This day, the day before Martin Luther King, Jr. day, is truly a watershed moment in the history of this city, this state, and this nation. We celebrate the legacy of Dr. King while we are surrounded by some of the same issues he dealt with. Bipartisan attacks on education, the lifeblood of our society, are evident. Racism, sexism, intolerance, Christian Nationalism, bigotry, and hatred embrue our culture and impact Hoosiers throughout large cities, small towns, and the rolling scenes of our state.

In the People’s House, the supposed Representative assembly of Hoosiers, there are elements seeking to convert public education into public enterprise while we as educators have done as our legislators have asked. This is being done in the name of efficiency, transparency, and accountability, while the dark money bosses pulling the strings continue to profit and seize public tax dollars for personal wealth and benefit.

But all is not lost, for in this space, in our local associations, and in every corner of this state, educators remain committed to social justice, equity, compassion, fairness, diversity, and inclusion - values of organized religion and numerous faith traditions that unite Hoosiers on their respective days of worship. While we as educators are being painted as “woke, white liberals” by the power structures of this state, we come from communities of color, many different faith traditions, all sorts of race, creed, and, yes, color. A good preponderance of us identify with the Republicans of the 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s, and beyond, and we reject the current brand of “Republican” values for their promotion of things that, quite honestly, the average Republican voter abhors.

The people are singing, and the barricades are building, from Gary and South Bend, Bloomington and Tell City, New Albany, Mount Vernon, Valparaiso, and Indianapolis, the Circle City, where our Statehouse convenes and the representatives and senators of the Hoosier State come to debate the issues of the day. We must, as Hoosiers, raise our voices and make sure that they remember Dr. King’s legacy on this day.

Howard Zinn, the political scientist and activist, wrote a book a number of years ago, an autobiography called “You Can’t Be Neutral On A Moving Train.” Dr. Zinn was active in the struggle for rights in the 60’s and continued to be a model for activist teachers through his death, and as an activist teacher and a follower of Dr. Zinn’s work, I’d like to share a quote of his with you on this day:

“This mixing of activism and teaching, this insistence that education cannot be neutral on the crucial issues of our time, this movement back and forth from the classroom to the struggles outside by teachers who hope their students will do the same, has always frightened the guardians of traditional education. They prefer that education simply prepare the new generation to take its proper place in the old order, not to question that order.”

My courage to lead as an activist, a teacher, and a public servant derives from this quote. We practice our craft, every day, to lift up all voices and provide an opportunity for students to transcend their inequities and inequalities inherent in their communities.

My courage to lead in this circumstance, these times, and these places, is based in the thought that we cannot be neutral on a moving train, and we are surrounded by our activist teacher colleagues who are willing to step up in the dark times and stand for diversity, equity, inclusion, and racial and social justice.

My message is simple. Stand up and lead with courage. Our day to overcome is today, here and now, and in this moment. This is our time to shine a light in the darkness. To use a phrase from my public safety identity, we have a duty to act, and to not do so would be a breach of our professional obligations and our duties.