Standing in Solidarity With Whittier School Parents

Last Wednesday, a group of parents took over the field house at Whittier Elementary School in Pilsen. I went down there on Friday and Sunday evenings, and I'm greatly inspired by these folks who, having had promise after promise broken, are taking direct action to positively impact the future of their children's education. Not only that, they are standing up to some big powers that be here in Chicago to take control of their tax dollars that have been funneled away by the controversial Tax Increment Financing.

I believe that revolutionary change will happen from the bottom up. Our political process is so broken, and the current conditions so critical, that to think merely voting in "the right people" will bring about change that is urgently needed is a misguided notion. You want change you can believe in? We gotta make it ourselves, in solidarity. That's what these mothers at Whittier, a.k.a. La Casita, are doing, and for that I applaud their efforts and stand with them. Their struggle is my struggle. It is your struggle too, whether you know it or not.