Learning from Class Struggle United Fight vs. Jim Crow Segregation at Brooklyn High School

BROOKLYN, NY — “They [the Department of Education — DoE] are segregating kids again. Just like the Jim Crow laws. Blacks and whites were separated: different schools and different water fountains. There’s barely a difference.”

One student wrote this in response to reading the last issue of CHALLENGE, highlighting the sharp struggle in our school. The truth is that under capitalism, the school system will only serve the needs of the racist bosses. The only way that we can truly serve our students and community is by getting rid of the bosses and their schools. Then, under a communist society, we will have true education for our students.

The DoE has released an “Educational Impact Statement” which lays out its plans to put in a new selective school in our building. While they claim they want to provide “all students” with a “high quality education,” the academic requirements of the new school will leave behind most low-income black and Latino students, especially special education students and English-language learners.

They contradict themselves by saying that the building is under-utilized while eliminating two of the middle schools in the building to make room for the new Brooklyn Millenium School.

The DoE told us there will be $3-5 million in capital improvements made to the building, but only if the new school comes in. That sum seems like a lot, but the building is in such disrepair that it would take much more money than that to make the building clean and safe.

Some parents and teachers are skeptical that the new school will attract enough white students, since middle-class parents have been made to fear sending their students through metal detectors to  a majority black and Latino building.

There is talk about taking out the metal detectors to attract more students to the new school. One student wrote, “Why take out the metal detectors now that the new school is coming? We have been asking for this for years. I find that really racist. They treat us like criminals with the metal detectors.”

Since last issue, we have had a combined union meeting with all the schools in our building and one parent meeting. As we go to press, we are preparing for a follow-up parent meeting and a debate panel presentation and rally.

At our parent meeting, we had a slightly larger turnout than last meeting. We definitely need to work harder on building a deeper base with parents and students. We have many things to do before the public hearing — write to the media, get as many facts as possible, but mostly organize, organize, organize!

At our combined union meeting, we discussed different issues in the struggle, and why we need to fight back. One comrade rightly pointed out the historical example of how communists fought evictions by moving those evicted back into their apartments during the 1930s U.S. Depression.

The union meeting brought out more teachers than our regular fight-back meetings, and we heard from more people. The union district representative called himself a union flunkie, and in the doublespeak that union hacks and bosses know how to use so well, described in the same breath why we should vote for politicians and why politicians do nothing for us.

Many teachers have said our campus might not win this fight to keep out the new school. One teacher said it best: “We might not win this, but we have learned much through struggle. The silver lining is that fighting beside and with parents, students, and fellow teachers has forced us to get to know everyone in a more authentic way.” This non-communist teacher was expressing our belief that revolution is born out of class struggle.

In the upcoming weeks, we need to continue to build with parents, students, and people in the community. We need to make sure that CHALLENGE is the paper of record in our struggle, our flag. We need to introduce as many people as possible to the Party’s ideas.

Through this struggle, the Party is becoming a real presence in our school, with more students, teachers and parents exposed to communist ideas. “Is this our school newspaper?” one debater asked when a Party member distributed CHALLENGE at a debate team practice.

Our actual school newspaper just published its inaugural issue full of articles about the situation. The students and teachers responsible for the newspaper were not afraid to address the racism of the DoE’s plans. The articles have been picked up by neighborhood blogs, drawing both racist and supportive comments, expanding the debate.

Our big chance to stand up in unity against the bosses’ plans is coming soon. The DoE is required to hold public hearings before making changes to any schools, and our’s is on January 11. While we know that these hearings usually serve as rubber stamps for decisions which have already been made, we are planning to attend in full force, parents, teachers, students and community members, to fight back. Even if the DoE follows through on its plans, we will have learned, and hopefully grown, a lot from this struggle. J Join us at the public hearing. Show the racist Department of Education that we won’t take this lying down!

Date: January 11th, 2011

Time: 6pm

Location: JohnJay Campus, 237 7th Ave,   

                Brooklyn, NY 11217