Why We Are Here: Evette Jones at the PCAPS Rallly Yesterday
Evette Jones, PFT staffer and PCAPS leader, at yesterday’s rally. Also pictured here from right to left are Rev. Larry Patrick, PA-AFT President Ted Kirsch, PFT President Jerry Jordan and State Rep. James Roebuck
PFT’s Evette Jones
We are here today because 60 years ago the Supreme Court took a giant step forward in the long struggle for racial equality in our country. It struck down the separate but equal doctrine that was the legal foundation for Jim Crow schools in the South. It affirmed the principle that all children are entitled to a quality education.
We are here today because we know the promise of the Brown decision has not been kept. Both nationally and in our city we have witnessed decades of resistance to school desegregation and providing equality of opportunity for children of color.
We are here today because, under a 13 year regime of state control, we are seeing our schools reduced, in the words of Superintendent Hite, to empty shells without the resources that are essential to provide even the bare bones of an education. Our schools threaten to become the shame of the nation, as were the Jim Crow schools of the South in the years before Brown.
We are here today to make clear that we will not accept this outcome and will continue the fight to realize the promise of the Brown decision. We recognize that every gain that has been made in the fight for equality has come from the willingness of ordinary people toWhy We Are Here: Evette Jones at the PCAPS Rallly Yesterday | WeArePCAPS: