NEW YORK CITY, February 16 — “How do you spell racist? DOE!”
A young comrade led over 500 people in a series of such anti-racist chants as billionaire Bloomberg’s Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) used their state power and had their Department of Education (DOE) close 33 largely black and Latino schools for “underperformance.”
PLP members’ exposure of capitalism as the real underperformer was well-received among co-workers there, as well as among passers-by who took over 300 leaflets containing the above headline.
NYC teacher union mis-leader Mike Mulgrew led a rally outside, trying to “boycott” the sharp struggle inside where angry masses had gathered in the high school auditorium. His effort to lead folks away from the panel meeting flopped. He made a lackluster cameo appearance once the defeat of his boss-serving ploy became apparent to all.
Comrade Indicts Profit System
Only PL had students actively leading chants. At one point, the crowd demanded to “let the students speak.” Then our young comrade took center stage to give the only speech that named capitalism as the culprit. We met this young leader several years ago and she has been schooled in the fight against racist school closures. We need more youth like her.
The manipulation by Bloomberg and his henchmen emerged when black families appeared to speak up in favor of their charter schools which they see as a slight improvement over the abject failures passing for institutions of learning citywide. This set-up pitted them against other black and Latino families whose children overwhelmingly attend the public schools slated for closing. Rather than fighting each other, all working-class families must unite against the rulers who are destroying any opportunity for their children to make their way in this rotten society.
The purpose of the bosses’ school system is to reproduce the racist class structure of U.S. society. The main function the bosses have for all teachers — public and charter — is to assist in this massive and ongoing “sorting” of human beings to keep the social pyramid of capitalism intact. From K to 12 and beyond we are expected to inculcate each generation with patriotism and passivity.
Charter schools, with the federal government behind them, are spreading like a cancer, functionally breaking the presence of unions in education, a way to make them weaker than ever. These Charter Schools are just another source of profit on the backs of the public sector. These attacks, with all their attendant dislocation and chaos, are focused on black and Latino working-class communities.
The assault on teachers, students and parents reflects the heightened state of siege in which the rulers have placed the workers since the demise of the old communist movement. Workers’ revolution is not on the agenda and the bosses are taking full advantage. For years, the bosses have been “measuring” and “analyzing” the performance and productivity of the working class.
For example, the bosses’ managers want to convince workers making $8.50 an hour at the local Kmart that they’re “accountable” for stocking the shelves as fast as they can so the company can prosper “for the benefit of the team.” Kmart bosses making six- and seven-figure salaries use the word “team” to motivate and drive workers making minimum wage. Many workers see through this.
‘Toe the Line or Be Fired’
For factory workers, discipline is tied to getting the worker to speed up production or be terminated. For teachers, this means using standardized tests — which teach nothing — and the new Danielson Framework for Teaching to develop a fascist monitoring tool. If teachers don’t toe this line, they, too, are fired.
Ruling-class attacks on teachers directly attack students. The rulers’ ideas of success for our children are minimum-wage jobs, mass racist unemployment or the “choice” of a “job” in the military to fight in their imperialist oil wars killing other workers. Throughout the country the majority of schools being closed are in black and Latino communities. The rulers are trying to further segregate our children in order to continue to exploit and profit off all working-class people.
Capitalism does not offer solutions to the racist education our children are experiencing. The young comrade who pointed to capitalism as the main culprit deserves much more than the non-existent “good old days” of public education the liberals are advocating. She, like young people worldwide, deserves a communist future, without bosses and profits. Today it felt like we brought that future little bit closer to fruition. Join PLP and fight for it.