On Wednesday, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis placed the blame for Chicago’s failing schools right where it belongs: on “rich white people.” Speaking to a luncheon on education reform, Lewis said that Chicago is the most segregated city in America, and that the educational failures in certain areas of Chicago are attributable to the “fact that rich white people think they know what’s in the best interest of children of African-Americans and Latinos, no matter what the parents’ income or education level.” She added that there needs to be “an honest conversation about poverty and racism and inequality that hinders the delivery of an education product in our school system.”
Lewis said that minority neighborhoods need more funding, and blamed racism for lack of funding. “It’s as if there were a concerted effort to make sure that these are not walkable, thriving, healthy communities,” Lewis stated. And she blamed banks for driving people out of their homes in forecloseures. “If you look at the majority of the tax base for property taxes in Chicago, they’re mostly white, who don’t have a real interest in paying for the education of poor black and brown children,” said Lewis.
The average salary for Chicago teachers is $76,000 per year, making them the highest-paid teachers in America. The Chicago Teachers Union has also fought the shutdowns of failing public schools throughout the city.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).
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