano’s words walked down the streets with a life of their own, accompanying every protest and activist meeting. Factories were occupied by workers, neighborhood assemblies rose up, and, for a time, revolutionary talk and action replaced a rotten neoliberal system. Galeano’s upside-down view of the world blew fresh dreams into the tear gas-filled air.

In the streets of La Paz, Bolivia, pirated copies of Galeano’s classic Open Veins of Latin America are still sold at nearly every book stall. There too, Galeano’s historical alchemy added to the fire of many movements and uprisings, where miners of the country’s open veins tossed dynamite at right-wing politicians, and the 500-year-old memory of colonialism lives on.

Up the windy mountain roads of Chiapas, past Mexican state military checkpoints, lies the autonomous Zapatista community of Oventic. One day a few years ago, Galeano’s familiar voice floated over the foggy, autonomous land, reciting children’s stories over stereo speakers.

At a World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Galeano entered a steaming hot tent where hundreds had gathered to hear him speak about the Uruguayan water rights movement in which the people had “voted against fear” to stop privatization. What I remembered most about the talk is how much he made the crowd laugh.

And one night in Paraguay, with the smell of cow manure and pesticides lingering in the air, small farmers besieged by toxic soy crops gathered tell stories of resistance, stories they linked to Galeano’s accounts of the looting of Latin America and struggles against greed and empire that were centuries in the making.

With the small mountain of books and articles he left behind, Galeano gives us a language of hope, a way feel to feel rage toward the world while also loving it, a way to understand the past while carving out a better possible future.

“She’s on the horizon,” he once wrote of utopia. “I go two steps, she moves two steps away. I walk ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps ahead. No matter how much I walk, I’ll never reach her. What good is utopia? That’s what: it’s good for walking.”

Link: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/5280-eduardo-galeanos-words-walk-the-streets-of-a-continent

Hipsters for charter schools: The big lie “Togetherness” tells about race and education

Hipsters for charter schools: The big lie “Togetherness” tells about race and education