Thousands promise protests against school closings will escalate... With more than 100 people arrested during civil disobedience, Mayor's office fails to spin the school closings story according to the City Hall script
Thousands (not hundreds) rallied, marched, and took part in civil disobedience during the massive protests against school closings on March 27, 2013 in downtown Chicago. The reporting on the actual events gave the public a snapshot of the conflicts that are certain to follow as Chicago's mayor demands his quota of schools closed and privatized and citizens across the city organize against it. But since thousands of people were actually in Daley Plaza and then on LaSalle St. under the window of the mayor's fifth floor office, there are already thousands of reports and social media exchanges to bring the facts into focus.
Those who did the sit down in the south bound lane of LaSalle St. under Mayor Rahm Emanuel's City Hall window came from all parts of Chicago and all groups opposed to the 2013 school closing Hit List. Teachers and lunchroom workers were generally wearing red union shirts, while custodial workers wore the purple colors of their union, the Service Employees. Substance photo by Susan Zupan.Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel declared that the talking is over. Emanuel's remarks, the day of the protests, confirmed what union officials and community leaders had known all along: the mayor was demanding that CPS close at least 50 schools, and in Chicago in 2013, what Emanuel says is law becomes law in most parts of town.
But the latest outpouring of opposition to the proposed closings (despite what Emanuel says, the seven members of the Board of Education are legally required to vote before the closings become official; they say they will vote on the final list on May 22) and the prospects of nearly 180 hearings (and three meetings of the school board) in less than two months indicate that the public battles will continue and probably escalate.
It was not that confusing a story, despite some attempts at spin from City Hall. It began with a rally in Daley Plaza, went into a march on the side of City Hall, and was highlighted with a sit-in in the middle of LaSalle St. on the west side of City Hall which resulted in more than 100 people peacefully arrested. The site of the sit-in is visible from the office of Chicago's mayor, which is located on the fifth floor of City Hall on that side of the massive stone bulding.
As the first press reports came in, "nobody" seemed to really know how many people were at the rally against school closings, but there were a lot both at the rally and in the streets. According to the Chicago "official" count reported in some media, there were only 700 to 900 people (reported, for example, in the Chicago Sun Times). That number was clearly spin from the mayor's people, reminding some veteran protesters of the way in which previous administrations during various wars had tried to keep the number of anti-war protesters "down."
But anyone who was actually in Daley Plaza during the speeches could count thousands of people before the action moved to the streets. (And the Sun-Times articles were bylined by more than one reporter, so who knows why their editors cited such a wildly inaccurate version of reality as fewer than a thousand people in the protests).
Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey was among those who participated in the civil disobedience beneath the mayor's office window on March 27, 2013. Substance photo by Jean Schwab. Jessie Sharkey, Vice President of the Chicago Teachers Union, wrote on Facebook that it was about 4,000 to 5,000 people. I was there, did some counting and it looked like at least 3,000 or more -- parents, teachers, community members, SEIU members, Unite HERE members, etc.. Other observers, including those experienced in crowd counting, kept the estimates into the thousands, not hundreds.
There was also a band from Kelly High School in Daley Plaza.
The rally began with speeches, and the rally organizers made clear from the program that this was not just a "teachers union" rally, march, and civil disobedience, The first speaker was Jitu Brown, Education Organizer for the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO). Brown said that this is just the start. This closing schools has got to stop. Brown said he did not want to hear the CPS say that they are "doing this for the kids" because his organization had been documenting the destruction of public schools in Bronzeville for more than a decade, and it's the "kids" who suffer the most. Brown completed his remarks: No more schools closing, no matter what the Board votes in May.
Brown introduced a parent of students from one elementary school (whose school is on the closing list). She stated that she has moved her children around several times. Once they are settled in one school, that school is closed and she has to move them again. Now they are in another school that is supposed to close. Brown stated that” Education is under attack. What do we do, fight.”
The President of the union, Unite HERE, that represents the lunchroom workers spoke next. The lunchroom workers were visible in the march wearing the hair nets that they use at work. Several took part in the sit-in later on LaSalle St,, running the risk of being arrested. A lunch room lady spoke opposing closing schools, ”Lunch room workers love kids. These kids are our future. We have watched children die in Chicago. It’s coming down, we are going to fight -- We want our jobs back."
Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey was among those who participated in the civil disobedience beneath the mayor's office window on March 27, 2013. Substance photo by Jean Schwab. The worker continued saying that 200 workers had been sent in to our neighborhood jobless.
Jitu Brown stated that on April 13 a hearing on impact on closing which has been arranged in Chicago by Congressman Bobby Rush.
Brown called for the passage of two bills in Illinois, one calling for an immediate moratorium on closings and the other for an elected school board in Chicago.
Brown introduced Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis by stating that she has been changing the "organic structure" of labor and unions in Chicago. Lewis stated that 20 years ago something was very wrong, and Mayor Daley took over the schools thanks to the Amendatory Act of 1995. Under Daley's watch, the school board (appointed from then on by the for what was supposedly "failure".
“Mayor Rahm is not just blaming professionals, he is blaming parents," Lewis said, quoting a recent comment made in New York City by Emanuel. "They are closing schools that have been here for a long time. Schools named after African American icons -- but he’ll open schools to put a living billionaire in the front .” Lewis stated,
"Let’s not pretend that when you close schools on the South and West sides, the children affected aren’t black,” Lewis said, pointing out the racism of Emanuel's 2013 Hit List. There is “one set of schools for children who are learning to become greeters [at places like Walmart], another for people learning to rule the world.”
Lewis told parents and students to “show up at your real school on the first day."
Lewis continued saying there are things that CTU can do -- like file law suits and lobby the elected officials -- but we need you to be there. When you kick people out of a city, and there are no jobs for these people. Then you close the schools without a safety plan and until the names were leaked to the media, these people did not know their schools were closing.
Tara Stamps, teacher from Jenner Elementary School in what is left of the Cabrini-Green housing projects, put elected black officials on notice saying that we have "failed leadership of the black leaders in this city." Stamps said she told them in the fall what was happening but they didn’t stand with the unions (she named several instances, such as mental health clinics, postal workers etc.)
You better save your money because your checks are going to be cut, she told them.
The Reverend Jessie Jackson , stated that all parts of the city should be equally treated and that all students deserve an good education. President of SEIU, Local 1 Tom Balanoff (the local representing most custodial workers today) stated that school closings have to stop. That $1million has been taken from our property tax to develop the downtown area. We need to take that money and invest it in our schools.
A custodian, Ms. Gonzalez, who has worked at Clemente for ten years, stated that privatized custodians make $15.25 an hour and receive health care insurance.
“Today our jobs are at risks, our jobs are more important, our children and our schools are important. GEM- Grass Roots Education Movement had a parent from May Elementary School speak. “I don’t care about what lies are coming out of our Mayor’s mouth. This fight is bigger than Chicago Public Schools. Public Schools should be Public Schools. All over the country they have been closing schools. Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, You came with a hand shake , we’re going to send you out with a boot.”
The rally marched to southbound on LaSalle Street where, where about 150 people had a sit-in in the southbound lanes outside City Hall; 127 were ticketed on site -- not arrested according to the March 28,2013 Chicago Tribune.
