🧵DC JURY POOL THREAD: DC students can't read. But they can convict. DC spends more per student than anywhere in…

🧵DC JURY POOL THREAD: DC students can't read. But they can convict. DC spends more per student than anywhere in America, $31,629/year. Most kids can't read at grade level. But DCPS found the time to make progressive activist training mandatory for every student, grades 6-12. Those students become DC jurors. Full receipts below. As always, patience as I pull together the thread. 👇

DC is where federal cases against political figures are tried. All 1,400+ January 6 prosecutions. Stone. Bannon. Navarro. Trump's own federal indictment. The jury pool draws ONLY from DC residents.

DC voted 92.1% for Biden in 2020. 5.4% for Trump. The DC Circuit ruled in 2024 (US v. Webster) that this political composition does not make DC juries unfair. That case effectively foreclosed ALL venue challenges for Jan 6 and politically sensitive federal cases.

DC per-pupil spending: $31,629 National average: $16,526 That's almost twice the national average. More than any state.

What does #1 spending buy? DC Policy Center (2024): Graduation rates keep climbing while proficiency scores keep falling. Only 34% of DCPS 10th graders scored "college and career ready" in English. 18% in math.

In 2017, NPR found Ballou High School, which celebrated 100% college acceptance, graduated students who weren't showing up. Half of graduates missed 3+ months of school. Only 57 of 164 met attendance requirements.

So what IS DC prioritizing with that #1-in-the-nation spending? Meet Mikva Challenge. Their "action civics" curriculum is integrated into MANDATORY DCPS core courses: US Government, DC History, and 6th grade ELA. Every DC public school student. Grades 6-12.

From Mikva's own curriculum page: "This curriculum embraces student exploration of topics of social identity and how it shapes civic identity, privilege, and oppression." This is mandatory for every DCPS student, grades 6-12.

The curriculum teaches students "root causes" analysis, "power mapping," and how to examine "privilege, marginalization, and access to power." Students must reach class CONSENSUS on a political issue for collective action.

On consensus, from Mikva's own site: "Without consensus, you may experience problems maintaining motivation further into the process." Jury service requires individual judgment. This curriculum trains group agreement.

Who founded this? Abner Mikva, one of the few people in history to serve in all three branches of government: • U.S. Congressman from Illinois • Chief Judge, DC Circuit Court of Appeals • White House Counsel to Bill Clinton He personally mentored Barack Obama at the University of Chicago.

Obama sat on the board of the Joyce Foundation from 1994-2002, the years Mikva Challenge was founded and growing. Joyce Foundation grants to Mikva: $280,000.

Joyce Foundation also funds: Brennan Center for Justice Vera Institute of Justice American Constitution Society Same funder. Civic education → judicial reform → criminal justice.

Who funds Mikva's DC operations specifically? Meta. From Mikva's own website: "Thanks to the investment from Meta, we are able to uplift the visions, voices, and leadership of young people – reaching hundreds of youth across DC."

Mikva also receives $951,000 in government grants, 15.4% of their $6.2M annual revenue. Tax dollars funding a mandatory curriculum that teaches "privilege and oppression" to kids in a school system where 79% aren't college-ready.

"Because I learned about civic engagement during high school, I know how to go about dismantling processes that are inconsistent with my beliefs on justice." And we wonder why DC juries won't convict Democrats? Foundation / taxpayer money → Mikva Challenge → mandatory DCPS curriculum → 7 years of "power analysis" and "privilege & oppression" (grades 6-12) → adult → DC juror Mikva launched in DC in 2015. The first full cohort is now 21 and entering the jury pool. Thread end.