Meeks calls off school boycott in Chicago

by Dave Keating | September 4, 2008 at 01:55 am

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The Reverend Meeks, a powerful Illinois state senator, has called off the Chicago public schools boycott after being heavily criticized by politicians and the media.

A controversial, four-day Chicago Public Schools boycott ended on Day Two -- after Gov. Blagojevich said any meeting with its organizer, the Rev. James Meeks, wouldn't happen during a boycott.

"We're asking all students to return to their schools," Meeks said Wednesday night after about 500 protesters converged on the lobbies of 18 corporate and government downtown buildings during the day.

» Click to enlarge image James Meeks (left), a state senator and senior pastor at the South Side Salem Baptist megachurch, brought his school boycott to Mayor Daley's doorstep on Day Two of the controversial protest.
(Al Podgorski/Sun-Times)

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"We believe the governor is a man of good will and a person of his word," Meeks said. "So, we are therefore seeking a meeting on Thursday to discuss school funding reform."

Meeks was referring to comments made by Blagojevich's people Tuesday, when 1,400 African-American students and their parents made history by converging on New Trier High in Northfield to protest school funding inequities.