Chicago Daily Observer

State Senator, and Reverend, James Meeks launched himself back onto front pages Monday, by encouraging students in inner-city neighborhoods to skip the first day of school. The reason for the protest is something Meeks has harped on for years: inequities in school funding.

We should give Meeks credit for being persistent. But unfortunately we can’t give him credit for being effective, or even honest, in his protest. Meeks loves to make enemies out of suburban schools spending decadent amounts of cash on computer labs and sports facilities, while inner-city kids struggle for books and decent teachers.

But this obsession with the suburbs is the tip off that Meeks’ primary motivation is political. Why? Because there are inequalities within the City of Chicago that are just as great as the inequalities between city and suburbs.

A 2005 Chicago Catalyst study of school budgets found that some schools in Chicago, like ... Read More...

The ballyhoo over the Supreme Court’s recent decision that declared Washington DC’s handgun ban unconstitutional, and therefore implied the same for Chicago, didn’t last through the holiday. Unfortunately, neither did five poor souls who fell victim to gun violence in downtown Chicago during the long weekend.

“Why should our streets be open to someone carrying a gun?” Daley remarked after the Supreme Court handed down the ruling. “Do [people] have a right to carry a gun on the CTA?” Daley’s theatric rant blamed the rich and the powerful for protecting themselves but not the poor. “Those who are rich always feel safe … those who are in power always feel safe.”