A Shorter Pipeline
Kudos to Mayor Sylvester Turner for calling out Greg Abbott’s HISD puppet after the latest “gimmick” to turn school libraries into “discipline centers.” And for rejecting the photo op.
In an intense speech during a city council meeting Wednesday, Turner slammed Miles’ plans to turn some school libraries into discipline areas, where misbehaving students will be sent to learn virtually. He said the change targets “selected communities.” All of the campuses that will undergo the change serve large percentages of students from lower-income families.
Definitely a shorter school-to-prison pipeline being put in place by Greg Abbott. Some of my friends, good ones, think we need to let this takeover work because it has to work, or else. But personnel changes are already affecting livelihoods and now this? We’re talking about affecting futures. I agree with the Mayor:
“The state may have put him in, but he shouldn’t assume that people are just gonna be quiet and not respond,” Turner said. “When you start closing libraries, you have crossed the line. You’ve certainly crossed the line with me.”
Public Higher Education is Going to Shit
The various debacles at Texas A&M are showing us that public higher education in Texas is under threat. Whether its upper level and external supporter involvement in getting rid of a highly qualified Black prospective educator or suspending a professor because a snowflake politician was offended by their work, these are activities that could happen at any state university.
Most coverage regarding faculty fear for their jobs concentrates on A&M, but I’ve heard from a few faculty of color around the state who definitely worry about retribution from bigoted administration and government officials who don’t necessarily like what they teach. Any whiny complaint from a snowflake accusing one of being “woke” can cost someone their job and the respect earned from their research.
We’ve been here before. When Chicanos rose up to fight for their rights in Texas, those in charge targeted them, initiated investigations, and destroyed lives with lies. And that wasn’t too long ago.
DC COVID REPORT
Well, we reached 12.6% positivity and 135% wastewater load this week. We’ve been experiencing weekly increases for the last few weeks and no one seems to be noticing–or people are just in denial. Dr. Peter Hotez was interviewed by FOX26 and reiterated the importance of N95 and KN95 masks in crowded activities, especially during the Barbie and Oppenheimer releases at theaters. While being vaccinated will help if you get COVID-19, it certainly doesn’t protect you from its long-term effects.
Those who are immunocompromised or have other ailments which could worsen an infection continue to be under threat. Nothing angers me more than a doctor’s office in the famed Texas Medical Center which refuses to mask, or at the very least take a patient’s concerns for lack of masking in the office seriously. It’s bad enough that fools go unmasked and get reinfected, but when the people some need in order to remain healthy add to the frustration, well, it leaves one with little hope.
So, mask up if you’re in a big group of people, or at a store, or at a DOCTOR’S OFFICE. It’s not that difficult.