The Blog

State Reverend Senator Meeks, Come to Benseville and bring attention to $18 billion taxpayers dollars wasted on run-ways that will have NO planes!Bring Congressman Jackson Jr! Than again you better check with Mayor Daley-your plantation owner!

"Than again you better check with Mayor Daley-your plantation owner!" Wow. Both classy and intelligent.

I honestly think the trip up to New Trier would be a great idea. It will be like a field trip. Children will observe how students should learn and behave in class. Everyone will also get a chance to observe the hardworking people who pay for their LINK cards.

How dare Meeks suggest that there is anything positive about kids not going to school. Very cozy of Meeks, who does not even live in Chicago ( a fabulous home on 169th and Manor Drive in South Holland) to suggest Chicago children stay home. Last I looked, they have funding issues in the south suburbs too (Thornton, TF North, etc.) why not try to enroll those kids in New Trier too ?

Don't worry, Mike Madigan's fellow state reps on northside will create a human chain to stop any kids from south side going further north.

Brilliant. The children in question (Chicago Public Schools) fail to attend class for one consecutive week...don't turn in assignments, DON'T pass tests...and Meeks wants to keep them out of class yet another day. Brilliant. So what is the over-under on kid participants ending up on the public dole in say 4 years???

Senator Meeks was taught by the best, Reverand Jackson Sr. Keep them stupid, if they were smart, they wound't listen to us!

Let's go to Bensenville & Wooddale to go to skool, Bkuz Payte Filip sez he won't purmitt de light wail terminil in DooPayge Kountee. "Bkuz et brangs uss einn...De Niggas". Wat dat Whyte trash mo fo, I'm glaaad he's not in pawahh any mo.

With Pate Philip, John Geils, Peter Roskam, Al Salvi, Tony Peraica, Jabba The Hutt, Frank Watson.

The Sharpton Minstrels.

Hey meeks you ball-less wonder. You blame everyone but da mayor. da mayor spends on everthing from water fountains and river walks . To Olympic Villages to Plane-less airports. You think he would help the schools out with all that TIF money he throws out to the rich white people. Meeks your true colors are showing and it ain't chocalate brown! Let me help you Senator Reverend meeks. Mayor daley, how much of the schools problems are in part because you mis-use TIFS????? Reverand Senator Meeks, " you should ask yourself that question" or should ben J. do all your work.

After five years, is this the best Meeks can do? If Meeks wants to view successful schools, why doesn't he visit Chatham schools and Whitney Young High School?

You're right. Meeks does run the risk of looking like he's protesting what New Trier has (as opposed to what Chicago Public Schools do not), but dwindling state funding and escalating reliance on property taxes means New Trier students and families have as much interest in getting this system straight as we do here in the city. For all involved -- especially the students -- I hope this effort sparks new conversations, maybe even new partnerships. Likely? No. Possible? Oh, yes. My hats off to Sen. Meeks.

He'd keep an "Open Sesame" to them.

Why would New Trier care about getting the system straight? They're only getting the bare minimum from the state anyways. 99% of their funding comes from property taxes. Funding isn't the issue with CPS. It's corruption and clout within the system and the structure of family priorities within the Black community. You could spend $17k or whatever on each student and it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference.

I think the comment about link cards was downright stupid and racist. Every child in CPS does not receive welfare, nor do they misbehave or come from broken homes. There are many issues that need to be address within CPS, Chicago politics, American families (not just black, dysfunction exists in all of our families), etc. I know cowardly racists like the blogger Mark Toms are grateful for the internet. Where else in this day and age can you be a blatant racist and hide in anonymity (and shame I presume)? Rev Meeks’ plan is stupid, I agree. New Trier deserves everything that they have because the community pays for it. As long as people like Rev Meeks, Al Sharpton and Mark Toms spend time pointing fingers back and forth (while simultaneously deepening the racial and socio-economic divide in this country) instead of making the powers that be more responsible for the inequities in our society we will continue to reproduce the status quo, which is exactly what all of the aforementioned would like to see happen. BTW, this was written by a black, formerly poor, former welfare recipient, educated in CPS who went on to achieve great things. Mr. Toms you should know a lot of more of us exist, but I sure you do which why you are so scared.

David wrote: "Funding isn't the issue...it's corruption and clout within the system and the structure of family priorities within the Black community...you could spend $17k or whatever on each student and it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference." Increased spending would make a difference. A lot more education and programs could be delivered to less affluent communities if their schools were more equitably funded. Should the residents of less affluent communities be required to present proof that all of their families are intact and functional and all of the clout and corruption in the CPS has been reformed, before their districts are entitled to equitable school funding? Isn't that an impossible demand, and an excuse for the State to continue to do nothing to bridge the gap in school funding? Unequal funding of schools of less affluent Illinois communities has been ignored by the state legislature for decades. Reverend Meeks cannot pass the necessary legislation by himself. He has done his job by pressing the issue in the state Senate for many years, without results. With this action, he is now trying to publicize and attract new attention to this issue, with the hope that he can better move it forward in the legislature. Al Sharpton's presence will help accomplish this visibility. For students who participate, this is not unlike taking a field trip to Springfield during school hours, to watch the state legislature in action, except that the students will probably learn more by doing than by watching. By participating, students will achieve a better understanding of the civil rights movement and the role of protest in an unresponsive democracy, and some may also become inspired to stay in school and become advocates for themselves and their communities.

I agree with David, because 1) teachers are told not to 1) use the technologies already in place and 2) correct errors, but instead make the assignments fun. The state will never make the funding equal, nor is it their job. It's up to each community to determine its' future. Money didn't teach slaves and Laura Ingalls how to read, yet they still became educated.

Why don't Meeks and those other poverty ("reverend") pimps take the money they receive ("steal") from worshippers and build up their communities?

Listen folks. CPS gets MORE STATE AND FEDERAL funding than New Trier can dream of having. The reason New Trier spends 17k per student is because their property taxes are jacked up. THEY PAY MORE TAXES. It's quite an easy correlation to make ... more taxes = more school funding. So I guess Meeks thinks this is BS and wants the state (your tax dollars) to pony up even MORE money to bring up that XX,XXX per child figure up. Guess where the state is going to get this money from? It's going to rip it from the backs of every hardworking taxpayer in the State of Illinois. The system needs to be changed, but funding isn't the issue. The problem starts with the families and communities that these children grow up in and ends with the corruption, clout, and waste within the CPS. Want your child to attend a decent public school? Get a job, work harder, and move to a different area.

David, your comments about competence and corruption are a factor, sure, but to argue that families in New Trier township don't have a stake in resolving the inequities in education funding is like saying that families in poor districts don't care about excellence. Btw, I think it would be very interesting to rerun your analysis using some metric other than money.

"...is like saying that families in poor districts don't care about excellence." They don't give a fuck about excellence; shit, they barely give a damn about minimum literacy. And what families are you referring to? The families with a half dozen plus offspring by the same number of different fathers, none of which contributes a dime in support of their progeny? The families whose aunties and uncles can barely read their own names and can count only because that particular mental skill comes in handy when they get change back from their 2am purchase of a forty and some chips? The families that already receive a myriad of financial assistance from this city, county, state and federal governments? The families whose children have open and free access to the many public libraries scattered throughout this city, many built or remodeled in recent years specifically to provide said open and free access? The families whose parent, (singular), prefers to spend the weekend partying, leaving the children home alone, or chooses to bring the little ones along for the all day/all night combination barbecue/booze fest in one of our 'safe' public neighborhood parks? The families whose children skip school, on average, 20% to 30% of the time, spending their days doing God knows what, with God knows who, God knows where, all supposedly unbeknownst to the 'head of the household'? What inequities would you be referring to, anyway? A disparity in the desire to think, act and be responsible? An inequality of self respect, honesty, compassion, common courtesy, common sense, self control, self discipline, common decency, morality, the desire and determination to earn what one receives and to work to achieve one's goals and aspirations, dedication to family, an understanding of the differences between what is right and what is wrong, authentic pride in what merits being proud of, a basic capacity to reason, to consider, to think beyond the tip of one's nose, etc.? I think it would be very interesting for you to rerun your analysis, using some measurement other than your fantasy world of 'everybody's beautiful, in their own way'.

I hope Meeks educates me at the rally.

I also think it starts with the families. Gone are the days where parents sacrifice for their children so they can live better lives. Tell me this, if CPS/funding/etc is so bad, why do I know so many Indians, Koreans and Chinese who come over the United States (Chicago) with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They work till their hands are raw so their children can have an education and attend a university. More often than not, they succeed because of their hard work, NOT more government money and handouts.

Because the people you refer to actually love their children, value their children beyond measure and appreciate the opportunities that America still has to offer to rational, reasonable, hard working, dedicated and honest human beings. Because they have experienced the real absence of freedoms, social, economic and personal; because they have lived where human life is as cheaply held as that of insects; because they care and value, beyond what many native born Americans cannot even remember having ever cared about or valued, those realities of living that we all take for granted and so ignorantly fail to appreciate; because they are incredibly sane human beings, compared to the insane and inane knuckleheads we native Americans have degraded ourselves into being. The saddest and most shameful element to our present state of mind is that we still think we are the bomb, that we are so much better than the rest of the world's human population, so far ahead of the game that we don't even need to think about playing the game, as if we've won and will remain the winners forever. Can we be any more stupid?

There is a problem that needs to be solved. Can anybody give a solution? I hear people criticizing Meeks but gives no alternative solution. Join the fight. This is our America, our children and our community. If you don't agree with his tactics okay but if give comments that will help solve the problem.

Read above. It's called "Working hard and being responsible parents".

I think what Rev. Meeks is doing is wonderful. No one said anything when teachers went on strike for over a month in 1988. And they were asking for more money for themselves. But since more money is being asked for the students its a problem! Now that's a shame. Thank You Rev. Meeks!!!!!!!

The mere suggestion that families in poor districts might care about excellence releases a tirade of social and racial stereotypes. Astonishing. Btw, I didn't expect you to actually take me up on the alternate analysis. A subtler mind would have caught the warning. But not you. No, you assume my name (and other monikers) for snarky sideswipes for a rousing conversation for one. I’m afraid even a New Trier education can't remediate adamancy and malice like yours. My analogy stands just fine. That you don’t like it---or understand it---is a different matter altogether.

I'm a yuppie who says only my way works. I should consider other views too.

Let's see, what did you, originally, actually post? "Suzanne August 18th - midnight David, your comments about competence and corruption are a factor, sure, but to argue that families in New Trier township don't have a stake in resolving the inequities in education funding is like saying that families in poor districts don't care about excellence. Btw, I think it would be very interesting to rerun your analysis using some metric other than money." Then, after I post a reply to your comment, you post the following: "Suzanne August 20th - 11:58 p.m. The mere suggestion that families in poor districts might care about excellence releases a tirade of social and racial stereotypes. Astonishing. Btw, I didn't expect you to actually take me up on the alternate analysis. A subtler mind would have caught the warning. But not you. No, you assume my name (and other monikers) for snarky sideswipes for a rousing conversation for one. I’m afraid even a New Trier education can't remediate adamancy and malice like yours. My analogy stands just fine. That you don’t like it---or understand it---is a different matter altogether." Perhaps a more clearly organized analysis of your comments will help to clarify what is understood and what is not. By inequities in education funding, are you saying that: 1. The total public monies provided to presumably 'rich' districts, from whatever public sources, be they county, state and/or federal, are greater than the total public monies provided to 'poor' districts? and/or 2. That the residents of the 'rich' districts are experiencing an inequity of the costs involved in operating their public schools, compared to the residents of the 'poor' districts? As in, the residents of the 'rich' districts contribute, through their higher property taxes, a larger percentage of the total costs of operating their public schools than the residents of the 'poor' districts do, presuming that said residents pay significantly less in property taxes and, thus, contribute significantly less to the total operating costs of their public schools? and/or 3. That the greater percentage of the 'rich' districts' school operating monies, coming from the pockets of the residents of said districts, is an inequitable burden upon said residents, compared to the lesser percentage of the 'poor' districts' school operating monies coming from the pockets of the residents of said 'poor' districts? and/or 4. That the specific uses both 'rich' districts and 'poor' districts deem appropriate and beneficial, to their public mission of educating the school age children of the residents of same, is, or is not, more relevant to the end goal of educating children than the specific means of financing same? and/or 5. That it is preferable to speak in subtleties, than to say exactly what you mean and mean exactly what you say? and/or 6. That your opinion, concerning the preferred means of funding public education, is that property taxes, as they are currently determined, are inherently an inequitable, and unachievable, means of ensuring each and every school, within each and every district, receives both sufficient and equal monies to accomplish their fundamental mission of providing the opportunity, to the children of the citizens of this state, to receive an education capable of enabling, empowering and preparing said children to enter the adult world as self-supporting citizens? and/or 7. That there is a direct and undeniable correlation between less monies per student and more monies per student, relative to the capacity of any given student's, or group of students', success at being educated? and/or 8. That the definition of educational opportunities includes, as a given, that more monies expended per student results in more opportunity and less monies per student results in less opportunity? Also, where, in your assessments of educational opportunities, do our public libraries stand? And the access, or lack thereof, to the World Wide Web? And the responsibilities, or lack thereof, of the parents, or legal guardians, in the providing of educational opportunities to their children, or wards, as the case may be? And the responsibilities of our business communities, relevant to said educational opportunities, and the affordability of same? And the responsibilities of our educational institutions relevant to said educational opportunities? As for your accusations: 1. You presume that the poster assuming your name is the same as the one responding to, and commenting on, your analogy post to David. You presume in error. 2. Your resorting to describing an accurate assessment of certain social realities as being racial stereotyping is, in itself, stereotyping. If you have empirical and verifiable data to refute the realities described, you are invited to provide it. 3. Your characterization of accurate observations as having their source in 'adamancy and malice', in need of remediation, is indicative of your lack of an authentic desire to 'spark new conversations, maybe even new partnerships'. Any willingness on your part to engage, or are you satisfied with merely retaining your sense of subtlety?

Wow. So many column inches for one reasonable, not so hard to digest observation. Tom, when you have to throw this many words out to refute another's view, you've already lost. Hope they're paying you by the word.

Suzanne. That's the best you have to offer? You got destroyed there.

If you say so.

"Suzanne August 21st - 11:26 a.m. Wow. So many column inches for one reasonable, not so hard to digest observation. Tom, when you have to throw this many words out to refute another's view, you've already lost. Hope they're paying you by the word." So, then, suzanne, you really don't "...hope this effort sparks new conversations, maybe even new partnerships.", do you? As for your fondness for brevity, what are words for, if not to enable individuals to communicate and achieve that rare of all things, mutual understanding? Are you familiar with the acronym 'K.I.S.S.'? I believe it stands for 'Keep It Simple for the Stupid'. Is that your perspective and motivation for your fondness for brevity? Is that why you've chosen to not respond to the specific questions posed and, instead, chose to, in your mind, 'K.I.S.S.'? Perhaps the acronym's more accurate meaning, when applied by you, should be 'Keep It Simple, because suzanne is Stupid'? Or are you merely too lazy, too vain, too adamantly sure of your own inflated ego, to lower yourself to engaging in an honest conversation, albeit one in which not everything you say is agreed with, not everything you believe to be true is proven to be true and not everything you want will be given to you? It's real easy to be vague. It's also safer, for those who have no interest in being held responsible for the consequences of their words and/or deeds. Oh, and my name isn't Tom, regardless of whatever 'subtle' element you may have thought yourself clever for injecting.

... Unless there's going to be 1 teacher per 10 students (god knows how much that is going to cost), some of these schools are hopeless. Just ask any teacher that works at these problem schools. They're basically babysitting a bunch of wild animals. Everyone wants to blame someone else for their problems. More money without working for it. There's only so much the people of Illinois can take. Skyrocketing taxes, sinking economy, corrupt political system, people leeching off of the system ... we're all at our limit.

I must learn manners.

Meeks sent his son to Mount Carmel. Meeks should re-enroll at Harper, to learn not to say "all of y'all" at his televised church services.

You're all crazy. If you want real change, come to me. I have all the answers. Why do you think Ald. Joe Moore trusts me to do his dirty work?

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