Beginning at 10am in a small church about a mile from the Governor's Mansion, the young people who make up the Algebra Project Advocacy Committee facilitated workshops and discussions on the issues at hand. There were workshops on the Thorton Bill, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and other aspects of the politics and policy of public education. Although this is the stuff their education is made of (and held back by) students rarely get acquainted with the finer points of these policies. The fact that they were being taught by advocacy members, all of whom are either students or recent graduates of the Baltimore City Public School System, made it all the more powerful.

One boxed lunch and one lively open mic later, the action moved to the streets. Armed with their newly polished knowledge, righteous indignation, and literally thousands of red and black stickers and buttons proclaiming the truism “No Education/ No Life,” the students and their allies took to the narrow streets of downtown Annapolis. The sky threatened rain, but the unseasonably warm gulf air hung over the excited crowd as they made their way to the State House and the Governor's Mansion.

Then came a series of impassioned speeches by various Advocacy members on the realities of the state's extremely biased educational system. The theme of these was heavy: lack of education is killing our kids. This is not an exaggeration. Young people are are joining gangs to earn money because their schooling is leaving them virtually unhireable They are being funneled into jails to provide slave labor for multi-national corporations. They are starting families without being allowed to formally explore other options. And they are dieing in the streets because of it.

This point was brought painfully close to home for the Algebra Project when Zachariah Hallback, a dedicated Advocacy committee member was shot and killed during a robbery in early January (See Indymedia article from 1/18/08). One of the most active Advocacy members, Chris Goodman, mused publicly during his stint with the bullhorn about the (mis)education of the man who took our comrade's life. With grace and compassion, he turned this brutal act into an opportunity to forgive on the individual level and point the finger at the real enemy.

Members of the Advocacy Committee, other public school students and a few allies from the activist community, including the United Workers Association, then formed as pallbearers around a mock-coffin. Making it clear to those gathered that they needed to stay in a certain area to be immune from arrest, those courageous young people left that safe zone and climbed the steep steps of the state house. They died up there. Or rather, they staged a die-in, lying down on the cold marble steps only to be lead away, one-by-one, in handcuffs. The crowd swelled, spilling out of the designated area to better see the happenings. One high school student was overheard saying “they don't have enough handcuffs to lock us all up, as long as we stick together, we can go right up there.” This logic proved true, and all 26 arrests were relatively voluntary.

The yellow “cheese” buses pulled up shortly thereafter, carrying the majority of the marchers back to their respective schools. The 26 people arrested were released approximately an hour later with no charges.

This battle seems a clear victory, but the war is not yet won.

Here's to the Struggle!