PROTESTERS VOW TO CONTINUE FIGHT AFTER ARRESTS OF YOUNG MOTHERS DURING CATHERINE FERGUSON SIT-IN APRIL 15
Ricktator Snyder looks on grimly after presenting Roy Roberts as new DPS EM
On Tuesday March 10th, students, parents and community members will make clear that having a new face in the EFM’s office changes nothing about the fight for public education in Detroit. Roberts will be granted no honeymoon.
“Roy Roberts is no more qualified than Bobb. He is not an educator; he’s just a wealthy businessman, who, like Bobb and Bing, doesn’t even live in Detroit. Bobb is “training” Roberts to take over the job of dismantling public education in Detroit. Snyder, Bobb, Bing and Roberts have nothing good planned for the students and the people of Detroit,” said Joyce Schon, BAMN attorney who has represented the Detroit School Board.
DPS teachers protest school closings
“The attack on public education is the most devastating and shameful civil rights attack of this century. Without public education, we get the new Jim Crow – permanent, second-class citizenship, imposed on Black and Latino students by force. This is not about individual buildings. It is about whether the people of Detroit have value. But we can defeat it if we are prepared to take some bold actions,” said Shanta Driver, BAMN National Coordinator.
“The student sit-in on April 15th at the Catherine Ferguson Academy paved the way and gained national attention for our cause of defending public education and resisting the school closures. But to win, we must spread the occupations city-wide. If other schools slated for closure follow the example of the brave Catherine Ferguson occupiers, we save all of our schools and save Detroit,” said Nicole Conaway, a science teacher at CFA who joined her students in the occupation of Catherine Ferguson.
“Everyone who cares about Detroit and the future of its young people should march and rally and demand, not beg, that our schools remain open and public,” added Monica Smith, Detroit BAMN organizer and attorney who participated in the CFA occupation.
For more information, contact Monica Smith 313.585.5657 or Joyce Schon 313-434-7075 or call 855-ASK-BAMN (855-275-2266), or email BAMN Coordinator Donna Stern at donna.stern@bamn.com .
