Chicago Urban League accuses Illinois of bias in school funding

Karen Pierog, Reuters

- A civil rights group said Wednesday it sued the state of Illinois over its system of funding public schools, accusing it of racial discrimination by relying on funding that is “inadequate and unequal.”

The Chicago Urban League, in a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, alleges that the state discriminated for decades against families based on race, depriving African-American, Latino and other minority children of a high-quality education. The lawsuit cites alleged violations of the state’s civil rights act and of the Illinois Constitution.

“Today we have gone to court to seek an end to decades of inadequate and unequal funding the State of Illinois has given our schools,” said Cheryle R. Jackson, the Urban League’s president and CEO, in a statement. “Our children, especially African-Americans and Latinos, have been left behind because of poorly funded schools while their white counterparts in wealthy communities are thriving.”

Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s office had no immediate comment on the lawsuit.

The Illinois school funding system is heavily dependent on local property taxes, which leads to disparities among school districts’ spending. Illinois ranks 49th among states for the funding gap between rich and poor students and white and minority students, according to Mary Ellen Guest, campaign manager of A+ Illinois, a group advocating for improved school quality and funding.

Illinois politician who mentored Obama to retire

JOHN O’CONNOR (AP)

- Emil Jones, a product of the Chicago Democratic machine who helped Barack Obama reach the U.S. Senate and has been Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s staunchest ally, said Monday he will retire from the Illinois Senate, of which he is president.

Jones, who has spent 35 years in the General Assembly, said in a statement he will not seek re-election in November and plans to serve until his term ends in January. The 72-year-old declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press.

Jones’ decision leaves a power vacuum in a state marked by discord among its Democratic leaders and means the unpopular Blagojevich is losing one of his most important political allies. His decision already has set off a scramble among Senate Democrats to replace him.

It also means the state is losing one of its most powerful black politicians and a leading advocate for education reform.

Jones had a big hand in Obama’s 2004 U.S. Senate win by introducing the then-little-known state senator to the right people and letting him handle some important legislation to help raise his political profile.

“Sen. Jones has been a passionate advocate who has fought for working families and the underprivileged,” Obama campaign spokesman Justin DeJong said.

Blagojevich has depended on Jones to block legislation he opposed and pass bills intended to embarrass or pressure his nemesis, House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago. At times, Jones had to press Senate Democrats to go along with the Democratic governor.

Most recently, Jones pushed through the Senate several Blagojevich budget measures, including a multibillion-dollar capital construction plan that the House refused to approve. Jones’ lame-duck status reduces the chance of any significant action this fall on that contentious issue or any other.

Blagojevich said in a statement that Jones “used his position as Senate President to give those without a voice better health care, better funded schools and increases in the minimum wage.”

“Emil Jones is a man with a big heart and a man of action,” Blagojevich said. “He is a true champion of the people.”

Blagojevich won’t be able to count on the same kind of coziness with the new president.

“Can I work with the governor? Yes,” said one of those seeking the job, Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan. “I can work with Attila the Hun if I have to.”

In many ways, Jones has kept up the traditions of old-school politicians. He has steered state money to a few favored institutions, including some that employ his relatives. Some of his relatives also have gotten state jobs and his wife’s government salary got a sizable boost after he became Senate president in 2003.

Jones also has played an important role in blocking ethics legislation in Illinois, finally allowing a vote last spring on banning “pay-to-play” politics, a central theme of federal investigators examining Blagojevich’s practices.

Jones filed paperwork to remove his name from the ballot on Monday afternoon, said spokeswoman Cindy Davidsmeyer, adding that ward committeemen will decide his replacement.

Jones would like his son, Emil III, to replace him, Davidsmeyer said.

Possible successors for Jones’ post as Senate president immediately began lining up support. Besides Link, they include Sens. John Cullerton and Rickey Hendon of Chicago, James Clayborne of Belleville, Don Harmon of Oak Park and Jeff Schoenberg of Evanston.

City plans apology for 1908 race riot

UPI

- An Illinois city council is planning to vote next week on a resolution apologizing for a 1908 race riot that led to the formation of the NAACP.

Springfield, Ill., Alderman Gail Simpson says she came up with the idea to sponsor a resolution during gatherings to commemorate the riot and promote racial harmony, The State Journal-Register newspaper in Springfield reported Wednesday.

“I believe the apology will make people feel better and at least give the impression that the citizens of Springfield cared-and do care-about the city,” Simpson said.

Ken Page, president of the Springfield branch of the NAACP, disagrees, telling The State Journal-Register: “They’re just words on paper. How does that translate to 2008?”

Simpson said she hopes her resolution will receive unanimous approval.

“I can’t see any reason why anyone would vote against it,” she told the newspaper.

The 1908 Springfield riot was a mass civil disturbance sparked by the transfer of two African-American prisoners out of the city jail. Black businesses were destroyed and at least seven deaths were reported.

Chicago ministers call for school boycott

ABC 7 - Chicago

- The Rev. James Meeks, who is also a state senator, wants his congregants and people from other churches to keep their children home from school this fall, until Chicago inner-city schools get more funding from Springfield.

Sunday sermons were used to gather support for the idea of boycotting Chicago Public Schools. Rev. James Meeks announced his idea last week.

Equal funding for education is something Meeks has been fighting for in Springfield since he was elected state senator six years ago, but he and other pastors believe a boycott is the only way to get attention.

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Civil Rights Groups Ask Governor Blagojevich to End Consent Searches by Illinois State Police

- A diverse group of Illinois civil rights organizations today called on Governor Rod Blagojevich to bar the practices of “consent searches” during routine traffic stops by the Illinois State Police. The request emerges from a report analyzing data collected by the Illinois Department of Transportation from law enforcement agencies across the State of Illinois pursuant to a state law aimed at combating racial profiling. The data collected for calendar year 2007 demonstrates that police officers continue to request permission to search the automobiles of drivers of color far more often than white drivers, and that these searches of minorities are far less productive than consent searches of whites.

The report, prepared by the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety under the Illinois Traffic Stop Study Statistics Act, makes clear that consent searches remain problematic four years after the General Assembly first mandated that law enforcement agencies collect and report data on the race of drivers stopped and searched by police.

Joining the ACLU of Illinois in calling for an end to the practice of consent searches by the ISP were the following groups: the Rainbow Push Coalition, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the NAACP Illinois Conference, the Council on American-Islamic Relations Chicago, the Illinois Coalition on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and, Amnesty International - USA. The groups’ letter to the Governor notes that “after four years of study, the conclusion is obvious - consent searches are an invidious device that is a condition of inequality imposed on minority citizens on our roadways.”

A consent search occurs when law enforcement officials lack probable cause or even reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is occurring, yet nonetheless asks a civilian for permission to search their vehicle or person. Statewide data shows that during 2007, Hispanic drivers were more than twice as likely to be asked for permission to search their car after a routine traffic stop - and African American drivers were asked for permission three times more often. The State Police data was equally startling - with African American and Hispanic drivers being “consent searched” more than three times more often than whites. Data shows that drivers refuse permission for a consent search at about the same rate across racial lines - making clear that Black and Hispanic drivers are singled out for consent searches at a significantly higher rate than their white counterparts.

Most significant is the analysis of “hit rate” data collected for the first time in 2007. This new data shows that the consent searches targeting drivers of color yield markedly less contraband than searches of white drivers - making clear that there is an unjustified disparate impact on Blacks and Hispanics. Data shows that statewide police officers conduct consent searches of minorities 2.5 times more often than white drivers, but discover contraband at a rate one-half that of white drivers. The numbers are more dramatic for the ISP. ISP troopers ask for permission to search minority drivers more than three times as often as white drivers, but are nearly twice as likely to find contraband in a white motorist’s vehicle compared to a Black motorist’s vehicle, and eight times more likely to find contraband when searching a white driver compared to a Hispanic driver.

The civil rights groups said that the data makes clear that Governor Rod Blagojevich should bar the ISP from conducting consent searches.

“With a single executive order, Governor Blagojevich can end this practice that is proven to be discriminatory,” said Harvey M. Grossman, Legal Director of the ACLU of Illinois. “The Governor not only can fix the policy. He can assure that minority drivers in Illinois no longer are targeted for humiliating, degrading roadside searches even though there is no evidence that they have broken any laws.”

The 2006 Annual Report of the Illinois Traffic Stops Statistics Study was issued by the Illinois Department of Transportation. Adopted by the General Assembly in 2003, the legislation requires all law enforcement agencies in Illinois to collect data on all traffic stops during the calendar year. The full report is available at www.dot.state.il.us/trafficstop/results.html.

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