It’s no secret that Chicago is one of the nation’s most segregated cities and the division between North and South sides, while often geographically distinct, are also politically and even psychologically different. These divisions can also become blurred by economic and political power, those who hold it, and those that don’t.
One of the starkest difference is in education, with a system that is mostly financed by taxes, and (where many students often don’t attend their neighborhood schools), the quest for secondary education has hit a new high with the pending creation of a Near South Side high school, at 24th and State, on the site of a former public housing facility, that has generated support from Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public School superintendent Pedro Martinez, which has made it a reality despite recommendations that it threatens to siphon off monies needed for Black schools in the area.
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| Mayor Lightfoot |
These early warnings aside, supporters say that the new housing can be built elsewhere, and local residents and city hall observers are wondering what has caused this much support for a project that is projected to cost $120 million dollars.
Area residents also remember the 50 schools closed by former mayor Rahm Emanuel whose hamfisted closures brought a huge protest, but that, in the end, was to no avail: and, many remain vacant, while others, mostly on the North Side, have been converted to luxury condominiums.
WBEZ, in partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times, reported that earlier, “a team of senior officials at Chicago Public Schools privately wanted leaders that the project could undermine those schools and ultimately hurt Black Students.”
Most parents and community activists say that it’s not difficult to see that the new school will have new technology, science labs and performing arts spaces that the old ones lack, and those existing would be underfunded by CPS, and could be shuttered, further nibbling away at what Emanuel left undone.
These divisions, and past actions, wedded to the present, do not bode well for South Side schools, threatening the future of their mostly Black students.
Some of these same schools are also often under-enrolled by 34 percent less; with Wendell Phillips alone holding a previous year’s enrollment of only 8 percent to capacity, and some fear that this may be the city’s response to solve the issue of under enrollment.
An important aspect: There has been a critical population of Asian American students in the Chinatown area that are willing to travel miles to attend the Thomas Kelly College Prep school, rather than attend nearby Black schools such as Wendell Phillips Academy that are closer to Chinatown, and nearby neighborhoods.
Fueled by fears of violence, unjustified, at best, according to reports, but perception has won out, and Kelly now holds 11 percent of those Asian students.
Those fears are often combined with a perceived lack of quality in the Black schools, even though there are recent graduates that have been accepted, many on full scholarship, to quality public colleges and universities.
The Sun-Times and WBEZ reporters summed it, by saying, “the new boundaries for the proposed 1,200 student neighborhood school at 24tha and State street captures Chinatown, South Loop, Bridgeport, Douglas and parts of the Near West Side - which include some affluent areas with significant white and Asian populations,” whose residents “have long complained they don’t have a viable neighborhoods to school to send their children to, largely a rejection of mostly Black high schools their kids could attend.”
There has also been a significant increase in the political power of Asian Americans in Chicago and now, “Formerly splintered into multiple wards, Greater Chinatown residents will now be represented by one Alderperson in Chicago’s first Asian American majority ward.”
Grace Lee is the new alderperson, and in her announcement, Lightfoot said, "“Nicole Lee has spent her life expanding and amplifying 11th ward issues and voices,”and “Her dedication to empowering communities and building coalitions is evident in her career and in her involvement in a variety of community organizations. She is the right choice to make sure 11th ward residents are fully represented on the Chicago City Council.”
The response has been overwhelming, and “We are thrilled that City Council has created Chicago’s first Asian American majority ward following months of advocacy by community leaders,” said Grace Pai, Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago. for a Better Chinese American Community, Pui Tak Center, and Chinese American Service League.”
“I think representation is really important,” said David Wu, executive director of the Pui Tak Center, who’s also the board president of the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community that’s been working toward this establishing the ward. “Really you need someone to push as hard to make sure that the wide diversity of Asian Americans, especially those who are newer immigrants, can gain access to services.”
As author Natasha Warikoo wrote in “Race at the Top”: “white and Asian parents alike will do anything to help their children get to the top of the achievement pile.”
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