The untold school segregation story behind Bernie Sanders's 1963 arrest

[jakeXT]

Two weeks ago, Kartemquin Films confirmed that it had footage of the arrest of Bernie Sanders at a school segregation protest in August 1963. The Chicago Tribune subsequently uncovered from its archives a striking photo of the 21-year-old University of Chicago undergrad being carried by two police officers.

National media attention in the wake of this find focused on how these photos might affect the senator's image. But the full story of how a black Chicago neighborhood rose up to fight school segregation has gone untold in the local and national press.

The story of the battle at 73rd and Lowe—a story that resonates with today's battles over public education in Chicago—begins in a former thrift shop and warehouse.

Only a few years earlier the surrounding Englewood neighborhood had transitioned from white to black. By 1963 its public school classrooms were overcrowded to the point of prompting a crisis. To cope, the Chicago Public Schools began to convert a former Goodwill storefront and warehouse at 71st and Stewart into an elementary school with a planned capacity of 1,200 students. In January 1963, 435 students were to be transferred to the unfinished building—which also happened to be located next to busy, unguarded Illinois Central railroad tracks.

http://m.chicagoreader.com/chicago/bernie-sanders-1963-arrest-full-story-school-segregation/Content?oid=21247370

[Lunabell]

1. Bernie was there...

Hillary was where?

[jtuck004]

2. From her wiki page...

(Isn't that cool, to have your own wiki page Anway,,,)

...
Raised in a politically conservative household,[8] Rodham helped canvass Chicago's South Side at age thirteen following the very close 1960 U.S. presidential election, where she found evidence of electoral fraud against Republican candidate Richard Nixon.[15] She then volunteered to campaign for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in the U.S. presidential election of 1964....

It was different era. 7 years later I would be dropping out of high school to get a GED and join the Navy, while the white parents (from areas that were Democrat as far as the eye could see - they shot at Republicans back then - in one of the most progressive states ever) were showing up and teaching their kids to riot, to turn over school buses of black kids, to assault them and worse.


Different time now. Our real opponents are the 1%.

[jakeXT]

3. Reminded me of the movie Dick from 1999, I don't know why

[jtuck004]

5. Never saw it, but "Paper mache. It's a hobby of mine." cracked me up, lol.

I used to think it was an odd time back then, but then we made it worse.

[ms liberty]

4. A really interesting article. Thanks for posting!

[LiberalElite]

6. Kicking nt

[Judi Lynn]

7. Thank you, jakeXT. n/t