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few more thoughts on the charter protest from Thursday since I've seen individuals like Chris Stewart attribute things to me I never said /1
I never suggested the activists were astroturf. I have covered the charter movement for a long time and know many people within it hold legitimate concerns, fears and desires about educational access + opportunity /2
the activists shouldn't be reduced to "paid protestors" and the "outside agitator" narrative is one progressive people should not be taking up themselves /3
at the same time, the activists asked for their concerns to be heard— and they were. They successfully disrupted the event, earned significant media coverage, and got a private meeting with Warren. (video here: https://www.facebook.com/sonya.thomasthornton/videos/2695764567135755/) /4
protestors and activists deserve the respect to heard, and it was good Warren met with them. But what activists say is not inherently unimpeachable — and raising thoughts or objections is not silencing them /5
anyway, covering protests and activism can be tricky - and the media doesn't always get it right. As charter advocates correctly noted, there are many left-wing advocacy groups with backers who rarely get scrutiny, and they should /6
that said, if any scrutiny of charter affiliates & donors is cast as racist or disrespectful, we'll have real problems. there are ways to do it that are better than others, and I think @matt_barnum did it well in his story /7 https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2019/11/22/elizabeth-warren-atlanta-charter-school-protestors/
last thing - if you are an ed reformer lobbing "childless" as an insult at your critics, you should rethink that.
