"Whatever happens on Wednesday, this is not over. This is a movement." These are the words CTU re-elected President Karen Lewis gave to the ...
"Whatever happens on Wednesday, this is not over. This is a movement." These are the words CTU re-elected President Karen Lewis gave to the historic May 20, 2013 rally at Chicago's Daley Plaza, where the 3-day-long South-, West-, and North-side marches against school closings converged. Lewis was referring to the upcoming meeting of the school board. It was an ending of one chapter -- the year-long campaign to convince the Mayor-appointed school board to not close over 50 public schools. But it was the beginning of a new chapter -- the birth of a movement for independent political strategies to replace the Mayor and politicians in Springfield. With representatives present from similar struggles in NYC, Detroit, Philadelphia and other cities, this movement has taken on national dimensions that will confront Obama's Department of Education policies. nnBy this time tens of thousands of teachers, parents and students had been made aware of the farce and corruption of an unelected school board controlled by millionaires and billionaires who are puppets of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who in turn is a puppet of more millionaires and billionaires. No one expected the board to do anything else but carry through the already-decided looting of education. What we see in this video, however, is that the campaign to save targeted schools has evolved into an huge organizing project that has begun to independently mobilize the entire city's working class in a way that has not been done for a long time.nnOur story is in five parts. First, we begin with the election night victory of CTU President Karen Lewis and the Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators (CORE) slate, winning a clear mandate of 80% from the 30,000-member union. The union's membership has deepened its support for a strategy shift from a simply service-oriented union to a fighting, community-involved union.nnThen we follow each of the three days of the march (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) through the South-, West-, and North-Sides, getting a sense of those neighborhoods and communities. We see the marchers talking to people in the neighborhoods about the theft of their rights and racism inherent in the school closings. We see them signing up people to participate in a massive campaign to register 250,000 new voters. These new voters probably "won't be voting for that man on the fifth floor of city hall". Monday also includes the dramatic convergence of the 3 marches at Daley Plaza, across the street from the Mayor's office at City Hall.nnLastly, on Wednesday, May 22, we go to the scene of what history will judge ultimately as a crime: the headquarters of the Chicago Public Schools, which predictably voted to close 49 elementary schools, the largest such action in U.S. history.nnInterviews and speeches form: CTU President Karen Lewis, CTU Vice-President Jesse Sharkey, CTU Recording Secretary Michael Brunson, CTU Staff Coordinator Jackson Potter, AFT Michigan President David Hecker, NYC Coalition for Educational Justice member Natasha Capers, CTU Exec. Bd. member Jen Johnson, as well as numerous community organizers and parents. And there is a remarkable speech by Marcus Garvey student Asean Johnson.nnPlease make a Donation to Labor Beat (Committee for Labor Access) and help rank-and-file tv:nhttps://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2F96NDFQRSF3GnnProduced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat is a non-profit 501(c)(3) member of IBEW 1220. Views are those of the producer Labor Beat. For info: mail@laborbeat.org, www.laborbeat.org. 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit YouTube and search "Labor Beat".nnOn Chicago CAN TV Channel 19, Thursdays 9:30 pm; Fridays 4:30 pm. Labor Beat has regular cable slots in Chicago, Evanston, Rockford, Urbana, IL; Philadelphia, PA; Princeton, NJ; and Rochester, NY. For more detailed information, send us a request at mail@laborbeat.org. Less
