Boycott Chicago Schools
Published by TheColonel September 2nd, 2008 in anythingBlack
CHICAGO, Sept. 1 (UPI) — Black leaders in Chicago say city residents should join a four-day boycott of public schools to protest what they say is unequal funding.
The Rev. Larry Trotter, an influential South Side pastor, joined the effort Sunday, telling his congregation that reliance by the state of Illinois on local property taxes to finance schools has created wide divisions in quality, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
“If schools in Winnetka and other areas can have state-of-the-art computer labs, then we ought to have the same thing in Chicago,” Trotter reportedly said to loud applause at his Sweet Holy Spirit Church.
The Sun-Times said a recent survey by the National Center for Education Statistics ranked Illinois 49th out of 50 states in state funding of public education.
The newspaper reported state Sen. James Meeks, a pastor who is among the boycott’s organizers, said during a sermon Sunday: “I want the whole nation to look at Illinois. I want the whole nation to ask, ‘Why is Illinois racist?’”
I think this problem happens in a lot of places, not just Chicago. There’s lots of times you’ll see run down schools filled with minority students, but just a few miles away there will be much better conditions for schools filled with not so much racial diversity. Any readers from Chicago? Anyone else know of situations like this happening close to where they live?
I am from and in the Chicago area and it is true: areas that pay more property taxes - which tend to be more
affluent areas - have better schools than those that don’t. I remember when I was in grade school, I got placed in a
school that was a 45 minute school bus ride from where I lived, just to get into a school with advanced classes to
better suit my learning levels.
Personally, I don’t think it is necessarily racist, it is classist. Where I live now (in a suburb of Chicago), the schools are great, and it is actually
quite diverse here with a good mixture of whites, blacks, hispanics and asians.
man this pics is huge…lol
Well to be quite honest with you. We should start blaming the parents for their lack of responsibility and planning on their part…