What’s your why?
Today, let’s enjoy some wisdom from Fannie Lou Hamer:
“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”
“If I fall, I’ll fall five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom. I’m not backing off.”
We hear from some folks that they’re having trouble mustering the energy to engage with our opposition to counter the misbegotten policies of the School Board 6. We hear things like this:
It’s hard to get ignored and witness them voting to pass these horrid and damaging policies.
So many people don’t want to have to pay attention every day.
We just want to hide.
Many people are resigned that they’re going to do this awful harm until we vote them out in November.
It doesn’t feel as though writing to the board or speaking at public comment does any good.
When they say they’re voting on policy 321 or 109, how are we to know that what they mean is that they’re voting to ban pride flags or books? It’s all so abstract.
We hear you. We get it. Sometimes we feel that way, too.
So we thought an inspirational column might help people see this in a different way. Let’s begin with our revered friend, Elie Wiesel. He said, as we know so well from our recent policy 321 disaster:
“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.”
Believe it or not, right now, Central Bucks has become the center of the universe. At issue: the future of public education. What will that look like to kids ten, twenty, or thirty years from now? Will there be books in the libraries for them to read? Will teachers be free to teach? Will there be public schools?
Or will our most zealous community members get away with dictating to everyone else what kids will read, think, and learn? Will they “narrow” and “cull” the curriculum right into oblivion?
Is teaching to the test really an education?
Working on school district issues is high level impact. We have leverage now. If we look away, we may never get it back.
So: this matters. Waaaaaay more than our current students’ welfare, which (maybe) ought to be enough?
Furthermore, the dystopian vision of our Board 6 and their supporters goes far beyond stripping books from the library and gagging teachers. Their ultimate goal is the eradication of public education entirely. Check out what this failed gubernatorial candidate had to say about public education.
Do you cherish your property values? The decline in CB’s standing is not good for us. We’re a laughingstock, regionally and nationally. We may not yet have seen the results in the sinking of real estate values, largely because everyone assumes we’re going to turn this around, but they’re coming if we don’t.
But mainly, engagement beats despair. When we wake up in the middle of the night and wonder where all this is headed, we know that we are doing important work.
Burned out? Take a break. Then get back to work. We all need to find something we can do and then do that thing, consistently.
Feeling like none of it makes any difference? We don’t have the luxury of instant results. This is a long fight. There are too many folks in this world whose view of education is exclusionary, limited, incurious, and founded upon fear and it won’t be easy to persuade them of the error of their view.
And anyway, how do you know what’s making a difference and what isn’t? If school board members get buried under an avalanche of disapproving, well-written, logical, polite, but strongly worded letters, they will at least begin to worry about the numbers. But you won’t know that when you write the letter.
We aren’t going to make our schools all they could be if people have looked the other way or given up. You don’t win community support, hearts and minds, in one decision or event: you win it over months and weeks and years, when neighbor talks to neighbor. Whether you go to meetings or write letters or not, the most important thing you can do is to look at what’s happening and get your friends and neighbors and acquaintances and relatives to look at it, too. Talk to people. Add to the momentum. Surely, surely everyone can do that much.
A list to print out and put on your bathroom mirror: Here is our Why:
It matters locally and nationally.
Our kids need to hear our voices.
Others before us have fought a lot harder and sacrificed a lot more for us to enjoy the lives we do: seems like we owe it to them.
We’d like our houses not to become devalued.
It will help us sleep at night.
It’s the right thing for democracy, for America, for our community.
And what can you do?
Read our blog, freedom to read page, freedom to learn page, news page. Stay informed.
Talk to your neighbors and friends about the issues.
Go to school board meetings and the committee meetings. They only happen once per month. Find the schedule here.
Write to the school board. They do read all the letters, even if they don’t respond.
Write letters to the editor.
Back to you, Fannie Lou Hamer:
"When I liberate myself, I liberate others. If you don't speak out ain't nobody going to speak out for you."
Without her and other heroes like her, where would we be?
Without all of us, where will CB be?