♪♪ ♪♪ -[ Chanting ] Leave our schools open!
♪♪ Leave our schools open!
♪♪ Leave our schools open!
♪♪ Leave our schools open!
♪♪ Leave our schools open!
♪♪ Leave our schools open!
♪♪ Leave our schools open!
♪♪ Leave our schools open!
♪♪ Leave our schools open!
♪♪ Fully funded public schools!
Fully funded public schools!
Fully funded public schools!
Fully funded public schools!
Fully funded public schools!
Fully funded public schools!
-I'm not here to speak about how the destruction of NTA and the forced eviction of our high-achieving students are the result of a political ploy by Rahm to court his wealthy white voters.
-Mm-hmm.
-Yes!
-I'm not here to speak about how the closing of all the public high schools in Englewood is the result of systemic disenfranchisement that paves the way for gentrification.
-Yes.
-Yes.
-Instead, I am here to give Rahm one simple message -- this latest round of attempted school closings marks the end of your term in office.
[ Cheering and applause ] When I started doing community organizing, at first, I didn't feel comfortable with that because I'm just like, "I'm not -- I'm just a parent who's angry about something."
But then I realized, well, really, that's what a community organizer is, is a person who's angry about something and who wants to stand up and say something about it.
-[ Chanting ] What do we want?
Funded schools!
When do we want them?
Now!
-But this was the moment for everyone, individually, that said, "This is the moment for me that I have to stand up and do what's right."
-[ Chanting ] If we don't get it?
Shut.
it.
down!
-I was surprised to find out about myself that I'm okay with people seeing me as an angry Black woman.
Like it's okay if you hate me.
Can you get up?
Okay.
Why don't you go to the bathroom and I will -- I'll pull out your clothes, okay?
-Which -- What -- What is next to Pennsylvania and what comes -- -Just south -- Just south of Pennsylvania and Ohio is... -No!
Maryland and West Virginia.
-Okay, go get Maryland and West Virginia.
We don't want to leave them out.
-My husband and I got married in 2004 and we really fell in love with this school, which was National Teachers Academy.
Couple months ago, it came out that we were a Level 1+ school, the highest score that CPS has to offer, and it is based, primarily, on the quality of the teaching at NTA, across all levels, for all the kids.
-Ah, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.
Delicious!
-Alright.
-You guys ready to go?
-Ready.
Go ahead and put your shoes on.
I sprayed them.
Let me see.
Alright.
-Where's my NTA button?
-I have to get another one.
Do you want a Black Students Matter button?
-Yeah.
-I felt the energy in the school.
The way that the teachers interacted with the students.
The way that they interacted with each other.
[ Upbeat jazz plays ] -Good morning.
Good morning.
Where you going, MJ?
[ Laughs ] Hey, Victor!
Can you hold my hand?
Come on, let's go, let's go.
C'mere.
Titi will take you in.
Come on.
Let's go, let's go.
-Mommy.
-Yes.
-Can I go to Harmony's school, too?
Mommy.
-Yes, yes.
-I want to go.
-Okay.
It'll be Noah's turn soon.
[ Crying ] ♪♪ -Let's go, let's go.
[Indistinct] Let's go, let's go.
♪♪ -[ Cheering ] -Hey, hey, hey!
It's just me, everybody.
It's just me.
It's just me.
Hey, [indistinct], I'll take some high-fives.
Here they come!
The NTA Congress!
♪♪ ♪♪ [ Cheering ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Cheering and applause ] So, today it gives me great honor to share with you that this is our first major step in incorporating student voice, student ideas, and student leadership into everything that we do here at NTA and so I'm just so excited about this day for that reason.
[ Cheering and applause ] [ Playing "Hail to the Chief" ] ♪♪ [ Clarinetist playing squeakily ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -'Cause he got it.
[ Cheering and applause ] ♪♪ [ Clarinetist playing squeakily ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] Just relax your arms.
Just relax.
Okay.
Go ahead.
[ Cheering and applause ] -Brilliant.
I don't want you guys to feel embarrassed or bad at all.
You guys did a fantastic job and I'm proud of you, alright?
And we all are.
I know that our boys aren't completely satisfied with the way that they performed right now, but I have to tell you, if anybody's fault, it's my fault because I asked the boys to perform and rehearse this song on very short notice, with only a few weeks.
So, I think, given the amount of practice that my boys had, I think they did a fantastic job.
Don't you agree?
[ Cheering and applause ] It took a great amount of courage for them to try and try again and persist and I know that they will continue to plan and persist and, sometime soon, they will perform again and we will see them prevail even more than we did just now.
Don't you think so?
[ Cheering and applause ] -Meantime, tonight, a proposal to convert an elementary school into a new high school is pitting parents against parents and parents against Chicago Public Schools.
The school in question?
The National Teachers Academy in the South Loop.
-And, Rob, tonight's meeting is a hot topic.
Converting this top-performing grade school into a high school.
CPS officials say it'll be a gradual transition that will accommodate current students, but future families will have to look for other options.
-It's just a lowdown thing for us because we made the school a part of our community.
-So, the proposal is this -- convert the building that you're currently sitting in, National Teachers Academy, from 840 elementary school students to about 1,000 students in a high school.
The elementary school shuts down, but there is a larger elementary school at South Loop Elementary that would be constructed, in order to accommodate more students.
So, the intentions of the proposal, as laid out by CPS, are that merging two school communities will create a stronger academic option for all students.
-Ms. [Indistinct] told me that you have earned a lunch with me today and I'm glad to be spending some time with you, my friend.
-And I got you a fruit.
-You did?
-For my favorite best friend.
-Oh, look at -- Thank you!
Thank you, [Indistinct].
Now, where'd you get this from?
Did they know that you were taking this?
They did?
Okay.
-And I have another one.
-You have another one?
-Surprise.
-Oh, look at this guy!
Oh, man.
This is... -Superman in the future.
-Superman and who's the other character there?
-It is Superman in the future.
-In the future?
Like a robot?
-Mm-hmm.
Half robot, half man.
-Got it.
Next week is the last week of the quarter, my friend.
--huh?
-Grades are going in on Friday.
--huh?
-Yeah.
So, I want to see -- I want to see some top-notch grades.
-I'm frozen in fear.
-Oh, no!
Why, what do you think your report card's going to look like?
-C's, B, and A.
-Okay.
Well, how about this?
On Monday, we'll look at your grades together so that, on Monday, you have a set plan on what to do through the week.
Oh, hello, Yaa.
-Hi, Yaa.
-Come on in, Yaa.
-Ohh.
-[ Laughs ] Come on in.
-Yaa, it's okay.
-You don't want to come in?
Yaa is one of those children who, she consistently earns really good grades, but she has some anxiety that I'm trying to help her work through.
Okay, is that enough?
[ Rattling ] What was that?
Oh, is it?
Okay.
-Yeah.
[ Rattling ] -We'll see.
Socially, she has challenges.
She's very self-conscious.
I've been working with her to try to build a sense of efficacy with her.
-Connect Four.
-Oh!
I was so, so excited about being one step away.
Hey, there he is!
I worry that, if this transition comes to pass, those children may have a principal or teachers who settle for just them graduating from high school or just them coming to school or just them being able to play Connect Four with classmates.
Those things are good, but not sufficient.
-[Indistinct] -Well, that's why you're practicing in small groups.
It's okay.
That's the whole point of practicing.
-♪ Ahhh ♪ -Okay, what's going on right here?
[ Mellow jazz plays ] You ready?
8th graders!
Let's go.
[Indistinct] Who?
Where Ms. Brooks at?
Let me check Ms. Brooks real -- Okay.
Why you in line?
-[Indistinct] -Oh, because you're -- Okay.
Because they got to [indistinct].
I don't care about y'all being with Ms. Brooks.
I run this.
Let's go, 7th graders!
♪♪ That's my thing -- you have to ask.
Y'all can't just not go.
That is my thing, okay?
Alright?
Y'all got to ask somebody.
Don't just go, okay?
Whether it's me, Ms. [Indistinct].
But you got to talk, so she can know what's happening, okay?
Alright?
Good.
♪♪ ♪♪ -Our building at Long Grove, Alderman McDowell shared a big write-up about NTA and some parents were -- the few that I spoke with in our building was kind of a little dismayed and said, "Well, it's a done deal."
I was like, "No, it's not."
It's not, and so we need to keep reinforcing to parents, just because they read that and it was "Alderman McDowell," that it's finished.
-You know, anytime you see a parent that's telling, they say the fight over, tell them, "This battle is nowhere near over."
You know, you still need to encourage them, say, "Hey, we need you to still come to the meeting.
We need you to come here and support the school."
We need to let that parent know, "Hey, this is not over with.
Don't give up."
Because I've had parents call me right now today and say, "JP, they changing the school over."
You know, the first thing I tell them?
"Don't transfer your kid out."
That's what I tell them.
I said, "If I ain't going nowhere, then you shouldn't go nowhere."
So, in the end, we're not going anywhere right now.
-I've always been in love with the city of Chicago and the story of Chicago.
Everything that Chicago has and celebrates today was born out of this neighborhood.
There was over 90 mansions in this area.
The aggregate wealth of Prairie Avenue, there was only one place in the country that could rival, and it was Fifth Avenue.
When I moved to the South Loop in 2003, working as a real estate broker, I was so excited about all the development.
"Welcome to the hottest neighborhood in the country."
You had a lot of young families coming in because of the townhome development.
You had a lot of empty nesters coming in because of the proximity to all the cultural assets of the city.
And you had lots of urban professionals that wanted easy access to downtown.
So, here is "South Loop Rising."
And then one of the stories -- See?
Here I am.
"The activist."
[ Laughs ] I don't really even see myself as an activist.
I see myself more as a -- much larger than that.
Kinda like more like Daniel Burnham, in the sense of like mover of people, right?
Big, big, bringing people together on a large scale and facilitating connection.
I am the president of the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance.
We started to do these social activities to connect people.
Nicole, will you help me?
When you saw the volume of families coming to our events, we realized very quickly that education was key to the long-term development of this community.
Otherwise, people would just move away.
So, where are they going to go to high school?
-♪ Every day ♪ ♪ Is a beautiful day ♪ ♪ Every day ♪ ♪ Is a beautiful day ♪ -CPS made it perfectly clear to the community we cannot afford a new building.
We're going to transition NTA into a high school and that that was the only option that we had.
How's it going?
Did you do a pumpkin yet?
You can decorate both.
-Oh, no, I don't think he did.
Do you want to decorate a pumpkin?
-Here.
PDNA's position was to do what was best for our community, so families would stay here, so the quality of life could be improved.
A lot of people had come together to say this is needed desperately.
And so, yes, you know, the organization, PDNA, decided that we had to, ultimately -- we were forced to take a stand.
-Members of the PDNA, folks in the Prairie District Neighborhood Association, have been calling for a high school to be installed in the South Loop neighborhood for years and years and years.
And threats have been made to City Hall that, "If you do not build a high school here, we will leave Chicago.
We will leave this neighborhood and we are your base."
-I feel like they haven't been to our school, so they shouldn't be speaking on a situation that they don't know anything about.
-It's the fact that they're turning like a minority Black Level 1+ school into a high school and that's just saying -- that's basically saying, "I have this power.
I can take what I want without anybody doing something," which really makes me mad because that's not the truth.
It's like -- -In their decision or power, they're taking that away without considering, maybe, what that means to you or to your families or to this community.
-And they're not even thinking about all the stuff that NTA has to offer.
Like we got iPads, Chromebooks, we have a swimming pool, we have a drama class, Spanish class -- a lot of different stuff.
The thought needs to be stuck in they head like NTA is a force to be reckoned with and that we not just a school, we a community.
-Tonight you're going to a meeting that you're not invited to, so, I think you have this really unique opportunity to have a student voice where you're representing not only yourselves, but your community, and you're also taking back power to the people it belongs to, which is people in this community, right?
Because they haven't asked very many people in this community what they think should happen to this school.
-Yeah.
-Okay?
So, when we go in -- Ms. Greer's going to tell you a little bit about what's on the agenda and then what you guys think we should be messaging to the folks that are there.
-The Steering Committee is the CPS committee that they put together to figure out the transition plan for NTA.
We've had one meeting, so far, and I sat there and I was mad the entire time.
They asked me to be on it, essentially, to try to figure out how to close our school.
-Ooh.
-That's why they want me on the committee.
So, in advance of the second meeting, they sent me the agenda and this is what made me start to think of, "Okay, how can we disrupt this?"
-So, basically, you're backstabbing them?
-Ooh.
-Yes, I am.
That's exactly right.
-I like that.
Yeah.
Yeah, like I said, I like that.
-Right, right.
Clearly, this will be my last meeting because I don't think I'm going to get invited back anymore.
-Right.
-Which is fine with me because this is -- this is a bogus process, right?
And they're setting up this meeting as though this is happening and they actually haven't even officially presented the proposal to the board.
-We're going in to disrupt their meeting, so, you take over the agenda.
-Let's kind of hammer this out a little bit and then I think -- -[Indistinct] has children or family at NTA, raise your hand.
-And understand what we saying and where we coming from and then, too, they need to change they vote.
-So, we have [indistinct], we have teachers [indistinct], we have students.
What about families to support?
♪♪ ♪♪ -I never, in my wildest dreams, thought that I would be doing this.
-Alright, everybody, you ready?
Okay?
That was surprising for me to learn that about myself, that I could call people out in public and be okay and also being okay with disrupting social spaces.
Because that's scary.
-[ Chanting ] We are here to stay!
We won't go away!
-What happen-- -But I want you all -- Excuse me.
I want you all to know... You all had nothing to do with this.
And I'm sorry for it.
-Up until that point, I had never so flagrantly sort of raised a middle finger and said, you know, "This whole thing is a sham."
-[ Chanting ] We won't go.
NTA, we won't go!
NTA, we won't go!
-Thank you.
-NTA, we won't go!
NTA, we won't go!
NTA, we won't go!
NTA, we won't go!
-He said 8th graders, about the 8th graders getting graduated and all, but what about the 4th graders?
What about the 3rd graders, the 1st, the 2nd?
It's not just about us.
I know we're graduating, but it's their school, too.
It's not just ours.
-They still got to -- -They still got to graduate.
[ Voices overlapping ] ♪♪ -I'm very supportive of the youth, so, please open your doors to me.
I'm out.
That's what I do, I love the kids.
I always been involved with the children, even with my own little committee.
I may have 20 kids that I take to the park.
That's just to keep kids occupied, so, please.
I may have 20 kids in my house, just in my house.
-Yes, ma'am.
-Really?!
-That's what I do, so, please... -I be wanting to put them out.
-...allow me to help you all or support you.
-I'm the father of the house.
I be wanting to put them out.
[ Laughter ] I don't know what's wrong with them kids, man.
This girl come in the house, every time she come to the house, she got NTA in the house.
[ Laughter ] I be like, "Alright, where they going to sleep?"
They -- man, they found a pillow to sleep on.
-I make a way.
And they love just being around me... -But how we gonna feed them?
-...just being in my house.
I mean, I do what I do, but anything that I can support the kids [indistinct] do, so please involve me in that, especially during the summertime, please do.
-So, I could carry on a little bit more.
-I'm from the, as we call it -- Y'all call it the South Loop.
We call it the Low End.
Lived down in Harold Ickes all my life.
[ Rattling ] We had 12 buildings down there, one which NTA sits on.
When NTA came up, our local LAC, which is Gloria Williams, passed away.
She said, "You're not going to never put that $2 point million school in the back of these projects, if my kids ain't gonna go to it."
When we first opened NTA, we started off rough, Level 3 school.
Us picking up this wonderful principal, Amy Rome, and we had to tell her, "In order for the school to work, you got to get with the community.
You got to open up the doors for the school, for the families to come in, for the parents to be able to come in and touch basis and see what resources we got."
-Audrey helped us organize these community walks.
-We walked through.
Introduce her, "This the principal, woo woo, you know, when she come through here, y'all need to honor and respect her."
-I think they started to trust that we were there because we were -- wanted to be comrades and colleagues and be really solutions-oriented.
-♪ How about ♪ ♪ Love?
♪ ♪ How about ♪ ♪ Love?
♪ -So, we built that relationship with them and the school began to, you know, come on up.
-Audrey forged the way there to really blur the distinctions between the school and the community.
And there were pretty significant walls there.
-♪ Love ♪ -The projects is not what people think they are.
Everybody in the projects wasn't low-income.
My father was a janitor down at Ickes for like 36 years.
My mama worked for the railroad and the post office, both.
She got like 27 years in each one of them.
I've seen a lot of tragedy down there.
[Indistinct] quite a few of my friends go down.
[ Siren wailing in distance ] So, we had our problems, but I say our good days weigh out our bad days down in them projects.
We'd been hearing way before, years, that, eventually, it was going to go down.
We had a lot of sad days during them buildings' teardown.
You know, our kids was very emotional just every day, looking out the school building, seeing, "There go my room.
The bulldozer just went through my room.
Kwoosh!"
Me and another family was one of the last residents to leave.
It was hard for me to get up outta here.
It was.
It was a struggle for me because I've been here all my life.
[ Upbeat hip hop plays ] ♪♪ What up, child?
What up, baby doll?
What up, baby?
These all my sisters over here.
-[ Laughs ] -The reunion has been going on for over 50 years.
We about to come together for a three-day weekend and do us.
[ Singing indistinctly ] -♪ Feel the rhythm ♪ ♪ Pump up the sound ♪ ♪ I'm feelin' so good ♪ ♪ Don't you know I'm just ♪ ♪ Groovin' to the beat?
♪ ♪ I'm groovin', groovin' ♪ [ Music pauses ] -[Indistinct] -♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Just got paid ♪ -So this was our names when we was younger, the Southside Playgirls.
-Whoo whoo whoo!
-Right, right, right.
-Whoa!
-Oh!
[ Laughter ] -Southside.
You already know we from the Low End, 24th and State Street.
That's where Southside come from.
-Right.
-Yes.
-Playgirls -- it's self-explanatory.
Playgirls is self-explanatory.
-Unh-unh, unh-unh.
-That's who we are.
-Yes, sir.
Not saying that we was players and we all played our men and whatnot.
[ Laughter ] -They so silly.
[ Laughter ] -All five of my kids has graduated, except one, now.
Audrey is in 7th grade.
My daughter, a few of the kids, that's going to be the end of the Ickes kids that started from day one.
Audrey's class is going to be the end of that.
[ Dirge plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -I'm here representing the city of Chicago, the students, principals, parents, and teachers of Chicago.
I guess the mayor had to step out when I came up, but it's cool because -- -Yeah!
-It's cool.
It's cool because I'm here to talk to you guys right now.
I grew up on the South Side of Chicago.
There's just a vast difference between the schools on the South Side and the schools downtown and on the North Side.
Some of the nicer areas have better funding.
[ Applause ] Thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
We partnered up with a bunch of different people and created this movement or call to action to fund CPS, specially schools that were experiencing the most budget cuts.
Yeah.
Here, you guys hold it.
[ Cheering and applause ] There we go.
I've been asking for money for over a year, now, to fund these classrooms and they announced that they have $95 million or that they're proposing to build a $95 million cop academy.
There's a lot of ways to transform the city that don't have anything to do with police training.
This money that was nowhere to be found for so long, but then, when they needed $95 million to build a nice cop academy across the street from one of the high schools that we're raising money for, it's like [ Snaps fingers ] that money comes together like this.
What is y'all doing?
[ Laughter ] What is y'all doing?
-Nothing!
-It doesn't make sense.
When I went to go testify about the police academy, the kids from NTA were there to testify as well, to keep their school open.
-It's not okay for you to take away something that's made us a whole and taught us valuable lessons, to give it to someone else, who hasn't worked as hard as we have.
And we feel -- [ Applause ] -You got it, Mari.
[ Cheering and applause ] -[ Chanting, clapping rhythmically ] NTA is here to stay!
NTA is here to stay!
NTA is here to stay!
-Our kids was so powerful, to the point they escorted us out.
We had to go.
-NTA is here to stay!
NTA is here to stay!
-It wasn't like they seemed angry.
They seemed like focused, organized, militant.
-NTA is here to stay!
NTA is here to stay!
-It kinda made me feel like, "Oh, I'm not doing enough," because like just feeling associated to it isn't enough.
[ Drumbeat ] -Chance chased up behind us, "Hold, hold, hold, hold, hold.
Hey, hey who are y'all, who are y'all?"
He said, "Y'all just killed them in there.
You know, y'all just killed them in there."
That's what I'm talking about.
He took pictures with the kids down at City Hall.
[ Camera shutter clicking ] He's like, "Take my number."
-And we connected and we had planned on meeting later in the school year to, you know, kinda figure things out.
-I don't know if I want -- How are you going to tell me how -- How are you going to tell me how tall I am?
How are you going to -- Rearrange my head?
I'm like -- -You might be like 5'3".
Let's come sit down and I can tell an embarrassing story.
So, first grade, I entered NTA.
I'm a little shy, but then like I broke out of my shell, right?
Y'all want to know my first crush?
He sitting in this room.
-[ Laughs ] Who?
-Messiah.
It was weird.
I used to know how to spell his name.
Like okay, so he used to sit next to me.
We was at the first table.
I remember this.
I sat.
-Hilarious.
-It's this table at the fr-- at the beginning of the class and he sat like right there and I sat like right there and it's like our names was on the chart right at the wall and I used to know how to spell his name from that chart.
-[ Whispering ] [Indistinct] -I used to know how to spell his first and last name.
And -- -That's some creepy stuff.
-Yeah.
I liked him, but he ain't like me back.
-You learned all of that in your first year?
-Yeah.
-I was focused on school.
I'mma put it like that.
[Indistinct] I was focused on school.
Mnh.
-I should've just had you drive me, Mama, because you up.
-Say what?
-Huh?
What you say?
-Had me drive you?
-What you say?
-What did you say?
-What did you say?
-I've raised a whole lot of grandchildren [ Laughs ] in this house.
[ Laughing ] She likes it.
She does well.
She'll tell you her opinion, whether you agree all the time or not.
She's going to petition, she's going to boycott, and she's going to talk to the people in authority.
Somebody called, said, "Taylor's on TV!"
So, when I turned it on, I heard her speak.
I was impressed.
She did very well.
Oh, if I take the 7:54 bus, I will get to school by 8:14, so, I'm cool.
-You going to be late?
-Nuh-uh.
-Okay.
She's a lot like her mother.
She looks a lot like her mother and she acts like her mother.
Olivia had a drive.
She's always progressive.
She wants to do.
The day after Taylor was born, I talked to her mother that morning.
She was so excited about Taylor and she thought she was so beautiful.
She said, "Please come to the hospital."
Okay.
I said goodbye and I told her, "Take care of yourself, girl.
Get some rest.
I love you."
She said, "Okay, Ma.
I'll look for you."
I said, "Okay."
That was the end of our conversation.
Before I could get to the hospital, Taylor's mother passed.
They stood her up, her first time standing up, and the blood clot broke loose from the leg and went to the heart.
The nurse said to me, when I got there, they were crying, too, but it was quick and she was gone.
And looking at Taylor without a mother was really sad.
I replaced her only because I'm the grandmother.
I could never replace her mother.
She would be the same, if her mother was living.
-Well, bye, Mom.
-Alright, darling.
Have a good day.
-Okay.
-Straight home.
[ Dog barks nearby ] -It's just like, you know, how like I feel like people are puzzles.
A piece of my puzzle is missing.
-Put that on the table, over on top of that calculus book over there.
-What does the table signify?
-The table signifies I know where they're going.
-Fluid dynamics.
-Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
-Okay, see?
"Amorphous Polymers and Non-Newtonian Fluids."
-We'll keep that.
That's a keeper.
-[ Laughing ] That's a keeper.
Sounds like a page-turner.
-[ Laughs ] -Both my parents are educators.
I don't think that's why I became a college professor, even though both my parents are college professors.
-Differential equations.
-Uh, hold on.
What is this?
-Melvin, you can't complain about me keeping things.
-I'm sorry.
[ Laughter ] -That's not fair.
-I have stuff I have given away.
This is out.
-Okay.
-My dad is from the South.
He's in his 70s and so, when I told him about what's going on here, he just started laughing.
"This is like the exact same thing that I knew growing up in the Jim Crow South."
-Oh, Melvin, you had this at Morehouse in '61.
-I did?
-Oh, my gosh.
For those of us who come from traditions of HBCUs... -Morehouse College.
1961.
-My husband went to Morehouse.
So did my father and my grandfather.
-Look, you got somebody's phone number.
-I wonder if they're still there.
[ Laughter ] ...there was this very ugly undercurrent in this whole conversation that an all-Black classroom cannot be smart.
It is not an educationally viable classroom.
It can only be good if it's integrated.
That personally bothers me because, now, you're talking about my family, my family history, right?
And there are many parents who either went to HBCUs themselves, or family members.
It's like you're saying that we're not good enough, we're not smart.
-Alright.
I'm actually just going to give you a multiplication problem.
-No!
-Yay!
-Alright, ready?
Here we go.
No talking.
Now!
Shh!
Once I give you the go-ahead, you can erase.
Alright, erase.
Good job.
This makes me happy.
Alright, so, I want everybody to go ahead and think about that one line or phrase from the text that stood out to you the most and we going to do a quick poetic whip around -- we've done it before -- and just go around the table and everyone's going to share their word.
Okay?
Ready?
-"Slavery's still alive.
Check Amendment Thirteen."
-"Black bodies being lost in the American dream."
-"Sweet land of liberty, incarcerated country."
-"Forgive them, Father.
"They know this knot is undone."
-"Prison is a business, America's the company."
-Alright, so, let's take a moment and look at these lyrics.
What is the connection between these lyrics and the Thirteenth Amendment?
What's the connection there?
Take a moment to think about it and gather your evidence.
-I feel like when it's saying "Slavery's still alive.
Check Amendment Thirteen," it's kind of referring to the fact that, due to mass incarceration of Blacks, it's sort of connecting to back in the day, to where slavery was still alive.
The Thirteenth Amendment isn't really freeing us.
It's still -- They're still using its loophole to continue with the acts of slavery.
-We heard a lot in 2013 on the news about failing schools and failing schools.
So, we are -- -Not failing.
The -- You know, we are like an A+.
We are level 1+, like what else can we do?
We're doing everything that we've been asked to do.
-This is my neighborhood school.
When I sent my kid here -- I live in a condo that's between, you know, 18th and 19th, in between Clark and State.
There are 250 homes.
Two hundred fifty homes with lots of kids.
My kid was the first one in my neighborhood to come to this school.
So, there are a lot of people at South Loop Elementary School who won't come to this school and I kept saying, "Why?
Like why?
I don't under--" "You're not sending your kid there with those kids, are you?"
I'm like, "What kids?
I don't understand," like, you know.
So, to me, this whole thing is about race, 100%.
That school is overcrowded because people were afraid to send their kids here and nobody wants to say it.
And, now, it's not enough that they're overcrowded because they wouldn't send their kids here.
They're going to take our building for their kids to have a high school.
It is unfair.
[ Whimsical jazz plays ] -When our daughter was kindergarten age, there wasn't a good public school that was within our boundary.
South Loop Elementary School was probably in the bottom 5%, if you looked at metrics in 2003.
I mean, it was really terrible.
So, at the time, Arne Duncan was the chief executive of the Chicago Public Schools and the relationship really developed because he personally recruited our family.
And so, our daughter actually enrolled in the first gifted kindergarten class at South Loop Elementary.
When we started there, the school was 97%, 98% African American, maybe 99% African American.
By the second or third year, and once we got buy-in from the neighborhood, the character of the school definitely changed.
And, once we were able to institute kind of proper decorum and behavior and, really, expectations, the children took to it.
By the time my daughter left, after 7th grade, we had become a school of choice, but we could also see the neighborhood was developing, such that we would -- we would need to start having a place for those graduating students to go to high school.
Arne Duncan went to become Obama's education secretary and Ron Huberman was appointed by Mayor Daley to become the new CEO of CPS.
I had political connections and so we were able to get meetings with Mr. Huberman and talk directly about the high school option.
Ron was very receptive and we pitched, at the time, the National Teachers Academy.
You have all this excess capacity at NTA.
You have tremendous overcrowding and loss of resource rooms at South Loop Elementary.
Why don't you combine the two areas into one K-12?
You could give families that got into kindergarten knowing that they would be in the area all the way through high school graduation.
There were a certain amount of parents that were very concerned about the neighborhood of NTA, basically, because they'd never been over there.
There was a liquor store nearby.
It wasn't seen as the greatest place.
There was kind of a rush to quell those concerns by talking about having -- having a separate entrance, not really being integrated.
-The proposal included every measure that they could take where their kids would not be at all mixed or merged with the NTA students.
Separate entry time, separate dismissal time, separate main office, separate lunch and, you know, eating situations.
They wanted their kids not to go to music or art or recess or gym or anything with the kids from NTA.
-This ain't segregation.
We ain't doing that.
You all can come in here, we'll welcome, welcome you right on in, your whole school.
This building holds 1,100 kids.
Come on in.
-I don't think it was ever racial because South Loop Elementary's always been a majority minority student population, but it was more economic and classist.
-You know, the families in South Loop were calling themselves things like pioneers, in terms of coming there, which, to me, is disgusting, It's, you know, it's such disregard for the people who had been there before.
So, I think it was dehumanizing and disgraceful.
-So the end result was, "Let's give up on this plan."
South Loop didn't solve its overcrowding problem.
They didn't get the classrooms at NTA and Ron Huberman leaves, Mayor Daley leaves, and, now, Mayor Emmanuel comes in with all new executives and so you start the process all over again.
♪♪ I've learned that gentrification or development in an area creates tension and, certainly, through the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance, we're exposed to a lot of that tension.
I've been fighting this battle for over a decade.
There's no question that a high school is needed for this area.
[ Cheering and applause ] -Funding quality education for public students is the most important investment a community can make.
-Amen.
[ Applause ] -After meeting us, Chance the Rapper said he would find a way to help us.
He went on social media and he posted about NTA and stuff.
[ Twitter notification whistle ] -We had planned on coming up to the school to kinda lift spirits and work with the students.
-I mean, that whole day, the kids, "Ms. Audrey, Ms. Audrey, what's the surprise?
Woo woo."
They see GCI come set up.
They ready.
They ready.
I mean, ugh, got my kids on 10!
Ready!
-I just wanted to go by there and CPS barred me from going there.
I was just like, "Damn, y'all don't want -- I'm not allowed to go on the property?"
They're like "No, you cannot step foot on the property of that school."
I'd been spending the year visiting schools and even being asked by CPS to visit certain schools.
For them to tell me that this one school, that's actually in danger of being another shutdown public school displacing Black kids in the city made me feel like a lot of -- some of the stuff that, maybe, they were asking me to do was more for symbolism, rather than actual action.
-My network chief told me really clearly over the phone that I needed to shut down the event, shut down the visit, or I'd be fired.
I tried to reason with him about why Chance coming to NTA was special and why, as the principal, that was a decision I was not comfortable making.
And he said, "You can either cancel the event or you can be fired," and he asked me what I was going to do.
He said, "So what is it going to be?"
And I wasn't able to make a decision in that moment, so we just sat there on the phone for a few seconds before he finally decided to end the phone call and he said, "You've told me all I need to hear, Isaac, goodbye."
-Why is it so hard for him to come here?
He could go to any other school and there ain't no problem.
And they sent our principal down there to a meeting.
I'm just hoping he not in trouble.
I don't know.
I'm too upset to even keep talking to y'all.
-Within, then, about a half hour, I got an email from someone high up in CPS, requiring me to go to a meeting downtown.
Saw, in the meeting room, the CEO, Janice Jackson, and the director of employee engagement, and, on that particular day, I had a Black Students Matter shirt on, so, she looked at the shirt and she said, "You know, we've given you a lot of chances.
We've been really patient with you.
Everyone that we've talked to about you has said that you're a really great principal, you're a great person, but, at this point, it's really hard for me to believe that you're not coordinating and collaborating with your parents to fight against this school action."
[ Mellow funk plays ] -Whoo!
-And she pointed to my shirt and she said, "I mean, right now, you're wearing a shirt that is from an organization that is obviously anti-CPS."
-[ Chanting ] When our schools are under attack, what do we do?
-And I was taken aback a little bit by that statement because I don't see the shirt as an opposition to Chicago Public Schools.
I see it as something that Chicago Public Schools ought to clearly advocate for and support.
-NTA is a Level 1+ school.
When, ever, in the history of CPS, have they tried to close a 1+ school in Chicago?
-Never!
-Never!
-What they were experiencing and what we were all witnessing together was a movement of parents devoted to saving their school.
[ Vehicle horns blaring ] [ Cheering ] ♪♪ And Dr. Jackson said, "Yeah, but you can't be part of that movement."
I said, "I'm not part of that movement.
I'm part of the NTA community, but I'm not the one leading parents in their efforts to try and save the school."
-[ Chanting ] Save our school!
[ Voices overlapping ] Dr. Jackson and the lawyer there asked me to put my official statement in writing, in response to the allegations that I was coordinating and orchestrating the parent opposition to the plan, which I did.
-We made an agreement before we did this action that today we not getting arrested.
-I still have not yet heard from CPS.
-Today, we get out the street voluntarily.
In a minute, you going to be like, "We ain't getting out the street."
-[ Voices overlapping ] -We ain't getting out!
-No!
[ Cheering and applause ] We ain't go!
-Whoo!
-You got to take your mind off of "We don't have power" and realize the power you have.
-Yes!
-This is our power!
♪♪ -You got to make sure that the learning you're doing shows up in your grade.
It's in your head.
It's in your brain.
It needs to go on your paper and on your test and in your homework.
To be successful in an environment where you're teaching a group of students who look different from you and whose culture is different from your own, you must listen, you must study, you must pay attention to the culture around you.
My first year as principal, here at NTA, school year 2013, NTA was designated as a welcoming school which means that we became a school that students from a closed school would attend.
And so, when the students came to NTA, it was an uneasy process because, although I and the staff here were welcoming the children and wanted them here, there was still apprehension.
-Isaac had it rough.
-It was rough.
-He had a hard year.
-People didn't necessarily trust him, as a leader... ...and it ended up being more chaotic and chaos.
-There were some mistakes where the kids were hurt and like things did not go well.
-We had a major fight that happened outside the school and my solution was to buy all the kids pizza the next day and have a big circle and talk about what had occurred and that couldn't have been further from the right solution because the message that kids got from that was, "If we fight, we get pizza."
-People, I think, gave him the benefit of the doubt for a while, and then people started saying, "We don't think you should stay," and that was really hard for him.
-They needed someone who would step up in times of crisis and, too often, I failed to do that.
I shrunk from the crisis, rather than rise up to it.
I don't think it's fair, at all, for anybody to only get one shot at something.
I said, "He deserves another year to get it right."
-In my case, it required me to be very aware of how my race, immediately, as soon as students walk into the classroom, are impacted by that, by me being a white male.
There's immediately a barrier there between me and them because of their perception of whites, of white males, perhaps, of what they think I think of them, and so, the way -- one of the ways that I, I think, got past that with my children was by making sure that they understood that I had very high expectations for them and I was going to help them meet those expectations.
...you wouldn't forget to include them.
-Not necessarily.
-So, usually, except on the -- -Not, but, not necessarily.
Do you believe me?
-I'm just the type of person who doesn't want to ask to be like, to be included.
I just want people to include me.
-Yes, of course.
Everyone wants to be loved and popular and "Oh, where's Yaa?
We've got to have Yaa in our group!"
-I'm not saying I want to be popular.
-But you want people to want you around, right?
-Right, I don't want to be -- -Okay.
-I don't want to be excluded.
-Okay.
But you -- -It's hard for me to come out my shell.
-Well, that's what I'm -- that's what I'm going back to, is I want you to work on finding your voice.
-I'm just afraid that someone might hurt my feelings or like they won't like me or something like that because I know I have trust issues.
I don't trust everybody.
Like -- -Here's the next thing I want you to start thinking about, okay?
-Okay.
-I want you to start thinking about how to advocate for yourself with friends.
Being a little bit more vocal -It's just hard.
-when you see -- I know it's hard, just like asking questions was hard, but when your friends are planning something that you're interested in, you can say, "Hey, guys, what are you talking about?"
-[Indistinct] -But listen, but do that, okay?
With your friends, when they plan a trip or they do something else and you're not included, you're assuming that it's because they don't want to talk to you or they're trying to leave you out, and they're not, exactly.
-No, not trying to leave me out.
Just forgetting about me.
-That may be, but my advice to you is, when you use your voice more, when you make sure that your friends see you, hear from you, know that you're interested in them, that will make a difference.
Because, if you don't advocate for yourself sometimes no one else will.
There won't be a Castelaz around or a teacher around or your parents around to do it.
You're going to have to advocate for yourself.
-I don't know.
I just -- ...and that... -And you still have left out all of Canaryville.
You have left us to the wolves, basically, at this point, because our only school option is Tilden, a Level 2, gang-infested school that is in need of intensive CPS support.
-I've seen firsthand, students come from hardworking, taxpaying families, and can't afford a private education.
The only option in Bridgeport and Canaryville is to attend a neighborhood high school that has a long history of underperformance and violence.
The children in these communities deserve a quality education, therefore, I'm asking that CPS reconsider the boundaries to include all of the Bridgeport and Canaryville communities.
-Hi, there.
My name is Niketa Brar and today I'm going to talk to you about the word dogwhistle.
A dogwhistle is when you talk about race without ever using the word race.
A speaker spoke about families in his neighborhood are good, taxpaying families who deserve access to this new high school.
Well, who's not good?
Who's not taxpaying?
Hmm, that makes me think of my status as an immigrant in this country and who is taxed and who is not allowed to be taxed.
And then, earlier, there was a retired teacher from Holden who spoke about very good family values and why students from Holden should be taken because they add value to the new high school.
That's a really fascinating context because, again, that school does not have a large population of Black students.
That assumes that you can't have a high-quality school, if you have too many Black students.
And the good news is we have a case that demonstrates that that is just absolutely not true and that case, ladies and gentlemen, is National Teachers Academy.
[ Cheering and applause ] -It's not great to have people get up and call you a racist at community meetings.
-We became the, you know, evildoer.
It certainly was never about power or racism for us.
Certainly not for me.
-I didn't appreciate the racist tone that they took in their arguments because I don't think that that was valid, but I understood where they were coming from.
-We didn't want to be -- you know, have, you know, NTA against South Loop or PDNA against NTA families.
That was never, ever, the intention.
The last thing we wanted to do was steal a school from somebody.
If you merge the two schools together, they're all going to have a great elementary school.
And we would have a neighborhood high school.
There is a lot of disparity, that it doesn't seem fair, you know, that some schools get closed, others don't.
I had to ask myself the question of, "Should I be speaking out for the larger issue, which is a citywide issue, of disparity in education?"
And this was not an easy question for me to answer, but in the end, what I felt is that I really, my role was really to advocate for my community.
-I believe some of the presenters have accused us at the board and CPS management of fostering racism.
This decision, somehow, disadvantages Black and brown kids.
Why do people think that we're closing NTA when, in fact, we're converting it?
-I was just going to say, I think what we've heard from community members is that they would like NTA to remain in its current state, so, any change to that is viewed as a closing or a loss for the community, which we have heard and, obviously, have to respond to.
The school is a wonderful community and we agree with that and I think that the students who attend this school for elementary school will continue to get a high-quality education in the elementary school and they will also be able to attend this school for high school and I think that that is a strong plan and a plan that we stand by.
-We will not let them take us down!
We will fight for our school!
We will fight for the children, not just NTA kids, our city!
[ Cheering and applause ] -That's right!
-We will not let politics take us down!
[ Cheering and applause ] All our kids need help, support!
They need to be back in school!
Now, don't get me wrong.
I'm in my feelings, y'all.
-That's okay.
-I'm in my feelings.
-You're alright, Audrey.
-Every time I talk about the kids, I'm in my feelings.
-Speak the truth!
-Yes!
-As of yesterday, it'll be 13 kids, I'mma go to a funeral.
Yesterday I seent a boy laid dead in front of my building.
-My God.
-56th and Michigan.
-Talk about it.
Yes, ma'am.
-Young lady walking past and got shot right with him.
-My God.
-Lucky she didn't die.
But the young man did.
Why?
They don't have nothing to do!
School saves kids!
-That's right!
-We got to love the kids, whether they yours or not.
-Yeah, say that, Audrey!
[ Cheering and applause ] We got to love the kids!
-It takes a village!
It takes a village.
-[ Chanting ] NTA is here to stay!
-NTA is here to stay!
-NTA is here to stay!
-NTA is here to stay!
-If Ida B was here today, [ Clapping rhythmically ] she would stand with us and say!
-We choose public school!
We choose public school!
-If Malcolm X was here today, he would stand with us and say!
-We choose public school!
We choose public school!
-If MLK was here today, he would stand with us and say!
-Fired up!
Fired up!
[ Voices echoing ] [ Cheering and applause ] -Let's do this!
Let's do this!
-Do our thing.
Now, if you could keep the sign down because this is about a family that lost their son, okay?
And then you can do all your stuff, but they've been waiting since 8:00 am, okay?
We really -- We really appreciate you guys being respectful while they talk.
Thank you.
-[ Chanting ] Mic check!
-Mic check!
-Mic check!
-Mic check!
-Mic check!
-Mic check!
-My name is Miracle Boyd.
I'm a sophomore from John Hope College Prep and we are here today to -- we're demanding that CPS stop the vote on the phaseout.
CPS plans to close NTA, John Hope, Hope, Harper, Robeson, and TEAM Englewood, so, we're here today and we demand that our mayor stop inconveniencing us and our teachers, our parents, and everybody else.
-[ Chanting ] If we don't get it?
-[ Chanting ] Shut it down!
-If we don't get it?
-Shut it down!
-If we don't get it?
-Shut it down!
[ Clapping rhythmically ] -Hey hey!
-Ho ho!
-Rahm Emmanuel has got to go!
Hey hey, ho ho!
Rahm Emmanuel has got to go!
Hey hey, ho ho!
Rahm Emmanuel has got to go!
Hey hey, ho ho!
-This family lost their son.
-Rahm Emmanuel has got to go!
-We moved upstairs... -Hey hey, ho ho!
-...but we can hear you.
Can you give us five minutes?
-Rahm Emmanuel has got to go!
Hey hey, ho ho!
-Their son was -- -Hell no.
-Rahm Emmanuel has got to go!
-Hey hey!
-[ Voice drowned out ] -Hey hey, ho ho!
-Will you open our schools?
-But, you guys, there's a family that lost their son by a drunken police officer -- -[Indistinct] -I understand, but can you -[ Voices overlapping ] -give us five minutes?
I know.
I understand.
But can you give us just five minutes of quiet, while they do their news conference?
Because they've been waiting all day.
And then we'll -- And then you can -- -[ Chanting ] What do we want?
-[ Chanting ] Public school!
-Can you do it for us?
Five minutes -When do we want it?
and then they'll be done.
-Now!
-Because we're hearing -What do we want?
-all the noise up there.
-Public school!
-When do we want it?
-Now!
-What do we want?
-Public school!
-When do we want it?
-Now!
-When our schools are under attack, what do we do?
-Stand up, fight back!
-Mr. President, these items do require a vote.
-If there are no objections from my fellow board members, please apply the last favorable roll call vote with the noted abstention.
-The vote now has been secured.
The board of education approved the NTA high school proposal.
-We heart NTA, or...?
-Yeah.
-There were a lot of long faces.
-Some of the kids had tears in their eyes.
Some of the kids even asked me, "Ms. Brooks, do we come to school tomorrow?
Does this mean that we don't have school tomorrow?"
So, trying to get them to realize, "It's not over.
You do have school and it's okay.
Your school is here."
-Even though this decision has now been made, regardless of what the Board of Education has decided, we still believe in our children.
It looks like he knows what he's doing and it's all neat and boutique and it's in order and it's like, "Hey, I got this.
Remember you are loved"!
[ Dirge plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Indistinct conversations ] [ Laughter ] [ Shoes squeaking on floor ] -[Indistinct] -Good, good.
[ Indistinct conversations ] -I'm ready to graduate.
-You ready to graduate?
-Yeah, we ready to graduate.
-Let me put on my robe.
-Ah, ah.
Ah, ah, ah.
Let me see your mouth.
-Shake on the bottom, receive on top.
-Today has been a long time coming.
When we at NTA first discovered CPS' plans to close our beloved school, we immediately reached out and sought legal counsel.
[ Poignant tune plays ] We are a school that should be modeled throughout CPS.
[ Cheering and applause ] And today, as we celebrate our graduating 8th graders, we are so proud of the leadership they have shown.
-Many of you in this room and many of our children on this stage have advocated deeply... -Yes, sir.
-...publicly, emphatically, to save our school.
You see, we love our school, don't we?
[ Cheering and applause ] -Yeah!
-We love each other.
We love everything that we've built here together.
-We have protested at board meetings and we have protested in the streets.
Today, we are protesting by filing a lawsuit.
A coalition of lawyers have filed an injunction today [ Cheering and applause ] to stop the closure of National Teachers Academy.
-Starting today, we will be ignored no longer.
-Honor student Taylor Wallace.
[ Cheering and applause ] Honor student Messiah Armster.
[ Cheering and applause ] Honor student [Indistinct].
[ Cheering and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -I know that graduating from NTA has given us all on this stage a huge passport for the future and I know that we are ready for everything the futures hold.
Dream, believe, and achieve.
We are the class of 2018.
[ Cheering and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -So proud of you.
-Thank you.
♪♪ -[ Chanting ] NTA is here to stay!
NTA is here to stay!
NTA is here to stay!
NTA is here to stay!
NTA is here to stay!
-[ Laughs ] -Drove 100 miles just to be here.
-We shaking, we shaking?
How about a hug?
-Shake-hug.
-[ Laughs ] ♪♪ We are suing for two main reasons.
Number one, we are suing that it is a violation of our civil rights because you are burdening a protected class -- African Americans.
We are being put at a disadvantage.
And the second piece is that we are suing because the CPS has been in violation of the Illinois School Code, a set of instructions for how you do a school action, and there are many different steps that you are supposed to take before you take action upon a school.
And CPS, basically, they violated it in five different ways, which is, basically, they violated the whole code.
Yes.
-Would this be happening if it was a majority white school?
And that sits and cuts right into the racialized history of the city and what communities have felt, time and time again.
-In 2013, when they closed all the schools, many, many people sued and none of them were successful.
The legal system was always able to fall back on, "Well, the school's underutilized," or "The school's underperforming."
Here's the thing -- none of the lawsuits, none of the schools, none of the situations, were the same as ours.
[ Scraping ] -The cumulative effect of everything that, you know, I've experienced as principal, but, most importantly, this community has experienced, I think takes its toll after a while.
If CPS knew that I was -- ...that I was being interviewed by you and participating in your -- your documentation of the fight to save NTA, I would definitely be fired.
I have no doubt about it.
Yeah.
Because education, as I said, in one of our early interviews, is something that I think can be the great equalizer in our country and so, if someone can take something from this experience or from my experience as a principal or from our children or others who fought to keep NTA open, then I think it's a risk well taken.
Those are all the things you said it takes to work well with another person.
Look at the one that you think is most important to you and your teammate.
Talk to the person that you're working with and tell them which word you selected and why and then begin your work.
-Mr. C?
-Yes.
-I'm going to need some help on this one.
-You're going to have to -- You're going to have to find some help from a friend.
You've got Jay-Z there.
You got Brandon there.
-Do you guys think this looks good?
This one -- -You asking for help, Yaa?
-Kind of.
-You said you were going to need some help.
Who helped you?
-Mmm...sorta.
-Who helped you?
-Jaden told me it looked good.
-Alright, anything -- -I don't know how to -- -Did you ask for help?
-I don't know how to put this piece in.
-Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
-Alright, there you go, Jaden.
There's your cue, buddy.
-Okay.
-Because right here because it goes in this part, but this part, this one is blocking it.
-You look at the web there of working well with others.
What quality did you show and what quality did Jaden show?
-I think I showed courage?
-Okay, good.
-I showed courage because -- because I asked Jaden for help, instead of being afraid to ask him.
And Jaden showed -- And Jaden showed understanding because... ...he understood like what I was going through.
-Mm-hmm, alright, good.
Good, that's right.
[ Mellow jazz plays ] -I think it's hard when people -- people who don't know you talk bad about you.
The things that they are saying about you are based either on their own racism or on lies.
So many ugly things have been said about us, about our children, about our color, about our ability to learn.
And then when that narrative gets elevated to a citywide level and then becomes a structural issue, as a reason why they should shut you down, then it becomes personal because, now, you're talking about my kids.
That's where the pain comes in.
♪♪ If we lose this...
...I don't know if I have it in me to keep going.
[ Turn signal clicking ] We keep putting forth these valiant efforts and we keep losing.
♪♪ Alright, love you.
Bye.
Have a good day.
Bye, Noah.
Love you.
Have a good day.
Thank you.
♪♪ [ Bell ringing ] -I made sure to get to the courtroom before anybody else.
I wanted to get there as early as I could, so that I could just be alone a little bit with my thoughts.
There was this terrible sense of uncertainty.
-We go in there, the judge finally comes in, so, it's dead silent and it's packed.
-As it pertained to city law, he ruled that there had been no violation and, when he said that to us, you know, my heart, which had been pounding, now sank.
-You know, it was just -- It was so devastating, in that moment, [ Sniffles ] to think that we tried, but we failed again.
[ Cries ] And then, he said, "However..." -"However, in the cast of the Illinois Civil Rights Code... -...you know, I do find that it has merit and that it will stand.
-And therefore, the court rules to grant the injunction."
-[ Sobbing ] -I love you, Mr. C. I love you, man.
-Love you, too.
-I'm done.
I wasn't going to cry.
I wasn't going to cry.
-Doing it.
[ Laughter ] -[ Sniffles ] -Today at 3:25, the judge granted our -- [ Cheering and applause ] -Okay.
We would not have won, if it were not for Candace.
She was the one who wrote that fifth claim, the civil rights violation, and that was the claim that did not get thrown out and is the reason why we got our injunction.
-Do you feel like they should just drop it and -- [ Laughter ] I mean -- -I mean, that -- Yes, [ Laughs ] it certainly seems like a prime time to do it, but that is something that they'll have to decide.
-This is not the end, right?
So, they wanted it to be very clear to us that this is not the end, that we still have a lot more to go, we got a long road ahead, but we were all sort of given permission to enjoy the moment.
-♪ We are family ♪ ♪ I got all my sisters with me ♪ ♪♪ ♪ We are family ♪ ♪♪ [ Cheering and applause ] -I'm in shock because I -- you can't go 20 months of people telling you you're full of [audio drop] and there's nothing there and then all of a sudden they finally say, like, "Yeah, you were right."
-Well, CPS might file some sort of an appeal to the injunction -Yeah.
-or something like that.
-They will.
But we're ready for it.
-They will?
-Yeah, they likely will.
They have to... -He used to work here.
[ Hip hop plays ] -What?!
What?!
-What happened?
[ Cheering and applause ] -Attention, NTA [indistinct].
Families.
We have an important announcement to make.
[ Cheering and applause ] Juan Perez Jr. of the Chicago Tribune is reporting that Chicago Public Schools is abandoning [ Cheering and applause ] its plan to turn NTA into a high school.
[ Cacophony of cheering and applause ] -[ Chanting ] NTA is here to stay!
-NTA is here to stay!
-NTA!
-Is here to stay!
-NTA!
-NTA is here to stay!
-NTA!
-NTA is here to stay!
-NTA!
-NTA is here to stay!
-NTA-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!
[ Cheering and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪
