the romantic revolution

if only it was only about revolution and liberation,
if it only took teachers of color,
and a social justice curriculum,
if it was only so easy,

its much harder,
it takes experience, funding, guidance, trust and committment,
often we think that we exist outside the realities of education,
the realities of poverty and internalized oppression,
the realities of drugs and violence,
but the truth is, we don't
our movement is among the masses,
masses that don't always want to move,
masses that don't always want to be free,
so we try and try,
we must hold tight to our romanticized notions of revolutionary education,
while we meet our people where we are,
give them what they need,
compramise our timetables, not our expectations,
look for small victories, count our blessings,
we must do what we can and strive for what we want and need.