Mark Pera, candidate for the 3rd Congressional District in Illinois visited Gage Park High School in Chicago today.
I teach Civics at Gage Park and my students were very excited to have a chance to both hear from our soon-to-be Congressman and participate in an extended question and answer period.
Mr. Pera was gracious and showed why the people of Illinois who want "more and better" Democrats should support him.
More below the fold.
UPDATE: Click here to donate to Mark Pera's campaign via ACT Blue Go on, I did.
Candidate Pera started with a brief intro, sharing his background and qualifications. He then moved on to discuss where he stood on the issues and how his positions differed from the current seat holder, Dan Lipinski.
Then the Q and A began.
What really surprised me, and the real reason why I am writing this for the good folks at Daily Kos, is how he handled the much to be expected question of where he stood on immigration.
You see, Gage Park is a school that is 50% Latino and 50% African American. It has a poverty rate of 93% and suffers from all the inner-city/urban clichés: high drop-out rates, less than 20% of students meeting state standards, gang violence, etc.
But significantly, approximately 20% (or more) of Gage Park students are undocumented.
And I wondered what Candidate Pera would say about his stance on immigration.
So a student asked the question.
And then Pera surprised me.
He asked the kids what they felt about it. And he kept at it. For 10 or 15 minutes, in what was sometimes a tooth pulling exercise, Mr. Pera got my students to open up and tell him what they really thought about immigration.
He kept saying, "Please, go on. I really want to know what you think."
It is rare enough that a politician is brave and good enough to take time out to visit high school kids, but to actually solicit their opinion? When was the last time anyone saw that?
I'll go you even one better, when was the last time a politician wanted to hear what a registered adult voter had to say? Too many candidates want to talk at or to you, but Mr. Pera listened.
In fact he did more than listen, he probed and got my shyest students to stand up and say out loud what they thought.
All I can say is if anyone in the 3rd District is yearning for "more and better" Democrats, Mark Pera earned your vote today.