11th annual food fest

International Food Fest

Once a year the Parker community hosts a food fest in the cafeteria. Throughout the year our French Club and AFS committee work diligently to plan out the event. AFS committee is Parker's American Field Service program which helps accommodate exchange students we receive at Parker. There are not many committed members to the club, but they organize the food and entertainment. Before the food fest I had attended one of the meetings, where I saw a careful consideration of getting food and entertainment from different cultures. The food is crowdsourced from Parker families and is typically homemade. The effort by the school children, teachers and parents is a democratic process whereby the students give their vision for the event.
I find that sharing home cooked meals is a great way to exchange culture. At the Friday banquet there was an array of food spread out on a long table. We were all in the basement cafeteria at Parker. The amount of people who attended was impressive. Its always nice to see people involved in a community effort. Walking in there were people getting food and watching a performance. There were dancers and singers from different countries. The food, dancing, and singing were all great. I think it is beneficial to have such events because there is an exchange of culture than can impact an entire community.

Unchartered Territory

The School Project: Unchartered Terrirtory

In April, on a rainy day, I took the blue line train to see a film screening of "UnChartered Territory - Charter Schools: For better or for worse?" The event was held at the Chicago Cultural Center, but the film was part of a series focusing on the affects of charter schools. Before the event I hadn't know how Charter differs from public schools. Coming from a private school I have been out of touch with what education in other neighborhoods outside of Lincoln Park is like, though, it has been important for me to understand the struggle of going to a Chicago Public School. I had also not know what a charter school was or how they function. The film was part of a series of six short films and webisodes that explore the highly contentious charter school debate in Chicago. The movie began, but there was a technical interruption that delayed the screening of the movie. We had seen some of the film, and from what I saw the movie looking promising. I had been excited to get a perspective of everyday life at a charter school. I've been curious about how youth in different neighborhoods adapt to the school system, similar to how I've adapted to going the Francis W. Parker in Lincoln Park. The film finally started and there were a lot of jump cuts between an actual school and interview with various people. I became disappointed because it was overly political. The concern was heavily over government funding and privatization. When it spoke of privatization it asked the audience to take comfort in corporate run schools. After the closing of forty-nine neighborhood schools were closed the white public needs to find a solution to another injustice on marginalized communities. This film seemed to aid that.
 Before the movie started I was handed a yellow slip of paper that posed the questions, "Are you for charters or against charters?" and "What value do you find in the School Project and what would you like to see in its future?" After the movie, and more so after the panel discussion, I was unable to answer the question. The movie and discussion focused more on the structure and politics of changing a public school into a charter. The film failed to talk about the education implications. After the film there was a panel of five people; a moderator from WTTW, a CPS board Member, a Legislative coordinator of Chicago Teachers Union, an Editor at Catalyst Chicago and the Superintendent of Noble Network of Charter Schools. No one seemed to agree on an issue that is occuring at charter schools. A discussion that should have been filled with compassion turned into a caucus of separated parties. The moderator failed to give meaningful questions.
Sorry for being so critical. The other films might be better.
Check them out at http://www.schoolprojectfilm.com

Cornel West at University of Chicago

Cornel West: "The Radical King", Public Lecture

In February I went to a public lecture featuring Cornel West. The weather was very snowy, we had to drive through layers of snow, and when we arrived the warmth and glory of the church was comforting. Furthermore it felt good to sit in rows of pews with other people who understood the issue of racial injustice, and who respected Cornel West as a leading figure in the fight against oppression. Prior to the lecture I had never read "The Radical King", but from the title I figured that the issue presented in the book would be power. The "inquiry strand" that I chose to be in as part of my Civic Engagment experience was the power strand, which would serve as a perspective for viewing issues.  When Dr. West began speaking I realized that my initial interpretation was slightly wrong, his new book was about the idea of non-violence that Martin Luther King Junior is known for spreading. The guiding question of my inquiry strand is "What are different forms of power that shape people's lives?" During the civil rights movement the focus of dissent was against the unfair treatment by white people and institutions. Being white at that time was a power and a privilege because their word held authority over the opinion of people of color. King was an advocate for protesting without the use of violence, but in his book West tries direct focus onto the more radical beliefs that King is not known for. During his lecture West did not focus on his new publication, rather he talked about issues of injustice that continue on today. He spoke of King as a wave in an ocean who followed the tradition of love. West conveyed a message that love in public is justice. His lecture answered the question of "How does love look like as justice?" He depicted a world of integrity, honesty and patience.
Making the trek to see him was well worth it and I left positively affected by his words.

Link to a video of his lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X22flAlSVjI

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Polar Peace March

 On Sunday, January 18 the Polar Peace March took place in Lincoln Park. The march was honoring the legacy of non-violence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Before the actual, we congregated at St. Paul's United Church of Christ. There was an entire program which included choir songs, a poem called Alternate Names for Black Boys and readings from MLK. A lot of my classmates are Jewish so it was nice to be united for a common cause in a church, it made it feel as though we've come a long way from discrimination. We all listened silently to the messages of non-violence throughout the entire program. The messages conveyed include the use of non-violence in fighting oppression and a call for action against institutional racism. It was refreshing to have a mass of white people entertain the idea of deconstructing the institutions in which they thrive in for a noble cause. The role of white people is to realize the present inequalities so that they may work towards a more democratic society. The role of the colored person in this struggle is to navigate through institutions, whether they be educational systems, government systems or corporate systems, so that we may gain enough power to help our brothers and sisters who fall behind.

The march was a 1.5 mile walk from Fullerton and Orchard walking east to Clark street; then South on Clark; then West on Webster; turning right onto Lincoln; then North on Halsted; and then East again on Fullerton back to Orchard. As I walked I carried a sign that said "Stop Violence." We were followed by a polices officer in their car as we marched. The march didn't display its message other from the signs held, which is fine but it lacked urgency.

Our march was featured on Univision later that night. I made it into one of the shots when I was registering. The March raised money for ucan, an organization that helps youth who have suffered trauma. Ucan has more than 30 programs across Illinois for children and youth.

Change through engineering

On Wednesday November, 29 I attended the presentation by Liz Gerber. Liz Gerber is a faculty founder of Design for America and co-founder of Delta Lab. Both are innovative programs that seek to solve problems with engineering and creativity. Liz Gerber's presentation focus on her journey to where she is today. Her presentation was inspirational to someone like me who aspires to become some sort of engineer one day. At the end she answered questions that gave insight on how to preserve and make use of our own ideas. Before her presentation I had the chance to meet her personally. We spoke casually about school life and if I had any cool ideas myself. I couldn't remember at the time so I left without sharing my enthusiasm for engineering but I felt inspired to come up with more ideas. After meeting her and watching her present I got to go to the Design For America lab at Northwestern. At Northwestern I saw a lab full of college students working on engineering projects. It was cool to see how small ideas can have a large impact on society. Luckily I was pared with Liz to tour the facility and I got to experience a lot of the lab.

Observing Change

On September 30 my Civic engagement group took a tour of Hyde park, one of Chicago's fastest gentrifying neighborhoods. First we took a tour of the edges of Hyde park on the bus. We carefully observed the residences and the infrastructure of the area. What we were there to observe is what we saw; there were people of color living in isolation in conditions suitable for anyone except white people. Coming from Francis W. Parker the only thing to gain from such an experience was a sense of disparity. I think it is impolite, even disrespectful, to go people watching from a distance. Bringing students into a neighborhood where they will feel unsafe will create internal tension for those students who get to return to a padded life after. This method, though, is effective in getting some students to think of different ways to expose oneself to diverse neighborhoods. These sort of events should be more casual, with the goal of creating empathy with the residences of a less wealth neighborhood.
     After visiting the edges, we drove the more gentrified area of Hyde park. We got out and took a tour on foot and saw a contrast between corporate stores and citizen owned stores. Another growing pain of Hyde park is that chains are taking over independent stores. This is good for convenience, but it is not good for the community. Independently owned shops stimulate the local economy of neighborhoods.
    Our final destination was the chapel at the University of Chicago to meet a Francis W. Parker alumni who had experience with the gentrification and inequalities in Hyde Park. After waiting to enter, we set up the steel chairs in a circle. He introduced himself then we discussed what we had saw. He gave us insight on the power that the University of Chicago has over the neighborhood. From him, I learned that neighborhoods are changing for better or worse. I also observed that in many cases people of color have to fight or conform to change. 

Rally With Angela Davis

As a requirement my Junior year of highschool I chose to go to the National Forum on Police Crimes hosted by the University of Chicago at their International House. I arrived punctually at 7:00pm at the posted location, but soon found out that the event was being held at Trinity Church by 95th street. I arrived twenty minutes later with a friend, hoping they would still let us in. As we walked in I prepared myself for a panel of speakers including policemen. After we took our seats in a row to the side of the podium, I saw that there was only one speaker at a time. Each speaker introduced the next, every person was more well known than the previous speaker. As the speakers progressed I realized that the forum was not specifically about police crimes in Chicago. The forum enlarged into a gathering about the structural implications that can be made by looking at the biases in the United States justice system.

After an incredible poem about Women’s strength by LYRIC, the next to speak was the president of the Texas NAACP chapter named Nelson Linder. He helped me understand that the structural problem that i’ve seen within parker and within Chicago is also a national problem. A lot of the work that the NAACP does is assist criminal cases that are a direct cause of the racially conscious justice system in America. Once Nelson Linder finished his speech he introduced the keynote speaker, Angela Davis. Angela Davis was a powerful speaker who brought out flaws in this country’s and this city’s invisible framework. Much of what she said I could relate to my American Literature class with Mrs. Gibson and my SSDP community connections group. Her wise words solidified my belief that the democratic society we are advertised to live in actually limits the power given to its people. Whether consciously or unconsciously, the structure of this country gives the least amount of its power to poor people of color and the most to rich white people. An example of the outrageous injustices that this country’s structure provides its society with is the prison system in America. She pointed out that privatized prison systems have a two tier profit system for its owners, who are typically center magin people. The other injustice in the prison system is that people of color are the target of incarceration. Once in a prison, prisons induce violence, which perpetuates a criminal lifestyle in people of color.

This public event solidified my understanding of institutional racism and helped develop what I know of structural racism. Social justice will continue to be a problem if the racist structure that this country was built on is not uprooted. Cases of social injustices are just blossomed flowers of an unequal structure. This experience angered me because I have to face this structure at school and I will have to face this structure when I leave Parker. This experience has brought clarity to many issues at Parker and in Chicago. I’ve already become tired of living in such a structure and hope I can find the energy to fight it.