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Special Report
The New Civil Rights Leaders
Old-school civil rights activists are fading into the history books — making way for a new generation.
Quick: Who are the nation’s most relevant civil rights leaders? Neither Jesse Jackson nor Al Sharpton fit the bill. And it isn’t Benjamin Todd Jealous, the far lesser known president of the increasingly irrelevant National Association for the Advancement of Black People.
These days, civil rights leadership can be claimed by folks such as Geoffrey Canada, CNN commentator Dr. Steve Perry, and Gwen Samuel. Each one is taking on the biggest concern among black families — and families throughout the nation overall — in this century: the reform of America’s lackluster traditional public schools.
As head of the Harlem Children’s Zone, Canada has garnered acclaim over the past decade for his launch of three charter schools that have challenged the longstanding view that poverty is somehow a barrier to students succeeding academically. One of the heroes featured in Al Gore friend Davis Guggenheim’s documentary, Waiting for “Superman”, Canada has also emerged as one of the leading spokesmen for combating the decades of mediocrity that has marked education. This summer, for example, Canada, along with other charter school operators and the families whose kids attend them, led protests against the American Federation of Teachers and the NAACP after the two filed an unsuccessful lawsuit aimed at stopping the expansion of those schools. The protests proved to be particularly embarrassing to the NAACP, which found itself in the awkward position of opposing Canada and the very black families it proclaims to support.
Then there’s Perry, the blunt-speaking social worker who has garnered national acclaim for his work as founder of Capital Prep Magnet School in Hartford, Conn., rated by U.S. News & World Report among the best-performing schools serving black and Latino students. Besides hosting his “Perry’s Principles” segment on CNN and writing a new book on how parents can navigate an often hostile education system, Perry has emerged as one of the leading critics of status-quo defenders like the AFT, the much larger National Education Association, and Diane Ravitch, the once respectable former George Bush appointee who has become the darling of teachers’ union bosses. Declared Perry in an interview this week: “These are people who don’t see your children as being as capable as theirs.”
Meanwhile Samuel, a mother from the tiny Connecticut city of Meriden, has become one of the foremost leaders of the Parent Power movement, an emerging collection of urban and suburban families pushing for reform. In the past year alone, the two organizations she leads, the State of Black CT Alliance and the Connecticut Parents Union, helped pass the nation’s second Parent Trigger law — which allows a majority of parents to petition for the overhaul of a school — and filed a series of lawsuits aimed at forcing the Nutmeg State to allow parents to exercise school choice so their kids can flee failure mills.
The level of fear among teachers’ union leaders over Samuel’s efforts — and that of fellow Parent Power groups such as Parent Revolution (which passed the nation’s first Parent Trigger law) became clear last month when education magazine Dropout Nation revealed a presentation given by the AFT at one of its conferences that showed how its Connecticut affiliate worked unsuccessfully to kibosh the law (it did manage to water it down). The widespread outcry forced AFT President Randi Weingarten to issue two apologies for the language contained in the presentation — and a meeting with Samuel in order to save face.
Canada, Perry and Samuel aren’t the only ones emerging as the leading voices for black families. A new generation of activists such as Derrell Bradford, who has championed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s efforts to expand school choice and subject teachers to private sector-style performance management, and music stars like John Legend (who has helped make school reform a mainstream issue) are also advancing the cause. Another group consists of big-city politicians such as Newark mayor Cory Booker, who has gained acclaim for reducing a 23 percent decline in homicides between 2007 and 2009 (the latest data available) and for leading a school reform effort funded in part by a controversial $100 million donation from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. There’s also Kevin Chavous, the former D.C. city councilman who helped push for the expansion of charter schools, as well as the launch (and revival) of D.C.’s current voucher program; he has also founded such groups as Democrats for Education Reform, which has helped shape President Barack Obama’s education reform agenda.
The leading light of this group is the fiery Howard Fuller, who, as superintendent of the Milwaukee school district in 1991, helped successfully push for the nation’s first school voucher program. Within the past two decades, Fuller has become one of the foremost school reformers and civil rights activists, cofounding such groups as Black Alliance for Educational Options, which has been one of the leading forces for expanding school choice. (Chavous, who helped cofound BAEO, is Fuller’s successor as its chairman.) Declared Andy Rotherham (who writes the Eduwonk blog) in his Time column: “[Fuller’s] tireless quest to empower low-income parents led him far from traditional political allegiances.”
Certainly old-school civil rights groups such as the NAACP, the National Urban League, and Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition remain influential forces in African-American politics and key activists within Democratic Party politics. For good reason. During the last century, they have earned the esteem of generations of blacks with their protest marches, lawsuits and legislative battles to rightfully end legal and de facto Jim Crow segregation.
On education, in particular, old-school civil rights groups successfully pushed for the integration of public schools. They also used the courts to force states to pour more money into the urban schools, either by transferring property dollars from wealthier suburban districts or increasing funding to those districts from state dollars. Driving those efforts are two outdated notions: that moving poor black, white and Latino students into schools attended by middle-class peers will result in improving their success in school, and that spending more money on education will lead to better schools in urban communities. Both notions tend to favor Baby Boomer teachers, who tend to be their most influential members.
But a younger generation of blacks, who realize that economic freedom is critical to social equality, understands that neither integration nor increased funding have done much to address the low quality of teaching and academic curricula — the issues at the heart of the nation’s education crisis. The fact that one out of every two young black ninth-grade men drop out of high school before senior year — and the consequences in the form of long-term unemployment and low income — has also made blacks more concerned about education, especially in an age in which what you know is more important than what you can do with your hands. Young black families, particularly those in urban communities often served by failure factories, have learned from experience that integration was a false promise and have become savvy about the role played by teachers’ unions in contributing to the mediocre quality of urban schools.
From the perspective of young blacks and even some of their Baby Boomer counterparts, education is the civil rights issue of this generation. So they have joined common cause with big-city mayors, reform-minded politicians from both sides of the political aisle, and young centrist Democrats. Forty-nine percent of African Americans surveyed in 2009 by the school policy journal Education Next and Harvard University supported charter schools, a seven-point increase over the previous year.
Old-school civil rights activists haven’t taken too kindly to their loss of influence. Nor are they happy with President Obama’s embrace of the school reform movement (even though many of the groups were not supportive of his successful presidential campaign three years ago). Last year, a group led by the NAACP and the National Urban League issued a manifesto decrying Obama’s efforts — including the Race to the Top initiative, which, among other things, successfully pushed states such as California and New York to expand the number of charter schools — demanding that the administration back their array of warmed-over measures instead. Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan — backed wholeheartedly by black school reformers — repaid them in kind by rhetorically smacking them around for failing to realize the importance of their efforts.
The battle in New York City over the expansion of charters placed the conflict between old-school civil rights groups and black school reformers into full view. Chavous chastised the NAACP for having “become the protector of the status quo it once fought”, while Perry accused it of being “a jobs program” for teachers’ unions. The head of the NAACP’s New York affiliate, Hazel Dukes, told a charter school parent that she and her fellow supporters were doing the bidding of “slave masters.” The national office went further by issuing a press release accusing Chavous and Perry (along with other school reformers) of being funded by “right wing opponents of traditional public schools.”
The results didn’t turn out well for the NAACP. Nor can it even count on all old-school civil rights activists to be on its side. One of the foremost school reformers out there is the National Urban League, whose president, Michael Lomax, serves on the boards of the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools and the KIPP chain of charter schools. And Sharpton has even teamed up with former New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein and former House speaker Newt Gingrich to champion charters. The NAACP and other old-school civil rights groups will either have to change — or disappear into the history books.
About the Author
RiShawn Biddle the editor of Dropout Nation , is co-author of A Byte at the Apple: Rethinking Education Data for the Post-NCLB Era. He can be followed at Twitter.com/dropoutnation.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (58) | Leave a comment
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carnot| 9.16.11 @ 8:29AM
the author neglected to mention the spotty record of the President early on in his administration dealing with similar issues in DC...and the outcome of those policy conflicts
Alan Brooks| 9.16.11 @ 4:19PM
but many of the new faces are Uncle Toms acquiescing to Simon Legree's manipulations.
Of course, not all of the new breed are like that, however you don't just go by what a civil rights guy says- do you? when Jesse, Sharpton, and all the rest say something , you are rightly suspicious; and we have to be suspicious of these new guys, too. They are not charities, they are out for themselves just as Jesse and Sharpton are.
The Bruce| 9.17.11 @ 3:27AM
AB, I'll agree that the self-appointed amulance-chasers (Sharpton & Jackson) are keen to point out racsism where it isn't due, but refrain from using the term, "Uncle Tom."
By using the term, yourself, you imply that certain classes of races are inferior. This isn't true, no matter how much liberals try to make it so.
Alan Brooks| 9.17.11 @ 2:37PM
Bruce,
I don't say anyone has to like blacks at all- or anyone. At least Stormfront.org (white nationalist) is sincere, they are saying: "whites are prettier". If you look at their gallery of full-sized photos of 'Aryan' women you'll see that is what it is all about when you strip away the bs. It is racial reproduction/sexuality and no one is going to claim that whites are hard on the eyes.
But can't we cut the smarm?
Trinacria| 9.17.11 @ 3:25PM
"no one is ever going to claim that whites are hard on the eyes"
What?!!!! Have you never seen Debbie Wasserman Schultz?
Alan Brooks| 9.17.11 @ 5:01PM
In general! geez, do you have to be so petty? what, do you want someone to write:
"59.908264000018 of whites are considered cute on the Cuteness Scale developed by Dr. Fingleheimer at the National Institute Of Cuteness Studies (NIOCS) while only 48.7899550224601 of blacks were considered cute from the data"?
Point was, the blind spot is: though whites don't have to like blacks, blacks don't have to like whites, either. Whites are surprised when blacks retaliate against them.
Reality check| 9.18.11 @ 2:53PM
Lighten up, tight ass; it was a joke. Here's how it works: you make a statement that appears to define a general rule; I respond with by offering an example that EVERYONE would recognize as a very clear exception to the rule. Then we all chuckle and go back to our internet porn.
Let's try another one, shall we?
I say white guys make better quarterbacks than black guys. You respond, "Really, have you ever seen (fill in the blank) play?"
C'mon, you can do it!
Alan Brooks| 9.18.11 @ 6:21PM
Yiou are correct with your football analogy. But I don't look at internet porn or any other porn not because I think porn is bad, but because porn as it is today is boring and sometimes disgusting. "People with no taste decide taste; people with no standards decide standards."
Alan Brooks| 9.18.11 @ 6:26PM
...and the pornocracy is just one minor issue'.. Please answer this:
why do so many Americans have to go out of their way to be so tasteless? revenge for something?
Don't get mad, get tasteless?
And PLEASE don't say "it is a matter of opinion, there is no accounting for taste"-- because that is the whole point! there is no accounting because it scarcely exists.
Trinacria| 9.18.11 @ 10:14PM
Seroquel - available at a pharmacy near you.
Alan Brooks| 9.19.11 @ 12:51AM
You ought to know about meds, you rightwingnut;
you are even farther Right than Lucky Luciano.
Alan Brooks| 9.19.11 @ 12:51AM
...probably distantly related to him, as well.
Trinacria| 9.19.11 @ 10:50AM
Proudly so (and not as distant as you might think).
ENOUGH ROPE| 9.16.11 @ 5:17PM
Government control of the monopolistic public schools systems enables the government to brainwash students with the government party line which opposes Judeo-Christian values, U.S. political, economic and cultural history, the U.S. Constitution, and the idea that our individual rights come from God–not from the state.
I am persuaded that the leftists who control the schools of education and public schools work to make our students, and thus our citizenry, ignorant and incompetent. Why? Ignorant and incompetent citizens can be duped easily.
It will take generations for the underclasses created by Liberals and Progressives to be educated about the truth that there is no free lunch. All students should be taught that socialism works until there is no one left with money to confiscate for redistribution.
The victims in the underclasses need to learn that they have been duped by the Liberals and Progressives. The public school system monopoly must be replaced by private secular and religious schools that teach truth, goodness, beauty, virtue, wisdom, love of God, and love of neighbor. Starve the public schools of school taxes that should fund the private schools.
When the current thugs who rule the Senate and the Executive Branch are replaced by Conservatives and Republicans, then a law should be passed that grants the states the CHOICE to do all of the above. I say choice, because we must limit the Federal Government to the powers stated in the U.S. Constitution.
Do the above, and America will become once again a nation under God.
ENOUGH ROPE| 9.16.11 @ 5:18PM
END ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN ALL STATES.
2Anglico| 9.16.11 @ 9:23AM
Mr. Canada IS "Superman".
Teaghan| 9.16.11 @ 11:42AM
Absolutely! Waiting for Superman left me speechless. "knowing" it and then seeing it happening are 2 different things. How sad for those folks who give a damn about their kids future.
Alan Brooks| 9.16.11 @ 4:44PM
Question is:
if you care about blacks, why didn't you run a younger version (he is 81) of Thomas Sowell? there are millions of black conservatives; but notice how Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Palin, all of 'em, are to a man-- and woman-- white.
Your message is: we like blacks but we don't think they are as pretty as us, so we wouldn't nominate one for president.
Here is some breaking news about Carter: hesaid today he wants Romney to run because (as you needn't be told) Carter thinks Romney will lose.
c. j. acworth| 9.16.11 @ 6:23PM
"... all of 'em to a man-and woman-white."
That Herman Cain fella has a helluva tan, don't he?
Alan Brooks| 9.16.11 @ 7:48PM
Cain is not a front-runner, whereas Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Palin (if Sarah really is in the contest), are all front-runners and all white.
A black Republican hasn't got a prayer-- not in 2012.
My hunch is it will be Perry Bachmann, and if the economy doesn't improve they will win the election. Yet they will do no better than Bush. The days of Reagan, WFB, Goldwater are HISTORY.
Constant-Sorrow| 9.16.11 @ 9:34AM
Funny, no mention of the genocidal black abortion rates...
Alan Brooks| 9.16.11 @ 4:45PM
But by your logic, if they aren't born they wont get on welfare.
IMO you might be crying crocodile tears.
Petronius| 9.16.11 @ 10:09AM
Good stuff. I love when the vindictive race hustlers get caught flat footed. But I am over joyed to witness any assault against herd mentality within any segment of the population. Herding is what schooling has always been. May the efforts of the individuals named above be successful and the bilge their children get force fed in their classrooms banished forever. If this really is a sea change, let the tide roll in. As an urban taxpayer, I'm tired of the pupils in public schools in my city get mostly nothing for my something.
Alan Brooks| 9.16.11 @ 4:48PM
Then let's change things so blacks can directly compete with you-no buffering for you- so they wont need govt. assistance.
Willing to give it a GO?
Trinacria| 9.18.11 @ 3:00PM
Buffering? Really? Is that the way it is now? White guys are buffered from competing with blacks? Kind of like THE MAN is keeping us UP?
Wow! To whom shall I send my thank you note? Mighty white of them to pull me up the ladder like that (and here I was thinking it was hard work and dedication...).
John McG| 9.16.11 @ 10:15AM
A great article. Thank you. But the biggest surprise was to learn that Obama is backing the right horse. Gives new meaning to the old saw that a stopped watch is right twice a day. Maybe we've found a job he can do starting January '13.
Sheila| 9.16.11 @ 10:48AM
When institutionalized "racism" is a thing of the past, and today's laws and AA regime penalize non-wealthy Whites more than any other group, what is the justification or the need for a "new generation of civil rights leaders?" If Blacks have their varied groups, and Hispanics have "La Raza," can Whites organize on behalf of their interests as well? Hmnn?
As far as education goes, lobbying mayors and school districts for new programs (and always more money) is hardly something new. Higher standards and personal choice are fine and good - but no laws or civil rights group can change the Black "community's" attitude toward Western European educational norms, and no quantity of funds can change innate differences in genetically-determined IQ.
Sophist Watch| 9.16.11 @ 10:56AM
Actually non-wealthy Asians get hammered by AA.
Constant-Sorrow| 9.16.11 @ 11:29AM
I didn't want to seem to get off-topic with my previous comment, but this might be a good thread to expand on. The fight for school choice is admirable but doesn't change root causes. M. Sanger's minority schooling solution (fewer minority children) is obviously very successful esp. in New York. This is not hyperbole-when I saw these appalling stats I thought, now we're going to see some outrage (as I was), but alas the outrage has been segregated to Christians who obviously don't get media airtime. Beyond this is the question of why blacks would stick with the Democrats whose policies have destroyed them...not to mention if Dems can rely on their vote anyway, is it surprising that 'they're not really that into you'? I am going to fact check that Obama is for school choice info, later today too- now I have to get to work.
Huh?| 9.17.11 @ 3:21PM
Sophist
Non-wealthy Asians get hammered by African Americans? WTF? Unless you're talking about the National Basketball Association, you must be smoking crack!
As a teacher, I routinely encountered new Asian immigrants who had a better command of the english language than their African American counterparts. Academically, it wasn't even a fair comparison, the asian students (NONE of whom was wealthy) routinely out performed African American students. Did they have higher IQ's? I doubt it, but they certainly comported themselves differently. They were quiet, respectful, inquisitive, and studious. In short, they cared, and perhaps more importantly, their parents cared (note the use of the plural form).
I challenge you to find a single study or set of test scores from the last 40 years showing African Americans outperforming Asians.
Skippy| 9.17.11 @ 4:46PM
Not African Americans, Affirmative Action.
Fool.
Tiddly| 9.18.11 @ 1:00PM
Or any other race. Google the phrase WANTED: MORE RACE REALISM, LESS MORALISTIC FALLACY and read the scientific explanation of why. The answer is genetics, unfortunately. Evolution did not advance humanity equally everywhere in the world.
The first paragraph of the study: "Despite repeated claims to the contrary, there has been no narrowing of the 15- to 18-point average IQ difference between Blacks and Whites (1.1 standard deviations); the differences are as large today as they were when first measured nearly 100 years ago. They, and the concomitant difference in standard of living, level of education, and related phenomena, lie in factors that are largely heritable, not cultural. The IQ differences are attributable to differences in brain size more than to racism, stereotype threat, item selection on tests, and all the other suggestions given by the commentators. It is time to meet reality. It is time to stop committing the 'moralistic fallacy' that good science must conform to approved outcomes."
Alan Brooks| 9.16.11 @ 8:48PM
"non-wealthy Whites"
What, is this PC for poor and middle-class?
Just write "poor and middle class."
You didn't call Bill Clinton and JFK "non-celibate", did you?
wolflen| 9.16.11 @ 1:57PM
in los angeles the LAUSD - second largest in the country 670,000 plus...seems to have an ongoing dropout rate of over 40%...being that the student population is over 70% latino..one might think..where is the outrage..where are the demonstrations...the demands...the accusations of racism...the parents seem to be ok with the results..as the results continue year after year...and seem to be "expected" and even the goal to be maintained...now the question for la raza et al (civil rights groups)..is the reason the lack of protest is that unions rule no matter the result..and to demand alternative applications-charter/private schools is the work of the "man-keeping us down"...when gangs need new recruits..the local high school has all the applicants they will ever need..
PJ| 9.16.11 @ 10:11PM
"in los angeles the LAUSD -...seems to have an ongoing dropout rate of over 40%...being that the student population is over 70% latino..one might think..where is the outrage..."
Many of the Latinos in LA are here illegally. I don't think many will come out to show rage by demonstrating fearing that the INS might be nearby with the paddy wagons.
2nd, many of those parents have a minimum amt of education if any from Mexico & elsewhere. They most likely do not know what a good education is.
cowgirl| 9.16.11 @ 2:44PM
I home school my son for the same reasons that the people mentioned in your article are pushing for school choice, vouchers and charters schools.... The public school system is complete, utter, dismal failure. My hat is off to them. I support them 100% and pray that they win for the sake of all children - no matter their race or income levels.
TriNacria| 9.16.11 @ 7:18PM
Hey RiShawn,
We need another civil rights leader like Anthony Wiener needs another cell phone camera. How 'bout we dial it back a notch on the race racket.
Note to Mr. Tyrrell: Seriously?
Alan Brooks| 9.16.11 @ 7:53PM
"we dial it back a notch on the race racket."
But not the poor-white race racket; capitalizing on the fears of poor whites to gain votes for the GOP.
Trinacria| 9.16.11 @ 10:36PM
WTF are you talking about?
Alan Brooks| 9.16.11 @ 7:52PM
"we dial it back a notch on the race racket."
But not the poor-white race racket; capitalizing on the fears of poor whites to gain votes for the GOP.
Alan Brooks| 9.18.11 @ 7:55PM
"WTF are you talking about?"
Whites look out for their interests, blacks look out for theirs.
Trinacria| 9.18.11 @ 10:00PM
Shazam! You figure that one out for yourself, sport?
Just My 2 Cents| 9.16.11 @ 7:57PM
None of these "civil rights" leaders are fighting for the issues of all African American students across the nation. It's great that these school leaders are proving what Marva Collins has for years--Black students are as smart and capable as the next when they have good teachers who actually care whether they achieve and succeed.
The Lower Merion School District is a suburban, very wealthy, school district that abutts Philadelphia. Since 2005 the he Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia and DLA Piper law firms have worked with African American parents to fight for education justice. The predominantly white school district has fought Black parents for generations and continues to do so at every turn. The community's federal lawsuit goes to a trial by jury in Philadelphia in November 2011.
BLACK PARENTS Across the USA NEED TO STAND UP and SPEAK UP to MAKE EDUCATION CHANGE. Blunt et al vs. the Lower Merion School District. Here's where African American parents have taken the lead to cause change in a small community.
All this to say, this articles speaks to the civil rights issue of the century, not not the civil rights leaders of these issues---these folks are spokespersons for their own schools and students. National leaders need to speak to suburban issues as well, not just the urban or charter school issues.
Richard Baker| 9.16.11 @ 9:35PM
Instead, we have the circus act of Sharpton and Jackson being portrayed as influential instead of those mentioned in the article. Until these two and their ilk are truly rendered irrelevant, the perception will remain the same, sadly. Hopefully, Dr. King and Medgar Evers didn't die for nothing.
RiJuan| 9.16.11 @ 9:55PM
Ay Dios mio! How novel - another black writer whose topical horizons stretch all the way to the borders of his race. Look, amigo, what we really need is an article about the new face of immigration in this country!
RiSeth| 9.16.11 @ 9:57PM
Oivey! You youngstahs don't know from persecution. What we really need is an article on the new face of anti-semitism in America.
RiMohammed| 9.16.11 @ 9:58PM
Zionist Infidel! Nobody cares about your whining - what we need is an article about the new face of Islam.
Allah Akbar!
RiTard| 9.16.11 @ 9:59PM
You selfish bbbbbastards! How about showing some llllllove for the new face of disabled Americans.
RiRun| 9.16.11 @ 10:00PM
Hey, fellas - chill. How about something more lighthearted, like the new face of syndicated sitcoms?
THREEFIFTHS2004@AOLCOM| 9.16.11 @ 11:19PM
Give me a break.Geoffrey Canada has ties to The mayor of New York King Bloomberg.Also ties to Hedge Fund Crooks on wall Streetnd help bail one of them out of Jail.http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-04-14/wall_street/30009262_1_galleon-insider-trading-trial-raj-rajaratnam
.Dr.Steve Perry talks a good game but will not debate Diane Ravitch.Corey Booker is another husler.In fact check out his right wing buddies.http://www.blackcommentator.com/poisoned_tree.html
Give me a break with these Boule Negroes.
Black kid| 9.17.11 @ 12:12PM
RiShawn,
We don't need civil rights leaders - we need fathers. You can have MLK himself leading us, but until you get illegitimacy rates below 70%, it won't make a damn site of a difference....
Trinacria| 9.17.11 @ 1:05PM
Thank you. Funny how all minority-related issues get lumped under the term "civil rights". This isn't a civil rights issue (no one is attempting to deny anyone's rights here); it's a cultural and behavioral issue. The threat now comes not from the majority, but from within.
As an individual who is so passionate about education, the author has curiously failed to recognize a fundamental concept in learning: the process of education involves a quest for the truth. If we label cultural destruction from within under the heading of "civil rights", well, we're not addressing the issue truthfully, are we?
play nice| 9.17.11 @ 2:58PM
civil rights? give me a freakin' break!
What you'all need to do is get your shit together. We are so tired of your increasingly disfunctional African American attitude. Choose one, African or American.
Skippy| 9.17.11 @ 4:55PM
RTFO
I saw the white/colored signs in 1960.
It ain't 1960 anymore.
Grow up; get over it; stop whining.
Nobody owes you or any other "race" in America dick.
Gwen S. | 9.17.11 @ 7:35PM
Improving education within our communities will take ALL of us each taking personal and collective responsibility to ensure our children have equitable access to opportunity...nothing less is acceptable. The conversations should always be about the well-being of children. The equation should be education "over" egos not egos "over" education.
Trinacria| 9.18.11 @ 3:07PM
Yes, quite. But ask yourself this: where are the cries for the next generation of Asian American or indian American (think India, not running bull) "civil rights" leaders? Haven't heard any? Yeah, me neither - you think perhaps it's because they're too busy working hard to improve their lives by themselves to be worrying about relying on some leader to lead them to the promised land?
ole meanie| 9.18.11 @ 12:52PM
This is the kind of leadership we need in our country, and I am grateful for the efforts of these movers and shakers. We aren't going to get it from politicians, who sell out to various blocs for votes, consequences be damned.