The dominant narrative that parents and communities in urban, minority, poor, and other traditionally underserved areas don’t care about their schools or their children’s education drives me insane because of how racist, classist, and just plain wrong it is. Here’s an example of parents, teachers, and community activists putting their lives on the line to save their children’s schools. They are brave and deserve our support, yet I’ve seen zero mainstream media coverage of this protest.
Somewhere in Chicago tonight, Mayor Rahm Emanuel may be sitting down to his favorite desert – warm pecan pie with vanilla ice cream.
Across the city in the South Side neighborhood of Bronzeville, 11 parents, teachers and community members aren’t eating so well. Their meal – a few sips of coconut water to keep their strength up.
These brave men and women are on the third day of a hunger strike to save their last open enrollment public school.
If the Emanuel administration has its way, this mostly black community will have to choose between sending their children to a failing charter school or a failing public school run by a private company – all while the neighborhood’s historic Walter H. Dyett High School is closed.
Nat King Cole, Dinah Washington, Red Fox and Bo Diddley are all alumni of Dyett.
Why close such a vibrant connection to the…
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parentingthecore 