Yesterday afternoon "thousands" of people representing a wide cross-section of Chicago's communities gathered in Daley Plaza to protest the latest attack on our public school system. The Rally was called by the Chicago Teachers Union in cooperation with the SEIU and other labor organizations. Our courageous mayor had authorized the release of the names of the fifty-three (53) so-called underutilized neighborhood schools that are to be closed while he was on one of his many trips out of town. This latest move has lead to even further erosion of the public's view of him as an honest broker. The movement to make him a one-term mayor is promising to be an avalanche by the next mayoral election in 2015. Frankly, the protest was almost as anti-Rahm as anything with one of the most repeated chants was "Hey Hey Ho Ho Mayor Emanuel's Got To Go."
There are three Kossack diarists who have written extensively about what's been going on here and much more eloquently than I ever could. I know this community has been paying attention to Chicago's plight. After all, the move toward charter schools started here with our current Secretary of Education Arne Duncan being one of the major proponents. You can read up on the details in these recent and excellent diaries
Chicago Public Schol Closings to Cost Taxpayers 1 Billion by Tristero 312
The Chicago School Closings: Finding Truth Amidst the Lies by BobboSphere
Chicago Guilty of Felony Offense - Breaks Its Own Laws by Hyde Park Johnny.
Photos and more on the other side of the police line.
150 people had agreed to take part in a civil disobedience action, our BobboSphere one of them. The action consisted of protesters sitting down, arms linked, across LaSalle Street in front of City Hall. The sitters-on were taken to waiting buses and given tickets and not thrown in the hoosegow. Glad for that, at least. From the news reports I've seen, the Chicago Police were taken aback a little by the size of the crowd which was estimated by our local NBC affiliate at "up to a thousand" to "thousands" to CTU's 5,000 to 7,000 to my own totally uneducated and conservative 4,000 to 5,000. I overheard one officer remark to another that it was "a really nice crowd."
It was hard to get close enough without risking arrest myself to get good pics of the sit-in. And just after snapping the following two, I dropped my new camera and it broke!
There's decent coverage of the protest/rally in today's Chicago Tribune. There's a video that is well worth watching after a 10 second ad and in it you will note Jesse Jackson standing to the left of Karen Lewis, CTU's amazing leader.
I mention this because after the main speakers it was announced that Jesse Jackson had a few words to say. I heard him lead an "I Am Somebody" chant for about 3 rounds...... then nothing. I later remarked on how quickly he had come and gone. This morning the friend who went to the rally with me reported that she had seen, a on the teevee news, the Rev Jackson court-side at the United Center watching a very important Chicago Bulls basketball game.
Priorities, Jesse. Where are yours?