1. A report from the streets of Chicago, where CPS students are walking out, demanding better conditions to face Covid-19. Riding my bike up Statr St towards the Board of Ed, I already see hundreds of students on their way
2. Students crossings fittingly, at Ida B. Wells Drive
3. A really beautiful scene — several hundred students in front of the Board of Ed chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, Lori Lightfoot has got to go”
4. I can see several dozen CPD hanging out in the street. National Lawyer Guild lawyers & adult volunteer medics watching closely. But protest all student led
5. These are the @chiradsCPS demand. They include demanding an apology to the @CTULocal1
6. Chants of “Fuck Lori Lightfoot, we won’t take her shit.” Teens don’t like being in boring classes in the best of times; be mware crossing them when you make them go to school in a pandemic as their teachers, parents and family get sick and die!
7. A march heading East as the students chant
CPD
KKK
HOW MANY KIDS HAVE YOU KILLED TODAY?
7. Students have taken over intersection of State and Madison, calling for linking arms and a mic check. Traffic stopped on both streets.
8. Students have taken over intersection of State and Madison, stopped traffic in both directions. Mic check, safety directions given. It’s starting to…snow? Eve so slightly?
9. March is retreating from intersection, CPD sirens going off. Helicopter flying low overhead, don’t know if it’s CPD or news. Meanwhile chalk is going down on sidewalks. They are displaying the weight and responsibility of adulthood but are also children under attack.
10. March is back on the sidewalk of Madison heading back to Board of Ed. Speaker is imploring everyone to hold someone’s hand. “You are not in this alone. We are family.”
11. The demands are so reasonable, as seen in signs like this, asking where 280 millio of Covid meant for schools went.
12. The police are moving in closer.
13. Endlessly fascinated by the theater and practices of protest. A continuation of mutual of care practices I’ve seen at Occupy and BLM for a decade now, tho w masks being handed out in addition to feed and water. (Everyone is wearing masks.)
14. What do the kids wants in addition to temporary remote learning? Free masks and tests. “Covid tests, not standardized tests.”
15. “Your profit, our loss.” I imagine these young ppl will be written off as rabble rousing tools by many. But they have as clear an understanding of social forces, social theory, economics and body politics any protesters I’ve ever seen
16. March is disappating in an orderly way. Megaphone speaker asked ppl to continue on social media, this won’t be the only event but they love them and what them to get home safely before cops crack heads.
17. Megaphones giving directions on how to get to various trains, ppl offering each other bus tickets. Lasted an hour. Most common chant was “fuck Lori Lightfoot.”
18. The CPR hangs out with guns and tasers even as the crowd of children dminishes. A telling detail in the next tweet…
19. It has always bothered me that abt 90% of ppl are right handed but, when I see cops with a bullet gun and a taser, the taser (yellow) is on their side 90%+ of the time—meaning if they reach w their dominant hand in a panic they’ll likely grab their gun instinctively first
20. Placing the taser in the non dominate hand and the gun in the dominant hand increases the chances of tragedies like these. (Also tasers don’t de-escalate violence, they increase it. Why are they OR guns used here w children?) npr.org/2021/12/23/106…
21. Signing for today remembering how it is not true that kids aren’t learning in these half-empty, whack schools staffed by subs or parents or national guard (!!!)
They ARE learning—that adults don’t care if they live or die.
And they’re learning to fight back & radicalize.
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