Day: December 18, 2018

Parents filled the School Board meeting chanting “Take back our schools!” and “Erase the board!”

By Nathalie Clarke

In response to the possible closure of five schools, Fisher Academy, McDonogh 32, Nelson Academy, Cypress Academy, and Edgar P. Harney, parents, students, and educators are organizing and fighting back. Friends and Families of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC) first held an action in front of Edgar P. Harney, protesting the unjust investigation of principal Ashonta Wyatt and the closure of the school. All Ms. Wyatt had done was question Harney’s board’s spending and for this she was subsequently fired. When the school board didn’t respond to the protest, FFLIC urged parents, students, and educators to crowd the November 15th Orleans Parish School board meeting.

The board did everything in their power to silence their constituents. They encouraged parents from Cypress Academy not to come, and only released the meeting’s agenda 24 hours before the meeting. They also failed to inform people that in order to make comments they’d not only have to drive to the West Bank in the middle of the work day, but also arrive 30 minutes early to drop off their comment card. Nonetheless, folks took to the podium to voice their anger about the closures and about the way schools in New Orleans have been run since Katrina.

“We are surrounded by failing schools in Louisiana, but New Orleans was the only [district] for sale,” K. T. parent and native New Orleanian commented, referring to the disproportionate privatization of New Orleans schools following Katrina.

“We don’t work for you. You represent us! When did we get asked about these changes?” asked Ashana Bigard, a long-time advocate for children and families and organizer with Friends and Families of Louisiana’s Incarcerated children.

The crowd chanted “Erase the board!” while many concerned parents took to the podium to share their outrage. “Our children deserve better than Cs!” one parent protested.

The vulture capitalists who came in before Katrina’s waters even receded would have us believe that charter schools, so called “free-market” education reforms, give parents more choice and produce better schools because of competition, but any working-class parent in Orleans Parish can tell you this simply isn’t true. The Recovery School District–which took over 105 public schools in 2005 and turned them into charters–is using public money to produce failing schools. There are only 18,500 seats at schools rated “A” or “B” by the State, and 45,000 students vying to get in. Over 80% of schools in the city received a grade of C or less in 2018.

After the board meeting, parents once again rallied in front of Harney school to voice their anger about the school closure and support for Ms. Ashonta Wyatt, the principal who was fired on November 17th despite massive support from parents and the community. The fight continues: FFLIC is calling on folks to persistently show up to board meetings to protest the current state of New Orleans education. The next Orleans Parish School Board meeting will be on December 6th at 5pm.

All children deserve a free, quality education. The New Orleans Workers Group believes in community control of schools–putting schools back in the hands of teachers, parents, students, and workers. The fight to get schools back under community control is not won yet, but parents, educators, and students organizing together is how we will win. The reason the Orleans Parish School Board members feel they can stifle working-class children’s minds with failing schools is because they think we are worthless. They have forgotten our collective power as workers: we make this city run, and we will keep reminding them that they work for us.

“We are tired of being an experiment. They need to return schools to the community.” Parent Deirdre Lewis




by Joseph Rosen

Cattle rancher and Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi wears her racism on her sleeve. But after a video of her making light of lynching went viral late in her recent campaign for a US Senate seat, some of her more prominent corporate backers like AT&T and Facebook took steps to distance themselves from her, fearing the backlash of public outrage. Fortunately for AT&T and Facebook, their capitalist comrades-in-arms at Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Koch Industries stepped in to pick up the slack. These giant oil monopolies are apparently less concerned with public relations scandals. With the help of some well-heeled financiers and other capitalist crooks, they increased their support for the “embattled” Hyde-Smith by funneling more than $3.2 million through the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a “political party committee,” and the Senate Leadership Fund, a Super PAC.

In the now infamous video, a smiling Hyde-Smith, speaking about one of her fellow ranchers at an all white rally of her supporters, said that “if he’d invited me to a public hanging, I’d be in the front row.” There are more recorded lynchings in Mississippi than in any other state in Amerikkka: in Mississippi alone, at least 654 men, women, and children died during the reign of white supremacist terror lasting between 1877 and 1950. As recently as Feb 18, 2018, 21 year old Willie Jones Jr. was found hanging from a tree outside his child’s mother’s home in Scott County, MS. His family is still demanding a thorough investigation. Meanwhile, on December 17 the racist Hyde-Smith was sworn in to Congress.

As she has always done, Hyde-Smith will reward those who help to keep her in power. She will continue to pursue tax cuts for the rich and she will continue to lavish tax-payer money on the oil-hungry Pentagon as well as her friends in Agribusiness. And whether by denying us healthcare or by poisoning our water, she will continue her war on working and oppressed people— only she’ll be even more free to whip up racist terror as an answer to our struggle for liberation. For $3.2 million, the capitalists bought this license for her and they expect a return on their investment.

We must fight to remove this bigot from power but we have to go further to prevent that she ever returns. We can only be rid of the Hyde-Smiths of the world once we are rid of the capitalists to whom they answer; we must replace their rule with ours.