What a night! The People Speak

Lupe Fiasco performed last night at The People Speak [M.Klonsky pic]

Packed house went wild last nigh at Metro in Chicago for The People Speak. Opened with Matt Damon reading Howard Zinn's "The Problem With Civil Obedience", Malcolm London doing Fred Hampton. Lupe Fiasco, Idris Goodwin, Avery Young (an amazing version of Nina Simone's "Mississippi Goddam"), Angela Jackson, She'Kira McKnight, Rick Kogan, Rami Nashashibi doing a brilliant reading of Dr. King's "Where do we go from here" (1967), Kevin Coval, doing Nelson Algren, much more... Take this on the road please.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Inside Chicago's school Renaissance

"I've had people I've talked to for years whose voice will literally shake when I get hold of them, and they'll say, 'I can't say anything,'" says another Chicago reporter who frequently covers the schools. "They're laying off hundreds of people, especially at the central office, and job security is really high on people's list. As much as they might not agree with what Huberman's doing, they don't want to be out there trying to find a job." (Michael Miner, Chicago Reporter)

But isn't this what Duncan's pushing--Mayoral control?

"This is a shame. They're bringing City Hall tactics to the Board of Education." (Reporter's Ben Joravsky)

Need for a 'Peoples Agenda'

“Don't depend on our leaders to do what needs to be done. Because whenever the government has done anything to bring about change, it's done so only because it's been pushed and prodded by social movements, by ordinary people organizing." (Howard Zinn on Bill Moyers Journal)

Deb Meier at Bridging Differences

While K-12 education was made universal because it seemed important that every single potential citizen be well-educated if democracy was to flourish, we have substituted the idea of democracy with the idea of the "marketplace."

'The People Speak'

Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and a great array of actors perform a dramatic presentation of Howard Zinn's, A People's History of the United States.