This article appears in the Spring 2016 issue of The American Prospect Magazine. In 2013, citing a $1.4 billion deficit, Philadelphia’s state-run school commission voted to close 23 schools—nearly 10 percent of the city’s stock. The decision came after a three-hour meeting at district headquarters, [...]
The words of James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing” echoed down Drexel Ave on Chicago’s South Side the mild summer evening of September 8, 2015. Down the street from the Chicago home of President Obama, the Dyett hunger strikers and their supporters, holding [...]
The national fight against school privatization is focused on Chicago. September 9 is the 24th day of the #FightForDyett hunger strike. Parents and community members are resisting the national polices of school privatization being forced down our throats by the Obama administration and often black politicians across [...]
#BlackLivesMatter's national board promptly reacted to a fulsome DNC endorsement with an apparent repudiation. While rhetorical opposition to Democrats is fine, on-the-ground work against their concrete polices is a step further. Apart from the prison and police state itself, no Democratic policy affects our communities more adversely [...]
By Willie M. Zanders, Sr. | Originally Published at New Orleans Public Schools Employees Justice. May 18, 2015 | Photographic Credit; Original Plaintiffs and Class Representatives / A Square Photo New Orleans Public School Employees Will Request a Congressional Hearing on the $750 Million Federal Fund to [...]
Today’s New York Times tries its hand at explaining why on earth something as silly as neighborhood public schools could bedevil Rahm Emanuel right out of his incumbent throne as Mayor of Chicago. My home is on Chicago’s South Side, on a street full of cops [...]
Why is it that the future of our children can only be seen as a case of "arrested development" and why is it that parents who fight for the rights of our young are repeatedly arrested? [Again!] Perhaps the answer can be found in a [...]
We, the people, wish to right a wrong. Our Neighborhood High School Walter H Dyett High School is under siege. The School Board, Alderman Will Burns, and the Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel have given us ample reason to believe we must save our children, save [...]
By Yana Kunichoff | Originally Published at Al Jazeera America. September 16, 2014 5:00 AM ETA year after nearly 50 schools closed, overcrowding and safety are big concerns Children play outside one of Chicago's shuttered schools. Yana Kunichoff CHICAGO — It’s the end of the first [...]
