Hi all,
I’m Marie, one of the teachers who worked on the Occupy the DOE video last month http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbmjMickJMA . The meeting today at Wall St was inspiring and really motivating! I was very moved by everyone’s perspectives, especially about the charter school movement.
At the meeting, we came to consensus that, given the success of media in spreading the message of our movement, a video (or videos) would be a powerful tool for action at the upcoming December 14th PEP. We are proposing to use a portable small video projector, to display a video on the walls of the meeting room at the PEP. The video will not have sound.
We need your immediate help to create these videos! The content of the video will be a photo essay – many images displayed in sequence, on a loop.
These images will be sourced from you! Or from friends. So if you feel comfortable, grab a camera(or a cellphone, iPhone, etc)! Instructions for those who can help are below.
And don’t forget to forward this email to anyone you think can help!
1ST VIDEO
Working title: “Separate is Not Equal”
Charter vs. Public
One video we agreed upon will focus on the Brown vs. Board of Ed. statute, “Separate is Not Equal.” It will show pictures that depict the opulence of Charter Schools, contrasted with images of the poverty of public schools.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Take photos of your school’s facilities.
- Note whether the image is Charter or Public.
- Email them to me: mmounteer@gmail.com
Remember not to send images that allow you to be identified – we want to avoid specific DOE members from being singled out.
The images we would need from Charter Schools:
(The images do not need be high-res — iPhone photos are fine, it’s the content we’re after)
- Photos of separate entrances to the building (one for Charter and one for public),
- separate entrances to auditoriums,
- separate bathrooms,
- separate water fountains etc…
- Anything that shows the division clearly
And anything that shows the wealth:
- Smartboards,
- new computers/computer labs,
- new science labs/science equipment,
- new books,
- new gym equipment,
- lots of space in the cafeteria,
- new playground equipment, etc.
The images we would need from Public Schools:
- Anything falling apart or old:
- leaky roofs,
- old gym equipment,
- old computers,
- old books or lack thereof
- pavement for a playground, instead of playground equipment
- overcrowded cafeterias (no kids faces clearly visible)
I am also toying with an idea – that we juxtapose our own images with iconic images from the Civil Rights movement, of separate water fountains and entrances to schools, etc. My fear is that it would be too incendiary and distract from our message, but also it may draw attention in a dramatic way that could further our cause. I’m curious to hear what people think.
2ND VIDEO
Working title, “In Solidarity with Occupy the DOE”
This is a simple concept – images of the people that support us who maybe can’t be at the PEP meeting. I was thinking any group that wants to, can take their picture behind a banner that say OCCUPY THE DOE and we could project that as we were speaking to show the amount of people that support us. We can open it up to Occupy groups like Save our Schools across the country and get images from everywhere. We can then use that projection for whatever we do, any meeting we go to.
So here’s the action item list:
- Create a banner that reads OCCUPY THE DOE
- Find students, parents, teachers, (administrators!) who want to pose with the banner.
- Find a time to take a group photo op, and take a picture of everyone smiling and holding the banner.
- Email it to me! mmounteer@gmail.com
I am excited to see all the wonderful photos from all of us brave educators! It would be nice to have something done by next Sunday’s meeting so get those pictures to me as soon as possible!
In Solidarity,
Marie Mounteer