Chicagoans go to court to stop racist school closings

July 12, 2013 by · Comments Off on Chicagoans go to court to stop racist school closings
Filed under: Education, Society and Economy 

“Since 2001, defendants have carried out school closings so as to contribute to a form of racial and economic segregation, as destructive as older forms of intentional racial segregation.”— McDaniel v. Board of Education of Chicago; the lawsuit goes to trial this week. Tuesday at 10:00am until Friday at 1:00pm at the Dirkson Federal Building.

After the Civil War freed slaves demanded that schools be established as a tool of liberation. With the help of the Freedman’s Bureau and hundreds of determined teachers, both black and white, they succeeded in creating the first large scale public education system in the American South.

Both black and white students benefited as the nation struggled to reunite after the costliest war in US history. One might think these African Americans would have received the thanks of a grateful nation and continued to be recognized for that accomplishment.

That’s not what happened. Instead they and their African American descendants were subjected to decades of cruel school segregation and racial discrimination. Discrimination in education also affected other people of color, as well as students with special needs. These discriminatory practices continue today in many school districts. One of these districts is the Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

That’s why Sherise McDaniel, a CPS parent, joined with other CPS parents to sue the Chicago Board of Education to stop the school closings. The closing of 49 Chicago public schools, most of them in African American working class neighborhoods is the latest example of CPS racial and special needs discrimination. McDaniel and the other parents were fed up with these harmful policies and the resulting inequities in educational achievement.

Sherise McDaniel

Sherise McDaniel shortly before giving a speech on education justice: June 2013

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