New York Times piece on '68 Democratic Convention Protest

‘The Whole World Is Watching’: The 1968 Democratic Convention, 50 Years Later

On Aug. 28, 1968, violent clashes in Chicago between demonstrators and the police produced one of the most polarizing showdowns of the 1960s. People are still debating what it all meant.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/us/politics/chicago-1968-democratic-convention-.html

Hitting Left: The Klonsky Brothers on Lumpen Radio in Chicago

Tune in every Friday at 11 a.m. (CDT) for the Klonsky Bros. Hitting Left, live on Lumpen Radio. 
The show is also available on MixCloud and via podcast.

My webinar with Jonathan Kozol

Mr. Kozol has not lost his passion for progressive education in America, On our June 1st  SOS Webinar, Mr. Kozol will discuss topics he has devoted his life to, including the damage done to children by testing mania, the damage done to teachers by a regiment of punitive accountability built on test scores, and the shameful inequality between rich schools and poor, the latter resulting in the near total segregation within our schools. For Black and Hispanic children, separate and unequal education is an everyday phenomenon.

A portion of the virtual fundraiser tied to Mr. Kozol's SOS Webinar will go to scholarships for the students he's been working for all his life: those in need, and those who want to be part of the solution....to change an education system that fosters segregation and inequality while actively ignoring if not crushing creativity, curiosity and originality, as critical capacities of children.

Please click here to make a generous  donation to the   SOS Convention fund. 

We suggest a $25 contribution, but any and all amounts will be gratefully appreciated! 

Join Us on June 1 

Save Our Schools Coalition Webinar and Fundraiser 

Moderated by Mike Klonsky 

Wednesday, June 1st, 8 PM [EDT] 

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7245044229553562114 

A brief appearance in the Black Panther documentary

1969 press conference: From left: Fred Hampton and Bobby Rush (Black Panthers); Cha Cha Jiminez (Young Lords Organization); Mike Klonsky (SDS)

I have a small part in Stanley Nelson's new documentary "The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution." I am also doing post-performance Q&As at several of the showings.

Nelson goes on to chronicle many of the Black Panthers’ achievements, such as their trailblazing breakfast program for children, and the indisputable effect of the party to inspire pride in black Americans, and respect from the radical Left. As Mike Klonsky of the Students for a Democratic Society remarks, the Black Panthers were viewed as “the vanguard of the revolution.” -- Film Journal International 

AT KENYON COLLEGE

Spoke in this class of undergrads at Kenyon College, Monday evening. They are reading Jonathan Kozol's "Savage Inequalities". After class,  students and their great prof, Peter Rutkoff, posed for this group pic to send to Jonathan as a birthday greeting.

I'VE BECOME A REGULAR ON THE PATTI VASQUEZ SHOW ON WGN

Patti Vasquez @PattiVasquezCHI · Aug 29

Great talk @wgnradio w/@mikeklonsky, Che Rhymefest, Mike Taylor & @mammothomammoth #NormalizedTrauma #AfterJRW pic.twitter.com/ZsyrgtPQ5y
— Patti Vasquez (@PattiVasquezCHI) August 29, 2014

ON RAG RADIO IN AUSTIN TEXAS WITH PROF. JULIAN VASQUEZ HEILIG

Rag Radio: Fighting for Public Education with Julian Vasquez Heilig & Mike Klonsky (February 28, 2014)

Julian Vasquez Heilig and Mike Klonsky join Thorne Dreyer in discussing our endangered public education system, the nature and genesis of the flawed "educational reform" movement, and ideas about how public schools can be improved and can be saved from privatization.

Vasquez Heilig hosted the Network for Public Education's first National Conference, held March 1- 2, 2014, on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. Mike Klonsky moderated a panel on "Movement Building" at the gathering of leading public education activists. The group was founded by noted author and educational policy analyst Diane Ravitch in 2013, and has become a prominent voice in the education reform debate.

On Rag Radio in Austin, TX -- Aug. 20, 2013

RAG RADIO / Thorne Dreyer : Chicago’s Mike Klonsky Fights for Public Education, ‘Small Schools’

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer

Chicago education activist Mike Klonsky in the studios of KOOP Radio, Austin, Texas, Friday, August 20, 2013. Photo by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

Rag Radio podcast:
Former SDS leader Mike Klonsky is fighter
for ‘Small Schools’ and democratic education

A veteran of the Civil Rights Movement and the struggle against the War in Vietnam, Mike has been involved in community and labor organizing as well as the fight for democratic education.

By Rag Radio | The Rag Blog | September 4, 2013

Former SDS leader Mike Klonsky, now a Chicago-based public education activist and advocate for “Small Schools,” joined us on Rag Radio, Friday, August 30, 2013.

Rag Radio is a weekly syndicated radio program produced and hosted by long-time alternative journalist Thorne Dreyer, and recorded at the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM, a cooperatively-run all-volunteer community radio station in Austin, Texas.

A veteran of the Civil Rights Movement and the struggle against the War in Vietnam, Klonsky was a leader in Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), serving as SDS National Secretary in 1968, and has been involved in community and labor organizing as well as the fight for democratic education. A “red diaper baby,” his father was a life-long activist and a veteran of the Spanish Civil War.

Mike Klonsky teaches in the College of Education at DePaul University. One of the founders of the Small Schools Workshop, Mike serves as its national director. He also coaches basketball at a Chicago high school. Klonsky is the author of Small Schools: The Numbers Tell a Story (University of Illinois Small Schools Workshop) and co-author, along with Bill Ayers and Gabe Lyon, of A Simple Justice: The Challenge for Teachers in Small Schools (Teachers College Press).

Mike Klonsky on Rag Radio. Photo by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

Mike served as a member of the National Advisory Council on Youth Violence and is past president of the editorial board of Catalyst, Chicago’s school-reform journal. He has also written extensively on the history and progress of Chicago’s dynamic struggles to save and transform public schools. His SmallTalk Blog is read by thousands of educators and activists.

Read Mike Klonsky’s August 27, 2013, article, “Drive-By Teachers and the Great Charter School Scam,” on The Rag Blog.

All Male Youth Summit, Calumet City, IL

On Monday, March 25, 2013 we had over 500 male students from third through eighth grade and well over 20 presenters from various professions attend this phenomenal event.

Distinguished Presenters

Dr. Michael Klonsky, DePaul University Professor & Educational Consultant
Marc Augustave, Assistant Corporate Counsel
Don Murphy, American Family Insurance
Honorable Judge Orville E. Hambright,Jr., Circuit Court
Honorable Judge William Boyd, Circuit Court
Dr. James Cunneen, Retired Superintendent & Educational Consultant
Chief Mark Davis, Chief of Police Calumet Park, IL &Retired Chicago Police Commander 32 years
Gerald Jones, Educator at Rich Township District 227 & Chairman and Coordinator of the Guide Right Program for Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Evergreen Park, Illinois
Percy Colvin, Entrepreneur Colvin Printing and Graphics
Honorable State Representative William Davis, 29th District
Frank Dixon, CTA and Minister, New Evangelical Bible Church
Dr. Ron Garner, Architect
Terrence Lyles, Insurance Consultant for American Family
Khomeini Khan, AXA Equitable Financial
Anthony Brown, AXA Equitable Financial
Pastor Dr. Michael Reynolds, New Life Celebration
Michael Rogers, Architect for McDonald’s Corporation
Oscar Scott, College Recruiter
Michael Steele, Educational Administration
Honorable State Representative Thaddeus Jones, 27th District
Dr. Johnny Thomas, Superintendent District 155 Crystal Lake, IL
Dr. Creg Williams, Superintendent District 215 Calumet City, IL
John Ross, Lieutenant for Chicago Fire Department
Elmer Winters, Staff Sergeant for U.S. Army
Joseph Jemison Jr., Comedian and Actor
Richard Wills, Cook County Probation Officer

Al Jazeera, Inside Story on Chicago School Closings

March 26, 2013