Scores are Up in Newark--Murder Scores, That Is

By 65 percent.  Meanwhile, the most fabulously-grandiloquent and morbidly-obese governor in New Jersey history cuts more police officer position in Newark, while cops in his leafy suburbs earn six figures for writing traffic tickets.  Christie is also slated to sign a bill choking off collective bargaining by public employees, despite his lie 3 months ago that he supports collective bargaining.  Plus cut pension and health care benefits for public employees in order to sustain the hundreds of millions in tax cuts for Jersey's millionaires.

Not to worry, though, for Newark's ostensibly-black and oratorically-gifted mayor, Cory Booker, has just completed a swing down to Atlanta to rally 4,000 charter school troops to redouble their efforts at creating more of the segregated total compliance testing sweatshops that have proven so effective in culturally neutering and psychologically sterilizing black and brown children across urban America:

Charismatic Newark Mayor Cory Booker told the annual National Charter Schools Conference in Atlanta this morning, “This room is full of modern-day freedom fighters who refuse to accept what is and demand every day what we know can be.”

In fiery rhetoric suitable for a civil rights rally, Booker called for an end to an achievement gap that he described “as wide as the Grand Canyon.” He applauded an effort by charter schools “to transform pitfalls into pools of potential.”

Freedom fighters, do you hear!  Yes, we can return to segregated chain gang schools, Cory.  Hallelujah! and Amen. But it's gonna take your help and the help of every oligarch throughout this fair land.  Do go on, Brother Cory:

“This is not our children’s fault. It is our fault,” Mayor Booker said. “We must stop playing the blame game where we blame the parents or the teachers or the politicians or the community. This is what the charter movement is about. Democracy is not a spectator sport where you stand on the sidelines and give colorful commentary.”

Charter school advocates “do not let their fear grow bigger than their faith. They do not let their inability to do everything stop their determination to do something,” he said to applause.

“We are part of a charter school community under attack in every single state,’ Booker told the 4,000 attendees. “We are part of a charter school community that is trying to show the nation that our children should be our focus, that we not have vilification of children in charter schools.”

We know whose fault it is, whatever "it" is.  Do you hear that, you anti-charter child vilifiers?  Just to make sure you understand, to be against corporate charter schools is to be against children!  Corporate foundation charter schools are under attack, I say, in every single state, even the ten states that don't have charter schools.  Amen! Under attack by those public employee union scumbags.  But don't worry, for Cory's mammoth white friend, Gov. Christie is on the job back home to deal with that rabble.

Booker ended with a flourish that, no doubt, channeled Booker T. Washington at another big Atlanta meeting in 1895, when Booker T. became one of the true black elites of his day when he said

In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.

Think global economy, amen, Brother Booker.

Which gets us back to where we began this little rant: the murder rate in Newark:

Booker talked about the 13-year-old shot and killed in Newark over the weekend in an argument that the mayor says was over a girl. He bemoaned the high incidence of homicides among young black men and the school-to-prison pipeline.

“We fought the greatest war on American soil for the liberation of our people yet we imprison more and more of our own in prisons of ignorance every single day.”

I know, Cory, it is all just too ironic for words, even for someone with your gift for them.