Chicago students stage a die-in at City Hall with their hands bound in mock zip ties to illustrate the criminalization they experience, in addition to gun violence. (Photo: Kelly Hayes)
The Chicago students who converged downtown read their demands aloud multiple times during the event, which spanned several locations. These demands, which youth organizers distributed to journalists, included a new moratorium on school closures, more school counselors (a ratio of at least 1:200 students), librarians in every school, more after-school programs and a full-time nurse for every school. The students also demanded restorative justice trainings for school staff, more youth jobs and an end to charter school expansion. Additionally, they called for the city to reopen mental health clinics that have been shuttered under Rahm Emanuel's administration. The students repeatedly contrasted the city's failure to meet the needs of its youth with the mayor's willingness to spend an extra $95 million on Chicago's infamously racist and violent police department.