School Choice

I’m sorry to post this so late (goodness knows I have to post another one tomorrow!) but I want to talk about something very near and dear to me, public education. As you may know, Betsy DeVos was appointed and confirmed as Secretary of Education. Her big platform is school choice. What is school choice? It means providing parents a choice as far as where their children go to school. It sounds wonderful, but what it really means is taking money away from public education, puting it into private schools through vouchers or into charter schools. It promotes privatization of education and reduces the ability of public schools to provide the best resources for students.

Separate is not equal. This is one of the most fundamental rules of education, coming out of the Court’s decision in 1954 for Brown v. the Board of Education.

Super Bowl Sunday

Good evening! I just had the pleasure of enjoying Super Bowl LI with my roommates (why Falcons??? You were doing so good!!!). While an enjoyable experience, I am sure you are wondering what on earth the Super Bowl has to do with civil liberties, and actually, my answer to you is everything. The Super Bowl, especially this year, highlighted several civil liberties issues.

First, I want to look at the commercials. Everyone loves Superbowl commercials, which tend to be very extravagant, entertaining and (hopefully) funny. They are also used as a form of expression. Opinions on oil, conservation, diversity and women’s rights were very directly expressed over the course of the evening. Commercials are an extension of our freedom of speech, which is a civil liberty that has long been fought over, since the founding of our country (glaring at you president Adams…). Women’s rights is still an issue of debate today, in spite of years of struggle, for example highlighted in the add about the little girl in a car race (click here) that highlights the disparities in pay between men and women. The add about hair (click here) addressed diversity and sexuality, and expressed a strong political opinion, again looking at freedom of speech.

And that’s without even talking about the Gaga Lady! (my roommate kept making this joke, blame her…)

So amazing! Lady Gaga, in her performance, madeseveral strong statments about civil liberties as well. For example, several of her dance moves strongly recalled those of Beyonce’s performance at the super bowl last year, supportiong the black lives matter movement. She also performed “Born this Way” one of her most famous songs including the lyrics;

“Don’t be a drag, just be a queen
Whether you’re broke or evergreen
You’re black, white, beige, chola descent
You’re Lebanese, you’re Orient
Whether life’s disabilities
Left you outcast, bullied, or teased
Rejoice and love yourself today
‘Cause baby you were born this way

No matter gay, straight, or bi
Lesbian, transgendered life
I’m on the right track baby
I was born to survive
No matter black, white or beige
Chola or orient made
I’m on the right track baby
I was born to be brave”

She makes a strong statement with this song in favor of human rights, diversity, and supporting minorities. The song is iconic of civil liberties in general.

So, what does the Super Bowl have to do with civil liberties? Everything, because civil liberties is about our lives and our culture, and how we live in our country. In future posts, I intend to delve more deeply into these issues and relate them to our history, looking at where we were, how far we have come, and where we still must go.