The Oprah Show "Schools in Crisis"

This is nothing new of course, that our public schools are in crisis. I was elated that Oprah had Jonathan Kozol speak on her show about the state of our nation's schools, usings words such as "apartheid" I've mentioned Kozol in my first published piece "All in a day's work" and I've also mentioned him as one of my favorite authors. (Rachel and her children, homeless families in America)

In this Oprah episode, they showed the dismal conditions of a high school about a mile from the Whitehouse. One of the experts on the show was named Ali. She said that the conditions create a sort of "learned helplessness" I immediately drew a parallel in my mind between the schools and the conditions in my section 8 bldg. Many people in our bldg. say that the conditions in our bldg. are bad because of the "trashy people who are moving in" But I see it as a vicious cycle. Management doesn't give us the respect of clean hallways, elevators, and stairwells, and won't provide us with working washers and dryers, we aren't even allowed to install deadbolt locks.

Management has blown off every safety concern I have ever had, and told Connie, a 60 year old woman in a wheelchair, (last week) that "nothing can be done about the malfunctioning elevator." (To which C. told me that if she gets stuck or hurt, she will sue) We are taught that if we don't fight, we'll never get our needs met.

We aren't given the respect of a clean place to live, nor are our concerns treated as valid. I believe this is part of the reason why there is the vandalism and crime in our bldg. , on Baltimore's streets, and part of the reason our school kids aren't succeeding. They are going to school in classrooms that are over 90 degrees in the summer, ceilings that leak on a rainy day, and plumbing that isn't even working. Additionally, t's true for example that mta riders are angry, but their (and my) anger is valid. Treat us with respect by giving us livable conditions (a viable and safe transit system) (my words ) and Oprah says: (on this episode)

"People rise to their expectations"

I tried to explain this to STudley the other day when he said that nobody in our bldg. cares about safety or they would have gone to the safety meeting. For one thing, I wasn't invited to it, and secondly (one can't have very meaningful conversations when all of their neighbors are high or developmentally disabled or both) I said, everyone knows that management doesn't care and they aren't going to do anything, that is one of the reasons why attendance was so low at the meeting. (and of course that not everyone was invited) My comment was just blown over. The people in my bldg. have their minds made up on what the problems are and whose fault it is, and for the most part aren't very open minded.