Student now has arrest record because of Steve Conn

[FoxyScholar10]

Thanks for that, Foxy.


It seems true catalysts for [[hopefully positive) change always meet the same [[or at least similar) end.


"Often his and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s sociopolitical philosophies were pitted against each other because of their differing approaches."


I would argue that happened because it was instigated BY those who benefited most by having everyone at each other's throats...and distracted away from what they had previously been so charged-up against.


When it was obvious to some that Malcolm X had realized that a more general and humane approach might work better than his previous tack, or some would say ATtack, suddenly he was gone.

When it was obvious to some that Martin Luther King had realized a more stubbornly [[and in some instances aggressively) approach might work better than HIS previous passive tack, suddenly HE was gone.


It should be obvious that both approaches needed to understand that the other wasn't far from complimentary...but as they BEGAN to understand this...some greater negative force, seemingly favoring the status quo, made them go away. By any means necessary. Infiltrating their ranks, inciting one against the other, manipulating what they could directly, threatening along the way, finally...when all else failed...killing them dead.



Does THAT mean taking the same attitude is the right thing to do, get your way by any means necessary? I cannot say I agree that joining them in their negative error is a way of beating them at their own game.


IF any group would state first and foremost that NO negative energy would be 'allowed', that their actions would always follow a positive path...no violence, no aggression, no injury intended nor inadvertently delivered, no destruction [[perhaps EXCEPT against that which seeks to destroy them, I have a tough time toeing this line, consider me an 'early' Derek Jensen-type ethical and moral thinker on the way to choosing what type of 'do-er' I should finally be)...then it may then be deemed worthy of consideration by those of reason, emotion, and conscience.


But one that starts by taking a quote out-of-context...an OPEN-ENDED potential threat...nah, that is too much for me to consider. It is tough to endorse a group that doesn't give themselves limits.


How about By Any Positive Means Necessary? Of course, the acronym doesn't quite roll off the tongue in an offhand physical threat...


Cheers

And thank you, Gannon.... I hear your points....

You should CC this to the Tea Party Movement!

[Gannon]

No doubt.

I guess an over-arching promise for none of them to take historic terms and bastardize 'em for their benefit might be nice...but some would say the Tea Partiers were co-opted at some point. Perhaps so, but any group can if they are not diligent!

[Augustiner]

Is he running for mayor or school board?

Neither.extra characters

[Buy American]

We fought all the time, but the media didn't care because we were middle-class white kids. Also, this was before writers and media spent a generation demonizing children as becoming a generation of "super predators." Oh, yes, those schools can be brought under control; all we have to do is turn them into prisons where students don't have any rights. Which may be the real lesson of a contemporary school; you are a subject, you may not complain. If you write one poem that could be interpreted as "violent" you'll be whisked off to jail. I've seen this happen over a 20-year period. It disgusts me.

Were you shooting each other inside and outside the schools? How about at the bus stop? Did some members of your football team gang rape young girls? I have seen a lot of changes in the DPS over the past 50 years and what I've seen disgusts me.

[Augustiner]

Were you shooting each other inside and outside the schools? How about at the bus stop? Did some members of your football team gang rape young girls? I have seen a lot of changes in the DPS over the past 50 years and what I've seen disgusts me.

Is there anything that happened in the past 50 years that doesn't disgust you?

[Detroitnerd]

Were you shooting each other inside and outside the schools? How about at the bus stop? Did some members of your football team gang rape young girls? I have seen a lot of changes in the DPS over the past 50 years and what I've seen disgusts me.

What, you want to get into some rhetorical slapfight? We had a kid who took a few shots at the building once with a rifle. Lost one kid to a stabbing and another to a shooting. I'm sure there were some rapes, but you know how a tight suburban police force is good at keeping things quiet.

BA, I think you're pissed at the poor. And I agree heartily. Jesus, how STUPID do you have to be to be born poor. STUPID poor parents who don't properly feed their children! STUPID poor parents not demanding excellence from their school district. STUPID poor parents, not being able to read and having children anyway. STUPID poor people, perpetuating a cycle of violence that, if they'd had the good sense to be born well-to-do, they'd never have picked up in the first place. STUPID poor people, picking up guns and slinging drugs; why couldn't they have been born somewhere with actual job opportunities? Oh, those STUPID, STUPID poor people: Why do they continue to choose to be born?

Ah, yes, of course, we in our suburban school district had well-to-do parents who could read, write, were not as addicted to drugs or alcohol, often stayed married, and owned houses, cars, could afford the best for their children. And so naturally, you see fewer instances of violence there.

But look around us, BA -- The answer to our problems is as simple as one word: Move. Move to Ann Arbor, or Novi, or Farmington Hills. If that doesn't pan out, move to Macomb, or South Lyon, or Brighton. Our collective answer to social problems in metro Detroit has been to move away from them. Who remains? The poorest of the poor. The people who cannot afford to move. Since 1970, ghettos have gotten larger and poorer. The area of metro Detroit occupies by ghettohoods is growing because this is the way we deal with things.

Instead of working together as a region to ameliorate social problems, educate young people and enforce fair but tough rules on everybody, we've created a massive and growing "Chinatown" where anything goes.

That's right: We created it. We the people who can afford to leave. We left them behind. Now, is it right and just to then start complaining about how Detroit is a shithole full of stupid poor-ass people? Start talking about tough love when we never loved the poor anyway? Why? That's just stupid.

As for cracking down on students in ALL SCHOOL DISTRICTS because we have problems in our ghettos, that's even stupider.

[Buy American]

Is there anything that happened in the past 50 years that doesn't disgust you?

There sure are, but DPS isn't one of them.

[English]

By the logic of some posters, any of us who were educated by DPS after 1970 and did well for ourselves are statistical anomalies.

[Det_ard]

By the logic of some posters, any of us who were educated by DPS after 1970 and did well for ourselves are statistical anomalies.

Pretty much. The numbers I've seen tend to support that logic. Do you disagree? Your success certainly isn't typical of the average DPS student [[can't say "DPS grad", that eliminates too many people).

[FoxyScholar10]

By the logic of some posters, any of us who were educated by DPS after 1970 and did well for ourselves are statistical anomalies.

DPS Class of 1987.... I'm not ready to call myself/accept that I am a statistical anomaly....

[Magnatomicflux]

What the heck is Tuska-Heegee? This man is a fool.

DT....I can't watch the video here on my work computer. Please.........PLEASE tell me that wasn't said regarding the Tuskegee airmen on the video

Nobody's really that ignorant....are they?

[oldredfordette]

Every time I see the word BAMN or the name Steve Conn, I get a little heartburn...I want a revolution as much as the next lefty, but these guys tear down more than they ever build.

[CaptainDetroit]

Who's Steve Conn?

Steve Conn is a socialist / athiest who wants to be president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers. He is a major BAMN leader who fancies himself as the Cesar Chávez of the Detroit Public Schools leading a modern workers revolution. Conn has a history of indoctrinating school children to do BAMN dirty work [[See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uocPkTFuKK0 he is at 8 & 40 seconds. Red shirt, blue jacket, gray hair, smirking as the students riot). He has promised to take the Detroit teachers out on strike if elected and actually believes the parents will cheer him. Conn has a superiority complex that is only rivaled by his wife, Heather Miller. He has run for DFT president, and lost, every two years since 1988. Despite alienating key allies, such as the Michigan Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers Conn believes he can effectively lead the teacher's union. Most recently he was on Let It Rip were he made a fool of himself by spouting his socialist nonsense http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news...-20101209-wpms . As one person so aptly put it, Steve Conn is an insufferable prick.

[Gannon]

Every time I see the word BAMN or the name Steve Conn, I get a little heartburn...I want a revolution as much as the next lefty, but these guys tear down more than they ever build.

Thanks Oldredfordette, for saying what I wanted to say in my hundreds of words...in thirty-seven. I so wish I could be succinct.

Cheers

[iheartthed]

Didn't Steve Conn sue the district for false termination and win a big settlement not too long ago?

[DetroitTeacher]

Yep, he's the one. Include in that his wife, Heather Miller. They both won the same lawsuit and both received settlements.

[DetroitTeacher]

CaptainDetroit: We just had our general election and he and Johnson are now battling for the top spot in a runoff election. I am scared of what might happen if Conn were to get in. He will take the teachers out on strike, even if the teachers don't vote to do so [[and he'll have us on strike once a month if he got his way). He is too radical for my taste.

[CaptainDetroit]

Detroit Teacher,

The best way to deal with Conn is to vote for Keith Johnson. If Conn loses the election by a landslide he will be defanged. Conn's folk are just loud and obnoxious. We must not be intimidated. Instead stand up for Johnson and the entire UTR slate of officers. Talk to your collegues at your school. Johnson might be pompous but at least he's sane. He runs the DFT like a business and his decision making process is sound. Everyone is bent out of shape about the TIP, but it is actually ingenious. Instead of losing the $35,000 that Bobb wanted by giving us a 10% pay cut, we save $10,000 that we get back at retirement [[This could be negotiated sooner in the next contract). Who would you want negotiating our next contract, someone logical who can forge working relationships? Or a hot head like Conn?

[1KielsonDrive]

Geez, passing out literature? What a crime. Passing out literature must be terribly disruptive. Maybe even terroristic. What do kids go to school to learn about our 'democratic' system for? Political discourse is no longer allowed? Good thing it wasn't a charter school, corporate lawyers might be seeking 'terror' charges against them.

[Zacha341]

Yeah he and his BAMN cohorts will have you guys on strike every week and like American Axle that finally gave up the ghost and relocated to Mexico [[ala all the striking et al), the remaining DPS teachers will be eliminated all together.

Now that is not to say striking and collective bargaining does not have it's place, it absolutely does.

But Conn is too extreme [[the DFT meeting fiasco's you read about are proof of that) and some of the BAMN folks are professional agitators at the philosophical, deep-dish far left socialist level. I wonder how many of them even work full time?

I'd not want them at the helm of my income stream. There's far more to this than meets the eye. And finally what/ who's voting choice were the folks on the school premises trying to affect? The parents thru the student who would receive the flyers or handouts?

Are the parents voting? No I did not thing so.

CaptainDetroit: We just had our general election and he and Johnson are now battling for the top spot in a runoff election. I am scared of what might happen if Conn were to get in. He will take the teachers out on strike, even if the teachers don't vote to do so [[and he'll have us on strike once a month if he got his way). He is too radical for my taste.

[Zacha341]

Well stated.... one reality factor Conn et al has not fully 'factored' in is that many parents want their kids in school! Period. In the long run, they'll not be interested, vested, vetted, or long-time loyal to the 'existential', deeply held political manifesto of it all, ergo the broad spectrum, uber-hip-socialist fervor driving his cause.

Parents in mass are not going for the full tilt ride ala his clutch-cargo ideology of protest.

Simply stated: At a pragmatic/ practical level many parents simply want their kids educated and others need to go to work [[if they are so lucky to be employed). They'll not have their kids staying at home day after day. They won't tolerate too many school-day closings, ala striking.

These parents and or guardians and will simply pull their kids out of the DPS, further eroding the districts relevance by his and BAMN's very efforts. But that's not an unusual outcome for these types, who have a tendency to saw-out from under themselves the very planks they 'claim' to stand upon and for.

Steve Conn is a socialist / athiest who wants to be president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers. He is a major BAMN leader who fancies himself as the Cesar Chávez of the Detroit Public Schools leading a modern workers revolution. Conn has a history of indoctrinating school children to do BAMN dirty work [[See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uocPkTFuKK0 he is at 8 & 40 seconds. Red shirt, blue jacket, gray hair, smirking as the students riot). He has promised to take the Detroit teachers out on strike if elected and actually believes the parents will cheer him. Conn has a superiority complex that is only rivaled by his wife, Heather Miller. He has run for DFT president, and lost, every two years since 1988. Despite alienating key allies, such as the Michigan Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers Conn believes he can effectively lead the teacher's union. Most recently he was on Let It Rip were he made a fool of himself by spouting his socialist nonsense http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news...-20101209-wpms . As one person so aptly put it, Steve Conn is an insufferable prick.

[Zacha341]

I would agree at the post-secondary level [[college), but not fully within the secondary education setting. I teach at a border suburb community college and a local private college institution [[one union represented, one not) and they both monitor who comes on their premises soliciting and posting, though not as much as a secondary school would need to. Most colleges private and public monitor what is posted on their public bulletin areas.

Also, it remains 'questionable' as to who this literature was to reach or influence? Voting students? Their parents? That would only be applicable for those students who's parents are a DPS teachers. And the local DFT union stewards and local union hall are responsible for supplying the on-staff teachers at each school literature re. both candidates [[as it is done at the college faculty level)... aren't they...? Perhaps I am missing something....

Geez, passing out literature? What a crime. Passing out literature must be terribly disruptive. Maybe even terroristic. What do kids go to school to learn about our 'democratic' system for? Political discourse is no longer allowed? Good thing it wasn't a charter school, corporate lawyers might be seeking 'terror' charges against them.

[Meddle]

George Washington, attorney for the activist group By Any Means Necessary, said a woman entered the school to distribute campaign literature for Steve Conn, a candidate for president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

Why would anyone other than a teacher care who ran for anything in DFT?

[Zacha341]

Let those with 'ears' hear [[smile)... Hah! ------

Wow, that guy can talk a lot without saying anything. Is he running for mayor or school board?

[Zacha341]

Er-uh me neither [[DPS graduate - class of 1979).... my typing ability sucks sometimes [[typos), but overall I've made 'some' contributions to society, my community and fo' sho' the tax base here in motown........

DPS Class of 1987.... I'm not ready to call myself/accept that I am a statistical anomaly....