September 28th
When the battles for justice rage on many fronts and the whole enterprise seems a bit like tilting at windmills, it can be satisfying to do something close to home. If you’ve stocked a community fridge or participated in mutual aid efforts in your neighborhood, you know what I mean. The Ramapough Lenape Nation, original inhabitants of the land in what we now call New York and New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, have fought against fossil fuel developments and struggled to occupy their own land. They are currently involved in the campaign to stop National Grid from building the North Brooklyn Pipeline, which will transport fracked gas through BIPOC communities, including Brownsville. The Ramapough Lenape people are preparing their community center for the upcoming heating season and hope to use soy-based biofuel in their current boiler. You can support the community and help them purchase fuel.
Although 46% of public school children have now opted for all-remote instruction, hundreds of thousands of students are expected to return to NYC classrooms this week. At the same time, infection rates have been spiking in some Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods, even as the rate in the city as a whole remains just over 1%. New York State has a new website reporting coronavirus cases by school and school district. As of yesterday, there were 108 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among school staff and students, even though only a tiny portion of students have begun to attend in person. Please check the website if you work in a school or send a child to school.
On Friday, under pressure from UFT members who were demanding more sensible policy, the DOE reversed a policy requiring teachers without medical accommodations to offer remote instruction from their classrooms. This change blindsided the principals’ union. The last-minute agreement forced principals to again make changes to school schedules. Now, the principals’ union has “called on the state to seize control of the school system from the mayor.” This, my friends, is what we call a shit-show. The principals are not threatening a strike, but individual schools may be facing staffing shortages; I advise you to contact your child’s principal or teacher directly if you are concerned. Please show compassion to principals and teachers, who are laboring under the constantly-changing guidance and poor leadership from City Hall.
Last week, 25,000 special needs students in District 75 schools were supposed to return to school, but not all of them could get to school because of inadequate staffing, since some students cannot travel without being accompanied by a nurse or paraprofessional.
On the national level, we dare not hope that the news of the president’s business failures and financial crimes will be sufficient to bring him down. Please read 10 Things You Need to Know to Stop a Coup and then sign the pledge. Instead of relying on a Supreme Court ruling in the election, be ready to rely on each other. I’ve assigned myself to read the 53-page handbook, Hold the Line: a guide to defending democracy.
Have a good day, friends.
with love,
L