http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------------------------
IRVING ISD PASSES SINGLE-MEMBER DISTRICTS: IS BISD NEXT?
---------------------------------------------------------------
By <strong>Monika Diaz</strong><br /><br />WFAA, Dallas<br />IRVING - Irving ISD made history last Thursday by changing the way board members are elected. <br />It went ahead with a plan that creates five single-member districts, leaving two at-large.<br />Irving previously only had an at-large system, in which the general Irving population selects all seven board members. The current school board is all white, despite the district being composed of 84 percent minority students. Minority leaders wanted single-member districts, in which each district selects its own member.<br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The 6-0 vote came after several public hearings on the issue, but the move angered some minority leaders. They wanted the board to approve a seven single-member district system. They told News 8 the fight is far from over.<br />A coalition of grassroots-based commniy organizations united to agitate for the change.</div>Carlos Quintanilla from Accion America told News 8, the organization will not ask students to protest, but will concentrate on voter education and electing Hispanics to the board.<br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju8A4KTo_H97z_k20aqDg7a3p-NLs4x20a8J9YC4rDT7Q0YLHgJJaUZr7NO9Hiy2K9Pg-4itv-v9GlUHIJerplOmmWneHBJYx9cjrqFC2CkF0zjPQXMZ7yKLEIYFei07fWaIAa1Ygcuec/s1600/Q-commissary.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju8A4KTo_H97z_k20aqDg7a3p-NLs4x20a8J9YC4rDT7Q0YLHgJJaUZr7NO9Hiy2K9Pg-4itv-v9GlUHIJerplOmmWneHBJYx9cjrqFC2CkF0zjPQXMZ7yKLEIYFei07fWaIAa1Ygcuec/s320/Q-commissary.JPG" width="320" /></a>"The reason we don't want a 5-2 is because we know nothing is going to change here," said Anthony Bond from the Irving NAACP. "If they don't go to a 7-0, we are suing them. We are calling for the kids to disrupt classes. We will be using every means necessary to get these people's attention." </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The 5-2 plan would potentially open the door for two Hispanic seats on the board. With the 7-0, the possibilities included at least four minority seats.</div>Trustee Valerie Jones tried to convince the board to go ahead with seven single-member districts.<br />"For the most part, I feel it's important to keep all members of this board on an even keel, on a level playing field," Jones said. <br />Board Trustee Steven Jones was the only one who voted against changing the system.<br />"The playing field is very leveled right now," Jones said. "Anybody in our city that meets the qualifications to serve on this board can run for office."<br />For some community leaders, changing the system will increase the number of Hispanic parents participating in schools. <br />"The more parent participation in our schools, the better it is for our schools," said Rene Castilla of Citizens for Progressive Irving.<br />The plan still needs the approval of the Justice Department.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-4476301922095503097?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/01/irving-isd-passes-single-member.html
---------------------------------------------------------------
OUR ANNUAL TRIBUTE TO THE REV. MARTIN LUTHER KING
---------------------------------------------------------------
<em>"Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?</em><br /><em>Can you tell me where he's gone?</em><br /><em>He freed a lot of people, </em><br /><em>But it seems the good they die young.</em><br /><em>I just looked 'round and he's gone."</em><br /><br />By Juan Montoya <br />There was in our home a black and white photograph of the Rev. Martin Luther King in a pensive pose, a slight sheen on his wide forehead and his hand covering the lower portion of his face in introspection.<br />My kids invariably asked me who he was once they reached an age of curiosity of the world around them.<br />My stock answer was that the picture was of a man â€" now dead â€" who spent his life fighting for all people to have the same rights everyone else did. That included blacks, browns, yellows, reds, poor whites and all shades in between.<br />That framed photograph dates back to the days I used to publish a weekly with the late state representative Henry Sanchez. We were doing a piece on the anniversary of his death and the celebration of the national holiday and we needed a good picture. We found one in the possession of then-Brownsville Navigation District commissioner Evelon Dale. She loaned us the photo â€" dedicated to her by a federal judge, I believe â€" and we used it in our next edition.<br />We held on to the photo intending to return it to Evelon, but things got in the way, like Henry's death, elections, etc., Every time I ran into Evelon I remember the photo and always remind myself that I would return it the first chance I got. In fact, just this past year, I ran into her and returned it. Thank you, Evelon.<br />Many friends asked me about the photo and asked why I don't have one of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Cesar Chavez, Emiliano Zapata, or even Che, instead of the good reverend. You know, something Latin.<br />Those of us who grew up in the tumultuous 60s and 70s are children of the whilrwind of history. We went through the Cuban missile crisis, the threat of nuclear destruction of the planet, the assassination of John Kennedy, his brother Robert, the advent of the transistor radio, the Beatles and Stones, the moon landing, and Mighty Rock and Roll.<br />We also experienced an upturning social upheaval as the nation struggled to come to grips with a devastating war (Vietnam) that touched our barrios and rent the social fabric and public opinion. We had the various splinters in the black community with the likes of the Black Panthers, Malcom, and, of course, Martin.<br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">His adherence to the principle of nonviolence set him in an island apart in a sea of turmoil with half the world at war, the Peace Movement, Malcom's call for black liberation "by any means necessary," a brash heavyweight boxing champion of the world who changed his name from Cassius Clay to Mohammad Ali refusing to join the Army saying that "No Viet Cong ever called me ni--er," the burning of draft cards, and the revelations of the Pentagon Papers that the Vietnam war had, after all, been an unnecessary one.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">And here came Martin leading protests using a middle-aged and diminutive Rosa Parks fighting to simply sit in front of a bus, blacks getting beaten by Bull Connor's deputies, chewed up by police dogs and assaulted with water cannons just for asking for the right to seat at a lunch counter or to register to vote.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">And we saw the backlash from the status quo with jailings, beatings, drummed up charges and FBI harassment and surveillance. Little black girls died in the bombing of Baptist churches. Supporters of the civil rights movement were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in back country roads in the South by hoodlums of the KKK.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ8gP9UdCHqkrP-MbeL6_Ea9gpNcsw5vmq23t-hLEe1eC7rvbsC-86YB5n994CUr7eMI88q-sjaLKWakSafokYQLAV81h-jG6gsCDJQDYzEcX2H30tuEpHhhffLxVDC-D2ya8KtqMH6v4/s1600/martin.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ8gP9UdCHqkrP-MbeL6_Ea9gpNcsw5vmq23t-hLEe1eC7rvbsC-86YB5n994CUr7eMI88q-sjaLKWakSafokYQLAV81h-jG6gsCDJQDYzEcX2H30tuEpHhhffLxVDC-D2ya8KtqMH6v4/s1600/martin.JPG" /></a>King's answer to that violence against his people was unbelievable.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em>'Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.'</em> â€"Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em>“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.â€</em> â€"Strength to Love</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em>“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.â€</em> â€"Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><em>“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.â€</em> â€"Letter from Birmingham Jail<br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em>“I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse</em> <em>the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.â€</em> â€"Letter from Birmingham Jail</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em>“I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.â€</em> â€"Detroit </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em>“We have been repeatedly faced with a cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same school room.â€</em> â€"Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">For this, he was shot April 4, 1968 in Memphis by a sniper who no one believed was acting alone. We had lost a great voice of reason in the world and as we headed into the 1970s, there was no one left to take up his mantle. Bobby Kennedy was next for te assasin's bullet and it took Richard Nixon to pull us, bloody and angry, from the Vietnam quagmire. Some of us still haven't been able to emege from that experience.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We didn't know it then, but we had lived and experienced the existence of one of mankind's greatest orators and a purveyor of peace. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Have a happy birthday Martin. And thank you.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-3602886908713325769?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/01/our-annual-tribute-to-rev-martin-luther.html
RSS URL: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
This email sponsored by:
1&1 Internet - 6 Months Free on new Hosting packages
http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=7538907
This email is a service of QuickThreads.com.
To manage your subscriptions, login here:
http://www.quickthreads.com/myaccount.php
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment