Amanda Smith, San Francisco teacher, joins our march from Sanger to Fresno

I marched Sunday, March 21 from Sanger to Fresno with our group of dedicated Californians, from all different walks of life, to bring awareness to the possibilities of our great state. We live in a state where 90+ billionaires reside, but are in debt. I myself, am fortunate to live in a city with 12 of those BILLIONAIRES, but am looking at a $117 million budget cut to education over the next two years. This is not the California Dream.

As a new teacher I have been subbing for 2 years, the same job I had BEFORE going back to school first for a Master's Degree and later for a Teaching Credential. I can not find a job in San Francisco because class sizes are being increased, teachers are receiving pink slips, and our district is scrambling to figure out how they are going to scrape $117 million from an already bare-boned budget. That is not the California dream. As I march, an onslaught of book titles run through my head: SAVAGE INEQUALITIES, PROFIT OVER PEOPLE, STUFFED AND STARVED, THE SHAME OF A NATION. While walking through the tent cities of Fresno, simultaneously passing abandoned homes, I wonder why we have empty homes yet homeless. I wonder why we have unemployed teachers who want to teach and overcrowded classrooms with students to be taught. Why we have employees working extra hours and unemployed who want to work. Why
we have 90 billionaires, yet a state in debt. Why we have innovators, thinkers, and problem-solvers in this great state, but can not come up with solutions that seem so obvious.

And this is why I marched. I marched to bring awareness to the possibilities of our great state. We have the resources, we have the passion, we have the man-power and brain-power to make our state great. We can turn this California nightmare into a dream. This is why we march!