{"id":308801,"date":"2025-10-16T19:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T19:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/308801\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T19:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T19:18:11","slug":"our-story-of-occupation-and-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/308801\/","title":{"rendered":"Our story of occupation and resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"

CTU President Stacy Davis Gates penned an op-ed in USA Today<\/a> telling the story of Donald Trump\u2019s attack on our city. The rest of the country needs to understand what\u2019s happening in our city and why it matters everywhere.<\/p>\n

The Attack on Chicago<\/p>\n

Trump has declared war on the people of Chicago, deploying federal agents and National Guard troops to our neighborhoods. Black Hawk helicopters thunder over homes where children sleep. Families are woken by doors being blown off their hinges in midnight raids. Children are being pulled from their beds and separated from their parents. Entire apartment buildings were raided in the dark of night.<\/p>\n

A sitting president has counted the 2.7 million people living in the third most populous city in the United States among \u201cthe enemy from within.\u201d Against his own citizens, he has deployed military force and federal agents with no badges, no accountability, and no regard for the safety or well-being of the neighbors they are terrorizing.<\/p>\n

How Teachers and Students Are Caught in the Crossfire<\/p>\n

\"Side<\/a><\/p>\n

Since this occupation began, our educators have had to check on missing students, counsel those whose parents have been detained, and station themselves on volunteer patrols to make arrival and dismissal safer for families. Our members are distributing \u201cKnow Your Rights\u201d flyers instead of preparing lesson plans. Parents send their kids to school, wondering if they\u2019ll be there to pick them up at the end of the day. Children walk to school surrounded by armed officers who don\u2019t know their names and don\u2019t care about their futures.<\/p>\n

This is a wasteful disruption and distraction from our work as educators.<\/p>\n

The Fight Back<\/p>\n

\"Member<\/p>\n

We are not backing down. Neighbors are equipping each other with whistles and bullhorns to announce the arrival of agents nearby. Our mayor is issuing executive orders protecting the right to protest and prohibiting Trump\u2019s troops from utilizing city property. Alongside the propaganda videos that Department of Homeland Security officials are producing, there are just as many videos of Chicagoans practicing solidarity, loving and protecting each other, and rallying to keep neighbors from being taken away.<\/p>\n

Our union is helping students and families understand the protections they have under our contract and the rights we all have under the Constitution. This is how we teach families to protect one another. We are teaching children not just our nation\u2019s history, but also how to make it: by knowing their rights and by understanding that collective power has always protected communities from tyranny.<\/p>\n

What Chicago Actually Needs<\/p>\n

Chicago doesn\u2019t need Black Hawk helicopters. We need food for hungry children. We need affordable housing, mental health clinics, and job opportunities for young people. We need restored SNAP and Medicaid, violence prevention funds, and Safe Passage programs. We need protection for special education students and hot lunches for all children. We need a rebuilt and funded Department of Education.<\/p>\n

These are the antidotes to crime and the pathway to success.<\/p>\n

When people outside our city understand the truth of what\u2019s happening here, they\u2019ll understand what\u2019s at stake everywhere. This is not just Chicago\u2019s fight. This is the fight for democracy itself.<\/p>\n

Trump is the president of a representative democracy, not a dictator. The overwhelming majority of Chicagoans are united and do not want Trump\u2019s troops in our city. He should remove them.<\/p>\n

The only line in the sand we have to stop him is each other.<\/p>\n

In solidarity,<\/p>\n

Chicago Teachers Union Leadership<\/p>\n

President Stacy Davis Gates
Vice President Jackson Potter
Financial Secretary Dr. Diane Castro
Recording Secretary Vicki Kurzydlo<\/p>\n

P.S. Join CTU this Saturday for No Kings! <\/strong>Join the CTU contingent this Saturday, October 18th in Chicago\u2019s Grant Park. We will meet up at 11:15am at Crown Fountain in Grant Park. RSVP here for more information: ctu.sh\/NoKings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be at No Kings<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CTU President Stacy Davis Gates penned an op-ed in USA Today telling the story of Donald Trump\u2019s attack…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":308802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,69,143479,5386,1818,156198],"class_list":{"0":"post-308801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-ice-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-illinois","13":"tag-stacy-davis-gate"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115385461171410938","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}