The opening shot in this year's race for the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C., was fired at Garfield High School on March 18.
It was standing-room-only in the gymnasium for Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) at an event sponsored by Cantwell's office. Garfield principal Ted Howard Jr. welcomed nearly 2,500 people to hear discussion on education from the junior senators.
An antiwar message and call-to-action rang in the Rev. Kenneth Ransfer's opening prayer. Ransfer is pastor of the Greater Mount Baker Baptist Church in Seattle's South End.
Beneath the purple championship pennants of the Garfield Bulldogs, elected officials, civic activists and area students prepped the crowd with tales of success overcoming hardship through education.
Mary Bass, a Seattle School Board member representing Garfield's area, introduced Seattle SCORES, a program inspiring students to academic and athletic achievement.
Friends of the Children of King County was honored for work with the most vulnerable students.
Making Connections, a program of the University of Washington's Women's Center, was highlighted by LaTasha Green, a senior honor-roll recipient of the Ku 'Onesha Award, which recognizes academic achievement by African-American students at Garfield.
But it was the keynote speakers that drew the crowd.
Cantwell confrontations
The Rev. Dr. Samuel McKinney, of Mount Zion Baptist Church, introduced Cantwell by stating, "Now let us talk about education."
Just in to her speech, Cantwell was interrupted by antiwar protestors. A woman in the bleachers challenged the senator's position supporting the war in Iraq.
In response, King County Executive Ron Sims led a contingent of Democratic Party faithful in a chant of "Cantwell, Cantwell, Cantwell!"
Though they drowned the dissent, the issue settled on the throng. The day of the education forum was an international day of protest, from Europe to Japan, marking the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
While the senators met in the Central Area, downtown protestors rallied against the war, parading signs condemning Cantwell's approval of President George W. Bush's invasion.
Cantwell described the federal education policy fight as, "a battle for the priorities of our country."
The U.S. Department of Education's TRIO Talent Search and Upward Bound program is one of Bush's budget-cut targets. The program assists disadvantaged individuals with the potential to succeed in higher education and serves 50,000 Washington state students.
Pell Grants for college students, too, have been targeted for restriction by White House policy. "I fought to expand the Pell Grant system," Cantwell asserted. "I am someone who went to school on a Pell Grant."
Other administration targets she highlighted were GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities state grants, all vocational and technical education programs and Educational Technology Grants.
In a lighter moment, Cantwell recalled being her college Democratic Party Club president and explaining to its advisor, "Jesus was a Democrat. He didn't ride into Jerusalem on the back of an elephant, did he?"
She summarized the Bush education position by stating that "The administration grade should be an 'F.'"
Obama on-stage
Welcomed by a standing ovation, the junior senator from Illinois spoke with eloquence and conviction, establishing an easy rapport with an enthusiastic audience.
"There are times when we feel we live in the most cynical [of] times," he said. "They call it the 'Ownership Society,' but if you're not wise enough to choose your parents, you're on your own."
Obama echoed Cantwell's concerns: "Every child is special, but our budgets have not reflected that," he said. "America has become a place where people hope for something else, something better. Public schools have always been a part of the promise. We are in danger of losing that ideal."
Obama described the nation's education system as a vestige of "an agricultural era." He emphasized the role of parents and personal responsibility.
"When I talk to parents, I tell them I will fight in Washington [D.C.,] to get the resources you need. But that money won't make a difference if you don't turn off the television set," Obama asserted. "Each of us has responsibilities."
He praised Cantwell for her efforts to secure adequate federal funding for American education.
"We must retain a sense of hope. If you're a parent, make sure you're a parent. If you're a teacher, make sure you're a teacher," Obama concluded at the end of his speech.
Yet the controversy of the Iraq war dogged Obama, too. At one point, an audience member yelled, "How about the war?"
"I did not vote for the war," Obama replied, provoking the afternoon's loudest round of applause. However, Obama was not elected to the Senate until 2004, about a year and a half after Congress authorized the Iraq invasion.
Educational stumping?
Though billed as an open house on education policy, the event had all the trappings of a campaign event for Cantwell's reelection this November.
Not all attendees were happy with the effort. Some angrily denounced Cantwell's cause, while others lined up across the street at Ezell's for chicken to discuss the meeting's political points.
She faces two challengers: Green Party candidate Aaron Dixon, a longtime African-American activist who grew up in Leschi, and Republican Mike McGavick, former Safeco Corp. CEO.
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