Links:The Black Star Project's website:
Black Star Journal:
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Chicago Public Schools Approves Largest School Closure in City's History
50 Schools to Close
By Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah and John Chase
May 22, 2013
After hearing from aldermen,
angry parents and community members in a meeting interrupted several
times by protesters, the Chicago Board of Education today approved a
plan to close 49 elementary schools and one high school program.
The board voted 4-2 to close Von Humboldt Elementary, then unanimously approved the rest of the closings in a single vote.
Before that, the board voted
6-0 to approve a last-minute recommendation by the district to spare
four elementary schools: Manierre Elementary on the Near North Side,
Mahalia Jackson and Garvey on the South Side and Ericson on the West
Side.
After more than two hours of
public comments, Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and
board members defended the plan to close the highest number of schools
the city has ever shut down in a single year.
"We can no longer embrace
the status quo because the status quo is not working for all Chicago
school children," Byrd-Bennett said before the vote was taken. "It is
imperative that you take the difficult decision but essential steps." The district says it needs to close schools to address a looming $1 billion deficit and declining enrollment.
The
board room was packed with about 200 people, and during the public
comment portion of the meeting, several aldermen spoke up for schools
slated to be closed in their wards.
Ald. LaTasha Thomas, 17th, chairman of the education committee, asked the board to take "a step back."
"How are the children and
families better prepared to make positive change in their lives as a
rult of the decision you make?" she asked.
"We're talking about grammar school kids. We're talking about babies," said Ald. Walter Burnettt, 27th.
The school closings would be the most by an urban district in recent history, a fact noted by Ald. Ameya Pawar, 47th.
"I urge you this is not a
record we want to set," he said. "We don't want to look back in five
years and say, 'What did we do?'" Pawar said.
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Daddy Daughter Dance in New York City
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The Black Star Project
supports
Occupy The Streets of Chicago
with
Father Michael Pfleger
and the
Faith Community of Saint Sabina
Friday, June 21, 2013
7:00 pm - 500 free t-shirts at 6:00 pm
78th Place and Throop (1250 west)
Chicago, Illinois
We
invite people throughout Chicago to stand up and declare their
commitment to occupy our streets this summer to bring about Peace!
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See 50 Elders from the Black Community Lead 2013 Black Male High School Graduates into Manhood
Detroit, Flint, Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Gary,
Indianapolis, St. Louis, Davenport, Cleveland, Dayton and other
mid-western cities are invited to join 500 Illinois High School
Graduates at the Mass Black Male High School Graduation and Transition to Manhood Ceremony 2013.
Illinois - On June 29, 2013, 500
young Black men will graduate from the high schools of Chicago and
Illinois into life as young, positive Black men who will build their
communities, their cities, their country and their race. This event is
sponsored by Chicago State University and The Black Star Project. 
Young Black male high school graduates of 2013 are invited to participate in the Mass Black Male Graduation and Transition to Manhood Ceremony 2013 at Chicago State University between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm on Saturday, June 29, 2013. Each graduate will receive 3 tickets for parents, teachers and friends and will:
- compete for jobs, internships and apprenticeships (only a few)
- open bank accounts
- sign up for military service
- connect to mentors
- create/begin a life plan
- register for Chicago State University or get information about other college opportunities
Superintendents, principals, teachers, counselors, parents, family members and friends should call 773.285.9600 to sign up young Black men for the Mass Black Male Graduation and Transition to Manhood Ceremony 2013.
Young men should bring transcripts, FASFA's, ACT scores and resumes to help begin life after high school. Young men are asked to wear their cap and gown from their home high school.
For more information or to register a young Black man for this once in a lifetime opportunity, please call 773.285.9600.
Sincerely,
Phillip Jackson
Executive Director
The Black Star Project
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This idea was inspired by Dr. Willie Myles in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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Remarks by
Barack Obama
at the Morehouse College
Commencement Ceremony
Excerpts from Speech by President Barack Obama
May 19, 2013
To all the members of the
Morehouse family. And most of all, congratulations to this
distinguished group of Morehouse Men - the Class of 2013. (Applause.)
I have to say that it's a
little hard to follow - not Dr. Wilson, but a skinny guy with a funny
name. (Laughter.) Betsegaw Tadele - he's going to be doing something.
Benjamin
Mays, who served as the president of Morehouse for almost 30 years,
understood that tradition better than anybody. He said - and I quote -
"It will not be sufficient for Morehouse College, for any college, for
that matter, to produce clever graduates - but rather honest men, men
who can be trusted in public and private life - men who are sensitive
to the wrongs, the sufferings, and the injustices of society and who
are willing to accept responsibility for correcting (those) ills."
In
troubled neighborhoods all across this country - many of them heavily
African American - too few of our citizens have role models to guide
them. Communities just a couple miles from my house in Chicago,
communities just a couple miles from here - they're places where jobs
are still too scarce and wages are still too low; where schools are
underfunded and violence is pervasive; where too many of our men spend
their youth not behind a desk in a classroom, but hanging out on the
streets or brooding behind a jail cell.
But along with
collective responsibilities, we have individual responsibilities. There
are some things, as black men, we can only do for ourselves. There are
some things, as Morehouse Men, that you are obliged to do for those
still left behind. As Morehouse Men, you now wield something even more
powerful than the diploma you're about to collect - and that's the power
of your example.
With
doors open to you that your parents and grandparents could not even
imagine, no one expects you to take a vow of poverty. But I will say it
betrays a poverty of ambition if all you think about is what goods you
can buy instead of what good you can do. (Applause.)
It's
just that in today's hyperconnected, hypercompetitive world, with
millions of young people from China and India and Brazil - many of whom
started with a whole lot less than all of you did - all of them
entering the global workforce alongside you, nobody is going to give
you anything that you have not earned. (Applause.)
Nobody cares how
tough your upbringing was. Nobody cares if you suffered some
discrimination. And moreover, you have to remember that whatever you've
gone through, it pales in comparison to the hardships previous
generations endured - and they overcame them. And if they overcame
them, you can overcome them, too. (Applause.)
I think President Mays put it even better: He said, "Whatever you do, strive to do it so well that no man living and no man dead, and no man yet to be born can do it any better." (Applause.)
Congratulations, Class of 2013. God bless you. God bless Morehouse. And God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)
Click Here to Read the full text of the speech by President Barack Obama
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Remarks by
First Lady Michelle Obama
at the Bowie State University
Commencement Ceremony
Excerpts from Speech by First Lady Michelle Obama
At University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
May 16, 2013
But
most of all, to the Bowie State University class of 2013,
congratulations. (Applause.) Oh, congratulations. You don't know how
proud we all are of you. Just look at you. We're so proud of how hard
you worked, all those long hours in the classroom, in the library.
Oh, yeah. Amen. (Laughter.) All those jobs you worked to help pay
your tuition. Many of you are the first in your families to get a
college degree. (Applause.) Some of you are balancing school with
raising families of your own. (Applause.) So I know this journey
hasn't been easy. I know you've had plenty of moments of doubt and
frustration and just plain exhaustion.
As you all know, this school
first opened its doors in January of 1865, in an African Baptist
church in Baltimore. And by 1866, just a year later, it began offering
education courses to train a new generation of African American
teachers.
As the abolitionist Fredrick Douglas put it, "Education means emancipation," he said. He said, "It
means light and liberty. It means the uplifting of the soul of man
into the glorious light of truth, the only light by which men can be
free." You hear that? The only light by which men can be free. (Applause.)
So
back then, people were hungry to learn. Do you hear me? Hungry to get
what they needed to succeed in this country. And that hunger did not
fade over time. If anything, it only grew stronger.
I mean, think about the century-long battle that so many folks waged
to end the evil of segregation. Think about civil rights icons like
Thurgood Marshall, Dr. King, who argued groundbreaking school
integration cases, led historic marches, protests, and boycotts. As you
know, Dr. King's house was bombed. A police chief pulled a gun on
Thurgood Marshall. They both received piles of hate mail and countless
death threats, but they kept on fighting.
But
today, more than 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, more
than 50 years after the end of "separate but equal," when it comes to
getting an education, too many of our young people just can't be
bothered. Today, instead of walking miles every day to school, they're
sitting on couches for hours playing video games, watching TV.
Instead of dreaming of being a teacher or a lawyer or a business
leader, they're fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper.
(Applause.) Right now, one in three African American students are
dropping out of high school. Only one in five African Americans between
the ages of 25 and 29 has gotten a college degree -- one in five.
But let's be very clear.
Today, getting an education is as important if not more important than
it was back when this university was founded. Just look at the
statistics. (Applause.) People who earn a bachelor's degree or higher
make nearly three times more money than high school dropouts, and
they're far less likely to be unemployed. A recent study even found
that African American women with a college degree live an average of
six and a half years longer than those without. And for men, it's
nearly 10 years longer. So yes, people who are more educated actually
live longer.
And
today, I am thinking about all the mothers and fathers just like my
parents, all the folks who dug into their pockets for that last dime,
the folks who built those schools brick by brick, who faced down angry
mobs just to reach those schoolhouse doors. I am thinking about all
the folks who worked that extra shift and took that extra job, and
toiled and bled and prayed so that we could have something better. (Applause.)
I wish you Godspeed, good luck. I love you all. Do good things. God bless. (Applause.)"
Click Here to read the full text of the speech by First Lady Michelle Obama!
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Join The Black Star Project
in
support of Generations For Progress and invitees from South Africa,
Egypt, Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Sudan,
Chad, Ghana, Liberia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania,
Cameroon, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mali, Niger, Rwanda,
Senegal, Gabon, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Madagascar, Republic
of the Congo, Namibia, Central African Republic, Malawi, Benin, Togo,
Swaziland, Sierre Leone, The Gambia, Lesotho, Guinea Bissau, Somalia and
all other African countries at
Africa Night
Bridging the Gap
Saturday, June 1, 2013
at
The K.L.E.O. Center - $5.00 Admission
119 East Garfield Blvd (5500 South)
Chicago, Illinois
6:00 pm to 11:00 pm
First Saturday of Each Month
African Food - African Dress - African Music
Please call Black Star at 773.285.9600 to be part of our party.
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With Summer Coming,
Support 1 Church, 1 Job,
1 Young Black Man Working
In Your Community
Churches Across America Should
Provide Jobs for Young Black Men.
You cannot fix the problems of young Black men if they don't have constructive employment.
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Churches can change this...
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In times of economic
strain, our whole community suffers from the complications of
unemployment. In an effort to develop a new model of community outreach
and economic sustainability, The Black Star Project is launching the 1 Church, 1 Job, 1 Young Black Man Working program.
These are the employment facts for young Black men in America:
- Young Black men have the highest unemployment rate of any group in the country.
- Unofficially, some academics believe that only 14 out of 100 young Black men have jobs.
- White adult felons are more likely to have jobs than young Black men without criminal records.
- Upper-middle class Black youth are less likely to have jobs than low-income White youth.
The Black Star
Project is offering the opportunity for these faith organizations and
faith organizations across America to participate in this program.
During this summer, for five or six weeks, each faith organzation will:
- Take up a special collection of $200.00 per week
- Hired a young, African American male to work in the church, temple synagogue or mosque for 20 hours per week, or
- Refer the young man to a local not-for-profit or business to work
- Pay the young man minimum wage to $10.00 per hour for 20 hours per week
- Ensure that each young man gains valuable work experience
- Ensure that each young man has valuable mentoring experience
To get your church involved in 1 Church, 1 Job, 1 Young Black Man Working or for more information about this program, please call 773.285.9600.
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