As you know, people (White and Black) are marching in support of the
black men who are being shot and killed by white police officers,
and the police who were killed in Dallas. SCLC decided that we would
joined our black brothers and sisters and whites of goodwill all
over the country by rallying at Serenity Church, 2016 North Lee
Street here in Valdosta, at 10:00 Tuesday Morning, and then
motorcade to the courthouse for a march and rally. We expect a large
crowd, and would like very much for you, your family and friends to
join us.
J.C. Cunningham, running for statehouse district 175,
says vote No on the charter school amendment.
At the 30 Club Political Forum at Serenity Church School Monday,
he was asked about differences from his opponent, and
he answered:
Vote No on the charter school amendment —J.C. Cunningham for GA House District 175
Political Forum, 30 Club
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 October 2012.
This amendment was put on for
one reason and one reason only,
because there are powers that did not get their way
and it was strictly for money-grubbing, for-profit charter corporations
that would further take money away from
our Department of Education.
Now I want to say though we’ve met on what would have been my 87th birthday
may be some place of honor.
For this honor I want to thank you, and I must say to you:
unless the schools you have named for me teach children how to live
as much as how to make a living they will become little more than
battlegrounds for the frustrated individuals.
Unless the bridges that you have named for me
Given this era of YouTube, Internet blogs, and citizen journalists,
we have to ask why only credentialed members of the media were asked to leave?
Some of the people in attendance during Sunday’s meeting have
openly identified themselves in the past as active Internet bloggers.
For example when I stood up in the row behind the VDT reporter
and identified myself as taking videos for LAKE for posting on the web?
The editorial continues:
Any one of the people in attendance could have recorded the DOJ’s
responses and posted them,
but the DOJ didn’t ask to collect people’s cell phones.
I also said that due to the sensitive nature of the subject,
instead of LAKE’s usual policy of videoing and posting everything
that seemed interesting at a public meeting,
at this meeting I was only videoing people who asked to be videoed.
It wasn’t the DoJ’s responses that were sensitive
(they said hardly anything after their introduction):
it was what the people in the audience had to say.
I asked “the female DOJ attorney”, as the VDT calls her,
Continue reading →
Children are far more likely to be arrested at school than they were a generation ago.
The vast majority of these arrests are for non-violent offenses such
as “disruptive conduct” or “disturbance of the peace.” Five
year olds are being led out of classrooms in handcuffs for acting out
or throwing temper tantrums. Students have been arrested for throwing
an eraser at a teacher, breaking a pencil, and having rap lyrics in a
locker. These children do not belong in jail.
Why do we pay more to incarcerate people than it would cost
to educate them?
Why is this happening? “Zero tolerance” policies criminalize minor
infractions of school rules and high-stakes testing programs encourage
educators to push out low-performing students to improve their schools’
overall test scores. Students of color are especially vulnerable to the
discriminatory application of discipline and push-out trends.
Here’s a chance to do something about it.
The School To Prison Pipeline (STPP) refers to a disturbing national
trend in which students are funneled out of public schools and into the
juvenile and criminal justice systems. Most of these kids are children
of color, and many have learning disabilities or histories of poverty,
abuse or neglect, and would benefit from additional educational and
counseling services. Instead they are punished and isolated.
and the police who were killed in Dallas. SCLC decided that we would joined our black brothers and sisters and whites of goodwill all over the country by rallying at Serenity Church, 2016 North Lee Street here in Valdosta, at 10:00 Tuesday Morning, and then motorcade to the courthouse for a march and rally. We expect a large crowd, and would like very much for you, your family and friends to join us.
