Silicon Valley Investor Arthur Rock Joins Eli Broad In Concern On Betsy DeVos As Education Secretary

Silicon Valley Investor Arthur Rock Joins Eli Broad In Concern On Betsy DeVos As Education Secretary:

Silicon Valley Investor Arthur Rock Joins Eli Broad In Concern On Betsy DeVos As Education Secretary

A day after billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad came out against Betsy DeVos's nomination as Secretary of Education, prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist Arthur Rock expressed his concerns. Rock, who was an early investor in Apple, has long been a backer of charter schools.

Silicon Valley venture capitalist Arthur Rock was an early investor in Apple. (Photo courtesy of Arthur Rock)

Rock told me in an email that "answers to many of the questions raised in [DeVos's] confirmation hearings [make me] wonder about her knowledge of the education problems facing our country.”

On Friday morning, the Senate voted along party lines and advanced DeVos towards a final confirmation vote, which is expected to be next Monday.

Rock supports not-for-profit charter schools, and said he is not a fan of for-profit charters. "Betsy DeVos has not to my knowledge expressed her views on this subject," Rock said in his email. "For profit charters have a very poor record of achievement in comparison to public not for profit charters. So, if she is for all kinds of charters I would urge my senators to vote against her. If she is in favor of just non-profit public charters, I am willing to give her a second chance to answer questions from the committee [where] she might not get stage fright.”

Rock is an active philanthropist in education reform. From 2006 to 2008, Rock contributed $16.5 million to Teach for America. He also donated $1.5 million to Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), the country’s largest network of charter schools.

Rock's comments follow a stronger statement from Eli Broad, one of the country’s leading advocates for charter schools. On Wednesday, in a letter sent by e-mail to all the senators’ offices, Broad wrote that DeVos’s support for “unregulated charter schools and vouchers” concerned him the most.

Michigan, DeVos’s home state, has the highest number of for-profit charter schools in the country, according to a November 2013 report from the National Education Policy Center. Last summer, the DeVos family reportedly gave $1.45 million over a seven-week period to Michigan Republican candidates and organizations after the state legislature passed a public school funding plan that omitted charter school oversight.

The Walton Family Foundation, one of the country’s biggest benefactors to charter schools, has so far not commented on Silicon Valley Investor Arthur Rock Joins Eli Broad In Concern On Betsy DeVos As Education Secretary:

Pro-DeVos ads air, saying ‘liberal’ critics are full of ‘rage and hate,’ as anti-DeVos protests are held - The Washington Post

Pro-DeVos ads air, saying ‘liberal’ critics are full of ‘rage and hate,’ as anti-DeVos protests are held - The Washington Post:

Pro-DeVos ads air, saying ‘liberal’ critics are full of ‘rage and hate,’ as anti-DeVos protests are held

The unlikely battle over the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as President Trump’s nominee for education secretary is becoming even more pitched in the final days before a Senate vote with the airing of hundreds of thousands of dollars of advertisements attacking “extreme liberals” full of “rage and hate” who oppose her while protests against her were being staged around the country.

The controversy over the nomination of DeVos, a Michigan billionaire, is the most ferocious of any education secretary in the nearly 40-year history of the Education Department, and of any Trump nominee — and it is only likely to deepen until there is a vote early next week on the Senate floor. The vote stands, it is believed, at 50-50, including two Republicans who have come out against DeVos despite enormous pressure from the GOP to support her. If no senator changes position, Vice President Pence would have to break the tie to confirm her.

Republican leaders and a White House spokesman said they are sure she will be confirmed, but her opponents are still hoping to persuade one Republican senator to switch sides this weekend. Senate offices — in Washington and in the states — have been swamped with phone calls and emails —  in some cases unprecedented numbers.

Supporters of DeVos say that she is a champion of school choice who wants to help students find the best educational opportunities and that the opposition is coming from partisan Democrats playing politics. Her critics say that her advocacy for charter schools and vouchers and support for religious schools shows her determination to privatize public education and that she is out of the mainstream even in the school choice world, evidenced by opposition to her from many supporters of school choice.

In the final days before the vote, the wrangling over the nomination is increasing and taking some unusual turns.

Advertisements began running on television in support of DeVos, with one of them saying:

Why is the radical left so full of rage and hate? They still can’t accept that Trump won and they lost. Now extreme liberals like Elizabeth Warren are trying to stop Betsy DeVos from becoming secretary of education. DeVos angers the extreme left because she exposes their hypocrisy. DeVos wants low-income kids to have 

Pro-DeVos ads air, saying ‘liberal’ critics are full of ‘rage and hate,’ as anti-DeVos protests are held - The Washington Post:

We have a chance to stop President Trump's nomination of unqualified billionaire Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.

We have a chance to stop President Trump's nomination of unqualified billionaire Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.

We have a chance to stop President Trump's nomination of unqualified billionaire Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.

Thousands of people have called.

Thousands of people have emailed.

And thanks to your tireless work, we're just one vote away from stopping the nomination! 

The vote is early next week. Here's one quick thing we need to do in the final days: write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.

Politicians and their staff keep a close eye on popular opinion in local newspapers, which makes it one more venue for us to up the pressure.

We have a chance to stop President Trump's nomination of unqualified billionaire Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.

Step 1 - Select a Recipient

Remember: write it in your own words! If newspaper editors get a bunch of identical letters, they won't publish any of them.

Look for papers within  miles of zip code  

We have a chance to stop President Trump's nomination of unqualified billionaire Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.

You can choose any of these links to find newspapers in your area (the titles are the web page that provides the locator service - works for all zip codes)

• No Title
• No Title
• Support Governor Wolf's Budget
• Support Governor Wolf's Budget
• Support Governor Wolf's Budget
• Time for lawmakers to support a budget that reflects Pennsylvania's priorities
• No Title
• HELP WANTED: One Courageous GOP Senator to Vote NO on DeVos

We have a chance to stop President Trump's nomination of unqualified billionaire Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.

With the DeVos vote scheduled for Monday, the embattled nominee hangs by a thread - Education Votes

With the DeVos vote scheduled for Monday, the embattled nominee hangs by a thread - Education Votes:

With the DeVos vote scheduled for Monday, the embattled nominee hangs by a thread

by Félix Pérez

The full Senate is expected to vote on the nomination of Betsy DeVos for secretary of education as early as Monday, but the defection of two Republicans has put the political mega-donor and school privatization proponent’s fate in jeopardy.

TAKE ACTION ›

Tell Your Senators: Vote NO on Betsy DeVos for Ed Secretary CLICK HERE ›

DeVos’ support among educators and public school advocates — especially from her home state of Michigan — was anemic to begin with. But her stumbling and confused responses at her Senate education committee hearing left Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike seriously doubting her qualifications for the job of overseeing the nation’s public schools.

The DeVos camp has been on a full-court press since then to ram the confirmation through and limit DeVos’s public availability. The opposition, however, has only grown stronger and more persistent. Reports of crashed Senate phone lines and full voice mail boxes, as well as spontaneous protests across the nation, are becoming more frequent.

As a result of the avalanche of public opposition, two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have announced they will vote against DeVos. That means if the vote were held today, it would b 50-50, leaving Vice President Mike Pence to cast the tie-breaking vote.

“Educators, parents and students are grateful to senators Collins and Murkowski for joining the bipartisan chorus of voices speaking out against the nomination of Betsy DeVos, because she has demonstrated that she is dangerously unqualified to run our public schools. They join millions of voters calling on the senate through emails, calls, visits and social media to reject her nomination and protect the interests of the millions of students in our country. The nation is speaking out … senators need to listen,” said Utah elementary school teacher and National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García.

DeVos, the primary force behind a failed and underperforming charter school system in Michigan, left even her supporters scratching their heads with her rambling answers at her Senate hearing. She said she was “confused” about the federal law for students with disabilities, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. She could not articulate the difference between student growth and student proficiency. She refused to commit to enforcing the rights of students with disabilities in voucher and charter schools. And she would not pledge not to cut public school funding in order to fund vouchers.

After the hearing, matters took another turn for the worse when it was revealed DeVos may have plagiarized some of her written responses to her Senate questionnaire. In those same written responses, DeVos grossly inflated graduation rates at a Nevada web-based school that was almost shut down last year.With the DeVos vote scheduled for Monday, the embattled nominee hangs by a thread - Education Votes:

When P.E. and 12 Other Activities Masquerade as Recess

When P.E. and 12 Other Activities Masquerade as Recess:

When P.E. and 12 Other Activities Masquerade as Recess

As state legislatures make mandates claiming to secure recess in schools, it is important to nail down what they mean when they define recess.

There are a lot of canned activities and commercialized gimmicks parading as recess. It is important not to be duped into thinking your child is getting recess when they aren’t.

Look at your school district and ask whether your child’s school has recess. Then ask what it is they do when they call it recess.

Misconceptions about Recess

In Tennessee, Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville wants a complete repeal of last year’s amendment giving students three periods of 15 minutes (90 minutes per week) of unstructured time.

Dunn claims teachers “aren’t seeing kids engage in rigorous physical activity.”

He doesn’t understand what recess is about.

Children usually engage in active play during recess, but if a child chooses to sit on a swing and stare at the clouds, recess should give them the freedom to do so.

Recess isn’t P.E.

Part of Dunn’s problem is that he thinks recess is P.E. He understands children need When P.E. and 12 Other Activities Masquerade as Recess:

Ms. Katie's Ramblings: Devaluing Women's Work: I am a Teacher and My Labor is Not Free

Ms. Katie's Ramblings: Devaluing Women's Work: I am a Teacher and My Labor is Not Free:

Devaluing Women's Work: I am a Teacher and My Labor is Not Free

 I avoided becoming a fully-certified teacher for a long, long time. I taught English overseas for many years in Japan. I loved the lifestyle. Enough money to live comfortably, but the workload was not excessive. I had time and money to travel, to go out whenever I wanted...it was a pretty cushy job.


And when I came back to The States, everyone told me I should get my education degree and be a teacher. That's clearly what I was supposed to do. But I resisted. Not because I don't like working with kids. Not because I didn't think I'd be good at it. But because of the workload. I knew-I KNEW-that going into teaching meant giving up my life. That in exchange for summers and holidays (sort of), the rest of my life would be consumed by non-stop work, staying up til the early hours of the morn, using all my weekends and evenings to lesson plan, grade, prep....and for not very much money to boot. I knew in my bones that that was what teaching entailed in America. 

But I did it. I became a teacher. And the first year I taught in a public school, my life became exactly what I feared. No sleep. Constant stress. Mental health shattered. Social life completely disappeared as I worked my butt off to keep up with the never-ending requirements forced on today's teachers. And this was back in 2009-2010 at the moment Waiting for Superman was telling the world how lazy and terrible teachers are. It was a double slap in the face, the workload coupled with the immense disrespect. And it absolutely crushed me.

But since that time, I've changed. I was pulled into unionism and a growing understanding that my time and my labor were worth something. That I was being EXPLOITED when I stayed up late, spent all my money on my classroom, when I gave up my life "for the kids." That others were profiting off off MY free, guilt-ridden labor. The Chicago Public Schools certainly relied on the fact that even as they cut, sabotaged, and defunded schools further, Ms. Katie's Ramblings: Devaluing Women's Work: I am a Teacher and My Labor is Not Free:

Betsy DeVos' Graduation Rate Mistake : NPR Ed : NPR

Betsy DeVos' Graduation Rate Mistake : NPR Ed : NPR:

Betsy DeVos' Graduation Rate Mistake

The latest, remarkable misstep of a Cabinet nominee who has misstepped plenty came in answer to a simple question:

"Why do you think their performance is so poor?" asked Senator Patty Murray, D-Wa., in a written question to Betsy DeVos, President Trump's nominee to lead the Education Department.

"Their" refers to virtual schools, of which DeVos has been an outspoken champion. The "poor" refers to a large body of research — study after study after study — that raises serious questions about the quality and efficacy of schools that attempt to educate full-time students through the computer, without traditional access to teachers or classrooms. In response, DeVos wrote:

"High quality virtual charter schools provide valuable options to families, particularly those who live in rural areas where brick-and-mortar schools might not have the capacity to provide the range of courses or other educational experiences for students. Because of this, we must be careful not to brand an entire category of schools as failing students."

Then comes the misstep, first reported by Ben Herold of Education Week.

"The following virtual academies have four-year cohort graduation rates at or above 90 percent," DeVos wrote, listing some apparent success stories:

"Idaho Virtual Academy (IDV A): 90 percent

Nevada Virtual Academy (NVV A): 100 percent

Ohio Virtual Academy (OHV A): 92 percent

Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy (OVCA): 91 percent

Texas Virtual Academy (TXVA): 96 percent

Utah Virtual Academy (UTV A): 96 percent

Wisconsin Virtual Academy (WIV A): 96 percent"

There's just one problem with these numbers, Herold points out.

They're wrong.

The Nevada Virtual Academy, for example. Its graduation rate for the class of 2015 wasn't 100 percent. It was 63 percent, according to Nevada's own school report card.

Ohio Virtual Academy's 92 percent graduation rate? Try 53 percent.

Utah Virtual Academy's 96 percent rate? Cut it in half.

You get the point.

Where did DeVos get these inflated numbers? Questions to the Trump administrationBetsy DeVos' Graduation Rate Mistake : NPR Ed : NPR: 

Arizona Alert: Stand up for Teachers - Network For Public Education

Arizona Alert: Stand up for Teachers - Network For Public Education:

Arizona Alert: Stand up for Teachers

Arizona public school advocate and School Board member, Linda Lyon, alerted us to the following:

“Glenn Hamer, President of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, said, “It’s amazing to me that the teachers unions are out there like a bunch of crybabies screaming about the difficult of getting additional pay to teachers.” His comment was in response to why teachers union should support reforms to the initiative process.

… Arizona’s teachers are the 47th lowest paid in the nation with the average teacher pay falling nationally 1.6 percent over the past decade, but 7.6 percent in Arizona. The low pay is a big part of the reason 53 percent of Arizona teacher positions were either vacant or filled by uncertified personnel in January 2017. And oh by the way, teacher colleges enrollment is down and 25 percent of AZ teachers will be eligible for retirement by 2020, further exacerbating the problem.

Hamer recently teamed up with Lisa Graham Keegan to publish an exuberant support piece for Betsy DeVos on the website “A for Arizona.” In it, they wrote, they are “very pleased with her nomination” writing that it, “signals a shift in the conversation around education policy in exactly the right way.” That “right way” no doubt is the full-steam ahead commercialization of our district community schools.”

Here are 3 easy actions that she and we suggest you take:

1.click here to go to the Chamber’s contact page to express your displeasure with Mr. Hamer himself.​

2. click here to link to the corporate members page on the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. I encourage you to look through the various levels of membership and note those companies that belong. Then click on a few of their logos or links to get their contact info and let them know you do not appreciate their Chamber President’s words.

3. Post this link on your Facebook page so that others do the same.

http://wp.me/p3bR9v-2ho

This is how we must fight back in the era of DeVos.

Thanks,

Carol

Arizona Alert: Stand up for Teachers - Network For Public Education:

How Betsy DeVos Ignored and Targeted Michigan Republicans to Advance Her Hardline Education Ideology – Capital & Main

How Betsy DeVos Ignored and Targeted Michigan Republicans to Advance Her Hardline Education Ideology – Capital & Main:

How Betsy DeVos Ignored and Targeted Michigan Republicans to Advance Her Hardline Education Ideology

With Senate confirmation of Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos now hanging by the thread of a likely tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence, one thing has become apparent: DeVos’ views on public education are well outside the mainstream of either party.

Perhaps less well known is that DeVos has demonstrated a willingness to override and even go after Republicans who fail to completely embrace her program of charter schools, vouchers and deregulation.

The defections this week of GOP Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who both announced that they would vote against DeVos, underscore a fact that Michigan Republicans have known for some time. DeVos is committed to an ideological stance on education that leaves little room for compromise. And as one of the state’s wealthiest and most powerful political donors — in the 2016 election year alone, she and her husband, Dick DeVos Jr., gave $2.7 million to Republican candidates — Betsy DeVos has the clout to enforce her will. (Since 1999, DeVos and her extended family has spent an estimated $82 million on political campaigns at the state and federal levels.)

Republican State Senator Goeff Hansen, who represents Michigan’s 34th District, learned a painful lesson last year about Devos’ hardline positions. Hansen became the unlikely champion of an extraordinary bipartisan effort, the Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren, to rescue Detroit Public Schools (DPS) from years of financial insolvency and woeful academic performance. A central goal was to fix the destabilizing free-for-all system — likened by some to the Wild West — in which a dozen or more entities could open and close schools with virtually no oversight.

That campaign, which unfolded over several years, eventually encompassed an almost unheard of alliance of teachers unions, charter schools, business leaders, legislators from both parties, civil rights organizations and grassroots advocacy groups.

By the time Hansen introduced legislation in the Michigan State Senate, longtime adversaries had put aside their differences to embrace a package that few had thought possible when the process began. The proposed law passed by the Senate on March 2016, which also gained the support of Republican Governor Rick Snyder, would have created a commission charged with overseeing the opening and closing of schools, as well as authorizing $720 million to bring DPS out of near-bankruptcy and giving operating control back to the local district, which had been run by state for years.

The legislation was passed with the support of both Democrats and Republicans and sent to the Michigan House of Representatives. Dave Pagel was one of the Michigan House Republicans who supported the creation of the oversight commission. “I did support the Detroit Education Commission,” Pagel told Capital & Main. “We needed to have some control over where schools were popping up. Simple choice doesn’t solve any problems; we need to find a way to improve education regardless of the choices that are happening.”

DeVos and her allies, however, were unwilling to cede any ground in the war they had waged for years to ensure that charter schools in Michigan remain almost entirely unregulated. They worked to dismantle the bill, and by the time they were finished, the House had stripped the oversight commission from the legislation while adding draconian requirements for school closures.

With the specter of DeVos withholding campaign funds looming over Republicans who dared to defy her, the new version of the bill passed the House by one vote, was approved by the same margin in the Senate and signed by Governor Snyder. The turn of events infuriated proponents of the original bipartisan legislation and left Hansen on the verge of tears.

“This was a just and honest cause. Unfortunately, I’m unable to support this bill, and it pains me greatly to say that,” he said during How Betsy DeVos Ignored and Targeted Michigan Republicans to Advance Her Hardline Education Ideology – Capital & Main:

GOP opts for fundraising over quick vote for hotly opposed DeVos | MSNBC

GOP opts for fundraising over quick vote for hotly opposed DeVos | MSNBC:

GOP opts for fundraising over quick vote for hotly opposed DeVos

Defeat DeVos- Call Your Senator Now

GOP opts for fundraising over quick vote for hotly opposed DeVos

Rachel Maddow reports on a peculiar biofeedback company in which Donald Trump education nominee Betsy DeVos is an investor, and notes that even though she is one vote away from losing confirmation, Republicans are in Florida schmoozing donors instead of getting her vote done quickly. Duration: 15:02

Politico: Opposition to DeVos “Snowballs into an Avalanche” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Politico: Opposition to DeVos “Snowballs into an Avalanche” | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Politico: Opposition to DeVos “Snowballs into an Avalanche”

Politico reports that the offices of Republican Senators are overwhelmed with letters, emails, and faxes opposing Betsy DeVos, according to Politico. She is the most controversial and unpopular cabinet choice of Trump, and Senators have been overwhelmed by negative comments. Most of them have gone into hiding. Their phone lines are jammed or off the hook.

The reasons for the avalanche of opposition:

1. She is unqualified, having no experience as a parent, student, teacher, or local board member in a public school, which 85% of American students attend 10% in private schools and 5% in privately owned charter schools).

2. She is a lobbyist for privatization of public schools.

3. As she demonstrated in her Senate hearings, she is ignorant of federal law and policy.

4. She is hostile to public schools.

5. If appointed, she will transfer federal funds from public schools to non-public schools.

6. She uses her vast fortune to buy votes of Republican senators.

Parents care about their children and their schools and communities. They object to a Secretary of Education who doesn’t care about their public schools and will hurt their children and their communities while prattling about “great schools.” Indeeed, they may even be aware of the damage DeVos has already done to the public schools of Michigan.

If no Republican breaks ranks, voters must remember in November: 2018, 2020, and 2022. Actions have consequences.

Why in the world does the GOP stand fast behind a nominee who is so clearly uninformed? Could it be the millions she and her family have given them? As DeVos once said, we do expect something in return for our money. Payback day arrived and she is getting what she paid for.

Trump has nominated many people who were unfitted to the mission of their Department, like Dr. Carson for HUD, Scott Pruitt for EPA. But DeVos! Our public schools are at risk.

It is not the grizzly bears that are alarmed by DeVos. It’s the Mama Bears. They protect their cubs.Politico: Opposition to DeVos “Snowballs into an Avalanche” | Diane Ravitch's blog:

 Defeat DeVos- Call Your Senator Now

Click Here to Find Your Senator

Defeat DeVos- Call Your Senator Now

With A Brooklyn Accent: When There Really WAS "Carnage in Our Inner Cities," Donald Trump Was Nowhere to Be Found

With A Brooklyn Accent: When There Really WAS "Carnage in Our Inner Cities," Donald Trump Was Nowhere to Be Found:

When There Really WAS "Carnage in Our Inner Cities," Donald Trump Was Nowhere to Be Found

One of the many reasons I am appalled by Donald Trump's world view are his comments about subjects I know first hand. A prime example of this is his apocalyptic promise to end "carnage in our inner inner cities." Not only do these pronouncements ignore gentrification and the suburbanization of poverty, they come 25 years too late! Where was Donald Trump when there really WAS carnage in our inner cities in the height of the crack epidemic? No where to be found. How do I know? I was there, on the ground, in the some of the most affected areas in New York City and Donald Trump was no where to be found, and had nothing to say.

Let's go back. The year is 1992. The murder rate in New York City is more than 2000 a year ( it has been under 400 for the last few years). Bullets are flying in drug wars between rival crews in many of the city's poorest neighborhoods. People are afraid to go to and from work, to go to the corner store, to send their kids to school. In one parish near Fordham, St Martin of Tours, 25 young men between the ages of 17-25 were killed in a single year. In Red Hook, a legendary principal ,Martin Daly was killed by stray bullets fired in a shoot out between drug gangs when he went into the projects to see why one of his students didn't come to school

At that time, I became involved in two anti-violence initiatives. One of them, in the Crotona Neighborhood of the Bronx, was called "Save a Generation" The goal was to provide educational and employment opportunities for out of school out of work youth who were drawn into drug crews. In it, I worked with amazing religious leaders like Father John Flynn and Sister Barbara Leniger , the great leader of South Bronx churches, Lee Stuart, and Astin Jacobo, a dynamic tenant leader and organizer with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. We With A Brooklyn Accent: When There Really WAS "Carnage in Our Inner Cities," Donald Trump Was Nowhere to Be Found:

What Does The Raised Fist Mean In 2017 - BuzzFeed News

What Does The Raised Fist Mean In 2017 - BuzzFeed News:

What Does The Raised Fist Mean In 2017?

Once a sign of solidarity for the black civil rights movement, the raised fist, now used by everyone from Winona Ryder to Donald Trump, has come to mean everything and nothing at the same time.

If you blinked, you missed it: President-elect Donald Trump channeling the late Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton just minutes before his swearing-in ceremony. On Inauguration Day, Trump emerged from the Capitol Building, gave a thumbs-up, and then raised his right fist in the air. The incongruity of the fist was plain. Decades earlier, the raised fist was a signal of resistance associated with the Black Power movement. But during his campaign, on Christmas cards and onstage, Trump used the fist as an aggressive symbol of dominance, wielding it throughout his rallies after speeches. And yet the fist was also a focal point at Women’s Marches the next day, appearing on unofficial and sanctioned guides and graphics. One poster, Liza Donovan’s “Hear Our Voice,” depicted multihued female hands gripping a torch made of a black power fist, and another by Victoria Garcia, “Respeta,” echoed the classic feminist logo of a clenched fist inside the Venus symbol. The marchers were openly protesting Trump’s misogynistic behavior and political platform, but they had subtly altered his macho show of strength, too. At the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday night, the cast of the Netflix drama Stranger Things gathered onstage to celebrate a win for “Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.” Moved by the passionate anti-bullying message in castmate David Harbour’s speech, several of his co-stars raised their fists to punctuate his words. A clip of cast member Winona Ryder repeatedly raising hers in a comically mechanical way as she made a series of bewildered faces went viral. The raised fist appears to mean everything and nothing at the same time.

When a man as divisive as our country’s current president uses the raised fist as he punches down (at Muslims, Mexicans, women, disabled reporters, etc.) while others use it to express unity, we need to reassess its meaning. The raised fist, once a fixed image of solidarity and strength, has morphed into a nebulous anything. It’s not unlike that ubiquitous “Arthur” meme, easily conveying irritability, mild annoyance, or actual rage. The fist has become shorthand for indignation, whether sincere or ironic, playful or deadly serious.

Today the raised fist is as easily found on soapy primetime TV as on a smartphone keyboard. Beyoncé employed it in a music video, Super Bowl performance, and promotional photo last year. The TV show Empire used the symbol in its season opener. FX’s The People v. O.J. Simpson re-created the moment from the infamous murder trial when a juror flashed the black power fist at Simpson in the courtroom. What’s palpable in those scenes is the slipperiness between sincerity and performance, and how both impulses can be evident in the same gesture.

Beyoncé performs during Super Bowl 50. Harry How / Getty Images

They’re great examples of camp, that ultimate performative mode. Camp, a style and sensibility that emerged from queer culture, has a somewhat slippery definition, but is characterized by exaggeration, excess, affect, and reappropriation. In “Notes on ‘Camp,’” Susan Sontag’s landmark writing on the aesthetic, she measures camp “to the degree of artifice, of stylization.” Cultural theorist Andrew Ross, in an essay called “Uses of Camp,” claimed that “camp involves a rediscovery of history’s waste.” The raised fist is not waste in the conventional What Does The Raised Fist Mean In 2017 - BuzzFeed News: