The Fire Alarm That Won't Stop Blaring

Rep. Bowman's obfuscation of reality is breathtaking.

Reading Jamaal Bowman’s biography is inspiring. Anyone who can get themselves out of poverty through the use of education and dedication illustrates that the United States has ways for anyone to make it—if they make wise life choices. It’s not easy, but having a vision of a better life and support from home makes a difference.

According to several online biographies, Bowman lived in the projects with his grandmother throughout the week and with his mother and siblings on weekends until the death of his grandmother. Once he graduated high school, Bowman attended community college before being admitted to University of New Haven. Although Bowman got his degree in sports management, he considers himself an accidental teacher. For, becoming an educator was not the original plan.

Bowman first got a job as a crisis manager at a Bronx elementary school, returned to college to become a school counselor, and eventually got his doctorate in education. After working at a charter school, he decided to write a proposal to create a school of his own. This proposal was accepted under then-Mayor Bloomberg’s administration in 2009. It is named The Cornerstone Academy for Social Action Middle School (CASA), and Jamaal became it’s principal for ten years before using Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as his role model to become a congressman.

The rest, as they say, is history. A progressive politician who “adopted a platform similar to [AOC], supporting criminal justice reform, education reform, Medicare for All, and the Green New Deal. Bowman criticized incumbent Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel’s record on foreign policy and his response to the COVID-19” (blackpast.org). Jamaal won in a landslide.

Here’s a classic American rags to riches story telling of one man’s rise from poverty to teaching, from teaching to opening his own school, and from principalship to Congress. It’s amazing what opportunities are available here in the United States.

As with any progressive politician, though, intentions seem to win the day over results. Credit should be given for any person who has the desire to help impoverished middle-schoolers achieve. However, it’s the progressiveness that usually gets in the way.

For example, Chalkbeat New York wrote in 2019:

“[Bowman] has been a vocal supporter of the opt-out movement boycotting state testing, especially within the black community. Bowman has also pushed for discipline reform, favoring restorative practices such as mediation in his school, rather than suspensions, which are disproportionately meted out, city data shows, to students of color. He’s also a big believer in the importance high-quality, early childhood care and education.”

His care and concern for children is admirable. But how did the students at Bowman’s public school perform? According to U.S. News and World Report, Cornerstone Academy for Social Action (CASA) has a 99% minority clientele, twelve students for each teacher, and an enrollment of 235 students from the sixth through eighth grades. CASA’s focus is not merely on academics but on the child as a whole. However, only 35% are reading proficient and 24% are math proficient. Out of approximately 1,200 statewide middle schools ranked, CASA is positioned at #830. To put it bluntly, the school is a failure.

I could easily begin to discuss Rep. Bowman’s record in Congress by discussing his support for bills still in limbo like marking March 10 as “Abortion Provider Day,” but let’s stick with his background in education. Because it is in this context that we need to question his lame excuse for pulling a fire alarm thinking that it would open a door.

Last weekend, Congress was poised to vote on a spending bill that was teetering. Speaker McCarthy had put forth a 71-page bill to be voted on before Democrats had time to read the fine print. McCarthy rushed this to a vote in order to avoid a government shutdown, by using Nancy Pelosi’s style of “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” Never mind the fact that the bill’s passage only averts a government shutdown for 45 days. Nonetheless, perched on the edge of a vote, suddenly the fire alarm blared.

Bowman’s error was all mere coincidence, I’m sure. Look for yourself. Those fire alarms can be tricky to discern from handicap automatic door openers. Understanding colors, literacy, and knowing how to pull versus push are skills lacking in today’s school curriculum—especially if you advocate for a holistic approach to teaching that may let students create an interpretive dance about fire safety without actually knowing how to read or use a fire alarm.

But Bowman was the principal of a school he created. Unless his school was allowed to open without fire alarms in place, I don’t think he can mistake a fire alarm as a door opener.

No worries. He got his mentor AOC to lend public support. After all, Bowman was in a state of distress. As AOC told Jake Tapper, “I think if you actually do see some of the photos of the signs, I think there’s something to be said about, the government’s about to shut down, there’s a vote clock that’s going down, the exits that are normally open in that building were suddenly closed.”

Those of us who live in reality, do not buy this for a second. This is why AOC quickly turned to a whataboutism to call out a Republican.

This is the way the game is played and Republicans still have not learned to play it.

Regardless, this story just keeps giving. Bowman’s office sent out a memo claiming that he had made an “honest mistake,” then listed diversion tactics for Democrats to use as talking points like focusing on how confusing the “Capitol complex” can be on weekends, extreme MAGA are trying to influence public opinion, blah, blah, blah… But what was really crossing the line was the directive to push the talking point that, “Republicans need to instead focus their energy on the Nazi members of their party before anything else. There are multiple insurrectionist supporters in Congress and more who supported the coup and support Trump’s Big Lie…their focus on Rep. Bowman is an attempt to minimize January 6th.”

Uh, oh. Though blaming Trump is nothing new, using the word Nazi is hyperbole of the strongest order; thus, making this story stay in the news. So what does the former-crisis manager turned principal of a middle school do after he’s been caught in a lie and his office goes to extremes to handle the lie? He models character education by throwing his staffers under the bus, of course. Bowman’s statement was, ”I just became aware that in our messaging guidance, there was inappropriate use of the term Nazi without my consent” (Fox News).

Wowza! I guess a holistic approach to educating young minds at a school you founded emphasizes how to lie, how to get friends to lie for you, how to avoid responsibility for your actions, and how to paint opponents as Nazis. No wonder CASA is ranked so low.

Poor Bowman keeps getting backlash because he won’t be honest. So, how will he save face? He has two choices: 1. Do a Southwest Airlines Wanna Get Away commercial, then lay low for a while in Biden’s basement. 2. Have an all out press conference with Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson at his side, as well as a few transgenders and drag queens thrown into the mix.

I’d prefer the latter. It would add to the entertainment value to have yet another black politician say a non-apology apology.

This is what I envision:

“With the support of my spiritual advisors and constituents, I have seen the error of my ways and want to apologize for the harm my accident may have caused my fellow congresspersons and constituents. If only we lived without white supremacy and had more people of color within Congress, I wouldn’t have needed to behave under duress. For, I know that if white supremacist Rep. Matt Gaetz had pulled a fire alarm without malice before a key vote, he wouldn’t be getting the scrutiny I have been receiving. We need to change the perception of black men in powerful positions to get the justice deserved. I promise to focus my attention on men and women of color, working diligently on justice reform.

In the meantime, I will also work with fellow members of Congress to craft a bill to make signs even more equitable and understandable for our new immigrants from across the border. Everyone should have equal access and understanding of basic signs in America—especially my black and brown brothers and sisters.

Thank you. I will be taking no questions at this time.”

Though Bowman should be charged, far too many men of color are put through the system due to racism. I suspect Bowman will merely be allowed to meditate, just as he condoned instead of suspension at CASA.

And that, Republicans, is how the game is played and won.