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PAULO FREIRE, THE WORLD-RENOWNED Brazilian educator,
would have turned 86 years old this May. And although
much has transpired since Freire wrote his seminal text,
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, what seems to have remained
constant, or deepened, are the structures and politics of
inequality that breed poverty and human suffering.
Impoverished communities today face the dreadful consequences
of an intensifying economic malaise. Former
opportunities for work and earning a decent livelihood
have disappeared, as communities struggle to maintain
their dignity in the face of monetary collapse. Many
oppressed communities have also been forced to contend
with the debilitating impact of being turned into quasi-laboratories
for the benefit of university educators, researchers
and organizers. And, though some of their efforts may have
been positive, more times than not, the gains are short
lived, as ‘traveller’ educators, researchers, and organizers
complete their projects and move on to slay new dragons.
In Freire’s work, he constantly sought to ask, as should
we, how can those who enter oppressed communities labor
in ways that respect the wisdom, cultures, and histories of
the oppressed. This is particularly important, given a mainstream
culture of ‘expert’ intervention with its emphasis on
quick-fix solutions. Too often such efforts, inadvertently,
splinter and uproot community self-determination (albeit
unintentionally), as community members become objects of
study to be used for purposes beyond their own interests.
CHALLENGING UNEXAMINED ASSUMPTIONS
By the same token, when efforts are made to honestly challenge
unexamined assumptions or practices, those from
oppressed communities are accused of being too political,
abstract, or ideological, whenever they seek more grounded
dialogue. Again Freire is useful here, for he reminds us
the importance of resisting discourses of fatalism and the
conditioned responses of urgency, in the name of expediency.
The truth is, chronic problems in most poor communities
have existed for generations. Yet, suddenly when
‘traveller’ agents deem the old problems ‘urgent,’ there is a
scramble for immediate repair, even when proposed
actions might stifle community participation.
It is not surprising, then, that the politics of expediency
often functions as one of the cornerstones of liberal
approaches to problematic community intervention.
Rather than to seek organic opportunities for voice, participation,
and social action among community members
themselves, a premature leap, for example, into a welldefined
‘Rights’ campaign can lead to premature solutions.
What must not be ignored here is that solutions anchored
in ‘Rights’ are often much more compelling to white educators,
researchers or organizers, since it allows them to feel
secure, competent, and comfortable leading. This, despite
their lack of lived knowledge about the manner in which
generations of racism and poverty can disable community
empowerment, through conflict, dependency, and despair.
In many ways, Freire’s work strongly spoke to the need
for a decolonizing approach to community education,
research and organizing. He signaled the need for a critical
approach to community development, one that instills a
sense of intimacy and openness about grappling with
class, cultural, gendered and racialized differences, within
the context of any community project for change.
This calls for a community politics that begins from
the lived experiences of community members, with faith
in their capacities to contend with their own issues in
creative and vital ways. Hence, ‘traveller’ educators,
researchers, and organizers must work with community
residents from inception, so that when university agents
leave, the community is left
stronger for the relationship,
rather than more weakened, used,
and maligned.
Central to Paulo Freire’s work is
an expectation that our engagement
with community members
will be anchored in honesty, faith,
and love—which develops over
time. Through forging such relationships,
we are able to participate
together in naming the history of
formal and informal power relationships
that not only reproduce
inequalities, foster manipulation,
and inscribe dependency, but also
the many solutions anchored within
the reality of each community.
This is to say that a recipe approach
to education, research, or community
organizing—whether legal,
scientific, or political in nature—
functions against critical community
empowerment.
In contrast, community work, with an eye toward a liberating
intent, must take into account multiple histories of
survival—including those shaped by racism, sexism, class
inequalities, homophobia, disablism—recognizing that all
community relations and processes are historical and cultural
in nature. Firmly rooted in a complex yet transformative
intent, such community efforts against oppression
acknowledge both the power of indigenous identities and
the power of collective existence.
This is particularly the case where pragmatism and expediency
are privileged over a historical understanding of
complex social phenomena. A phenomenon often aided by
the gaze of ‘traveller’ educators, researchers, and organizers
who spend a few months in a community and then think
they ‘know’ what the community needs, thinks, or who they
are. But now, even better than those who have been
oppressed and have worked for decades to disrupt these
structures of inequality.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
In an effort to disrupt commonsense meanings, Freire spoke
to the need for a more transformative approach to our work,
one which acknowledges both the power of subordinated
identities and the power of collective action. Inherent to this
decolonizing perspective are important questions for reflection
that we must hold as central in our efforts.
Who produces, analysis, and makes conclusions about
the multiple and often divergent narratives or political
needs of the community? Whose interests does the timetables
and research agendas of political interventions serve?
Who consumes the program or research and toward what
ends? What leadership and organizational structures, as
well as communication styles, are being utilized to create a
more solid grassroots political mobilization? What privileges
and economic interests enable the production and
consumption of education and research? How can these
function in the interests of the residents’ long-term, as well
as short-term, needs?
Questions like these are key to the manner in which
education, research and organizing are conducted, the
analysis of research is developed, and the products of education,
research and political organizing
are utilized. Moreover, there
must be a manner in which to not
marginalize these questions as
‘abstract’ in favor of ‘practical’
questions, by those more aligned
with mainstream notions of community
organizing.
CULTIVATING POLITICAL
GRACE
At this point in our long history of
battling racism and economic
injustice, there must be a way that
we can sit together with open
hearts and minds, in order to grapple
with a more complex understanding
of what it is that we each
bring to the table. This begins with
recognition that we carry different
knowledge and perspective,
grounded upon our personal histories
of survival and struggles
against oppression.
Above all, we must acknowledge that the work we do
within communities, we also do for ourselves. Our work
as critical researchers, activists, and organizers must be
seen as a two-way street—a partnership that is carried out
through mutual respect, learning, struggle, and vision.
Hence, there is no way that we can be involved in the
work to transform social inequalities, without also opening
ourselves to critique and a decolonizing process that
challenged the negative impact of our own entitlements,
entanglements and privileges.
As Paulo Freire often reminded us, the struggle for
empowerment must be both pedagogical and political.It
requires a solidarity that is founded upon shared power,
where differences and disagreements are not demonized or
falsely contained, but rather welcomed as the fuel for creatively
learning about our place in the world
Such political grace, requires that we recognize that, no
matter from where we enter the room, our labor as educators,
researchers, and organizers must ultimately also be
about ‘saving our own lives.’ For Freire, this meant a grace
born from teaching and learning together, in ways that
affirm our humanity, while yet, steadfastly, challenging the
social and material conditions of alienation, greed, and
dispossession.
There is no question that this requires enormous patience,
fortitude and wherewithal. However, it is also an approach
that, in the long run, may leave communities more armed to
contend with on-going and future issues and concerns of
oppression—long after ‘traveling’ university educators,
researchers, and placeless political organizers are long gone.

The hard truth of the matter is that the regime of monopolyfinance
capital is designed to benefit a tiny group of oligopolists
who dominate both production and finance. A relatively small
number of individuals and corporations control huge pools of
capital and find no other way to continue to make money on the
required scale than through a heavy reliance on finance and
speculation. This is a deep-seated contradiction intrinsic to the
development of capitalism itself. If the goal is to advance the
needs of humanity as a whole, the world will sooner or later
have to embrace an alternative system. There is no other way.
—John Bellamy Foster
Monthly Review, April 2008
DEBT
WE LIVE IN AN ECONOMY that has become deeply dependent
on the American consumer for growth. U.S. consumer
spending accounts for nearly 70 percent of the US gross
domestic product. Consumer credit and mortgage debt is
a higher percentage of disposable income now than ever
been before. The US population is $5.3 trillion in debt. In
fact, the credit industry is monopolized by 10 credit companies,
who control almost 90 percent of the credit card
market, based on credit card receivables outstanding
(Source: FDIC).
• About 43% of American families spend more than
they earn each year.
• Average households carry some $8,000 in credit
card debt.
• Personal bankruptcies have doubled in the past
decade.
FORECLOSURES
Up to 4 percent of America’s mortgaged homeowners
might lose their homes to foreclosure in coming months, as
those homeowners find themselves trapped by heavy debt
and the housing slump. That’s four times worse than the
historical average of 1 in 100 mortgaged homeowners who
fail to keep up payments. The national foreclosure rate has
climbed 27% from a year ago with an estimated $110 billion
worth of homes expected to go into foreclosure.
National foreclosures are expected to hit 1.2 million to 1.3
million by the end of the year. $1 trillion in mortgage debt
will come due next year as the rates on millions of adjustable
loans reset, sending individual monthly mortgage payments
hundreds of dollars higher. In one case, a family started with
a “teaser rate,” paying just $1,700 a month. They thought it
was fixed, but it wasn’t. With rising interest rates and deferred
interest, the monthly payment has now ballooned to $3,700
a month. They can’t afford to pay it and, worse, they will
probably lose their home and all they have invested. Unfortunately,
this family is not alone.

AS THE ECONOMY SHIFTS INTO REVERSE gear
and the Congress and President work out
the details of a proposed fiscal stimulus,
some are asking whether it will be enough
to keep the economy out of a recession.
The answer is very likely no.
The timing, length, and depth of a
recession depend on many variables and
is therefore difficult to predict. But there
are certain things that we already know.
First, we are witnessing the bursting of an
unprecedented bubble in house prices.
Nationally, a loss of wealth of about $8
trillion would be necessary just to bring
these prices back to their normal longterm
trend. Even conservative estimates
of the effect of such a drop imply a decline
in consumer spending of $400 billion, or
about 3 percent of GDP. Some economists
think it would be much more than that,
because of the expansion in recent years
of consumers borrowing against the (previously
rising) values of their homes.
We also have the first official GDP
growth numbers for the last quarter, which
show the economy at a near standstill with
just 0.6 percent annualized growth. Consumer
spending, which accounts for about
70 percent of the economy, has been holding
up; but this cannot last as the price of
homes that people have been borrowing
against continues to fall.
The size of the proposed stimulus,
which is about $150 billion, is just not
large enough to compensate for the kind of
spending declines that we can expect. Near
the peak of the housing bubble in 2005,
homeowners were cashing out about $780
billion in home equity at an annual rate.
Although not all of this was used for consumption,
a lot of it was; this ‘ATM
machine’ has now run out of cash.
It is worth looking at the total fiscal
stimulus provided by the federal government,
when the last huge asset bubble—in
the stock market—burst. The federal budget
went from a surplus of 2.4 percent of
GDP in 2000, to a deficit of 3.5 percent of
GDP in 2003. This is about 6 times the size
of the proposed stimulus package,
although the federal government will automatically
provide at least some more stimulus
than the current package, as tax revenues
fall and some social
spending rises.
Based on the experience of
the last three recessions, the
Center for Economic and Policy
Research has estimated that
the next recession could
increase unemployment by
3.2 to 5.8 million people, and
poverty by 4.7 to 10.4 million,
with at least 4.2 million also
losing health insurance. The
range depends on whether it is
a mild-to-moderate recession
like the last two (2001 and
1990–91) or more severe as in
1980–82.
Given the magnitude of the risks and
economic pain that our economy is facing,
it is imperative to demand measures that
will soften the blow—especially for the
most vulnerable, including the elderly,
unemployed, and poor. The package that
passes Congress, despite some positive
additions by the Senate, will be especially
inadequate in this regard.
Out of the Great Depression came the
New Deal, which included Social Security, the
legal right to organize unions, unemployment
compensation and other reforms that transformed
the United States into a more just
society while setting the stage for the post-
World War II boom. Over the last 30 years,
the country has become vastly more unequal
and economic performance has also deteriorated
with the ascendancy of the Right.
We are not facing a depression, but the
hard times ahead will highlight the need
for structural changes such as universal
health care and labor law reform. These
and other major reforms—including a bigger
and ‘green’ fiscal stimulus that would
reduce carbon emissions—should be
pushed to the top of the political agenda.

AMID ALL THE REBOLU (as we often say in Puerto Rico) about
the upcoming democratic primary on the island, the issue
of poverty seems eclipsed. In the flurry of exchanges by
those who often begin by stating their cultural credentials,
newspapers and blogs perpetuate sound bites that sing to
the interests of Democrat elites and their supporters, on
both sides of the Obama and Clinton camps. In the midst
of this cacophony, few express any real concerns for Puerto
Rico’s increasing economic woes.
It is disheartening that even many who reside in Puerto
Rico echo the shallow refrains and fling the stale accusations
of political party machines who convince voters that winning
the election is far more important than addressing real issues.
Instead of utilizing this significant moment in Puerto Rican
history to openly challenge persistent federal economic policies
that have intensified poverty, many insert their voices
into the mainstream political debate to express a celebratory
gushing of Puerto Rican cultural pride, seemingly oblivious
to the historical impact of colonial conquest.
Rather than forthrightly demanding that presidential
candidates, preparing for their foray into Puerto Rico’s
political arena, speak clearly and candidly about future
economic policies to dramatically impact Puerto Rico’s
poor and working class, they are satisfied mimicking
mainland nonsense. Namely, whether it is Hillary Clinton
or Barack Obama, who is less stained by shady political
or personal acquaintances, current or past. Or,
whether Puerto Ricans will determine the outcome of
the race, given the newly acquired ‘poll power’—even if
they will not have the right to vote in the actual presidential
election.
It seems we all need a reality check. Puerto Rico, colonized
for over 500 years under the guise of extinguished
indigenous claims to sovereignty, has been in
the hands of the United States since 1898, when it was
surrendered as war booty, after Spain’s loss to the U.S.
Actually, what remains veiled in U.S. historical accounts
is that for Caribbeans, the Spanish American War, as it is
known, was actually the struggle for the independence
of Cuba and Puerto Rico from Spanish colonial rule. At
the end of war, however, the U.S. gave Cuba its freedom,
reneging on its promise of independence to the people
of Puerto Rico.
Hence, the U.S. initiated its 110 years of environmental
degeneration of the island’s natural resources, control of the
political economic domain, and wholesale disrespect for
the self-determination of Boricua citizens. Since inception,
U.S. relations with Puerto Rico have been founded on a
politics of deceit, dispossession, and outright usury of colonial
subjects as fodder for foreign wars, labor exploitation
for economic profit, experimentation with population control
programs, and as a strategic site of military operations,
including the testing of radioactive weapons on Vieques.
Today, the Puerto Rican economy is still below that of
Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation. More than 45%
of Puerto Ricans live below the poverty line. Eight-seven
percent of Boricua children are on the National School
Breakfast and Lunch Programs—considered to be one of
the best indicators of poverty in a region. The unemployment
rate is 12%, with approximately 3% of the population
homeless or permanently unemployed. Puerto Rico’s
per capital personal income is approximately one-third
that of the U.S. Such poverty prevails on the island,
despite a recent U.S. Treasury Department report that indicates
the return on capital for corporations in Puerto Rico
to be five times larger that those on the mainland.
Meanwhile, necessary debates related to economic disparities
and the island’s growing economic woes are overshadowed
by popular mythical rhetoric of presidential candidate
virtues. In the process, a new realm of exploitation seems to
have emerged—the seduction of the Puerto Rican vote. Thus,
the past disregard of Boricua voters is now replaced by a frenzy
of solicitation, since neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack
Obama has managed to secure the 2025 delegates required to
seize the Democratic race. Such a lead would have automatically
prized Puerto Rico’s delegates to the first place candidate.
You might say that Puerto Rico continues to live out it
function as booty, but this time in electoral wars.
Hence, all the rebolu. Puerto Rico’s 63 delegates are now
an enviable prize to be grasped for their temporary use by
the neoliberal elite, the same power elite who in a recent
federal legislative poll expressed absolutely no interest,
whatsoever, in welfare reform for the island. These are the
same neoliberal guardians—whether female or Black—of a
political economy that has perpetuated the impoverishment
and environmental demise of not only the people of Puerto
Rico, but the vast majority of the world’s population.

IN A SCHOOL AUDITORIUM FILLED with mostly
Latino and African American and some
white students, parents, and teachers,
Andersen elementary school parents asked,
“What does phasing out feel like? What
research has been done on the effects on
children and the community? Eradication!”
THE POLITICS OF ERADICATION
On Feb. 27, the Chicago Board of Education
voted to phase out, close, or consolidate
10 schools and turn over 7 others to a
non-profit “turn-around specialist.” All,
except one, are in working class and lowincome
African American and Latino communities.
This is the latest round of Chicago’s
Renaissance 2010 plan to close neighborhood
schools and reopen them mostly
as privately run charter or selective enrollment
schools.
Since 2004, Chicago Public Schools
(CPS) has closed 56 schools. Ren2010
schools are not required to have elected
Local School Councils and charter schools
are non-union. As in past years, the Board
ignored the pleas, protests, demonstrations,
and data of students, community
members, teachers, unions, and school
reform organizations fighting for their
schools and the resources and support they
need to improve them.
The Board’s rationale is the schools are
plagued by persistent ‘failure.’ But school
staff and parents point to CPS’s legacy of
failure to provide necessary resources and
support, and failure to build on the
strengths of schools in African American
and Latino communities. This year the
rationale was under-enrollment.An example
is Andersen with a capacity of 1200
students which CPS said was 47% utilized.
But teachers and parents who knew how
space was actually used knew differently.
CPS didn’t account for Andersen’s
extensive special education program,
which required very small classes. Another
case was Abbott elementary school which
CPS claimed was under-utilized, but this
didn’t include a charter school and preschool
in the building. In fact the building
was fully utilized. On the other hand, 24 of
CPS’s 108 Autonomous Management Performance
Schools (AMPs), considered
some of the ‘best’ schools, are underenrolled—
some significantly more than
schools that were closed. Yet, no AMPs
schools were closed.
SO WHAT IS GOING ON?
Those fighting Ren2010 say the real agenda
is to privatize public education, weaken
unions, eliminate local school councils,
and gentrify and displace communities of
color. A parent put it succinctly: “We’re
being pushed out of the city under the
guise of school reform.”
A study by UIC’s Data and Democracy
project (www.uic.edu/educ/ceje/ or
www.uic.edu/cuppa/voorheesctr/) shows
closed schools are clustered in areas experiencing
high rates of gentrification. In 2006,
CPS closed Collins High School and
“rebirthed” it under Ren2010. Collins is on
beautiful Douglas Park in an African American
community which has been disinvested
in for decades. Now, $450,000 condos
are springing up around the corner. At the
time CPS announced plans to close Collins,
developers were planning to build 245
homes priced between $250,000 and
$600,000 about a mile from Collins.
Andersen, which is 73% Latino, 18%
African American, and 94% low-income,
is located in a prime gentrified neighborhood
with an active real estate market in
$1 million-plus homes. The board voted
to phase out Andersen and replace it with
a clone of LaSalle Language Academy, a
highly prized selective magnet school.
Andersen students, many of whom speak
Spanish as a first language and have been
reassigned to other schools, would have
to join the citywide competition for
admission to a school that emphasizes
world languages.
THE STRUGGLE OVER SCHOOLS
Schools are crucial community institutions.
Closing them destabilizes a community,
encouraging families to move. Abbott
is the only school that serves Wentworth
Gardens a public housing community
where residents fought for the right to
return after it is renovated. Abbott’s
African-American students were to be
bused nearly two miles to a neighborhood
with a history of racist violence. Closing
Abbott would undermine a community in
an area next to gentrification.
These decisions are made without regard
for the knowledge and wishes of communities.
Plans to close schools were announced a
month before the Board’s vote. Most public
hearings were held downtown at Board
headquarters, away from the community.
People had two minutes to testify and could
not ask school officials questions, organize
the order of their presentations, or use
power point. Anderson organized five bus
loads of children, parents, and teachers to
testify for over three hours unanimously in
favor of keeping their school which had won
awards for achievement. CPS voted to close
it anyway. Only Abbott, who also had a wellorganized
campaign, was able to prevail.
This is way more than a school plan.
Ren2010 was proposed by the Commercial
Club of Chicago—the most powerful corporate,
financial, and political elites in the
city, whichset up a public-private partnership,
Renaissance School Fund, to oversee
it. Ren2010 is linked to the agenda of
Mayor Daley and the Commercial Club to
make Chicago a first-tier global city in
which financial and corporate interests,
real estate development, and high paid
knowledge workers are primary, labor
rights and the voices of people of color are
squashed and working class people of
color are policed and displaced to the margins
of the city. The struggle over schools
is fundamentally about the right to live in
the city.

Marching so proud throughout his life
Many remember how he stood—
He was a foe of tears and strife.
Always standing for what was good!
He stood up tall, he stood up proud,
Marching with me Brothers along—
He knew the Truth, and spoke it loud,
As we all sang our Union song!
For most of the last century,
He stood for what he knew was Right!
He stood against War’s treachery,
But he was not afraid to fight!
The kind of war that Bob stood for
Was never that crime in Iraq,
But for the Hungry, and the Poor,
Be they white, or Asian, or Black…
Standing besides him on the street,
Each of us with banner in hand
We felt we could not know defeat
With Bob there supporting our stand!
He’ll always be there in Spirit
When the time to march comes again!
If we live like Bob lived it,
Then we can do nothing but win!
His Life was a lesson he left,
So we would all know how to live.
And though our hearts are now bereft,
We thank Bob for what he had to give?

AS ONE OF THE ORGANIZERS for the campaign
to get a Women’s Center on the UIUC campus,
I’ve had a unique opportunity to see
the lives that such a center can touch. I’ve
also had an opportunity to visit Women’s
Centers at other colleges and see the impact
they make on campus life. Perhaps one of
the most important reasons for a Women’s
Center is the many opportunities it provides
women from different classes, races,
sexualities and abilities. The Center would
also serve as an open venue for women
scholars, writers, artists, and musicians
who to come speak to our campus community.
It can be a place where classrooms
and meetings can be held safely, a place to
centralize the many resources we have on
campus, and a place to learn about the
variety of struggles and obstacles that all
women face.
This isn’t to say that the already existing
services aren’t amazing. They are. But
they just aren’t adequately sized for a campus
of our magnitude. Perhaps a campus
of 4,000 could operate efficiently with a
two-office, Women and Gender Studies
Program. A campus of 40,000, however,
needs much more. At the current staffing
ration, we have 1 staff member per 8,000
students—and that doesn’t even take into
account the needs of women faculty and
staff who could benefit from such a Center
on our campus.
The fact that UIUC doesn’t have a
Women’s Center speaks volumes about the
institution’s attitude towards women. The
university is willing to invest 80 million dollars
on renovations of Assembly Hall, while,
in the same breath, telling students that
there is no money for funding a Women’s
Centers. As a consequence, the Allies For A
Women’s Center have come together to
work for change.We hope that now and

”I’ve heard that’s a dangerous area.”
”Have fun in Rantucky. That place is so ghetto.”
THAT’S WHAT I HEAR whenever I tell a person that I teach in
Rantoul, Illinois. These statements are almost always braced
with a “How do you do it?” or “I could never do that.”
A THRIVING PAST
In decades past, there were very different perceptions
about Rantoul. Rantoul was seen as a town with dedicated
and successful people. Within the last fifteen years, the
perceptions of Rantoul radically changed. Beliefs about
the community transformed Rantoul from a successful
town to one that has had to deal with the destructive
impact of poverty on a daily basis. Rantoul’s economic
woes are a microcosm of what is happening to families
who live in impoverished working class communities
throughout the U.S.
Like many other cities, Rantoul has a very rich history.
It was once the site of Chanute Air Force Base (AFB).
Chanute AFB became the location where the United States
Army Air Service Technical Training Command was established
in 1941. During World War II, thousands of airmen
received technical training through this program. Chanute
AFB continued to be a vital part of the local community
after World War II. Chanute provided the majority of the
jobs in Rantoul. The population also surged due to the
base. The taxes funding the schools were substantial.
There was a strong home life for the students with
involved parents. Rantoul was an example of a positive
community. Then, certain events occurred and peoples’
perceptions changed.
Chanute Air Force Base was officially closed in 1993. The
aftermath devastated Rantoul. Thousands of jobs with living
wages disappeared with no replacement. The school system
not only lost a major source of tax income, but they also lost
one half of the entire student population. Ninety teachers
lost their jobs during the school district’s reduction in force.
At the school where I teach, J. W. Eater, 70.5% of students
are now eligible to receive free or reduced price
lunch and labeled ‘economically disadvantaged’. At J. W.
Eater, approximately one out of every four students will
transfer to another school district or be a new student. It is
these students who daily face the issues of poverty.
CURRENT DIFFICULTIES
A major problem facing Rantoul is something over which
the students have no control, the circumstances and educational
background of their parents. After the base closure,
Rantoul’s job market became minimum-wage, lowskill
service-sector jobs. Some parents came to Rantoul
due to the availability of such jobs, since they did not have
the skills or educational background to be employed in a
professional job. These parents likely did not receive the
educational training necessary for professional jobs
because of the socioeconomic struggles of their parents
and so on back into the past.
These generational issues of impoverishment put students
at a disadvantage. I have encountered parents that
lack the knowledge to help their child with homework. I
have students regularly ask me for school supplies,
because they are unable to purchase them. Many parents
have rightfully put survival as the priority. It is disingenuous,
callous and morally wrong to hear politicians and
pundits demanding that these students ‘pull themselves
up by their bootstraps’ when many of the children,
through no fault of their own, have no proverbial boots of
which to speak.
The mobility rate for my junior high students clearly
shows the trend that parents move to where jobs are. With
the rapid mobility of students to leave or enter the district,
teachers face major problems. There is little continuity in
what and how something has been taught. The children
are not able to develop rapport with other students and
their teachers, nor are they able to get in the habits of what
is expected of them. Yet, teachers are being held accountable
in standardized testing for all of these factors over
which they have no control.
All the students at J. W. Eater are expected to take the
Illinois State Achievement Test. The scores from these tests
are then used to determine if the school has made Adequate
Yearly Progress (AYP/’meeting or exceeding standards’),
according to No Child Left Behind. The federal
government divides the scores into different subgroups—
by race, special education, and economic disadvantage. A
percentage benchmark of “meeting or exceeding standards”
is developed by the state. If any one subgroup fails
to meet/exceed the percentage, the entire school fails to
meet AYP. My school has failed to meet AYP due to the special
education subgroup.
While having standards and holding schools accountable
is an excellent idea in theory, No Child Left Behind
standards and expectations fail to recognize the realties
in many classrooms. Special education students have
documented evidence showing that they have cognitive,
developmental or emotional disabilities that make them
unable to meet the same academic expectations as their
age appropriate peers. However, these students are
expected to meet or exceed the same testing standards as
their non-disabled peers. These students have significant
difficulties meeting or exceeding the standards. These
difficulties are compounded by the economic problems
that they face at home.
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
Yet, hope is not lost for towns like Rantoul. Hope can be
found in J. W. Eater being recognized by the government
for significant gains in learning achievement. These
achievements are a testament to the work ethic and dedication
of the families who work and live in Rantoul. The
teachers at Eater provide developmental learning skills for
these students—from math formulas to positive conflict
resolution skills. It takes a lot of patience, but it is worth
every moment.
By no means are the solutions to the issues in Rantoul
going to be found overnight. But when people talk about
Rantoul, they should focus on the tireless efforts of the
community members who work hard to provide for their
families. They should focus on the children who work
hard at school. They should focus on the Rantoul citizens
who positively contribute to their community. They
should focus on how the families at J. W. Eater came
together to donate more than 4,000 pounds of food to the
Rantoul Community Service Center. Despite all of their
challenges, these families support teachers and do what
they can to ensure success.
As I tell my classes, people will rise to the expectations
you have. When people only report negative stories or
prejudicial stereotypes about Rantoul, it is a self-fulfilling
prophecy. When we believe that people can achieve anything
to which they focus their efforts, the positive results
begin. Rantoul deserves our support and belief in the community’s
abilities. For those who ask me “How can you do
it?” I usually respond with “How could I not?”

There were three referendum questions
that citizens intended to propose be placed
on the November ballot. Despite there
being no legal requirement that such proposals
be submitted in advance, a meeting
packed with Democratic Party stalwarts
defeated all three in the name of ‘democracy.’
But it seems that the result was
ordained more by ‘Not Originated By Us’
than by any actual flaw in the proposals.
All three proposals were something a
thoughtful Democratic voter, as well as
many independent voters, might support –
but none bore the stamp of official Democratic
Party prior review and approval.
Despite the many complaints from
Democratic loyalists that the township
meeting was a problematic way to place
questions before the voters, all such questions
placed on the ballot in the recent past
have drawn majority support from Urbana
voters. Perhaps it was the case that the
township meeting is too democratic, and
not enough officially Democratic, that is
the problem that the Democratic Party saw
with the process.
Here are what citizens proposed to be
placed on this November’s ballot, in order.
The first two were actually proposed from
the floor and defeated, while the third
never made it that far:
1. ”Shall Cunningham Township
and the City of Urbana post all
contracts and itemized expenses
on their websites so that taxpayers
can see how their money is
being spent?”
2. ”Shall the voters of Cunningham
Township call upon the City of
Urbana to place a binding referendum
on the April 2009 election
ballot asking whether Urbana citizens
want to change from the current
system of plurality voting to
Instant Runoff Voting ensuring the
winning candidate always receives
a majority of the votes cast?”
3. ”The City of Urbana will commit
to a study of the feasibility of the
municipal ownership of the city
water company.”
The first was reportedly proposed by
local Libertarians and seems like good governmental
practice. Denying voters the
chance to vote on this question will
inflame conservative sentiment in Urbana,
as well as foster support for the Green
Party, which makes a point of supporting
governmental transparency.
The second proposal was a voting
method supported by many in Urbana,
although it has also been supported by
both peace and Green Party activists. Ironically,
such a proposal could lead to solidification
of a progressive political agenda in
Urbana. However, a progressive agenda
without control by the Democratic majority
seems to be a threat to the interests of
Democratic Party loyalists.
The third proposed referendum has
drawn verbal support by Democratic
Urbana officials, including the Mayor,
although the meeting’s results calls into
question whether this is only nominal support,
without any real commitment other
than empty pandering to voters angered by
rising utility costs and erratic service.
The defeat of all three shared two common
factors. First, there is the fact that it
was the Green Party 2004 candidate for
governor, Rich Whitney, who first pointed
out that annual township meetings are
viable ways for citizens to gain direct
access to the political process under state
law, leading to the placement of a number
of referendums on the ballot in both
Champaign and Urbana in recent years.
Democrats offered a variety of convoluted
and tortured explanations to argue
against any changes to the agenda, which is
how such questions are placed on the ballot
for citizens to decide and which the
agenda purposely didn’t include. Most
telling was that a few older citizens were
overheard talking among themselves about
whether or not any specific proposal was
‘on the agenda’ before they voted at various
points in the meeting. It seems they were
briefed to oppose anything proposed from
the floor, no matter how good the idea
might be or whether or not they disagreed
with it.
One African-American citizen expressed
the notion that the very idea that citizens
could organize to place referendums on the
ballot was a nefarious process directed at
depriving them of their hard-fought right of
access to voting. Unfortunately, the false
pretenses that seem to have been deployed
to persuade people to come to the meeting—
just this once—may indicate less of a
commitment to the black community by the
Democratic Party than seemed to motivate
many citizens doing its bidding that night.
A great deal of effort was expended preventing
the exercise of democracy as provided
for in state law. All of it seemed to be
orchestrated by the idea that only proposals
approved by the Democratic city council
majority—who happened to simultaneously
constitute the township board—are
acceptable. In Urbana, it seems that unless
one has already persuaded this ‘central
committee’ of the value of a proposal, it
will now be dead on arrival. Sadly, this
result will likely undermine the interests
of the Democratic majority more than it
will aid it. Many Democratic Party supporters
are independent and thoughtful,
thus are unlikely to be taken in by the tendentious
reasons offered by party insiders
to prevent adding any referendums to the
November ballot.
Essentially, the result clearly signaled
that the public will not in the future be
allowed to place any referendums on the
ballot via this legal method at the yearly
township meeting, unless they have been
first vetted a month before by the elected
officials. No independent citizen input
allowed. Period.
So who exactly is preventing the people
from ‘speak[ing] for themselves’ as many
claimed to be the case in their argument in
favor of defeating the motions? Unless you
still believe in the tooth fairy, it wasn’t
those who wanted the voters to have the
final say on these issues.
What’s so amazing is that it was the
FEAR that questions put on the ballot
would enjoy wide support and result in
wins for all three questions that seemed to
motivate the Democrats’ ire. If proposals
from the floor of the meeting were really so
unrepresentative of the way that voters in
Urbana think, then all that needed be done
was let them be voted on in November and
watch them get defeated.
Thus the folks that the Democratic
officials turned out, with instructions to
prevent any additions to the agenda,
could just as easily be described as displaying
“naivete, immaturity, and irrationalism,
that is entirely counterproductive
to their stated goals,” as one local
Democrat later remarked about the dissent
crushed at the meeting.
Needless to say, the final judge of what
should be an acceptable resolution should
be the voters. The result that night was
exactly the opposite. The voters will NOT
be consulted on these issues.

The federal poverty line has traditionally been used to
measure whether families have incomes high enough to
enable them to meet basic needs. Yet most researchers
now agree that a “poverty line” income is not sufficient
to support most working families. “Basic family budgets,”
individualized for communities nationwide and
for type of family (e.g., one parent/one child, two parents/
two children) offer a realistic measure of the
income required to have a safe and decent though basic
standard of living.
Family Budget Calculator lets you determine the
income needed for particular types of families to make
ends meet. Because costs of goods and services vary
across the U.S., the calculator customizes the budgets
for every U.S. community—over 400 in all. Simply
select from one of six family types, pick a state, and
then select a community to see how much that family is
likely to need for housing, food, child care, etc. The calculator
also shows the percent and number of families
in that state living below the family budget level.
It is important to note that a basic family budget is
indeed “basic.” It comprises only the amounts a family
needs to spend to feed, shelter, and clothe itself, get to
work and school, and subsist in 21st century America.
Hence, it includes no savings, no restaurant meals, no
funds for emergencies—not even renters’ insurance to
protect against fire, flood or theft.
*Note: These family budgets are for the year 2004.
ILLINOIS TOTALS
Percentage of all people in state living below family
budget line 22%. Number of all people in state living
below family budget line 488,000
BASIC BUDGETS FOR CHAMPAIGN-URBANA
1 parent/1 child
Monthly housing $611
Monthly food $265
Monthly child care $472
Monthly transportation $275
Monthly health care $245
Monthly other necessities $237
Monthly taxes $167
Monthly total $2,272
Annual total income $27,264
1 parent/2 children
Monthly housing $611
Monthly food $405
Monthly child care-9 $763
Monthly transportation $275
Monthly health care $285
Monthly other necessities $274
Monthly taxes $103
Monthly total $2,716
Annual total income $32,592
2 parents/1 child
Monthly housing $611
Monthly food $448
Monthly child care $472
Monthly transportation $375
Monthly health care $313
Monthly other necessities $286
Monthly taxes $247
Monthly total $2,752
Annual total income $33,024
2 parents/2 children
Monthly housing $611
Monthly food $587
Monthly child care $763
Monthly transportation $375
Monthly health care $350
Monthly other necessities $323
Monthly taxes $178
Monthly total $3,187
Annual total income $38,244
You can find out what the monthly basic budget for your
household should be by visiting: http://www.epi.org/content.
cfm/datazone_fambud_budget

HEARTLAND ALLIANCE, AN ANTIPOVERTY GROUP based in
Chicago, has just released its report on poverty in Illinois
and in individual counties. The statewide reporting is
based upon 2006 data. The picture is not very pretty.
Overall, poverty increased in Illinois from 10.7% of the
population in 1999 to 12.3% in 2006.
Poverty is not random across groups. Extreme poverty
is defined as living on an annual income or less that onehalf
of the federal poverty line, or below $10,000 dollars
for a family of four. Nearly half of the people in extreme
poverty in this state are either children, seniors, or people
with disabilities. The overall picture is:
• 680,000, or 5.8% of our population lives in
extreme poverty.
• 853,063, or 6.8%, live between 50% and 100% of
the poverty line
Another 2,004,651, are classified as being “at risk” of
falling into poverty. These are people who live between
100% and 150% of the poverty level (988,100, or 7.9% of
the population), and those who live between 150% and
200% of the poverty line (1,016,551 or 8.1% of the population.
These two latter categories combine made up 16%
of the state’s population. In addition, the data reveals a
severe racial and gender disparity in poverty in our state.
The report does not break down the data by race or
gender for Champaign County, but the aggregate data are
nonetheless significant. In 2005, there were 29,800 people
in this county were living in poverty. The poverty rate was
17.7%, well above the overall state rate of 12%. The
monthly earnings in the county for new hires had fallen
4.6% between 2004 and 2005. In 2006, the average wage
per job was $33,051, compared with the overall state average
wage of $45,032. Given the presence of the university
and the medical facilities here, this is a surprisingly low
average wage. In August 2007, the unemployment rate
was 4.9%, slightly below the overall state rate of 5.2%.
Current (2008) data on rental housing show that the
estimated mean hourly wage of a renter in this county is
$9.01, which is below the poverty line ($9.60) for a family
of four. However, the wage needed to rent a two-bedroom
apartment is $12.73. A person working just at the
Illinois minimum wage would have to work 68 hours a
week at the state’s minimum wage to be able to afford such
an apartment in the area.
What the data reveal is that poverty is a serious problem
in both the state and the county; that such poverty is
unevenly distributed across lines of race, gender, age, and
ability/disability; and that poverty has become increasingly
serious in the first 8 years of the Twenty-First Century.
Economic policies at the national level have “trickled
down” to the states and local communities causing greater
and greater poverty.
These policies have destroyed the last vestiges of a safety
net and cut back on positive initiatives in health and
education that both help people climb out of poverty and
offer care to those so vulnerable that they cannot do so.
The recent cut in Medicaid, which is so threatening to our
county nursing home, is just one example of the meanspirited
public policies that have been imposed on this
country, this state, and this county since 2000.
Of course, while poverty of both the employed and the
unemployed has increased, public policy has seen to it that
the rich have become richer to a morally obscene extent.
While most of the data in the report are from 2006 or earlier,
the situation has become increasingly dire as prices of
food, fuel, utilities, and access to medical care and insurance
have continued to soar, leaving poor communities in
Champaign County more vulnerable than ever.

ON CAPITOL HILL, Senate Republicans have blocked a bill
that would have overturned a Supreme Court ruling limiting
pay discrimination lawsuits. The Senate fell four votes
short of considering the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act,
named for a female employee of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Company who was paid 40 percent less than her male
colleagues doing the same job. Ledbetter lost her suit
against Goodyear after the court ruled she did not file a
complaint in time. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has
promised to bring this Act up for a vote again within the
next year. All our voices, coming together, can help get
those extra 3 votes needed to turn the tide.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 2831) is considered
an important legislative “fix” to a May 2007 U.S.
Supreme Court decision (Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Co.) The court decision severely limited the ability of
victims of pay discrimination to sue and recover damages
under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Without this
“fix,” the impact of the Court’s decision will likely be widespread,
affecting pay discrimination cases under Title VII
involving women and racial and ethnic minorities, as well
as cases under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act
and under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
WOMEN DESERVE EQUAL PAY
For full-time, year-round workers, women are paid on
average only about 77% of what men are paid; for
women of color, the gap is even wider. These wage gaps
stubbornly remain despite the passage of the Equal Pay
Act more than 40 years ago, and a variety of legislation
prohibiting employment discrimination. Women are
still not receiving equal pay for equal work, let alone
equal pay for work of equal value. This disparity not
only affects women’s spending power, it penalizes their
retirement security by creating gaps in social security
benefits and pensions.

This summer, from July 14 to August 8,
there will be a construction-training program
giving priority to minority and female
youth. This is part of a larger attempt to
attract more youth to the building trades
unions and job sites. The summer program
is meant only to be the start to a program
that will continue through the school year.
Students will participate in specialized
hands-on training, classroom instruction,
and tours at various sites.
The focus will be on the development of
skills, safety practices, and the kinds of
attitudes and behaviors that will be conducive
to a successful career in the building
trades. These are trades that pay very
well. Journeymen, that is to say people
who have completed apprenticeships, start
at $32.40 per hour for brick masons,
$30.61 for carpenters, $36.19 for
plumbers and pipefitters, and $33.80 for
electricians. Apprentices start with less,
ranging from $15.44 to $20.90. But even
in those early years, that is still a very good
starting wage. The great thing here is that
these jobs will always be here. They cannot
be exported abroad!
While young people in the summer
program will not get the kind of wages that
apprentices and journeymen receive, but
they will be paid $7.50 an hour to learn!
They will also get high school elective
credit in Residential Carpentry. In addition
to a professional vocational education
teacher, students will also be paired with a
mentor who will be with them through
actual hands-on job experience.
Again, this is a program that gives priority
to minority youth and girls. Requirements
to enter the program include:
• The person must be a high school
junior or senior enrolled in a
Champaign, Rantoul, or Urbana
high school.
• The student must be at least 16
years old at the beginning of the
program. That is the legal age at
which people can work with
power tools.
• The student must have a good
school attendance record.
• The student must have no major
school discipline action on record.
• The student must fill in an application
and complete an interview.
Applications for this program are available
at the high school guidance offices in
Champaign, Urbana, or Rantoul, or they can
be obtained by sending a request to lmcdonald@
efe.k12.il.us If you are an interested
and eligible young person looking for a positive
summer experience in which you can
earn money and prepare for a well-paid
career, or if you know someone who is, act
quickly to secure a position in this exciting
new learning and earning experience.

On April 18 2006, in response to what
school officials called an increase in the severity
of physical confrontations between students,
the Champaign City Council passed a
resolution to approve an intergovernmental
agreement with Unit 4 School District that
would put police officers in Unit 4 schools.
The total operating cost for the city, over
a three-year period, to employ five officers
to serve as “law enforcement officers, law
related counselors, and law related educational
instructors” is over one million dollars.
This cost is to be paid by the City of
Champaign and $643,586 dollars to be
paid by Unit 4 schools. Meanwhile, there
are students in Unit 4 schools who cannot
take home textbooks to do their homework,
because schools claim they cannot
afford to buy extra books.
This ‘intergovernmental resolution,’ was
called into question by a number of people
who were concerned that questionable
practices of racial profiling by Champaign
police (especially in the North End) would
replicate themselves within Unit 4 schools.
For those of us who have regular conversations
with youth inside Unit 4
schools, it is no secret that the police officers
in the schools target black students for
punishment. Since the Security Resource
Officer (SRO) program was instituted,
there has been very little public response
from the Champaign City Council, Unit 4
schools, and the Champaign Police Department,
in addressing the concerns raised at
the April 18, 2006 Champaign City Council
meeting on racial profiling.
I was recently returned my Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) request about the
School Resource Officer Program and the
numbers provided by the Champaign Police
Department only reaffirm the stories that we
are hearing about how the classroom has
become a carceral space for Black students.
In the 2006–2007 school year, police officers
documented 683 incidents of contact
with students. Of these 683 cases, 559 of
them, or 87.6% percent, were
involving black students and
249 of those cases, or 39% of
those cases involved black
female students.
Young Black women are
disproportionately having
contact with school police
officers for vague disciplinary
infractions such as
‘Defiance and Disorderly
Conduct,’ and ‘Bullying,’
that seem deeply rooted in
stereotypes of Black women.
Hence, young Black women are
described in terms (loud, sassy, etc…) that
make them violators of ‘proper gender
behavior’ and, thus, in need of management
and/or policing. I bring up black female students,
because black females have sort of
become secondary to discussions about the
prison industrial complex and the classroom
to prison pipeline. To quote Andrea Smith,
“There’s a tendency in our decolonization
movements, our racial justice struggles to
see gendered justice as kind of an add on.
Like, once we get liberated we’ll deal with
this issue. And we fail to see that it is precisely
through a logic of sexual violence that
colonialism and white supremacy work.”
If anyone is interested in talking more
about this issue, or has personal experiences
that you would like to share, contact
trevaellison@gmail.com