Delmarie Cobb

TBTNEWS COMMENTARY

Why I Mourn

Special Correspondent: Delmarie Cobb

Yes, I am in mourning. Not because Rahm Emanuel was re-elected Chicago’s mayor, he’ll be O.K. win or lose. His friends will be O.K. The city’s wealthy and real middle-class will be O.K. I mourn for the people who are witnessing the ongoing death and destruction of their respective communities. I mourn for the handful of aldermen, who want to save their communities, but are fighting an uphill battle. I mourn for the children in Chicago Public Schools who are being kicked around like footballs in this political scrimmage to decimate the Chicago Teachers Union.I mourn for the parents who’ve lost children to the street’s gun violence. I mourn for the out-of-work employees who can’t find meaningful employment that would allow them to become homeowners, raise a family and see their children earn a college degree or learn a valuable vocation.I also mourn for the death of the black community as we remember it. The hunger strikers, who are fasting to keep Walter H. Dyett High School open for all students are all that stand between destructive public policies and the last vestiges of what we consider to be a community.How do you kill Chicago’s vibrant black communities? First, you move jobs from the city to the suburbs or in the case of Nabisco to Mexico. Next, you privatize as many city jobs as possible. Then, you demolish public housing, relocate residents with no resources, destabilize working class neighborhoods, take decades to rebuild, horde $440 million slated for the Chicago Housing Authority and allow 280,000 poor people to sit in limbo on a waiting list. Once the lack of jobs, the high cost of living and the unsafe streets force 200,000 middle class black people to abandon the city, the final step is to close neighborhood schools--the last anchor of a community.The 12 Dyett High School protestors, who are starving themselves to get the mayor’s attention, are emblematic of what’s been happening to the city’s black communities for decades. When people are hungry, they become depressed, unpredictable, desperate, lethargic, ill and possibly die.A great many people in our communities are lethargic and some are even dead inside. When people are hungry, a cracker can taste like a steak. In the big scheme of things, that’s all black communities are being offered—a cracker. Money can be found for everything else, but rebuilding our communities. For years, while neighborhood schools were closing, 100 new schools were being built by Mayor Richard Daley.This mayor often refers to the bad decisions that got us into our current mess in the abstract. Like his predecessor, Mayor Emanuel is continuing the practice of finding money for his “wish list” ahead of the city’s “needs list.”I don’t totally fault either mayor for advancing their respective visions and priorities for the city. It’s human nature to push the envelope to see just how far you can go without being held accountable or stopped.That’s when the city council is supposed to exert some muscle. Instead, rubber stamp aldermen and a mostly compliant council handed over the authority they were given by voters and let both mayors have their way. Now, our city leaders find themselves with an increasing debt, a shrinking population to generate taxes and other revenue, and their hands out to the same people for whom they have such disdain.The slow and deliberate death of Dyett was a choice. The mayor and his hand picked CPS CEO’s and board chose not to let any new students enroll at Dyett for the last four years. They chose not to put any resources into the school or students who were there. They chose to blame the teachers, students, parents and community for poor performance and lack of support.Yes, there are many lessons to learn from the slow decay of Dyett; the 12 grandparents, parents, education activists and community supporters who are putting their lives at risk; the board’s lack of transparency; and the silent elected officials. The biggest lesson, however, is the one they no longer teach in Chicago Public Schools—civics.The greatest remnant of our democracy remains one person-one vote. No matter how rich or poor we are, we are all equal on Election Day. In April, more than 849,000 voters chose not to go to the polls. They decided their one vote wouldn’t count. They didn’t consider 848,000 of their neighbors were thinking the same thing.Yes, I’m in mourning. I’m in mourning for the elusive day when we take control of our own destiny and say, “enough is enough,” and finally realize the only people we should depend on to care about our respective communities and quality of life are us. That's what the Dyett 12 represents.