The Catherine Ferguson Academy for Girls in Detroit, which I wrote about in April here, is scheduled to close next Friday, June 17, 2011. A big rally will be held next Thursday, June 16 at the school.
We must stop this! I need your to spread the word far and wide, and contact any celebrities you know for help.
Contact the ACLU Michigan chapter to petition them to file a stay in court to prevent the school closure.
In my opinion, closing this special needs school is a direct violation of these students’ civil rights. The federal government requires all public school districts provide for the special needs of all their students. These students have special needs.
Tell everyone you know about this and call or write to the emergency manager in Detroit who is closing the school here:
Roy S. Roberts
Emergency Manager
14th Floor, Fisher Building
3011 West Grand Blvd.
Detroit, MI 48202
United States Phone: (313) 870-3772
Fax: (313) 870-3726
Call the Detroit Public school system here:
Phone: (313) 240-4DPS or (313) 240-4377
Rachel Maddow covered this story last night on her show. The interview with Principal Andrews is gut-wrenching. We the people must act now to stop this closure.
If you have ideas on actions people can take, please post them on this Maddow Blog post. This post is being used as a resource and activism page to help CFA stay open. (You must get a Newsvine account to post).
If you don’t have a Newsvine account or don’t want to post to The Maddow Blog yourself, please leave your comments here and let me know if you want them reposted to the Maddow Blog. I am happy to do this for you; I’ll do anything I can to help these students.
Forty-seven years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
I listen to it or watch it each year because his message is just as true today as it was in 1963. If you haven’t watched or listened to it in awhile, it’s time for a refresher:
In 1963, racial segregation was the law of the land. It legally changed in 1964 with passage of the Civil Rights Act, but there are still some white people who quietly discriminate against people of color whenever they can get away with it.
Civil rights are still an issue today. It seems every group who is somehow different, by not just race, but religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and socioeconomic class (the poor) is still suffering some form or degree of discrimination.
Every minority group who has succeeded in obtaining their Constitutional rights has not brought other similar groups along with them. Minority groups are still fighting for full civil rights all the way to the Supreme Court. In the land of the free, this is a legal and moral outrage. Our Constitution guarantees equal rights for all, yet most states and the federal government have laws on their books or amendments to their constitutions that specifically deny rights to certain minority groups. The only way to get these laws and amendments overturned is through the court system.
The worst equal rights problem America suffers today is the most insidious, that whites should fear non-whites, whether they are black, Asian, middle-eastern, Hispanic or of mixed race. A vocal minority of white people are beginning to realize that whites are not the majority race in America anymore, and they are scared. The right-wing media feeds this fear as often as they can, which is most every day.
Another disturbing trend is many people don’t understand the Constitution’s language. Tea Party candidates for the upcoming November election interpret freedom of religion to mean their freedom to impose their religion and beliefs on the American people. Others claim the government should stay out of private business completely, that regulations that protect individual Americans are unconstitutional. For example, BP shouldn’t have to pay in full for the disaster they caused in the Gulf of Mexico or help the people whose lives they destroyed.
Then, there is Glenn Beck and his gathering for freedom in Washington, D.C. today. He claims divine providence moved him to schedule his gathering for August 28, on the anniversary of Dr. King’s speech. His group was primarily white. How he can think that white people are somehow being discriminated against is beyond my comprehension. The only thing I can think of is he considers rights a zero-sum game, and when others gain rights, whites lose rights. When everyone has the same rights, those who had the rights while others didn’t lose power. Maybe that’s what he’s afraid of, the loss of white power.
In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
Whites who fear other races, religions, sexual orientations and social classes must grow to meet the challenge of a changing America. At present, they are throwing a temper-tantrum that they are not the ruling class any longer. They remind me of toddlers who don’t want to share their toys or play well with others. They remind me of children who would rather take their bat, ball, gloves and bases and go home than play with others on a level playing field.
Many of us have come to realize that Dr. King’s words are just as true today as they were in 1963 and throughout the civil rights movement: that every American’s freedom is inextricably bound to every other American’s freedom. We cannot walk alone. Mr. Beck and his ilk must learn the same lesson or be judged negatively by history as the people who fought against equality and progress.
When did the American people become so disconnected from war? We send our military to war, we no longer go to war as a country. The civilian population doesn't feel the war, just the military and their families. How do we change this back?
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