Teachers and Cops, Does de Blasio Have Blood on His Hands? -- Teacher Bloggers Peter and Patrick Chime in

South Bronx School blogger writes in this post -Wingnut Right and New York Post Hypocrisy: God forbid if a teacher so much as did something wrong and the Post and the wingnut Right (And crazy Governor Andy in Albany) would be calling for that teacher's keyster. Or worse, what would they say if that teacher had been charged in the past with misconduct in several past instances, like... Officer Pantaleo? 

...was the subject of two civil rights lawsuits in 2013 where plaintiffs accused Pantaleo of falsely arresting them and abusing them. In one of the cases, Pantaleo and other officers ordered two black men to strip naked on the street for a search and the charges against the men were dismissed.

Where there is smoke there is usually fire. Speaking of fire how long will it take to terminate Officer Pantaelo? Faster than a teacher? Will the Post and the wingnuts of the Right be calling for a speedier process to fire cops? To keep bad cops off the job? To do away with due process? A way to better evaluate cops? To be sure that cops that are hired are from the highest 1/3 of their college class?

...we aren't hearing about charter precincts or busting up the NYCPBA or the monopoly that the NYPD has over policing or more stringent and punitive measures to evaluate cops and other inane stuff that we as teachers have been subject to for the last 12 years. ....http://www.southbronxschool.com/2014/12/wingnut-right-and-new-york-post.html?spref=fb

Peter wrote a great piece today. I wrote the other day (John Dewey HS Update: Popular Teacher Dies Suddenly  about the death of a 53-year old teacher at John Dewey who was partially disabled and was harassed by the school administration to the point that people are saying the administrators have blood on their hands -- not a story you will read about in the Post. Or even the NY Teacher. Can you imagine Mulgrew going before the microphones and talking about the principal having blood on her hands? Actually, I'm not advocating he do that - even though teachers are leaving comments about how much they admire PBA head Patrick Lynch for backing his members and compare how little support the UFT gives its members on the ICE blog (POSSIBLE PBA V DE BLASIO ENDGAME). I get it, but though the union needs to defend everyone, Lynch goes way too far in defending and justifying every single act while also fighting any oversight of the police.

I was going to write something about the response to the murder of the 2 cops but am still having problems sorting it all out. There has been heated discussion on the MORE listserve over whether to say something at all and if so exactly what to say. MORE did put out a statement - Peace and Condolences -

MORE wishes to express our deepest condolences and sends our warmest thoughts to the families of murdered NYPD officers Wenjian Lui and Rafael Ramos. All murder is wrong. All murderers should be brought to justice. This is true when police officers are victims and when civilians are victims. While we reject the language of those who would exploit this horrific event for political gain, let us work as a city and a nation, together, to create a better, peaceful, compassionate, and equitable world. Losing a loved one, because of the violent act of civilian or officer, should be something we can all agree must end.

As so often happens, Julie Cavanagh wrote the basics of this statement, bringing her unique world view to the table - which is why I would follow her anywhere.

Bloggers associated with MORE have posted some excellent pieces. More from Peter:

I support the police. I have come across a lot of cops that are jerks and a lot that are good people. That is the same in all walks of life. Some people suck, some don't. What happened in Bed-Stuy was completely FUBAR. BUT! De Blasio did not egg the protestors on nor is he anti-cop. But he has every right to inform his son of the perils he faces. He is a father first and a mayor second. .... Eric Garner should be alive right now. Watching the video one wonders why 4 cops could not take Garner down in a way other than he was. Garner was not a danger to anyone. A NYPD inspector once told me that best cop is one who does not let a situation get out of hand. Garner's situation got out of hand...

Read it all: http://www.southbronxschool.com/2014/12/wingnut-right-and-new-york-post.html?spref=fb

Patrick at Raging Horse blog (http://raginghorse.wordpress.com/) has written 2 must-read pieces:

In America nothing is sacred. Even before the bodies of the dead policemen Wenjin Liu and Rafael Ramos were cold, politicians seeking a soundbite, former politicians seeking the spot light and would be politicians seeking to jump start their careers ,were suddenly all over the place spewing venom and idiocy to all who would listen or could read as to the real reason why two policemen, ambushed in their patrol car in Brooklyn in a period of extreme racial tension, lay dead. They did not lie dead because a psychotic from Baltimore shot them at point blank range who earlier in the day had threatened suicide and then shot his girlfriend.
They lay dead because of Mayor Bill de Blasio.
They lay dead because of protestors.
This, at any rate, has been the line echoed back and forth across the country since hour one.

Nothing Is Sacred: Capitalizing on Horror is the American Way

Beyond the Pale: Blaming de Blasio for Murdered Cops

At the ICE blog, there is a piece by James Eterno, who has a new-born bi-racial son and will one day have to hold a conversation with him similar to the one de Blasio held with Dante. James' brother John was a police captain so James represents the unity of the various points of view on these issues. James does not trash Mulgrew and in fact praises his response. He then goes on to analyze some of the politics behind the response of police union leaders. Also interesting are the comments from teachers who seem to love Lynch while trashing Mulgrew. While I have been a big critic of the UFT leadership over their lack of support, I would also be extremely critical of a union leader like Lynch.

Bringing the story back to teachers and cops and the hypocrisy of ed deformers and how they only "care" about the children when teachers are involved, Peter says:

Oh, but the argument always will be that it is all about the children. But what about Eric Garner's children? What about the children of all the unarmed African-American's shot by the police? Are they not affected? Aren't all the African-American children not affected by NYPD in some sort of negative way?

Yesterday when I responded to another bullshit Students First tweet referencing Campell Brown:

StudentsFirstNYVerified account ‏@StudentsFirstNY

In an interview w/ @campbell_brown, Dr. @HowardLFuller discusses the role of #education in improving life outcomes: http://thebea.st/1zlhZo0 

Norm Scott ‏@NormScott1 18h18 hours ago

@StudentsFirstNY @campbell_brown @HowardLFuller Did Campbell talk about police and black youth relationships? Did she discuss stop and frisk

I guess not.