WALKOUT! SIT-IN! FIGHT BACK!
TO SAVE LA’s MAGNET SCHOOL/INTEGRATION AND BUSING PROGRAMS!
This is a call to action from Bravo High students and BAMN to all LAUSD students: Stand up & Defend our Magnet Schools and Integrated Public Education. We intend to act on December 13th no matter what, but our struggle will be immeasurably strengthened if more of our brothers and sisters at other LAUSD schools join us!
We Demand:
- Defend LA’s School Integration Plan – Defend the Magnet Schools and PWT Program!
- No Privatization, Charterization or Conversion of Public Magnet Schools into Neighborhood Schools! No changes to Courses or Activities!
- No More Education Cuts! No Cuts in the Transportation Budget!
- No Retaliation against LAUSD Student Leaders, Teachers or Administrators who Take Action to Defend Their Schools, Defend Public Education and Integration/Magnet Programs! Teachers and Administrators should retain their jobs
- Realize Dr. King’s Vision for America in Los Angeles!
*CHECK OUT THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE FOR “LAUSD WALKOUT!!!” – [click here]
*CHECK OUT BAMNs FACEBOOK PAGE – [click here]
WALKOUT: This Tuesday, December 13th at 10am
March to the School Board meeting scheduled to start at 1pm
Speak Out at the SCHOOL BOARD MEETING!
Have Your Voices Heard!
(LAUSD Building, 333 S. Beaudry Ave)
SIT-IN at Bravo High School: This Wednesday, December 14th at 3:30pm
Organize a Sit-in at Your School!
Spread the Movement from Woodland Hills to East LA!
We can save the schools and programs that have made such a deep impact on our lives and whose character we have helped to shape if we make this Tuesday December 13th OUR DAY! We win our fight if we are completely intransigent about our demands and make it clear that there will be no peace in Los Angeles as long as Latina/o, black, other minority and undocumented students are continuously attacked and assigned to second-class status.
On December 13th and on the days of action to follow, Los Angeles has to be controlled and run by the students! At no point can we hand over our power to principals, parents, preachers and politicians or any person in a suit or a uniform. Teachers may follow us but they cannot lead us! Our fight to defend our schools has started incredibly strong. The united consciousness of students city-wide has started our fight on the powerful premise that taking action is the only logical solution. Handing over our power will force us down the beaten path of defeat!
For far too long we’ve been told that we have no power because of our age
We’re told that we are too young and inexperienced to make tough decisions for ourselves and others! We are confronted by tough decisions every day and we make it through each trial. We learn through each one of those struggles and we’ve become stronger through each fight. We all have our own story to tell, our own personal struggles, and we keep our heads up through it all. This is exactly why we have become stronger and well qualified to lead and make decisions for ourselves and our society! And remarkably enough, instead of becoming tired, hopeless and demoralized we are YOUNG, STRONG, RESOURCEFUL, and FULL OF ENERGY AND OPTIMISM FOR A BETTER FUTURE FOR OURSELVES, AND OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES ALL OVER THE WORLD!
We refuse to live a tragic existence like that of many of the older generation who have forgotten what it’s like to be young and have resigned themselves to a world of hate and mediocrity! And we will continue to FIGHT for our DIGNITY and RESPECT UNTIL WE WIN!
The buses must keep rolling! No cuts to public education!
The budget approved by the state legislature includes a series of mid-year cuts that are automatically “triggered” if the state falls short of the $4 billion revenue target. This includes $38 million cut from LAUSD’s busing programs, which will destroy the busing program as soon as the spring semester begins! All transportation services including daily home-to-school bus service, circular trips, athletic event bus service, and weekend bus service will end!
This round of cuts is the latest in a series of seemingly never-ending attacks. If we don’t stand and fight now, more are sure to come both here in LA and across the state. We are resolved to act now and fight these racist attacks against magnet programs and free quality, public education that we as black, Latina/o and other minority and undocumented student communities have come to regard as our best chance to enter the college or university of our dreams and unlock our full human potential to achieve everything we set our minds to and build a better life for ourselves and our families!
These busing programs are the backbone of the magnet programs
The magnet schools have been our only opportunity for a bright future. Many of our families, along with millions of other people, came to America solely to provide their children with the opportunity they never had to fulfill their dreams through receiving a free, quality public education.
Magnet schools and affirmative action programs were fought for and won during the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and were led primarily by black youth and later Latina/o youth. These struggles won by asserting – through mass action – the superior power and will of the masses. The power of these struggles forced America to recognize institutional racism and implement conscious measures to offset the inequalities caused by racism. In the wake of the student-led East LA Blowouts in 1968, a battle erupted over the horrific level of segregation in Los Angeles’ public schools. As a result, after many years of legal wrangling, LAUSD was ordered by the court to implement an integration plan including a massive expansion of magnet schools.
Realize Dr. King’s Vision for America in Los Angeles!
This attack against the majority Latino/a student population of LA, along with the nation-wide attack against affirmative action and public education, is an attempt to destroy the gains of the old Civil Rights Movement, increase the level of segregation in our society, and assign us to second class citizenship in our own country! Many of our friends and families did not accept the conditions in their countries of origin, and made a journey, completely unaware of what was to come and left their whole lives behind to build a better life for themselves in America.
We will not accept our lives and our futures being thrown away just because those in power, who currently decide the social, economic and political policies of our nation, are determined to prioritize profits over people!
Trust Your Emotions, Fight to Win!
This fight is not about the money. This fight is not about the school buildings or any one characteristic or even their sum! This is a fight for the future of public education. This is a fight for any possibility of poor, Latina/o, minority and undocumented youth in LA to build a better future for ourselves, and our friends and families all over the world! This is a fight against racism, sexism, anti-gay bigotry and anti-immigrant attacks!
The feelings of hopelessness that creep up on us are not real! They are not a reflection of the truth about our society’s potential and they do not represent who we are as individuals. These feelings fester within us because we live in a society that is broken and distorted by racism, sexism and anti-gay bigotry. And we are able to fight against those distortions precisely because of the magnet programs! That is what makes these programs so dangerous to our enemies! They know that integration programs allow us to find out for ourselves who the real enemies are by breaking down the prejudices we are fed in our segregated communities!
There is no doubt in any of our minds that the time to act is now!
The only fear we should have is the fear of what our world will become if we do not fight now. And we will fight and bear any consequences because we refuse to live in a world where the needs of the few come before the needs of the vast majority of people in the world and because we cannot afford to lose the schools that we’ve grown to love and that offer a better life for us all!
The Student Movement across LAUSD is about to BlowUp!
Stand with us or get out of the way.
We are bold, intelligent and optimistic young leaders who do not subscribe to the older generation’s cynicism and pessimism. Like Dr. King, the great civil rights leader of the past, we feel and must act on the “Fierce Urgency of Now!” We are fighting for a future where we can think, love and socialize while realizing the great potential of all human beings and all that inhabit this earth! We intend to Realize Dr. King’s Vision for America! To all those who want to fight and win: Join BAMN!
Contact Student Organizers at Bravo:
CHECK OUT Facebook Event “LAUSD WALKOUT!!!”[CLICK HERE]
