Explaining a Hunger Strike to My 3 Year Old: Dyett High School- Hunger Strikes
Yesterday my son and I took juice to the 12 parents and community members who are performing a hunger strike. They are protesting Chicago Public Schools' decision to close one of the last public schools in their neighborhood. Frustrations are intense towards CPS who has not been listening to their proposal to open a new public school, one created with real community input.
Now for those of you with children, especially 3 year olds, anytime you do something that is out of their "normal" realm of being, you know you're about to get the 3rd degree. After explaining what they are going to do one must be prepared to answer a bevy of questions from them, most often the ever present, "Why?"
Let me demonstrate:
Me- Buddy (referring to my son), we are going to the store to buy juice to bring to Dyett High School for parents who are there protesting.
My son- Daddy, why do they need juice?
Me- Because they aren't eating and need juice to drink.
My Son- Why are they not eating?
Me- Because they are protesting the closure of Dyett High School.
My Son- Why someone close a school?
Me- The city wants to close it.
My son- Why?
At this point, what I want to tell my son is that the way that Chicago Public Schools are run is not a democracy. That CPS and the Mayor do not care what the people actually want. That the fact that people feel forced to go on a Hunger Strike is ridiculous for a developed country, in this day and age.
A Hunger Strike is a measure of last resort in terms of a protest, because if things do not work out it can ultimately lead to death.
When Gandhi was trying to help the people of India get rid of the British colonizers, who refused to leave India, he would use the Hunger Strike as a means of protest to force the British to negotiate with him, when they would refuse to meet.
In California, in the 1960's, Mexican Americans were being forced to work on grape farms for very little pay, were sprayed with dangerous chemicals, and were provided inhumane work conditions. They decided to organize and form a union. The grape farm owners did not want the workers to organize. The owners would harass and intimidate the organizers. The workers tried many different tactics, such as pickets, strikes, marches, and boycotts. Eventually Caesar Chavez, who was one of the leaders, decided insufficient progress was being made. He decided to go on a hunger strike.
In both of these historical examples of hunger strikes, making the public aware of the hunger strike was the most important goal.
In India, when Gandhi would go on a hunger strike the Indian workers would often refuse to work until negotiations began again. Gandhi had such a following and the entire basis for British control relied on the Indian workers. In the case of Chavez and the grape workers, he and his fellow organizers were able to gain powerful allies in Explaining a Hunger Strike to My 3 Year Old: Dyett High School- Hunger Strikes | Dave Stieber:
