In Defense Of The Mic Check
After years of attending Chicago Board of Education monthly meetings, on December 14, 2011 I felt like I left one where the community was actually heard, by the public and by the board. During the "public participation" segment of the meeting, a lone voice stopped the business-as-usual.
From the Chicago Sun-Times:
Adourthus McDowell, a Chicago Public School parent and member of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, began the takeover by rising from his chair and interrupting a presentation by Chicago Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard on a new $660 million capital construction plan.
Using a 'mic check' technique borrowed from Occupy Wall Street protestors, McDowell read