They did it.
On Thursday, as many as 21,000 moms and dads — many black or Latino — made history as they converged on Foley Square in what organizers say is the largest parents rally ever in the city.
Kudos to them all. Unfortunately, the one man who ought to have been standing with them in their call for education equality didn’t even show: the mayor.
De Blasio’s conspicuous absence from the most important movement for equality in this city highlights the Achilles Heel of the city’s self-described progressives: their total deafness to the most urgent needs of the very people they claim to be helping.
Take Zaika Ansari, director of a teachers-union front group, who dismissed these moms and dads as pawns in a political stunt.
As for de Blasio, he released a video Thursday making clear he opposes any “escape route” — i.e., charters — from the city’s failing public schools for these trapped kids.
It tells you something about the power structure in this city that so few pols were willing to stand with these moms and dads.
Good for the few who did. Democratic Senate Co-Majority Leader Jeff Klein joined the rally. So did Democratic Assemblymen Marcos Crespo and Robert Rodriguez.
The personal stories are heartbreaking.
“At my son’s school, not one third-grader — not one — was able to pass the state English exam this year,” said one mom, Ebony Burrowes. “I can’t afford to move. What am I supposed to do? If nothing changes, I risk visiting him in prison, or burying him.”
The desperate parents who turned out at Foley Square do not have the options the wealthy or politically connected enjoy.
All these moms and dads want from this city is a safe, decent public school where their kids can learn.
Is that too much to ask?