Last week, we highlighted a coalition of parents throughout the country who were fundraising a trip to travel to an Elizabeth Warren event and attempt to make their voices heard on the importance of school choice and access to quality schools.

Yesterday, the story came full circle, as 100+ Black and Brown parents packed into the presidential candidate’s Atlanta rally, and protested her education plan, just as they said they would.

These are parents who have seen first hand the injustice of the quality of an education being tied to a zip code. For them, Warren’s education plan and attack of charter schools, which many of them have seen outperform their failing neighborhood schools, completely misses the mark for children of color.

“Our Children, Our Choice”

Powerful Parent Network member Dianechia Fields stated the goal was to “let Warren know that all parents deserve the right to have choices on the educational options for their children.” 

In the aftermath of the peaceful, successful act of parent protest, Warren defenders and a slew of “progressives” took to doxxing parents in the group and calling out their *checks notes* ability to fundraise for the trip successfully.

Unfazed by the optics of dismissing an large group of BLACK AND BROWN PARENTS protesting a white candidate’s education plan (at an event honoring “the voices of black women,” and how it negatively affects them, there were still those who took to dehumanizing the parents as some type of useful idiots for billionaires. Shameful.

A lesson in courage and parent voice

Enduring baseless attacks and an endless stream of (mostly white) faces on social media belittling their activism, the parents continue to fight. Sarah Carpenter, a grandmother to 13, wasn’t with the accusations: “Anybody that really knows me know I can’t be bought or paid. For those of you that don’t know me my message has been the same for the last 25 years.”

Traveling with the #PowerfulParentNetwork was civil rights icon and educational advocate Howard Fuller, who summed up the success of this act of parent activism in one tweet.

Watch a clip of Howard Fuller and Sarah Carpenter discussing their reasoning for protesting with Senator Warren following the event:

Josh Stewart considers himself a global citizen first and foremost and is passionate about cultural exchange. He has a B.s. in Political Science and Hispanic Studies from St. John's University in Minnesota and experience as both an ESL and social studies teacher in Korea and the Philippines. He currently works a digital content Manager for Citizen Education and Education Post and enjoys both traditional and creative methods crafting messages around the desperate need to improve our education system and provide quality options to the most marginalized students and families.

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