One Georgia Democrat is fed up with some members of her own party, accusing them of prioritizing illegal immigrants over Black children as kids struggle to stay afloat academically and economically.
State Rep. Mesha Mainor, a Democrat, is a staunch supporter of school choice, and she torched Georgia Democrats on "Fox & Friends" Monday for aiding migrant families while poor residents struggle with necessities.
"I was speaking to someone that works with migrants the other day, and when I was talking about my constituents, she said, ‘well, what about this program?’ And then she had to… step back a second," Mainor told Ainsley Earhardt Monday morning.
"And she said, ‘Oh, but those are just for migrants.’ And so there are so many services that… from a humanitarian aspect, sure. Give them those humanitarian aspects. But if you walk down the street in Atlanta, Georgia, right now, you are going to see kids on the corner selling water because they are trying to make money for their households."
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"They don't have lights on… to do homework, and this is just a much broader issue than people are realizing," she continued.
Mainor garnered attention on the issue after she posted a video on Twitter over the weekend accusing her colleagues of trying to oust her over her stance on school choice.
"It's ironic. I'll say every election year, I hear ‘Black Lives Matter.’ But do they? I see every other minority being prioritized except Black children living in poverty that can't read," Mainor said in the video.
"We'll send $1,000,000 to the border for immigrant services, but Black communities, not even a shout-out. I'm sorry, I don't agree with this," she added. "I'm not backing down and I'm actually just getting started."
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She even accused some fellow lawmakers of offering $1,000 checks "to anyone that will run against" her.
Mainor's deep-blue 56th House District stretches from southwest Atlanta up into the Midtown area and includes schools in dire need of improvement. She said some schools in her area have low single-digit proficiency levels in math and/or reading.
Additionally, politicians are not doing enough to counter the sliding academic achievement gap, she argued.
"We are acting like we care about Black people, and in my opinion, we are doing very little for Black people, and when you're talking about something like school choice, it really helps Black people. It helps children that are disabled," Mainor said.
"And so we put priorities on lots of other minorities, and I'm not saying that these other minorities are not important, but I feel like we are putting Black people at the very bottom of the totem pole," she continued.
School choice advocates also support expansion of charter schools, which have grown greatly in Georgia in recent years and many of which count minority students as a majority of their enrollments.
Charter schools are publicly funded schools that are independently run and include students who are not in the immediate area; teachers unions often oppose them as well since their teachers generally are not unionized.
Mainor said parents in her district are in favor of school choice, and the backlash from her colleagues on the issue is a "slap" in the face to anyone who supports their right to choose where their children attend class.
"My parents want school choice," Mainor said. "I have the most charter schools in my district than any other district in the state of Georgia, and so for my party, my colleagues, to say that all these parents that have chosen charter schools and are choosing school choice options are irrelevant and not important, it's not only a slap in my face, but they're slapping every single parent in my district that uses these services in the face as well."
According to the NAEP Report Card, average math and reading scores dropped 9.8 points and 6.3 points respectively, in Georgia, from 2017 to 2022.
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I see a lot of confusion on why calling Damian Wayne "feral" is racist/problematic, so here's a rundown.
There's a difference between calling your child or your younger sibling "feral" and calling a character like Damian "feral." You know your child/sibling/niece/nephew etc. They're real people, and unless they have a problem with it personally, then there's nothing wrong with calling them feral as a joke. It doesn't (shouldn't) affect their perceptions by other people. It doesn't become a label that follows them.
Damian al Ghul-Wayne is a fictional character. A canonically mixed Arab/Chinese/Jewish White character with a history connected to some of the most prominent Arab comic book characters, who themselves also get insanely mischaracterized.
He's constantly whitewashed. He's been written with racist undertones (the suicide bomber vest). He's had his character development and progress backtracked time and time again by DC. DC treats him weirdly most days and completely shitty in the worst stories.
A good majority of fanon hasn't done any better than DC. You cannot pat yourselves on the back for being more inclusive or mental health aware than DC when you call a mixed Arab/Chinese boy "feral". It's constant. You can come up with various titles and nuances for every Bat-character, for every Robin.
Tim can be smart, a skater, a genius, the one holding everyone together, the little brother, the one who needs love. Jason can be cool, morally "right" or "wrong", unstable, PTSD-stricken, the one who was betrayed, the one with Shakespearean tragedies. Dick can be fun, happy, the first one, the prodigal son, the one with complicated history and the big brother.
You give them room for exploration. Love and care and attention and research. Many headcanons. You either comply with canon or you don't, but there's substance to their character.
What does Damian get? He's feral. He's rabid. He's a gremlin. He can't be reasoned with. He has no self-control, he's impulsive. He's hurt others, and you can't forgive it. Sometimes he's homophobic. Or classist. Or plain mean and rude to your favorite boy. He's always carrying a sword. A psychopath with no regard for another's well-being (usually Tim in a lot of fics). He can't be taught what's right.
I've seen people cry that Damian needs to punished or kicked out or treated the same way he's treated others. He needs to be brutalized or talked down to. He can never grow as a person, because he's mean to Tim or Jason, and you need him to exist as the abuser. His first move is always violent.
Fanon compares him to an animal often; he bites, claws, hisses, growls. Bruce or Dick or Jason or Tim have to wrangle him, tame him, civilize him the white man's way in lieu of his brown mother and grandfather who "clearly" raised him wrong. You don't see the issue with that? The issue with always labeling one of the few major brown characters in Batman comics as the unreasonable animal? That the child of color is always the abuser, the instigator, to older characters?
And even if you don't see him this way, you don't write him this way - then are you giving him the care and attention you give for other Bat characters?
Do you know anything else about him other than his "anger"? Because he isn't always angry. In fact, he's typically well-mannered. Quiet even, when he's not being provoked. DC's writing will always vary but whenever Damian lashes out, he's usually written with a reason to act the way he does.
Are you making him intelligent like he should be? A hard believer in redemption? A neglected and abused child who isn't meek or crying or closes himself within? Are you willing to explore that he's always exhibited the "wrong" kind of trauma responses - lashing out, being snippy, ruining relationships, refusing to admit weakness?
Do you write anything about him without making his mother and grandfather comically abusive and violent? Will you give him the supporting cast/friends he actually has? Can you write his dad/siblings interacting with him without making them white saviors or therapy pets? Can you write him without a ship or his love for animals or being vegetarian overshadowing everything?
Is he a character to you at all other than a glorified plot device with a sharp tongue and the convenience of being violent?
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