I Will Fight

A friend spoke on the Rump Regime and what harm they are doing, but, emphasized to do no violence and vote people out. 

Here was my response, just so you know, my opinions:

I agree with you on many points in this, -------. But to someone who also grew up in a family who studied and respected history, to vote is not enough. As a Black American. As a Caribbean-American, as a woman. As someone who has been considered "the new kid" and outsider most of my life, I know the power of voting, but I also know that violence is needed with bullies because it is the only language they understand. For people that see me and other marginalized folks, like you, as less than human, I take the rhetoric from WWII in the face of fascism. I will do my civil duties, but when there comes a time to fight, I mean, really use it, I take what I see happening in Myanmar, Burmese youth, joining indigenous people as rebels against their military junta. What has been happening in Indonesia, the Phillipines, and Nepal, and recently with ICE in California... When peaceful protests can only reach so far, we must use civil disobedience, even rebellion, because protests that do not push back against the machine is simply performative, and civil rights undone and made "illegal" requires a FIGHT. I understand what you're saying, but when human rights and civil liberties and nazism puts us in danger, I must be like Christ, the real bronze-skin and wooly-haired immigrant, must weave my whip together and turn over the tables of those who exploit us. And as your Jewish ancestors, I must pray and put my feet/action to my prayers.

School Protests & Teacher Walkouts

[NOTE: This was originally a Twitter thread, but the platform has been tanking, and the thread's sequence became askewed. So, here's the thread with some words replaced and editing changes to make it more readable.

#5 and up have been added.]

I've seen the article about Rutgers University having faculty and student walkouts and this being one of the first strikes the school has participated in. When I read more, I'll post links. But here are my thoughts about how we ended up here with public school walkouts, teacher strikes, and college/university protests that have occurred in alacrity in recent years...

 

1. While working in higher education from when I was a student to an alum, to working for the public school system from the ground (substitute) to the top (regional offices), the paperwork that complicates simple tasks. 

2. To the simplest happenstance that would make another industry insoluble, there are processes, procedures, and protocols that stifle most things from being done.

3. How often can employees bring grievances to an admin that won't listen until things are too late? How does a school have faculty living in their autos so they can keep up a livable wage working for several colleges and universities?

4. What about administrations that won't listen until things become too dire? How does a school have faculty living in their autos so they can keep up a passable wage working for several colleges and universities at once?

5. I remember coming back to work at the first college I graduated from, and seeing how many of my peers were kept in part-time positions, including myself. The college posted 'open' full-time work that became mysteriously filled when contacted.

6. I became further disillusioned and unforgiving when the ACA (Obamacare) was newly enacted, and colleges and universities across the US showed their alliance to the Bottom Line by cutting part-timer work by 4-5 hours so those institutions DO NOT have to provide health insurance to all its employees.

7. Wifi and campus-wide internet access is often shoddy, and, at least in my experience, not enough expanding of electrical upgrades, not enough academic support in learning labs, and the school's inability to hire more personnel, retain enough staff, and pay a sustainable wage.

From my perspective, as a former higher ed employee, there is much at fault with colleges and universities for their lack of interest towards their faculty, staff, and support workers. These institutions make it financially difficult to the students, make full-time near impossible, and relying 70-80% of the academic work on part-timers the institution won't give sustainable salaries to, therefore creating a high turn-over like in the fast-food and restaurant industries. There will need to be seismic changes and a consistent and majority of will to improve these different levels.