A few days ago, President Donald Trump made the decision to pull $8 million in funding from Chicago Public Schools, endangering magnet programs and more, affecting Black students and transgender students. Reacting to the big move was Chicago native, rapper, and actor Vic Mensa who condemned it all.
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On September 26, news broke about the Trump Administration’s White House ordering the Chicago Public School (CPS) funding be pulled over CPS’s Black Student Success plan. The White House had previously threatened to withhold federal dollars as it deemed CPS’s plan discriminatory and a violation of the Civil Rights Act.
A complaint earlier this year alleged CPS was using the program to discriminate on the basis of race. The federal government is also threatening to withhold funding over CPS policies on transgender students
However, some goals of the plan include: doubling the number of Black male educators; reducing disciplinary actions against Black students, such as expulsions; and teaching about Black history and culture.
Local Criticism Draws Over Donald Trump Administration Pulling $8M In Funding From Chicago Public Schools
Mila Koumpilova, a Senior Reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, a nonprofit news organization covering education, spoke out and said:
“The investigation has not formally concluded yet, but the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to the school district last week, saying that they believe the plan is discriminatory against students of other races — invoking a key decision by the U.S. Supreme Court banning affirmative action in college admissions — and demanding that the district abolish the initiative completely.”
Furthermore, Koumpilova said that CPS has argued that the U.S Department of Education investigation into the Black Student Success program has not been completed. CPS added that no additional findings have been reported about any students actually being discriminated against or harmed. Koumpilova added:
“But the big point that CPS is making is that it is following state law and state guidance in its policies and practices. So last year, the state did pass a law that requires the district to launch a Black student achievement committee out of its school board, and have a plan for serving Black students. So essentially, the district is saying, ‘We are following state law here, and we can’t just stop doing that based on this investigation.'”
Chicago Rapper VIc Mensa Slams Donald Trump & Administration For Cutting $8 Million In Funding From CIty’s Public Schools Over Black & Transgender Students
Reacting to the big move, Chicago rapper and actor Vic Mensa shared a video to his Instagram condemning it all. He said:
“Trump announced he’s pulling $8 million from the Chicago Public School System. That broke my heart. I’m not surprised a slow motherf***er hates education, though. I don’t know if Burger King is funding weight loss programs.
I really shed tears over that yesterday, though. This time it was not because I was high on LSD. I think what made it so emotional for me is that I really grew up in this school system. I saw that school-to-prison pipeline destroy children. In second grade, a kid named Eddie Simmons was held back. And I remember, vividly, the whole class looking at him in judgment. I didn’t hear about him again after eighth grade until we were 19 and he was on the news for a triple homicide. I just thought, damn. It started in school.
Trump’s administration says this cut is because Chicago refuses to discard its Black student success program and allows transgender kids to use the bathrooms. It’s a racially motivated attack, obviously, but perhaps the clearest example of how racism hurts everyone. That’s why I think anti-racism should be the calling card that unites us all. Chicago Public Schools are majority Black and Latino. So, it’s an attack on kids of color, but so many White families will be impacted, too. It should bring us together. With every attack on the school system, every budget cut and school closing, how many more Eddie Simmons are created?
Maybe artists, actors, people of influence from Chicago that have been a product of the Chicago school system, we should do a massive benefit, a massive benefit concert. If anybody sees this, that would be into something like that, holla at me. Because what I hope this shows is that we’re all under attack. When the most vulnerable of us are under attack, we are all under attack. We’re the common enemy, and that’s the best time to organize. But we gotta get organized. Sh*t ain’t sweet out here, n***a.”
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