Help us, people of Newark
This is not a burden they asked for, or even want, but, today, the voters of Newark go to the polls to decide the possible future of both public education and democracy as we now know them both to be. The race has become bigger than a contest between Ras Baraka and Shavar Jeffries. It has become a question of whether people or money count the most in determining policy of any sort, especially education policy. It also is a turning point in considering just what it means to be a Democrat or a progressive or a liberal. No longer are the predominantly poor and minority residents in the cross-hairs of crazy, right-wing Republicans who are either hostile or indifferent. Now the poor must worry more about those with “liberal” credentials who would pretend they care and they know better and, because they do (and have the money to prove it), they will tell the poor how to act, how to behave, what to believe.
Two masterful pieces of writing appeared yesterday that proved the point. The New Yorker article by Dale Russakoff, “A Test for School Reform in Newark,” demonstrated beyond doubt that the children of the city were unwillingly and unwittingly–and secretly– chosen for an experiment in school reform. The secret use of children as social engineering guinea pigs was a conscious and deliberate decision by Cory Booker—and whoever his backers are, because we don’t know—and a handful of other people, using tens of millions of dollars of private money. The greatest irony is that, while many of us blamed Gov. Chris Christie for the debacle in Newark, the blame really lies with Booker and his billionaire accomplices. Booker brought Christie into the mix and used old friends Christopher Cerf and Cami Anderson as the enforcers.
The other piece has a more narrow scope but, in some ways, is even more Help us, people of Newark | Bob Braun's Ledger:
