“This world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.”- RFK

When I think about the change we need, what I think about most is the changes we must demand from ourselves. Radical and substantive changes that allow us to retain these qualities of the young. It will be our courage, our imagination, and our relentless pursuit of dignity and justice for all that will bring about the changes we want to see in others, in our schools, in our government and political institutions, and in the world at large.

Yes I am an outsider! All of these years I have been with you; in classrooms, in the streets, in community centers working for social justice. I’ve been teaching, writing, listening, marching, advocating, strategizing for ways to make this world a better place. My track record is a lifetime dedicated to change, not politics. This work, this struggle is all I have known, it is all I have ever wanted to do. I’ve no desire to become a politician. What I want is to be a representative of the people, with the people, for the people.

There comes a time in everyone’s life when you must take a stand. When you look around and you know that, if you don’t act, you may never get another chance. For me, for all of us Californians, I believe that time is now.

I was born and raised in California. My grandparents first migrated here from Louisiana in 1941 in search of a better life.

And California has been good to us. All nine of my grandmother’s children received high school diplomas and my mother and father both became schoolteachers via bachelor’s and credential programs in the California public universities. As a youth I was able to benefit from public schools in Oakland and San Jose where I completed my K-12 education. Upon graduation from high school I enrolled at the University of California Santa Barbara where I received my B.A. I then enrolled in a credential program at UC Berkeley and began teaching in the Oakland Public Schools. Ultimately I returned to UC Berkeley to earn a Masters and then a Ph.D. in Education. I am now a tenured professor, Division Head, Director of the Education Studies Minor, and Associate Director of the Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. My research and teaching at the university are focused on improving academic achievement and reforming underperforming schools. As you can see, my entire life and the history of my family have been tied to the educational systems of California. At their peak, they were the envy of the world and they have quite literally been our pathway to success and service.

Now I see these institutions that have meant so much to so many threatened by our recent economic crisis and our inability to invest properly in the future of the state. Schools that once served as models for the nation are now sorely lacking in resources. Here in the 37th Assembly District and throughout the state students are feeling the impacts of the lack of resources, teachers are threatened with losing their jobs, and our youth are at a disadvantage when compared to other states and other nations where there has been a more serious investment in education.

I couldn’t stand by in the halls of academia and let this happen to my own children and to the other children of hardworking Californians so I decided I had better do something about this. That is why I have decided to run for the California State Assembly; to fight for education, to fight for our children, for our future, and to restore our legacy as great and beautiful state, filled with sunshine, with diversity, with human and natural resources, and, most of all, with possibility.

I believe that with the right leadership we can restore the greatness of our educational institutions; we can protect the environment while creating jobs to assist in our ascent as a leader in the new green economy. And we can provide affordable and quality healthcare to all of our citizens. We can do these things and more together; our time is now and as my grandparents predicted, greatness is once again in our future.

We just finished reading Carter G. Woodson’s “Miseducation of the Negro” in my Education 187 course “Contemporary Issues in Pan-African Education.” Woodson’s classic begins with an explanation of how education has been utilized as a tool of oppression for African-Americans. During the second half of the book he outlines a “new” strategic plan for the uplift of African-Americans. Woodson recognizes that an empowering education is the foundation for social transformation within communities that have been historically marginalized. Written in 1933 this book anticipates much of the conversation around education and colonialism that occurred during the 1960s and 1970s liberation movements. Woodson’s work is a classic in the field and it is one that I feel needs to be included in the canon of critical educational texts.