Marchers mobbed at state capitol after concluding their historic march to call for greater funds and increased wages

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

“Uh-oh, Trojans coming through! Uh-oh, Trojans coming through!” shouted the three dozen members of the Douglas high school marching band as black and Latino teenagers banged on drums and set the beat.

Oklahoma’s teachers may not have won their call for increased wages and funding for education – yet. But after completing a 110-mile march from Tulsa to Oklahoma City to highlight the parlous state of their school system there was an air of expectation and excitement as they and their supporters reached the state capital.

For the teachers, their chant – “Rain, snow, earthquake, lightning / Nothing can stop us from doing the right thing” – had a special resonance for those who had endured freezing rain and debilitating blisters.



The marchers were quickly mobbed by a sea of supporters, workers from the state’s department of human services, clapping and clutching bottles of water to hand out to their teachers.

“Pump, pump, pump it up!” shouted the procession. “Pump that school funding up! Pump, pump, pump, it up! Pump that school funding up!”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The south plaza of the Oklahoma capitol in Oklahoma City on Monday. Photograph: Sue Ogrocki/AP

“I am just overwhelmed. I knew this was going to be a big deal, but what it turns out to be is historical,” said Radonne Broeffle Musgrove, a 31-year veteran of the classroom who thinks the teacher’s movement is a game-changer for the traditionally conservative state.

Teachers in Arizona, Tennessee and other states are also taking action. And educators in West Virginia have already won significant concessions after years of cuts.

“I think it comes at a great time with the #MeToo movement and everything with women being able to finally take a stand and say: no more of this kind of treatment,” said Broeffle Musgrove.

It’s just so empowering for me to see women standing up and making a change Jonetta Williams,15

Steven House, a sunglasses-clad local barbershop owner in his late 40s with a large scar on his right cheek, hopped out of his BMW holding peace signs in the air.

“I love it, dude. I’ve been incarcerated, and we people who have been incarcerated, we need education,” said House, who served nine years in the 1990s before going back to school to get his BA in psychology. “I’m down with this, man. We should have been doing this!”

The band marched on, passing one of the many oil wells that dot Oklahoma City’s skyline as two competing media organizations flew overhead with their news helicopters. Throughout the march, the news copter helped to draw supporters to the side of Route 66 to cheer on the marching teachers.

As the parade passed the governor’s mansion, the marching band burst out in a rendition of the O’Jays’ Back Stabbers. A middle-aged African American woman dressed in a floral dress sang along: “They smile in your face, all the time they want to take your place.”

Finally, the 38-year-old marching band director, Justin Morgan, called the band to order when a police escort arrived to greet the column as they entered the state capitol grounds.

2 Works for You (@KJRH2HD) Parent has come up with creative idea to document history and donate profits to public schools https://t.co/UvAoBWaL1K pic.twitter.com/2pahh7JAj8

Morgan, who is on strike himself, said that in his nearly decade as a marching band instructor that he had never seen energy like it.

At the front of the column, struggling to hold on to the March for Education banner, was math teacher Sharon Raines, who often pays for her students to have sneakers when she sees them coming to school with duct tape over their shoes.

For young African American women like 15-year-old baritone horn player Jonetta Williams, seeing teachers like Raines lead the strike has been an inspiration. “It’s just so empowering for me to see women standing up and making a change,” said Williams.

As the march slowly weaved its way through the crowd, activists took the stage.

One of the first speakers was the Tulsa schools superintendent, Deborah Gist, whose decision to close Tulsa schools during the first week helped persuade other superintendents from around the state to also close their schools in solidarity with the teachers.

“I love y’all! I love y’all!” said Gist as she struggled to catch her breath and wipe tears from her face.

Gist said: “This is not a rally. This is not a protest. This is a movement. Movements are made up of moments so here what it is important this moment cannot be the moment it has to be part of a bigger movement.”

Gist called on the crowd to run for office to replace the state legislators, who are refusing to increase taxes on wealthy Oklahomans to pay for public education. Her call came as dozens of teachers from around the state have filed paperwork to run for state representative in the fall’s elections.

Although the teachers are excited to be done with the grueling march, they know the fight isn’t over: the Oklahoma state house has declined to take up a bill already passed by the Republican-dominated state senate to increase capital gains taxes to pay for increased education funding.

“It feels good, but I dunno: I’m kinda left with this question of what do we do next,” said 25-year-old elementary teacher Madeline Jacobson. “We are here and it’s not fixed so what are we doing next.”

However, teachers said the fight would continue.

Cindy Gaete, the daughter of Chilean immigrants, said: “Public education is a social justice issue, and it’s a civil rights issues. It’s day nine of the teacher walkout, but it started with West Virginia, it continued in Oklahoma, and now it will continue in Arizona and the rest of the states that want to join along.”

“This is a struggle that will continue for years,” said Gaete. “I think this is a turning point in our history for public education.”