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Ghosts in the Schoolyard
Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago's South Side | Eve L. Ewing
"Failing schools. Underprivileged schools. Just plain bad schools." That's how Eve L. Ewing opens Ghosts in the Schoolyard: describing Chicago Public Schools from the outside. The way politicians and pundits and parents of kids who attend other schools talk about them, with a mix of pity and contempt. But Ewing knows Chicago Public Schools from the inside: as a student, then a teacher, and now a scholar who studies them. And that perspective has shown her that public schools are not buildings full of failures--they're an integral part of their neighborhoods, at the heart of their communities, storehouses of history and memory that bring people together. Never was that role more apparent than in 2013 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced an unprecedented wave of school closings. Pitched simultaneously as a solution to a budget problem, a response to declining enrollments, and a chance to purge bad schools that were dragging down the whole system, the plan was met with a roar of protest from parents, students, and teachers. But if these schools were so bad, why did people care so much about keeping them open, to the point that some would even go on a hunger strike? Ewing's answer begins with a story of systemic racism, inequality, bad faith, and distrust that stretches deep into Chicago history. Rooting her exploration in the historic African American neighborhood of Bronzeville, Ewing reveals that this issue is about much more than just schools. Black communities see the closing of their schools--schools that are certainly less than perfect but that are theirs--as one more in a long line of racist policies. The fight to keep them open is yet another front in the ongoing struggle of black people in America to build successful lives and achieve true self-determination.
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rigo.padilla

"For many Black people 'the advancement of the self, the liberation of the self, is a meaningless concept outside the context of one's community.'" #GhostsInTheSchoolyard #EveLEwing

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rigo.padilla

"It's it fair for those charges with allocating resources to levy that accusation (that a school is underresourced) against those who are supposed to receive them?" #EveLEwing #GhostsInTheSchoolyard

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8little_paws
Pickpick

A good look not just at Chicago school closings but at the history of CPS and Chicago in general. Some chapters I wish had a bit more detail, but I loved how she tied together the divestment from CHA into the decreased enrollment, and also her section on how and why these schools are so important to their communities was illuminating.

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MsLeah8417
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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notreallyelaine
Pickpick

This book lit a fire under me. Smarter people have already praised her style and analysis, but what jumped off my page is how fiercely Ewing loves her home and the people in it. The way she writes kids, their parents and families, teachers, Bronzeville - the love is powerful and palpable. It made the book, which is an overview of the organizing around the 2013 school closures, feel intimate. This is a deeply hopeful book. Must read.

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masofia
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Pickpick

An informative and heartbreaking account of the personal impact of Chicago public school closures. Placing these closures in historical context and reading exactly worded releases by CPS, you can‘t help but feel the frustrations of the parents, children and community. The actions of CPS showed they had no interest in truly engaging their constituents. Really helped me think about how I judge school quality for my family.

3 likes1 stack add
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JLaurenceCohen

Eve Ewing is an amazing sociologist and poet, and her new book on Chicago school closings promises to be insightful.

33 likes2 stack adds
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Anton
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I don't miss much about Twitter, but one thing I do miss is keeping up with Eve Ewing's projects (and just generally enjoying her tweets). I knew she had a new book called Ghosts In The Schoolyard, but I just found out she's also the writer on a comic series for Marvel. Congrats, Eve!