WEBVTT

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(record scratches)

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(hip-hop music)

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- I\'m here because I don\'t
want my school to close.

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- Why am I?

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Because I want a mind
for my freedom rights.

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- [Man] In 1963, the schools

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in Chicago were very segregated.

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(crowd chanting)

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- Most of these schools
that were closed are

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in black and Latino neighborhoods.

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This is racist.

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- The negro race has just as much right

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to exercise their talents
as the white race.

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- We\'re taking our case to the street.

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(crowd chanting)

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- [Woman] We\'re still protesting.

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You got to keep fighting.

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How could they stop us?

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(children yelling playfully)

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- [Man] In spite of Brown
vs. Board of Education,

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Chicago schools were racially segregated.

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- Alright, boys and girls.

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Can any of you tell me

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what you think the word vanishing means?

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Audrey?

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- Vanishing means disappearing.

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- Can you see Elmo?

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Show me.

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There he is on the giant\'s shoulder.

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- Even as a young person,
I could see a difference

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in the quality of the
environment and the resources.

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The schools in the
predominantly white areas

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of the city had more and they had better.

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- The books we get, they aren\'t new books.

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They are second-hand books.

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And some of the teachers
have explained it to us

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and we don\'t have enough
books to go around

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to each student so we have to share books.

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- I\'m not getting what I should.

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I got somebody sharing what
I should have all for myself.

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As a student, I was very
aggressive on education,

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but there was a lot of prejudice.

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You know, you could
look someone in the eye

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and you know what you wanted,

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but it wasn\'t being given.

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- At that point, colored
kids went to Sexton

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and the white kids went to Ogden.

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But my mother got me into Ogden

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where there were two black students.

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Entering high school, I wanted
to be a research scientist.

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I went to my guidance
counselor and she said,

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\"You people coming in there
with your high ideas.\"

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And she was very angry and she said,

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\"After all, who have
you seen who is colored

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\"and a girl who is a research scientist?

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\"And you are colored and a girl.\"

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I ended up in vocational school

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and I was going to be a
secretary and this was crushing.

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- And back in those days, it
was the beginning of a journey

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to begin to try to understand
who we were, who I was,

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what was this condition
that we find ourselves in.

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And my sister every
night we would just talk

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about the news, what was going
on like the Freedom Rides

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in the south.

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- You\'re under arrest.

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(people yelling)

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- One of the avenues for working

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with the southern sit-in
movement in the 1960\'s was

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by establishing groups in northern cities.

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- We were aware of what was
taking place in the south.

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♪ We will overcome ♪

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The Chicago area Friends

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of the Student Non-Violent
Coordinating Committee.

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- [Woman] Was really
established to raise money

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for the action in the south.

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- But the conditions in
Chicago were so horrendous

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that it became difficult to only talk

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about the southern movement.

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It had to be linked with
what was going on here

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in Chicago.

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- [Natalie] When African
Americans started coming here

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during the Great Migration,
they were contained

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to the Black Belt.

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- [Narrator] Chicago\'s south side.

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Line of demarcation between
black and whites runs

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along the railroad tracks.

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- My mom grew up in Woodlawn

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and she saw a massive white flight.

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You had the real estate
industry who were saying,

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\"The blacks are coming.

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\"You need to get out now while you can.\"

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And then you have the racial
violence that happened too.

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- [Man] The landlord and police department

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for this negro family.

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The tension has grown in the area.

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(children yelling)

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- But segregation in Chicago
was not an accidental matter.

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(concrete smashing)

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- [Natalie] The federal government
rolled out the red carpet

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to white flight.

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There were expressways built
for them, loans were favored

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to these suburbs.

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So the federal government
aided and abetted segregation.

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- There was people that would say,

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\"if we integrate the
schools, then the whites

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\"would flee the city.\"

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This was brought here purposely
by the late Richard J Daley

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to keep the schools segregated.

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- Superintendent Ben
Willis was a segregationist

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in the race.

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- The main point, the board of education.

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Therefore, he has a responsibility
as the chief executive

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of this city to see to it

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that our schools line
up with other schools.

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- And I think the state legislature

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should pass a law that
move Chicago school board

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from politics.

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- There was an opportunity
for integration to happen.

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When more than half the
district was comprised

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of white students, why did
integration fail in CPS?

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And I think the very concise short answer

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would be Richard J. Daley.

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- The people of the Italian-American
Polish Lithuania German

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English and Irish in my
opinion are the finest people

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anyplace in the United States

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and any place you could travel.

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- My kids were going to
school on half day shifts,

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the same as I did when I was in school

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because black schools were overcrowded.

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- [Woman] If school could be side by side,

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one would be black,

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one would be white, one
would be comfortable

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in terms of the number of
children in that school

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and the other would be overcrowded.

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- [Rosie] Every time a community changed,

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the board of education
changed its boundaries

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so it would limit our kids\' access

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to other schools that may
have had empty classrooms.

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- The Willis wagoner that
were put up on the campus

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of the black schools in
order to contain them.

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- They would take these
converted house trailers

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and turn them into classrooms.

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- Benjamin Willis did not want black kids

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to be shipped out into white areas.

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White middle class families
didn\'t want them there.

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So it was like keep these
negroes in their place here.

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- [Reporter] What school do you go to?

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- Waller right now.

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- [Reporter] Waller,
what about Waller school?

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- Well, right now it\'s
in pretty bad shape.

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- [Reporter] Why\'s it in bad shape?

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- It\'s crowded.

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They got, you know, mobile schools.

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- I was in the trailer.

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You know, at that age, I just knew

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that I didn\'t belong in the parking lot.

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And they had the big building there

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that had all the facilities in it

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and we were out in the parking lot.

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(gentle piano music)

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It\'s like being detained.

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Education is nurturing.

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Do you nurture a child by
putting them in a trailer?

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I don\'t think so.

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- It was just a lot of
things psychologically

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that was wrong with that attitude.

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And there were parents\' groups
that started the boycott

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in Chatham and on the west side.

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- We would go around
knocking on doors trying

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to make people aware of
why we were demonstrating.

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We were out to disrupt.

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We were out to inform.

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So CORE, Congress for Racial Equality,

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decided to sit in at
the board of education.

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And we sat in there for
about a week starving

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because we forgot about planning for food,

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but we had everything else planned.

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(gentle piano music)

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So we got a lot of PR.

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- Another explosive protest was led

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by a woman named Rosie Simpson

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who had had some union background.

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- I was living in Englewood.

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One day my children came home and said,

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\"You know, we\'re going to start
in a new school on Monday.\"

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And I said, \"Where?\"

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Their plans were to build
an all mobile unit school

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between a railroad track and an alley.

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We were going to do whatever
was necessary to stop them.

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The members of CORE went
up to the top of the pole

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and wouldn\'t come down.

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We would lay down in
front of the bull dogs

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as we bought chains to lock
ourselves to the police cars.

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(people yelling)

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The police were horrible out there.

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(people yelling)

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And we met with the mayor
and the board of education.

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- Alright, Mrs. Simpson, you
say that you\'re trying to stop.

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- Even after communicating with the board,

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we are not going to get anyplace
so this is why I hesitate

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to say that I am ready to
call of demonstrations.

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- I have just placed on
the desk of the President

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of the board of education
and the deputy superintendent

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of schools a copy of my resignation.

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(gentle piano music)

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- And I really think he was bluffing.

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The board of education refused
to accept his resignation

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and that sparked the initial boycott.

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- I was on the Coordinating Council

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for Community Organization
and we met and decided

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on all-city boycott.

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The Coordinating Council
put Larry Landry in charge

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and all the parents were in agreement.

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- We had leaflets, thousands of leaflets.

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We would give the little kids leaflets

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to bring home to their parents.

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We put leaflets on the L and on the buses.

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- [Woman] We had jitneys,
black cab drivers

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and they would hand out fliers.

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- I was standing at supermarkets talking

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to parents about keeping
your kids home from school,

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this is why.

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(dramatic jazz music)

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(clapperboard claps)

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- [Reporter] Why are
you out of school today?

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- Because today is Freedom Day.

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- Why am I?

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Because I want a mind
for my freedom rights.

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- If I don\'t go to school, I\'m a march.

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- Yeah me too.

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- Some teachers have been saying that

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if you stay out of school
today, then they will,

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you know, give you D\'s.

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They\'ll fail you for the day.

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- I\'m not afraid of them myself,
but they don\'t threaten me.

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We were praying that\'s
hardly no students there are.

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- [Man] I wish the whole school was empty.

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- I remember being told, I
mean, if you really cared

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about these children, you
wouldn\'t be taking them

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out of school.

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You would be insisting
that they stay in school.

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- We had several meetings in order

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to organize freedom schools.

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- [Fannie] The students
would be in churches

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and in community centers
learning black history.

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- [Teacher] Now Little Blue
and Little Yellow were friends

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and one day, they went out
to play with each other.

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And you know what happened?

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They turned green.

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- We sang freedom songs.

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♪ Oh freedom now our school board ♪

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♪ No more Willis over me over me ♪

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- [Man] We talked to the young people

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about the purpose of the boycott.

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♪ And before I\'d be saved ♪

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♪ I\'ll be buried in my grave ♪

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♪ And go home to my Lord and be saved ♪

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- The boycott was to be
a learning experience.

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This is your future that
you\'re fighting for.

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- Two, four, six, eight,
we don\'t want to segregate.

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Two, four, six, eight, we
don\'t want to segregate.

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Two, four six, eight, we
don\'t want to segregate.

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- I feel that segregation
of our school is all wrong.

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- Why is it all wrong?

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- Because why should your
child go to a different school

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than my child?

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My child and your child should be able

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to go to the same school.

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- I think it should be
no mobile school unit.

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- [Reporter] No more what?

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- No mobile school units.

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It\'s too small.

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- That day is was all over the school

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and we\'re gonna go downtown and protest.

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And the next thing I know,
we were in the march.

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(people singing)

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- On the day of the boycott,
I was very concerned

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with the way I would look.

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I certainly would want either
my gold chain or my pearls.

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I wanted to look like someone
who should have an education.

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- [Man] People marched in the
north side and the west side,

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the south side and meet at downtown.

00:16:40.467 --> 00:16:43.384
(folk music plays)

00:16:52.140 --> 00:16:54.284
- Can I hear it a little more louder?

00:16:54.284 --> 00:16:57.069
Thank you.

00:16:57.069 --> 00:16:58.752
♪ As I was walking the city\'s highway ♪

00:16:58.752 --> 00:17:02.690
♪ I saw the school built
with the taxes I pay ♪

00:17:02.690 --> 00:17:07.519
Don wrote the words using
This Land is Your Land.

00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:10.190
And it was used on sound trucks.

00:17:10.190 --> 00:17:13.070
It was also on the radio
if I\'m not mistaken.

00:17:13.070 --> 00:17:14.530
- We managed to get that played

00:17:14.530 --> 00:17:18.576
on the Midnight Special on WFMT.

00:17:18.576 --> 00:17:21.280
- That was in my folk singing days.

00:17:21.280 --> 00:17:23.080
I haven\'t heard that in a long time.

00:17:24.201 --> 00:17:25.907
♪ These schools are your schools ♪

00:17:25.907 --> 00:17:28.338
♪ These schools are my schools ♪

00:17:28.338 --> 00:17:31.171
(People chanting)

00:17:44.162 --> 00:17:47.433
- And folks put together
a long, long banner.

00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:52.913
- [Lorne] That was dropped
from the board of education.

00:17:54.620 --> 00:17:56.778
- [Don] And if you would\'ve walked

00:17:56.778 --> 00:17:57.611
into our central operation,

00:17:57.611 --> 00:17:59.600
you would\'ve thought you were looking

00:17:59.600 --> 00:18:03.163
at an alderman or at a
congressional campaign.

00:18:05.439 --> 00:18:08.380
(phone rings)

00:18:08.380 --> 00:18:10.630
- [Woman] Yes, that\'s
the figure right there.

00:18:12.790 --> 00:18:16.140
- We\'re keeping score
like election returns.

00:18:16.140 --> 00:18:18.697
We would go through those
schools, we\'d get calls,

00:18:18.697 --> 00:18:21.607
\"I\'m in such and such a school

00:18:21.607 --> 00:18:24.200
\"and there\'s nobody here.\"

00:18:24.200 --> 00:18:26.770
- Forest Hill North has
got eight students in it

00:18:26.770 --> 00:18:29.260
out of a total enrollment of 1,200.

00:18:29.260 --> 00:18:30.885
- [Man] Tim\'s school.

00:18:30.885 --> 00:18:33.032
- [Woman] Tim\'s, we don\'t have (mumbles).

00:18:33.032 --> 00:18:34.230
That\'s a big one.

00:18:34.230 --> 00:18:35.160
- [Man] 124 kids in, 2,500.

00:18:35.160 --> 00:18:36.681
- [Woman] Just a moment.

00:18:36.681 --> 00:18:37.514
I\'ll let you talk to our PR person.

00:18:37.514 --> 00:18:38.917
Mr. Rose!

00:18:38.917 --> 00:18:40.273
- Don Rose speaking.

00:18:41.140 --> 00:18:43.130
This is an overwhelming success, right.

00:18:43.130 --> 00:18:44.330
At least 15 schools

00:18:44.330 --> 00:18:47.610
that we can say have a
virtual total boycott.

00:18:47.610 --> 00:18:50.055
- And all these schools are being picketed

00:18:50.055 --> 00:18:50.923
by parents in the community.

00:18:52.274 --> 00:18:55.330
- [Man] There was 13
point set of demands sent

00:18:55.330 --> 00:18:58.103
to the mayor, to Dr. Willis,
and to the school board.

00:19:01.910 --> 00:19:05.993
- We started the march from
St. Matthew\'s Methodist Church.

00:19:07.450 --> 00:19:10.270
People were laughing
along the entire route.

00:19:10.270 --> 00:19:14.192
It was a carnival until
we reached the river

00:19:14.192 --> 00:19:16.453
and the downtown area.

00:19:17.380 --> 00:19:19.930
That\'s when the voices started echoing

00:19:19.930 --> 00:19:21.653
off of the large buildings.

00:19:23.234 --> 00:19:25.984
(people singing)

00:19:28.320 --> 00:19:30.860
And that\'s when the mood changed

00:19:30.860 --> 00:19:32.203
as this was now serious.

00:19:36.210 --> 00:19:37.234
(people yelling)

00:19:37.234 --> 00:19:42.234
Just an ocean of people saying
we were right, I was right.

00:19:44.940 --> 00:19:46.650
Forget some instructor who said

00:19:46.650 --> 00:19:48.893
that I was colored and a girl.

00:19:50.010 --> 00:19:53.028
I was gonna be a research scientist.

00:19:53.028 --> 00:19:55.361
(drum beat)

00:20:00.233 --> 00:20:02.983
(people yelling)

00:20:06.189 --> 00:20:08.164
- We were planning that march, we knew

00:20:08.164 --> 00:20:08.997
that most of them would be young people.

00:20:08.997 --> 00:20:11.710
And so the effort was to be disciplined.

00:20:11.710 --> 00:20:15.130
Don\'t cause any problems because
you could get a whole bunch

00:20:15.130 --> 00:20:15.963
of people hurt.

00:20:17.010 --> 00:20:22.010
You had a lot of members of
CORE and SNCC who was organizing

00:20:22.760 --> 00:20:25.303
and they were committed to non-violence.

00:20:27.170 --> 00:20:31.720
- Downtown they were so
fearful that they be wily

00:20:31.720 --> 00:20:35.890
that the children of Chicago
had shown the very best

00:20:35.890 --> 00:20:39.653
of themselves in the way they
comported themselves that day.

00:20:43.219 --> 00:20:46.070
250,000 students with the permission

00:20:46.070 --> 00:20:49.233
of their parents stayed away from school.

00:20:50.896 --> 00:20:52.557
♪ I\'m gonna let it shine ♪

00:20:52.557 --> 00:20:56.050
♪ Let it shine, let it
shine, let it shine ♪

00:20:56.050 --> 00:20:57.929
- It was like a proud thing to do.

00:20:57.929 --> 00:21:00.300
You know, we were protesting, you know,

00:21:00.300 --> 00:21:04.583
about some system that was not correct.

00:21:05.763 --> 00:21:08.834
- You got a lot of power here.

00:21:08.834 --> 00:21:12.237
And I want to tell you something:

00:21:12.237 --> 00:21:14.988
power like this will move anything.

00:21:14.988 --> 00:21:17.877
(crowd cheers)

00:21:17.877 --> 00:21:21.263
- Freedom now, freedom now,
freedom now, freedom now,

00:21:21.263 --> 00:21:25.513
freedom now, freedom now,
freedom now, freedom now.

00:21:27.818 --> 00:21:30.710
- The feeling was
excitement, you know, hope.

00:21:30.710 --> 00:21:32.455
We\'ve accomplished something.

00:21:32.455 --> 00:21:35.233
♪ He\'s got the whole world in his hands ♪

00:21:35.233 --> 00:21:36.293
- [Man] Especially in
the black newspapers,

00:21:38.530 --> 00:21:43.487
but based upon white reporting,
it was never successful.

00:21:43.487 --> 00:21:46.389
- [Group Of People] We want
freedom, we want freedom,

00:21:46.389 --> 00:21:49.139
we want freedom, we want freedom.

00:21:51.090 --> 00:21:52.980
- But it was a success and at that time,

00:21:52.980 --> 00:21:55.880
we knew why because head count.

00:21:55.880 --> 00:21:58.830
They get paid based on how
many kids show up in school.

00:21:58.830 --> 00:22:02.060
So it hurt them from a
financial standpoint.

00:22:02.060 --> 00:22:06.880
- Those dollars that disappeared
that day, that clicked.

00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:09.670
- For the very first time,

00:22:09.670 --> 00:22:13.580
the city administration
gave a racial head count

00:22:13.580 --> 00:22:16.980
of the Chicago public
school system showing

00:22:16.980 --> 00:22:20.430
that African Americans constituted half

00:22:20.430 --> 00:22:25.413
or slightly more of the entire
public school population.

00:22:26.300 --> 00:22:30.610
- Before the boycott,
parents were not allowed

00:22:30.610 --> 00:22:31.443
in the schools.

00:22:31.443 --> 00:22:33.260
They would lock the doors on us.

00:22:33.260 --> 00:22:34.703
But it sort of opened it up for us

00:22:34.703 --> 00:22:36.600
that we could go up to the school.

00:22:36.600 --> 00:22:40.032
We were encouraging parents
to get involved in the PTA.

00:22:40.032 --> 00:22:42.714
- I think the public support increased

00:22:42.714 --> 00:22:46.200
for the movement in Chicago.

00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:49.000
But as a result of the boycott,

00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:53.350
we did not gain any leverage
with Benjamin C. Willis

00:22:53.350 --> 00:22:54.963
nor the board of education.

00:22:58.533 --> 00:23:01.240
- [Man] Board of education
did not change their mind

00:23:01.240 --> 00:23:02.973
about the mobile classrooms.

00:23:05.540 --> 00:23:09.796
- And there was a second boycott in 1964.

00:23:09.796 --> 00:23:12.296
(jazzy music)

00:23:14.320 --> 00:23:17.701
- There were groups all
over the country interested

00:23:17.701 --> 00:23:20.089
in what we were doing.

00:23:20.089 --> 00:23:22.589
(jazzy music)

00:23:31.855 --> 00:23:35.040
- And in Chicago, smaller
protests continued

00:23:35.910 --> 00:23:36.903
during that period.

00:23:38.910 --> 00:23:43.273
- [Woman] It took years, but
ultimately Willis did leave.

00:23:44.412 --> 00:23:46.912
(jazzy music)

00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:53.413
- At the same time, Martin Luther King

00:23:53.413 --> 00:23:56.100
and the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference

00:23:56.100 --> 00:23:59.440
was planning to deal with
problems of segregation

00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:00.273
in the north.

00:24:01.350 --> 00:24:05.730
- The atmosphere was created
last summer for the building

00:24:05.730 --> 00:24:07.670
of a vibrant movement

00:24:07.670 --> 00:24:11.323
to end discrimination and
slumism in the city of Chicago.

00:24:15.817 --> 00:24:19.780
I\'m still convinced that
nothing more powerful

00:24:19.780 --> 00:24:24.605
to dramatize and expose the social evil

00:24:24.605 --> 00:24:27.963
than the tramp, tramp of marching feet.

00:24:28.990 --> 00:24:33.030
- We saw more than 100 days
of marching last summer.

00:24:33.030 --> 00:24:36.180
That does not mean that
any fundamental problems

00:24:36.180 --> 00:24:38.860
of this school system have been solved.

00:24:38.860 --> 00:24:43.156
The revolution of human rights
in Chicago is far from over.

00:24:43.156 --> 00:24:45.496
In fact, it has just begun.

00:24:45.496 --> 00:24:46.501
- [Woman] Whose school?

00:24:46.501 --> 00:24:47.496
- [Crowd] Our school.

00:24:47.496 --> 00:24:48.501
- [Man] Whose school?

00:24:48.501 --> 00:24:49.497
- [Kids] Our school.

00:24:49.497 --> 00:24:50.502
- [Man] Whose school?

00:24:50.502 --> 00:24:51.335
- [Crowd] Our school.

00:24:51.335 --> 00:24:55.783
- The education in Chicago
is as bad now as it was then.

00:24:56.663 --> 00:24:59.760
I think the black and
the Hispanic community

00:24:59.760 --> 00:25:01.470
should be up in arms.

00:25:02.520 --> 00:25:04.633
- [Crowd] Save our
schools, save our schools.

00:25:04.633 --> 00:25:07.054
- The way the implement
these racist policies looks

00:25:07.054 --> 00:25:09.530
a lot nicer and politer than it used to.

00:25:09.530 --> 00:25:11.890
There\'s no dogs out
with the cops this time,

00:25:11.890 --> 00:25:14.090
but it absolutely has the same impact.

00:25:14.090 --> 00:25:16.790
This is the largest single group

00:25:16.790 --> 00:25:19.273
of school closures
anywhere in the country.

00:25:19.273 --> 00:25:22.906
♪ We will believe in freedom ♪

00:25:22.906 --> 00:25:25.029
♪ Can not rest until it comes ♪

00:25:25.029 --> 00:25:27.342
♪ We will believe in freedom ♪

00:25:27.342 --> 00:25:30.352
♪ Can not rest until it comes ♪

00:25:30.352 --> 00:25:32.736
♪ We will believe in freedom ♪

00:25:32.736 --> 00:25:34.038
♪ Can not rest ♪

00:25:34.038 --> 00:25:35.855
♪ Can not rest ♪

00:25:35.855 --> 00:25:37.780
♪ We will believe in freedom ♪

00:25:37.780 --> 00:25:40.700
♪ Can not rest until it comes ♪

00:25:40.700 --> 00:25:44.560
- [Woman] It is difficult to
talk about integration in CPS

00:25:44.560 --> 00:25:46.665
when you have only 9%

00:25:46.665 --> 00:25:49.433
of the district today
being white students.

00:25:49.433 --> 00:25:53.480
(people chanting in Spanish)

00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:55.710
- A lot of the whites
left the public schools.

00:25:55.710 --> 00:25:58.798
Some went to private, some
went to parochial schools,

00:25:58.798 --> 00:26:01.803
and some moved out of the city, you know.

00:26:04.697 --> 00:26:07.300
- What we saw was
underperforming schools close

00:26:07.300 --> 00:26:10.840
and those students go to
other underperforming schools.

00:26:10.840 --> 00:26:13.340
Why not think about getting some

00:26:13.340 --> 00:26:18.340
of these poor black children
into well-resourced schools?

00:26:18.524 --> 00:26:23.524
But we don\'t really invest
in the neighborhood.

00:26:23.719 --> 00:26:26.552
(people chanting)

00:26:27.860 --> 00:26:29.350
- I go to Lane Tech College Prep,

00:26:29.350 --> 00:26:31.450
which is on the north side of Chicago

00:26:31.450 --> 00:26:34.070
in the Lakeview area, but
I live on the south side,

00:26:34.070 --> 00:26:35.190
which is in Englewood.

00:26:35.190 --> 00:26:37.000
In order to get a better education,

00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:39.749
I have to sit on the bus
for an hour and a half.

00:26:39.749 --> 00:26:40.754
- [Woman] Whose city?

00:26:40.754 --> 00:26:41.763
- [People] Our city.

00:26:41.763 --> 00:26:42.758
- [Woman] Whose city?

00:26:42.758 --> 00:26:43.765
- [People] Our city.

00:26:43.765 --> 00:26:44.770
- I don\'t think the powers
that be want public education

00:26:44.770 --> 00:26:45.660
to exist.

00:26:45.660 --> 00:26:47.490
Charter school is nothing

00:26:47.490 --> 00:26:49.750
but another word for private school.

00:26:49.750 --> 00:26:52.261
- Charter schools are to break the unions

00:26:52.261 --> 00:26:55.007
and that\'s the way I see it.

00:26:55.869 --> 00:26:56.872
- [Woman] What do we want?

00:26:56.872 --> 00:26:57.866
- [People] Dyett.

00:26:57.866 --> 00:26:58.871
- [Woman] When do we want it?

00:26:58.871 --> 00:26:59.877
- [People] Now.

00:26:59.877 --> 00:27:01.810
- Our mayor didn\'t listen so
we\'re out in these streets

00:27:01.810 --> 00:27:03.740
and we\'re gonna continue
to be out in these streets

00:27:03.740 --> 00:27:06.160
until he does right by these kids.

00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:07.120
These are our kids.

00:27:07.120 --> 00:27:09.368
These are our schools.

00:27:09.368 --> 00:27:10.298
You work for us.

00:27:10.298 --> 00:27:11.460
- Today we are boycotting to show

00:27:11.460 --> 00:27:13.930
that standardized testing
should not decide the future

00:27:13.930 --> 00:27:15.790
of our schools and students.

00:27:15.790 --> 00:27:18.880
I met a woman who went to
my school back in the 60\'s

00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:20.910
and she said they were
boycotting the same thing.

00:27:20.910 --> 00:27:24.140
We are gonna make history today
again like the 1963 boycott.

00:27:24.140 --> 00:27:25.660
We\'re gonna show Rahm what it\'s all about,

00:27:25.660 --> 00:27:27.491
what the students can do.

00:27:27.491 --> 00:27:29.103
We\'re not just students,
but we are organized,

00:27:29.103 --> 00:27:30.992
we are powerful leaders,
and we are the future.

00:27:30.992 --> 00:27:33.228
So just wait for him to come
out if he\'s not scared still

00:27:33.228 --> 00:27:34.793
to come talk to us.

00:27:35.967 --> 00:27:39.114
- [Crowd] Rahm, let\'s face
it, your policies are racist.

00:27:39.114 --> 00:27:43.450
Rahm, let\'s face it,
your policies are racist.

00:27:43.450 --> 00:27:45.250
- Would I march right now?

00:27:45.250 --> 00:27:46.530
In a heartbeat.

00:27:46.530 --> 00:27:51.342
I think the boycott
produced a good product,

00:27:51.342 --> 00:27:53.593
not the school system.

00:27:54.830 --> 00:27:59.830
The education of going
after education produced me.

00:28:01.510 --> 00:28:03.920
I wanted to be a businessman

00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:05.933
so I started a photography company.

00:28:08.560 --> 00:28:11.710
- It allowed me to become
the architect that I am

00:28:11.710 --> 00:28:14.733
to try to solve some of the
problems we have in America.

00:28:16.910 --> 00:28:20.098
- I remember learning when
I went to social work school

00:28:20.098 --> 00:28:22.960
that children rise or fall to the level

00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:24.153
of your expectations.

00:28:25.250 --> 00:28:27.150
Our way out has been education,

00:28:27.150 --> 00:28:29.720
which is why early on, we were not allowed

00:28:29.720 --> 00:28:30.790
to be educated at all.

00:28:30.790 --> 00:28:34.360
You know, you could be punished
for teaching a black person,

00:28:34.360 --> 00:28:35.860
a slave how to read and write.

00:28:37.095 --> 00:28:39.520
(people chanting)

00:28:39.520 --> 00:28:43.307
- After the boycott, I
continued to organize parents,

00:28:43.307 --> 00:28:46.644
but I realized that housing, education,

00:28:46.644 --> 00:28:49.700
and jobs are interconnected.

00:28:49.700 --> 00:28:52.723
You needed to be looking
at the whole picture.

00:28:53.910 --> 00:28:58.253
- I became an educator and
we started our own school.

00:28:59.300 --> 00:29:02.483
We would have an
African-centered curriculum.

00:29:03.870 --> 00:29:07.910
We all understand it, what
education is really for.

00:29:07.910 --> 00:29:09.523
It\'s not just to get a job.

00:29:10.961 --> 00:29:14.080
It has to do with helping
human beings create

00:29:14.080 --> 00:29:15.933
or recreate themselves.

00:29:17.100 --> 00:29:20.227
- There have been times when I felt alone

00:29:20.227 --> 00:29:24.444
as one of the few black
females getting a degree,

00:29:24.444 --> 00:29:28.810
but I\'ve never forgotten
that people marched

00:29:28.810 --> 00:29:30.103
for me to get where I am.

00:29:33.280 --> 00:29:35.203
That mass of people are still there.

00:29:36.310 --> 00:29:38.263
They\'re cheering on some hill for me.

00:29:39.970 --> 00:29:42.370
And you don\'t forget that
people marched for me.

00:29:47.497 --> 00:29:51.789
♪ This land is your land ♪

00:29:51.789 --> 00:29:56.789
♪ This land is my land ♪

00:29:56.933 --> 00:30:01.517
♪ From California ♪

00:30:01.517 --> 00:30:06.517
♪ Well to the New York Island ♪

00:30:06.635 --> 00:30:09.552
♪ From the Redwood ♪

00:30:10.649 --> 00:30:13.232
(upbeat music)