Thought this was interesting. As usual, the issues they talk about are very important. Their usual tactics are another question; hopefully the DC organizers will be more democratic and civil than the Detroit group.

Dear DC Public School Advocates,

I’ve had the privilege of working with many of you in the DC Full Funding Campaign, Save Our Schools, YEA, etc. around the conditions of public schools in DC.

BAMN and our National Co-chair Shanta Driver will be having an organizing meeting *THIS SATURDAY (6/24, 2:00pm, Howard University, Douglass Hall)* about what we need to do here in DC to defend integration in public education and build for a national demonstration when the US Supreme Court hears the lawsuits against the Seattle and Louisville public school integration plans, sometime this fall. BAMN has filed to become co-defendents in these cases, but as we all know, this is a political fight that will be won in the streets.

What is at stake in these two lawsuits is literally the future of public education in this country. In both of these cases, the integration programs have widespread community support from students, teachers and parents of all races. The Louisville public school district is only 34% black but its integration plan is supported by 80% of the white parents whose children attend these public schools. If this nation outlaws the use of race to achieve integrated public education then Brown vs. Board of Education is a dead letter. Losing these cases means permanently relegating black and Latina/o youth to inferior, second-class citizenship with wholly separate and unequal
educational resources and opportunities.

BAMN expects to have a significantly increased presence in the DC area once school starts in late August/early September with our activists doing political organizing in the high schools and colleges in and around DC, building for the demonstration at the Supreme Court. We need to get the ball rolling now, lining up organizational, individual, and financial support. This needs to be an absolutely massive mobilization.

Please consider attending this extremely important meeting! We, as students, teachers, and parents need to be united and determined. This is the time to stand up and fight for our future and the future of public education.

Feel free to forward widely to anyone you think would be interested!

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Save Brown vs. Board of Education!
Fight for High Quality, Integrated Public Education!

Saturday 6/24, 2:00 pm.
Douglass Hall, Howard University
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Contact Ben at xxx-xxx-xxxx for more information. Also see our youthcall-to-action at
http://www.bamn.com/doc/2006/060615-march-dc.asp

Sincerely,

Ben, Dara, and Michael