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<div>I’m Will Daniels, and I’m a USAS member at
Eastern Michigan University. I grew up right down
the street from EMU, as a proud black man in
Detroit. I’m writing to you today about an
injustice that has torn apart my community and
working class communities across the country for
too long — <b>and I need your support as I fly to
New York this Thursday to change it. </b></div>
<div><b>Teach For America</b> claims to be a "racial
and social justice" organization, but I know
better. I know from firsthand experience that
they're part of a corporate reform machine
designed to turn over a major public good into
private hands. This might be old news to you.</div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=rU0isEpPqCULat%2FrcDEdVLYIm%2FHfegfq"
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b><u>If so, will
you stand behind me while I meet with the
Teach For America CEOs?</u></b></a></div>
<div>It's okay if you’re confused though. It's hard
to see what could be wrong with an organization
that aims to "close the achievement gap." And
that’s why <b>many individuals who choose to do
TFA are phenomenal, well-intentioned people</b>.
But over the past few years there has been an
epidemic of school closings, teacher firings, and
union busting aimed at teachers and students in
working class communities across the nation. <b>The
attack on public education in each of these
cities has been </b><b>directly connected to
Teach For America and its growing network of
alumni and wealthy supporters.</b></div>
<div>My father was a teacher for thirty years in
Detroit Public Schools. Then, our Republican
governor designed a program that closed working
class Detroit schools and laid off longtime
teachers. These schools and teachers were replaced
by the so-called Educational Achievement
Authority. A quarter of EAA’s workforce are from
Teach for America. In other words, experienced <b>teachers
were fired so that they could be replaced by
undertrained, recent college grads</b>. They
were cheaper labor than my father, who had
dedicated his life to this community. </div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://afl.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=cgEx86NJ4lqnXin2rVAn17YIm%2FHfegfq"
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><u><b>Tell Teach
For America that Detroit students, and
students all across the country deserve
better than a transient, undertrained
workforce. </b></u></a></div>
<div>We're meeting with Teach For America co-CEOs
Matthew Kramer and Elisa Villanueva-Beard on
Thursday to ask them restore TFA to its original
mission by only operating in areas of actual
teacher shortages, giving aspiring teachers
adequate education and training, and cutting ties
with corporations like Walmart and Goldman Sachs
that are mistreating workers and destroying our
communities.</div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
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target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><u><b>Sign our
petition to support college students’
efforts to reform Teach For America, and
fight for quality public education.</b></u></a></div>
<div>In solidarity,</div>
<div>Will Daniels, USAS Local 734 </div>
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