Historically, race has been a driving force in American society. It has established clear divisions between individuals. But where does race come from? According to sociologist Marvin Harris, people have different skin colors because of a skin pigment called melanin. “The primary function of melanin is to protect the upper levels of skin from being damaged by the sun’s ultraviolet rays” (112). Skin color is something that is passed down. For example, populations whose origins can be traced near the equator have a higher amount of melanin because they need darker skin to protect them from the sun. In turn, people of European descent have lighter skin becauseEurope’s weather does not allow as much exposure to sun. This is the origin of race. Throughout history, society has created racial classifications, assigning people with similar ancestry a racial category. For example, a first-generation American who comes from a Mexican family is labeled as Mexican or Latino. Society uses this label to stereotype different groups of people.  According to sociologists and race theorists Michael Omi and Howard Winant:

One of the first things we notice about people when we meet them (along with their sex) is their race. We utilize race to provide clues about who a person is. This fact is made painfully obvious when we encounter someone whom we cannot conveniently racially categorize—someone who is, for example, racially “mixed” or of an ethnic/racial group with which we are not familiar. Such an encounter becomes a source of discomfort and momentarily a crisis of racial meaning. Without a racial identity, one is in danger of having no identity (12).

Thus, we use race to determine what type of person someone is.

Even the government has practiced widespread racial classification. Beginning with the first census in 1790 divided the people of color from whites in America. According to anthropologist Sasha Welland, “The most infamous change to preserve white privilege instituted in the early 20^th century, is the “one-drop rule” designating individuals with any African lineage as black.” For a long time, people of mixed ancestry such as Filipino-German had to choose only one race on the Census. The one drop rule forced mixed people to identify with the race holding the lower status depending on their skin tone (Davis). The darker the skin, the lower the status. Thus an individual who was black mixed with white was not seen as “pure” white but seen as black. Racial classification served to reinforce white supremacy inAmerica, creating a stark divide between people of color and whites. Even President Barack Obama is a hybrid—his mother is white and his father is Kenyan. He is not completely accepted by the black community because he is not seen a pure African-American because he has white heritage. Similarly, the white community does not see Obama as a pure white American. Although Obama self-indentifies as African-American, the role race has played in his election is an example of how the one-drop rule persists today. Historically inAmerica, race has been a major part of defining one’s life chances. Yet the white middle-class has developed the concept that our society is now past race and effectively “color-blind.”

The post-racial concept has only served to preserve white privilege. The term white privilege means all the benefits white individuals have in American society. Whiteness is a social construction. InAmerica, whiteness is perceived as a privilege that entitles whites to better jobs, more education, and assets than people of color. According to Audrey Thompson, Professor of Philosophy at theUniversityofUtah, benefits of whiteness:

…Would include better access to higher education or a choice of safe neighborhoods in which to live; symbolic white privilege includes conceptions of beauty or intelligence that not only are tied to whiteness but that implicitly exclude blackness or brownness.

Similarly, anti-racist author recognizes the existence of white privilege throughout American history. “…Any white person born before 1964, at least, was legally elevated above any person of color, and such received…the advantages of whiteness as a matter of routine” (16). Our laws have been tools used to disenfranchise people of color. For example, the segregation laws in the south provided unequal education and unequal access to resources.  “Possessive investment in whiteness pervades public policy in the U.S. past and present—not just long ago during slavery and segregation but in the recent past and present as well—through covert but no less systematic racism inscribed within the U.S. social democracy” (Lipsitz 371). Laws have upheldAmerica’s racial hierarchy, depriving minorities of opportunities. By denying the existence of racism and discrimination inAmerica, whites can mask the privileges of being white and use laws to enforce that privilege.

The reason whites believe our society is colorblind is because they are detached from the daily realities people of color face. They are not exposed to the everyday racism and discrimination minorities deal with on a daily basis. According to author Melanie E. L. Bush:

These include an American educational curriculum notoriously conservative on questions of social, racial, and economic justice; the lack of exposure of whites to the everyday realities of African Americans; media distortions that exaggerate affluence among Blacks; neighborhood and school segregation; pragmatic reasons for denying structural causes for inequality; and the general weakness of the political left such as that progressive politics is viewed as a zero-sum game (169).

Limited exposure to people of color forces whites to rely on assumptions promoted in the media Thus, whites are led to believe that racism does not exist.

Another cause of the post-racial concept is “laissez-faire racism.” Laissez-faire racism maintains there is factors other than race that account for the wealth disparity among the races. Laissez-faire racism supports the post-racial society concept by supposing every person starts life on an equal playing field, but it sees the wealth disparity, as a class not racial issue. “…Laissez-faire racism involves persistent negative stereotyping of African Americans, a tendency to blame blacks themselves for the black-white gap in socioeconomic status, and resistance to meaningful policy efforts to ameliorate U.S. racist social conditions,” wrote Harvard University Professor of the Social Sciences Lawrence D. Bobo. The minorities most affected by the laissez-faire racism perspective are African-Americans. The media stereotypes blacks as lazy and dependent on the state. In a national poll in 1990, researchers found that over half ofU.S.whites saw blacks as “innately lazy and less intelligent and less patriotic” than whites. Over 60% of whites surveyed said blacks had worse housing and employment cause of their ‘own lack of willpower.’” The belief that black Americans take advantage of social services completely contradicts the media exaggeration of black affluence. The media is giving mixed messages because it wants to deny the existence of institutional racism but at the same time it wants to breed resentment towards African-Americans by blaming them for government spending on public assistance. The belief that society is post-racial downplays the effects of discrimination. Failure is blamed on individual choices of minorities instead of institutional racism.

The election of half-white half-Kenyan President Barack Obama is another driving force behind the post-racial concept in theU.S.To many, Obama’s election symbolized an end to racism inAmericaby proving one need not be white to hold the highest ranking position in the nation. According to Shelby Steele, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution atStanfordUniversity:

Obama’s post-racial idealism told whites the one thing they most wanted to hear:Americahad essentially contained the evil of racism to the point at which it was no longer a serious barrier to black advancement. Thus, whites became enchanted enough with Obama to become his political base. It wasIowa– 95% white — that made him a contender.

Obama’s election popularized the post-racial concept. The media believed that it was an indication that today’s youth (coined the millennials) is no longer racist. Dom Apollon, Research Director for the Applied Research Center, a Bay Area a racial justice think tank wrote:

Too many journalists, political commentators, and even researchers have taken the established fact of increased racial tolerance among today’s youth and hastily labeled them ‘post-racial.’ The conclusion fits neatly with the mainstream political narrative of the Obama era—that race and racism are no longer significant barriers to success in our nation.

Despite mainstream enthusiasm for Obama’s election, many white individuals perceive the first black president as a threat to whiteAmericabecause he defies the negative African-American stereotype. Raina Kelley, Associate Editor at Newsweek Magazine, wrote about Obama’s election:

Black skin has meant something very specific in this country for hundreds of years. It has meant ‘less than,’ ‘not as good as,’ ‘separate than,’ and even ‘equal to.’ It has never meant ‘better than’ unless you were talking about dancing, singing, or basketball. Obama represents ‘better than,’ and that’s scary for people who think of black people as shaved gorillas.

These differing perspectives within the American public clearly demonstrate how race still matters and how people of color who do not follow racial stereotypes are viewed as a threat. Obama’s election presented two viewpoints—the dominant being the affirmation of post-racial America and the conflicting idea that race still plays a role in determining how successful a person of color can be in our society.

The most troubling effect of the post-racial concept is how it trivializes the experiences of racism and discrimination people of color face and incurs psychological damage on them. The concept makes it socially unacceptable for people of color to speak about race. “In other words, race is defined as an illegitimate topic for conversation. This means that those that are conscious of race or inject racial issues into a debate may be accused of complaining, of seeking special treatment, of ‘playing the race card,’ or even of being racist…” (Doane). Effectively, this denial of race makes society ignore “the problems caused by race” (Wise 21). The post-racial concept silences the victims of discrimination and as a result they undergo various psychological issues. According to an article by Elaine Bible published by San Francisco State University:

Alvarez’ latest study, published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, found that denying or ignoring racial discrimination leads to greater psychological distress, including anxiety and depression, and lower self-esteem…‘When people deny or trivialize racist encounters, they can actually make themselves feel worse, amplifying the distress caused by the incident.

Consequently, eliminating talk of racism disables us from addressing the issue and proposing solutions to end a major form of oppression.

Another consequence of the post-racial society myth is the denial of colorism, intra-racial discrimination between racial groups, where lighter skinned individuals are preferred by society. According to Washington Post staff writer DeLeen L. Brown although colorism exists around the world, especially in countries where Africans were colonized by Europeans. In the U.S. African-American women with lighter skin have higher rates of marriage than their darker counterparts. The belief that lighter skin is always better is even taught to children. Davis conducted an experiment to document the existence of prejudice against racial groups in children. It was modeled after the doll experiment by psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark conducted in 1954 (“Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas”). According to Brown’s article:

InDavis’ 2005 film, she put a brown baby doll and a pink baby doll before preschool children. ‘Show me the doll you like to play with,’Davisasks. A little brown girl with braids picks up the white doll. ‘Show me the doll that is nice,’Davisasks another child. A little boy picks up the white doll. ‘Why is that the nice doll?’Davisasks. ‘Because she’s white,’ the little boy says.

The results of Davis’ experiment where the same results as the Clarks’ experiment in 1954. In 1954, when children were asked which doll had positive characteristics, the majority of them chose the white doll (“Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas”). This intra-racial form of discrimination remains in the African-American community and hurts the self-esteem of individuals of color. By giving lighter skinned people preference, society affirms white supremacy.

Racial segregation is another effect of the post-racial society. Denying that racism exists justifies urban renewal projects, which redevelop poor neighborhoods and displace minorities. Communities of color were told their city will be improved to attract businesses and better the quality of life. But according to Lipsitz “Ninety percent of low-income units removed for urban renewal were never replaced” (374). People of color were disenfranchised while whites created new businesses. The people most affected by the post-racial society concept are disproportionately poor minority communities. They are deprived of the right to speak out against racist acts and cannot advance in society because they cannot challenge the obstacles that prevent them from succeeding. Society limits their opportunities, preserving an unequal playing field. Not acknowledging racism means we can never solve racial segregation.

The most pivotal first step to solving the effects of the post-racial concept is to disprove it. By providing statistics proving that discrimination still exists we can empower communities of color and challenge the concept that was created to maintain white privilege. African-Americans communities are affected the most by the post-racial concept. There are still clear disparities between African-Americans and whites in the U.S. “…Black poverty, which, at almost 25 percent, stands out three times the white rate, just as it did in 1970. Black poverty is a result of a tragic interaction of socioeconomic and cultural forces…” (Patterson). Blacks are blamed by whites for using social services like welfare to get by, yet the structural barriers that prevent them from fully advancing in society are not acknowledged. Sociologist Mary Waters interviewed white Americans and found that “most white respondents were much more able to tap into their negative impressions of black people, especially “underclass” blacks whom they were highly critical of. These opinions were not just based on disinterested observation. There was a direct sense among many whites that they were personally being taken advantage of and threatened by the black population” (Waters 177). The negative perception of African-Americans is reinforced through the media. By disproving the post-racial concept we can get rid of the negative stereotypes and help minority communities.

Another way we can challenge the post-racial concept is by diversifying our public schools. There is unequal education inAmerica. “School re-segregation” is when white individuals attend higher quality schools with more funding than urban schools where a majority of the student body is of color.

…School ‘re-segregation’ has been underway for at least ten years. It is ‘happening,’ the Civil Rights Project finds, ‘despite the nation’s growing diversity’ and ‘is contributing to a growing gap in quality between the schools being attended by white students and those serving a large proportion of minority students’—a gap that receives curiously little mention in standard pronouncements on the black-white test-score gap. ‘More than 70% of the nation’s black students,’ the Project reports, ‘now attend predominantly minority schools,’ whereas ‘whites on average attend schools where less than 20% of the students are from all of the other racial and ethnic groups combined’ (Street).

As I mentioned before, one of the main reasons that the concept persists is that white individuals are detached from the realities of people of color. By diversifying the student body at public schools, students will have more exposure to different cultures and will not rely on stereotypes to categorize people. According to education activist Jonathan Kozol, the integration of schools would be met with resistance by predominantly wealthy white neighborhoods (126). There seems to be a fear from middle-class community of integration. In Kozol’s interview with students from suburban Morris High School in Rye, New York, students suggested resources be allocated to urban schools to provide a better education rather than to integrate minority students into wealthier schools.

“I agree that it’s unfair the way it is,” another student says. “We have AP courses and they don’t. Our classes are much smaller.” But, she says, “Putting them in schools like ours is not the answer. Why not put some AP classes into their school? Fix the roof and paint the halls so it will not be so depressing” (Kozol 127).

Still, I believe that school integration will be effective. Having exposure to students from different cultures and different backgrounds will serve to both make whites more culturally aware by learning and working side by side with minority youth. School integration will also improve the quality of education students of color receive.

There also needs to be more community outreach to educate people of color about the post-racial concept. It seems like the only people researching and supporting the belief thatAmericais now colorblind are white Americans with an interest to maintain and hide white privilege. People of color should be educated about this concept in order to speak out against it. After all, it is their responsibility to disprove the concept because they are the ones who face the everyday consequences of racism and discrimination. As Wise said, “to not see color is, as Julian Bond has noted, to not see the consequences of color; and if color has consequences, which it surely does, yet you’ve resolved, not to notice the thing that brings about those consequences…” (21). A way we can educate minorities is by holding a national campaign led by existing social justice-oriented nonprofits to educate low-income communities about the colorblind concept through workshops. This approach can give communities the knowledge necessary to combat this popular concept and to advocate for themselves.

Another way we can stop the post-racial concept is by creating a curriculum in public high schools that includes ethnic studies to educate students about their culture and inspire pride in their race. Having an ethnic studies curriculum would challenge the traditional education we learn in school that only portrays the white perspective. According to a report by the National Education Association:

Numerous content analyses of textbooks have found an ongoing marginalization of scholarship by and about African Americans, Latino/as, Native Americans, and Asian Americans. In acknowledgement of the dominance of Euro-American perspectives in mainstream curricula, such curricula can be viewed as ‘Euro-American ethnic studies.’ As students of color proceed through the school system, research finds that the overwhelming dominance of Euro-American perspectives leads many such students to disengage from academic learning. Ethnic studies curricula exist in part because students of color have demanded an education that is relevant, meaningful and affirming of their identities (Sleeter vii).

By learning about their own culture, students can learn about people of color who made a difference in society and find inspiration. Despite its benefits, ethnic studies curriculum in high schools across the nation has been challenged. In Tucson, Arizona, the highly successful Mexican American Studies program was deemed illegal by Attorney General Tom Horne in 2011 (Rothberg). As a result, much Chicana/o literature was confiscated from these schools (Rothberg). By denying students the ability to learn about their culture in public high schools, these institutions are effectively denying students the opportunity to be proud about their culture because they cannot identify with activists of color who made a difference in our world. According to Sleeter, ethnic studies in public schools have helped start movements to deconstruct the systems of oppression like racism people of color face on an everyday basis.

We must remember that the idea of post-racial America was created to maintain white privilege and trivialize the racism people of color encounter in our society. Laissez-faire racism supports that race no longer matters inAmericaand blames the wealth disparity among the races on class, not race. It reinforces the belief that everyone starts off on an equal playing field. Obama’s election has thus popularized the post-racial concept and for many served as a landmark event in history proving that race no longer mattered in America. Simultaneously, Obama’s election fueled outrage by right-wing conservatives who saw the first black president as a threat to whiteAmerica. The post-racial concept has mooted mainstream discussions on race and discrimination. An unwillingness to acknowledge the existence of racial discrimination by whites has psychological implications for victims of discrimination, causing low self-esteem and even depression. Colorblindness also denies the existence of colorism, in which minorities with lighter skin receive more opportunities to advance in society. The post-racial concept has only served to further disadvantage minorities. It has justified urban renewal projects and racial segregation that disproportionately disenfranchised low-income communities of color. In order to attack the idea thatAmericais post-racial, we must first provide statistics to prove that racism and discrimination still exists. We need to have more community outreach to educate communities of color about the post-racial concept and empower them to speak out about it. Minorities are the ones most affected by this concept; their voices deserve to be included in discussions about it. We must also racially diversify our schools in order deconstruct the preconceived notions whites and others have about racial groups and see first-hand the challenges communities of color face. Ethnic studies classes need to be included in our public schools to provide a counter-narrative to the mainstream white narrative of history we learn in school. That way, youth can learn about successful activists who took steps to stop the systems oppressing poor communities of color. Although the media may displayAmericaas post-racial, we must realize that our country continues to use race as a determinant of life chances. As Kelley said, “Even though Oprah and Will Smith are beloved by Americans of all hues, they are still exceptions in a country where judging people based on the color of their skin is a habit we’ve yet to break.”

Works Cited

Apollon, Dom. “Don’t Call Them “Post-Racial.” Millennials Say Race Matters to Them.” ColorLines. Applied Research Center, 7 June 2011. Web. 5 Jan. 2012. <http://colorlines.com/‌archives/‌2011/‌06/‌youth_and_race_focus_group_main.html&#62;.

Bible, Elaine. “Ignoring racism makes distress worse, study finds .” http://www.sfsu.edu/‌~news/‌2010/‌spring/‌33.html. San Francisco State University, 5 Apr. 2010. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.sfsu.edu/‌~news/‌2010/‌spring/‌33.html&#62;.

Bobo, Lawrence D. “Inequalities That Endure? Racial Ideology, American Politics, and the Peculiar Role of the Social Sciences.” The Changing Terrain of Race and Ethnicity. Ed. Maria Krysan and Amanda E. Lewis. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2004. 13-42. Print.

Brown, DeNeen L. “The Legacy of Colorism Reflects Wounds of Racism That Are More Than Skin-Deep.” WashingtonPost.com. The Washington Post, 12 July 2009. Web. 4 Jan. 2012. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/‌wp-dyn/‌content/‌article/‌2009/‌07/‌10/‌AR2009071000022.html&#62;.

“Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.” Library of Congress. Library of Congress, 23 July 2010. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. <http://www.loc.gov/‌exhibits/‌brown/‌brown-brown.html&#62;.

Davis, F. James. Mixed Messages: Multiracial Identities in the “Color-Blind” Era. Ed. David Brunsma. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2006. Print.

Doane, Woody. “Rethinking Whiteness Studies.” White out: the continuing significance of racism. Ed. Ashley W. Doane and Eduardo Bonilla-Silva. N.p.: Psychology Press, 2003. 3-18. Print.

Gallagher, Charles A. “Color-Blind Privilege: the Social and Political Functions of Erasing the Color Line in America.” RGC Journal 10.4 (2003): n. pag. Print.

Harris, Marvin. Our Kind: Who We Are, Where We Come From and Where We Are Going. N.p.: Harper Perennial, 1989. Print.

Kelley, Raina. “Play the Race Card.” Editorial. Newsweek 29 Sept. 28: 30. The Daily Beast. Web. 4 Jan. 2012. <http://www.thedailybeast.com/‌newsweek/‌2009/‌09/‌19/‌play-the-race-card.html&#62;.

Kozol, Jonathan. “Children of the City Invisible.” Savage Inequalities. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1991. 133-175. Print.

Lipsitz, George. “The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: Racialized Social Democracy and the ‘White’ Problem in American Studies.” American Quarterly 47.3 (1995): 369-387. Print.

Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. Racial formation in the United States: from the 1960s to the 1990s. 1986. New York: Routledge, 1994. Print.

Patterson, Orlando. “Race and Diversity in the Age of Obama.” The New York Times 14 Aug. 2009, New York ed., BR23 sec.: n. pag. NYTimes.com. Web. 4 Jan. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/‌2009/‌08/‌16/‌books/‌review/‌Patterson-t.html&#62;.

Rothberg, Peter. “Challenging Arizona’s Ban on Ethnic Studies.” The Nation 1 Feb. 2012: n. pag. The Nation. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. <http://www.thenation.com/‌blog/‌165989/‌challenging-arizonas-ban-ethnic-studies&#62;.

Sleeter, Christine E. The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies. SaveEthnicStudies.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://saveethnicstudies.org/‌assets/‌docs/‌proven_results/‌Academinc-and-social-value-of-ethnic-studies.pdf&#62;.

Steele, Shelby. “Obama’s post-racial promise.” L.A. Times 5 Nov. 2008: n. pag. LATimes.com. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <http://www.latimes.com/‌news/‌opinion/‌opinionla/‌la-oe-steele5-2008nov05,0,6049031.story&#62;.

Street, Paul. “The White Fairness Understanding Gap.” Z Magazine. Z Communications, Oct. 2001. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.zcommunications.org/‌the-white-fairness-understanding-gap-by-paul-street&#62;.

Thompson, Audrey. “Summary of Whiteness Theory.” Pauahtun.org. N.p., 2001. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. <http://www.pauahtun.org/‌Whiteness-Summary-1.html&#62;.

Waters, Mary C. “Encountering American Race Relations.” Black Identities: West Indian Immigrant Dreams and American Realities. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999. 140-181. Print.

Welland, Sasha. “Being between: can multiracial Americans form a cohesive anti-racist movement beyond identity politics and Tiger Woods chic?” Editorial. TheFreeLibrary.com.  Farlex, Inc., 22 June 2003. Web. 4 Jan. 2012. <http://www.thefreelibrary.com/‌Being+between%3A+can+multiracial+Americans+form+a+cohesive+anti-racist…-a0103192535&#62;.

Wise, Tim J. White Like Me. 2nd ed. Brooklyn: Soft Skull Press, 2008. Print.

Karen Lewis, head of the Chicago’s Teacher’s Union, said that a poll of teachers at 150 schools revealed widespread support for a strike. Chicago is ground zero of the education reform movement, the home base of Uncle Arne Duncan.

Jean-Claude Brizard, head of Chicago’s schools, claimed “It’s unfortunate that the CTU will be talking about a strike when we know we have so much work we have to do within our schools.”

The teachers of Chicago have seen the “work” to which Brizard refers: school closings, teacher firings, more charters and mayoral control.

The Congress of Rank-and-File Educators, the caucus largely in control of the CTU, has shown urban teacher unions across the country the way. We have tried corporate unionism of the Randi Weingarten variety and it is has led to the erosion of the teaching profession. No matter how many times the likes of Randi have cooperated and negotiated with the corporate reformers, she manages to get bashed in the media and teachers manage to lose more and more of their rights. It is the students who pay the ultimate price as they see their schools closed and their most experienced teachers fired.

58 years ago, the Supreme Court made schools the testing ground for racial integration across the south. Children were put on the front lines in a wider battle for social justice. The powerless had nothing but their bodies with which to fight. They used it to conduct acts of civil disobedience: marches, sit-ins, Freedom Rides, etc.

We have come full circle by 2012. The corporate reform movement seeks to, once again, put children on the front lines of a massive social experiment. This time it is the corporatizing of the last great civic institution left in the United States. If some students have to get kicked out of their schools, or have their classrooms starved of resources, or attend charters that make corporal punishment a matter of policy, then so be it. If inner-city schools become hyper-segregated in the process, then that is the price that must be paid. If black teachers disappear because they have been part of the communities they have served for decades and, therefore, cost too much money, then that is the price we pay for progress.

The grand social experiment of education reform is really just a way to turn back the school system to its pre-1954 status. The poorest communities get the most inexperienced teachers and the oldest resources. Many students in NYC are having classes in trailers, much like black students in the sharecropping south had their classes in wooden shacks, if they had classes at all.

So Karen Lewis’ CTU is threatening to use the only weapon available to her teachers: their bodies. They can refuse to show up for work. Despite the laws and heavy penalties for public worker strikes, the CTU is considering something the UFT here in NYC is scared to consider.

But this is the only appropriate response to the crusade to hyper-segregate our schools. Just like the civil rights activists of the 50s and 60s threw their bodies into the machinery in order to grind it to a halt, the teachers and activists who care about public schools are starting to do the same.

This is also the philosophy behind parents opting their children out of standardized exams. As the testing regime continues to spread its tentacles across the country, expect more pushback from parents.

Even if the CTU does not strike, the fact that they are talking about it is a major step in the right direction. Schools districts like Chicago are notorious for getting the press to run nasty stories about teachers during negotiations. Now, Brizard is running scared about talk of a teacher strike. The CTU is only using the tactics available to them.

Hopefully, Chicago proves to be ground zero of the pushback against education deform.