Hunger Strikers to hold candlelight vigil tonight
On the 16th day of the Dyett High School hunger strike, protestors and supporters will join the strikers for a candlelight vigil.
The 12 hunger strikers and the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett will gather outside of the Tribune Tower, 435 N. Michigan Ave., by the DuSable bust at 7:30 p.m. tonight, joined by the Chicago Light Brigade.
The strikers do not want Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to reopen Dyett, 555 E. 51st St., as a contract school. The group has proposed its own plan for a “Dyett Global Leadership and Green Technology High School.”
Hunger strikers are asking the community to join in to “pray and build power behind the demand that [Mayor] Rahm Emanuel take action.”
Yesterday, Emanuel and Forrest Claypool, CEO of Chicago Public Schools (CPS), met with the hunger strikers, yesterday evening, after a public meeting on the Westside. Although a resolution was not reached and questions were left unanswered, the meeting was cordial.
Tomorrow, Sept. 2, two of the hunger strikers, Jitu Brown and April Stogner, will travel to Washington, D.C. to spread their fight for Dyett to the nation’s capital.
Other activists such as John Jackson, the Schott Foundation president, and Randi Weingarten, the American Federation of Teachers president, will join Brown and Stogner. They will deliver a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, to urge him to sway Emanuel’s decision on the future of Dyett.
According to a press release, the group will gather at the U.S. Department of Education at 2:30 p.m. to continue their fight outside of their South Side community.
The hunger strikers’ mission to save Dyett has received national attention as it has gained momentum over the past two weeks.
Media outlets such as The Washington Post and The Huffington Post are covering the strikers’ stories and following the progression of the strike. According to Hashtag Scout, the hashtag #FightForDyett has been tweeted over 5,000 times per day.
Dyett hunger strikers will continue to consume only liquids until their demands are heard and their proposed RFP process is considered.
Until that happens, the strikers anxiously await the CPS hearing regarding Dyett on Sept.15.
Hunger Strikers to hold candlelight vigil tonight: