Milwaukee's Amy Mizialko, a veteran MPS district mentor, spoke today at the SOS March in Washington, D.C., alongside Diane Ravitch, Jonathan Kozol and Matt Damon.
The march, in support of public education, drew thousands of educators and supporters from around the country.
Here is the text of her speech:
Good afternoon. The last time I marched with thousands of public education supporters, it was a cold, February day in Madison, Wisconsin, after our governor moved to bankrupt public education in our state.
What I have learned in recent months is that when public education is under attack, good people everywhere fight back.
We are here today at the Save Our Schools Call to Action as a collective to say no more.
No more high stakes testing that punishes our students.
No more school closings in communities that need them the most.
No more corporations and billionaires trying to privatize our public schools.
And no more race to the bottom.
When I look out at the faces I see in Washington, D.C., today, I am reminded of the faces I saw in Madison, Wis., last winter. I see citizens united in solidarity in our resolve to fight for our students and their public schools.
The Wisconsin state motto is FORWARD. So, today I implore Congressman Miller, Secretary Duncan and President Obama to summon their courage and political will and join us as we go
Forward with increased funding for public schools.
Forward with real educator led public school reform.
Forward with rich curriculum including
music, art, physical education and technology for every, single child.
The resounding and continuing chant in Madison, Wis., is "Show me what democracy looks like."
And that rings true today. This is what democracy looks like.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
