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A few thoughts on last night’s #PowerfulParentsNetwork protest at the @ElizabethWarren event and the reaction to their activism.
First of all respect to @LadyTenn @StateofBlackCT @nishad901 @vesiahawkins
@RealTalkGwenS @Sonyathemom @hatersbejocking @TeresenaW @BlingbyMeadows
@Mebutke @Politico_Little @KimberlyBDukes1
Being an activist isn't easy. That took bravery and commitment.
@RealTalkGwenS @Sonyathemom @hatersbejocking @TeresenaW @BlingbyMeadows
@Mebutke @Politico_Little @KimberlyBDukes1
Being an activist isn't easy. That took bravery and commitment.
I’ve been fortunate to sit in rooms with many of them. They not only intensely love their own children and grandchildren, but they’ve spent their time and effort (FOR YEARS) trying to make things better for all children in their communities.
It was deeply disappointing to see the negative reactions to these parents. Many reacted with either “they’re a willing front for dark money/who funded them?” or “they don’t really understand.” Both reactions are deeply problematic and racist, but we hear them all the time.
Here is Los Angeles, it sounds like school board staff angrily asking families “who organized you?” Everyone talks a good game about immigrant communities + civic engagement, but when a group of immigrant moms knock on 10k doors to get out the vote, this is what they get.
In LA, it's a school board member telling families that their public comment won’t influence the outcome, and then referring to them being bussed in.
I’ve never seen a school board member opine on how a white family got to a school board meeting. Most of the time they just change the agenda to make sure that the white families can speak on their issue first.
In Los Angeles it looks like a former school board candidate and blogger feeling comfortable about complaining that some families are “bussed in” to stand on line at 6 am. Want to guess which families he’s talking about? Which families he can't conceive of having free will?
In Los Angeles, it sounds like a UTLA Vice-President going on camera and calling a group of black and brown families, who were delivering a petition to the district about instructional consistency, “paid parents brought in by pro-privatization interests.”
On one level, it’s clear that many people are comfortable with activism and activists only when they agree on their issue, or when they make them feel warm and fuzzy about their proximity to justice. But there’s also something much more insidious here.
When trump and co. spread conspiracy theories that activists are just paid minions of George Soros, they’re not only avoiding the issue, they’re doing it by appealing to a long-held and deadly stereotype about Jews, that we’re the unseen, all powerful hand, oppressing the people.
When you react to black and brown parent activist by claiming they don’t understand the issue or that they're someone else’s puppet you’re trying to delegitimize a voice you don’t agree with by appealing to a long-held bias that has deadly consequences.
Right beneath all of “who funded them?” reactions is a disbelief that a group of black and brown parents understand the issue and can act on their own behalf.
It’s an ugly reaction that needs to stop, especially from people who see themselves on the side of justice and should know better.
