I'm Not Grateful for Compromise
But I am grateful for every activist out there who is pushing hard - in their own way - to save our public schools. Truly I am grateful for that and I want to make that clear before I jump into this blog.
This is my first blog of the summer. I couldn't blog due to fatigue and I wouldn't let myself blog because I knew that the demands of activism take their toll - and the reformers would like that to happen - they would like me to be tired. Instead, I spent the summer thinking, resting, and simply enjoying being home with my boys. Activism honestly made my stomach churn in June. I guarded my time like a hawk. I said "no" many many times - sometimes we have to do that in this world of activism where we work - for free - simply to do the right thing, nothing more. In July, I began to feel myself come out of the fog of fatigue.
But then something interesting happened in July as I sat and watched the days go by. I saw compromise and co-optation occurring within this revolution currently afoot. This revolution has the potential to tear down the test and punish system. It has the potential to demand and get equitable funding for fully resourced schools - as well as social policies set in place to protect children and communities from poverty while lifting them up. This revolution is powerful. It is dangerous. Attempts to redirect the revolution or shut it down will continue to come forward and smack us in the face - but we have to be ready to shake it off with a clear head - void of compromise and negotiation.
Compromise could potentially kill this revolution. The energy and time it takes to negotiate a compromise deprives activists of the time and energy needed to push forward a revolution.
Compromise also does something to the soul I think. It changes it. It creates a false sense of peace and success and it's very seductive - if I allowed it in, I could sit back and say, well - we did get that.
And for that we should be grateful.
No.
I'm not grateful. I'm not grateful that folks pushed hard to get ECAA through with a few bells Peg with Pen: I'm Not Grateful for Compromise: