Don't "RAPE" Our Schools!

& Especially Pimlico Middle One of The Largest School Campus in the System!
The Latin term for the act of rape itself is raptus. The word rape originates from the Latin verb rapere: to seize or take by force. The word originally had no sexual connotation and is still used generically in English.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape
The Baltimore City School Board thinks that it can allow the state to "FORCE" its will upon the city schools and the communities it is elected to serve.
The following schools have been slated to be closed by the Board: Canton Middle School, Hamilton Middle School, Lombard Middle, Lafayette Elementary, Thomas G. Haynes Elementary, Augusta Fells Savage Institute of the Visual Arts and Dr. Lillie M. Jackson Alternative Elementary, Southeast Middle, Thurgood Marshall Middle, and the Pimlico Middle School in Aug.07.
When will the African American community stop allowing our educational resources and wealth be "SEIZED" by a State and Local political system that will not hear the cries of it most venerable neighborhoods?
We have the lowest reading scores, the lowest math scores, the highest truancy rates, the largest number young males incarcerated, the highest number of HIV/ AIDS, the lowest income, the largest number of homeless people, the highest number of homicides, the most heart attacks, highest incidences of diabetes and NOW the State of Maryland and the City dares to try to SHUT DOWN the very institutions, our SCHOOLS which have been our most valuable asset and the stepping stone for our people to try and achieve the so called American dream. Our schools have allowed us to be able to overcome and for many of us to excel in spite of their neglect by decades racism, segregation, private schools, hand me down books, white flight, and all the other ills of that have tried to kill us and enslave us.
We owe it to the legacy of our ancestors and elders as we celebrate Black History Month to FIGHT to ensure that the continued RAPE and pillaging of our communities STOPS!
We cannot allow another generation of our children to be told there is not enough money. Our children are OWED computers in every class room, the best books, best trained teachers and best paid teachers, best buildings and best campuses. Don't offer us a carrot of building better schools, FIRST build up the schools we have NOW!
Governor O'Malley fought back when the Ehrlich administration tried to take over / RAPE our city schools which O'Malley thought would have been perceived as a blow to his leadership and diminished his run for Governor.
We have an African- American Lt. Governor, Baltimore City Mayor, City Council President, Controller and various other Black elected officials that need to FIGHT BACK when our communities are seized/ RAPED with HIGH incidences of HIV/AIDS, HIGH drug abuse, HIGH homelessness, HIGH unemployment, HIGH incarceration rates, HIGH, HIGH, HIGH. Everything is HIGH except the test scores of our children!!!
We have an African-American Baltimore School Board C.E.O., Board President, and other African- Americans who sit on the Board. Will they fight back against the RAPE of our schools? Our parents who are too often stressed out and workedout must FIGHT BACK! Our teachers who must worry about losing a job, being transferred, and told to be quiet and not to get involved, must speak up and FIGHT BACK! During Black History Month we should not allow our SCHOOLS, one of our most empowering instititutions to be RAPED / forced to be closed. Those of us who God has blessed to have fought a racist system and to have overcome cannot be silent and watch this RAPE occur, we must FIGHT BACK! We must FIGHT BACK for our children!
Rev. William Wingo
Publisher, Power Magazine
powerspeaks@yahoo.com
1-800-336-3290