<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:386924606;
mso-list-template-ids:282239722;}
@list l1
{mso-list-id:995261879;
mso-list-template-ids:1633684036;}
@list l1:level1
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0B7;
mso-level-tab-stop:.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l1:level2
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:1.0in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@list l1:level3
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:1.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level4
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:2.0in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level5
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:2.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level6
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:3.0in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level7
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:3.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level8
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:4.0in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level9
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:4.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
ol
{margin-bottom:0in;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0in;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:22.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"Teach For America" Trojan Horse Among Ferguson Activists?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>It's hard to imagine a more ruthless, murderous and insanely wealthy corporation than the <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-20140924" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>Koch Bros</span></a>. What if one of their executive vice presidents was black and came from Florissant MO, only a few minutes from the spot where Michael Brown was murdered? What if the Koch VP had kicked it with some of the demonstrators and activists early on, maybe even taken an arrest or three, run around some corners and huffed some tear gas with them? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Now suppose that black Koch VP from Florissant got picked as one of the “young black leaders” who <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/05/obama-ferguson-movement-oval-office-meeting" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>met with President Obama</span></a> at the White House last week. The black Koch VP does not offer to resign her position or denounce her employer, and the Koch Bros empire certainly will not stop doing any of the reprehensible things it does in <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/10/17/purchase-election-chevron-shows-we-have-oligarchy-not-democracy-sanders" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>Richmond CA</span></a>, in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/02/08/the-koch-brothers-group-is-getting-involved-in-louisianas-obamacare-fight/" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>Louisiana</span></a>, and everywhere else in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>1.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Is this OK? Should the activists in motion over police murder of black people be good with this? Should they just look away and say well, the other stuff she's involved in, that her employer's involved in IS a concern but <i>this here is about the police</i>. Should they say that concern ain't THIS concern, that concern ain't OUR concern???? Is this the way a broad new social movement against injustice and oppression is supposed to act? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>2.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Can they really doubt that the Koch PR team will NOT use the black VP's participation in their movement to confuse and disadvantage oppressed people somewhere else? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>3.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>And would it be right for those with misgivings and questions about whether the Koch VP really belongs at the table, numbered among movement activists, to keep their reservations private, restricted to personal and conference phone calls, private emails and the like? Or is this everybody's movement and therefor everybody's business, not just that of the designated "leaders".<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Something much like this is actually occurring around Ferguson. One of the “young black activists” who <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/05/obama-ferguson-movement-oval-office-meeting" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>met with President Obama</span></a> last week was Brittney Packnett, a Florissant native who happens to be executive director for the St. Louis office of Teach For America.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>TFA is a nonprofit organization backed to the tune of hundreds of millions per year by <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/%E2%80%A6/walmart-writes-checks-critics%E2%80%A6" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>Wal-Mart</span></a>, the Broad Foundation, Monsanto and a long list of corporate villains and hedge fund predators intent upon dismantling, destroying and privatizing public education in black and brown neighborhoods, turning public education into a private profit center. Privatizing public education is also the bipartisan aim of top Republicans and Democrats across the country, so the Obama Department of Education has also provided tens of millions per year in federal funding for Teach For America.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Teach For America recruits young, mostly white grads from elite colleges to undergo a 5 week training program which supposedly enables them <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-dixon/when-reforming-education_b_530799.html" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>to replace experienced, mostly black teachers</span></a> in inner city schools. Although TFA used to claim it sends its recruits to “underserved” schools where experienced teachers don't want to go, the facts are that underprepared TFA temps have replaced tens of thousands of experienced teachers in Newark, Chicago, St. Louis, and dozens of other cities around the country. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>For those not up on what TFA does, here are a few links....<o:p></o:p></span></p><ul type=disc><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The Daily Dot did an extensive report on Teach For America you can find at <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/inside-real-world-teach-for-america/" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/inside-real-world-teach-for-america/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://atthechalkface.com/%E2%80%A6/why-teach-for-america-cannot-c%E2%80%A6/" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>http://atthechalkface.com/…/why-teach-for-america-cannot-c…/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://dianeravitch.net/%E2%80%A6/mark-naison-how-tfa-is-destructi%E2%80%A6/" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>http://dianeravitch.net/…/mark-naison-how-tfa-is-destructi…/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2011/12/teach-for-america/" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>https://www.jacobinmag.com/2011/12/teach-for-america/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://www.thenation.com/%E2%80%A6/what-happens-when-you-criticize-%E2%80%A6" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.thenation.com/…/what-happens-when-you-criticize-…</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://www.publicschoolshakedown.org/teach-for-america" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.publicschoolshakedown.org/teach-for-america</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>In this context, the Teach For America rep sitting among the “young black activists” is a Trojan Horse. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>No, it won't do any good to take Ms. Packnett aside and “talk to her” about this. That's naïve. She has a longstanding career she's spent her entire professional life building, and will not be turned aside any more than our imaginary Koch Bros VP. And not only will TFA keep doing what it's doing, it's sizeable PR machine will certainly use Ms. Pucknett's presence among Ferguson activists to confuse the unwary elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Teach For America maintains that inner-city public schools are NOT underfunded, that chronic poverty, joblessness, homelessness and short staffing are merely “excuses” used to protect the "bad teachers" which its mostly white temps are replacing. This is precisely the opposite of what knowledgeable young activists like the Dream Defenders Phillip Agnew will tell you.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Chicago just shut down <a href="http://www.networkforpubliceducation.org/news/teach-for-america-gets-big-boost-from-cps-substance-news/" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>50 public schools</span></a>, and <a href="http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/why-isnt-closing-40-philadelphia-public-schools-national-news-where-black-political-class" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>Philly 40 public schools</span></a>, nearly all in black neighborhoods. Many thousands of black people are in the streets in these and other cities fighting for the right to a quality public education, and the very survival of the communities around them. Often they are the same people in motion over police murders like that of Michael Brown. This is a terrible contradiction, but one with an easy solution. Ferguson activists ought to make it clear that Brittney Packnett is NOT one of them, that Ms. Packnett represents the people who fund her, not any definition of “young black activists.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Young activists are quite right to reject the old civil rights zombies like Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. But a key element of their old style “leadership” is keeping every real decision behind closed doors. That's one more reason why they are not leaders of real movements, and it's a style young activists would do well not to replicate. This isn't anything that can be handled behind closed doors.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Black woman or no, Florissant resident or not, Packnett does not belong at the table, except as a representative of the forces that fund her career and Teach For America. She is a Trojan Horse, and should be shunned.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report. He lives and works in Marietta GA where he serves on the state committee of the GA Green Party. Reach him via this site's <a href="http://www.blackagendareport.com" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>contact page</span></a>, or via email at bruce.dixon@blackagendareport.com.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>