In 2008 Seattle was on the verge of closing many local public schools and at the same time considering building a new prison. I knew that the State of Washington planned for prison construction based on 4th grade reading scores, so we are essentially planning for failure. I joined a campaign to put the decision to build a jail on the ballot and joined together with several activist folks including Tim Harris of the local paper Real Change. We held a fundraising breakfast for the campaign and they gave me a chance to speak on the choices in front of us as a community. I was definitely on fire for change. That year I also wrote an op-ed which gave me yet another chance to communicate the inequities of our decision to plan for failure rather than invest in success up front.
Invest in Schools Not Prisons