Sometimes “playing the game” simply aint worth it…

In an earlier post, I referenced the importance of self-reflection and self-critique. I try to be consistent in this in taking my own advice and acknowledging where I can be a better me, and I have a long way to go… a loooooong way to go. At times, I struggle with organization and a propensity to procrastinate on things I’d rather not do. I know I can come across as abrasive and lacking empathy. I’ve also been told that I’m too much of an absolutist, and in matters regarding our city schools and politics and all the way they intersect, that I’m ignorant to how to “play the game.”

Before I delve deeper, I’ll state clearly this post is directed at many of urban America’s political and connected class, specifically in Camden, but not only Camden by any means. By the “political” or “connected class” I am referring to any city’s “movers and shakers” in powered circles. They may be members of city council, committee members, board of education members, prominent pastors, essentially who folks would call “dignitaries”. In today’s politics, to most folks filling these positions, their titles mean everything. With their titles come some mild degree of authority, power, and access to those with even more of the same. And in urban communities across America, where at one time such positions were filled nearly exclusively by white Americans, these days, such positions are held by predominantly Black and Latinx folks. And while that would make sense in that most urban residents these days are Black and Latinx, what is troubling is the extent to which such position holders are willing to shun the best interests of their community in order to continue “play the game”, and stay in the good graces of those with power. In Camden unfortunately, this affliction runs rampant and is immensely disappointing.

I’ve always believed that one’s politics concerning urban education reveals much about one’s view of urban society, urban democracy, and their own personal values. Maranto wrote essentially, urban public education has few friends in politics these days because those belonging to today’s political class either did not recently attend urban public schools or, do not send their children to urban public schools. Further, there’s virtually no money coming to fill municipal politician’s campaign coffers from public education advocates compared to corporate reform proponents, and the sustaining of urban public education, to the city’s elite, represents the antithesis of municipal progress. Indeed influential political champions of urban public schools are few and far between these days as the narrative supporting newer modes of education vis-à-vis charter schools seems like progress or simply, “better.” Despite the fact that urban public schools have been staples of urban neighborhoods for decades; the largest and most willing employer of the urban citizenry for decades, and historic central gathering places filled with history and heritage, urban schools have few allies in political spaces anymore.

Lester Spence, in Knocking the Hustle: Against the Neoliberal turn in Black Politics would state, essentially, that following the Civil Rights era where collectively people organized and pushed toward a common goal to be enjoyed by all, both active participants and the inert, today’s urban connected class are more concerned with personal advancement through “playing the game” and staying on good terms with those in position to advance their careers. The most recent and blatant examples of such is when Black politicians all over the country allied themselves with Michal Bloomberg despite his history of vast and rank racism. Hey, Bloomberg has the money… Or when not to long ago, scores of Black folks took pictures in the White House praying over Trump, again despite his racism, xenophobia and sexism. Hey, Trump is the President and is the most powerful man in the world…

What specifically motivated this piece today were pictures that were taken today of a groundbreaking for a KIPP Cooper Norcross High School in Camden, NJ where city “dignitaries” were doing the ceremonial dirt-dig; shovels in their hands and smiles on their faces. This celebratory ceremony was at the site of school that was forcibly closed by a now departed, state-appointed Broad-Foundation superintendent. (I remember elementary students crying that their school was being closed.) This school was stolen from the Camden community for all intents and purposes, and turned over to the national corporate charter operator KIPP, and the most powerful man in New Jersey politics not named Governor Phil Murphy, George Norcross. (I remember students in 2^nd or 3^rd grade crying to their teachers blaming themselves for the school’s closure because they didn’t perform well on their assessments.) So while this school was stolen, and residents voiced their dismay over the unilateral actions executed by a temporary, under-credentialed superintendent, there was literally no one in Camden politics or in the “connected class” residents could turn to for help.

“Well you know, whatever’s gonna happen is gonna happen”… “It is what it is”…

The shame that folks in Camden’s political and connected class should feel, they don’t. The frustration that the city’s institutions are being stripped away one at a time from the libraries, to the police department, to affordable housing, to control of our city’s water, and now schools is only felt by the disconnected and marginalized – the very folks furthest from rooms where decisions are made yet feel the consequences immediately. After speaking with a few of the city’s “who’s whos”, it becomes obvious the impetus to actually fight for anything that could risk their career trajectory is a no-go followed by the predictable refrain, “you know how it is, you gotta play the game.”

And that’s what is perhaps the most shameful part of what is occurring in Camden in and around public education, much like other urban areas. At one time, racism and white supremacy would have easily explained the targeting and marginalizing of our urban communities, today, those operating against the urban common’s best interests are those who look most like the community… all to willing to play the game so that they, as individuals, get ahead – the rest of us are simply collateral damage on their way toward loftier positions. It is true that I will never understand that thinking, or that I’ll ever believe there’s any game that’s ever worth that cost.