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As Steichen sees it, the strike was the most formidable resistance by progressives, activists, working people—call them what you will—against the mayor’s feed-the-rich-rob-the-poor policies, still very much on display with the so-called DePaul b-ball project in the South Loop.
“You have to view this in the wider context of speaking up to power,” says Steichen. “The teachers’ strike is an example of that.”
I guess even the president’s afraid of the mayor’s wrath.
And: “Silly rich guys, TIFs are for kids.” Yeah, I wish.
Unfortunately, my favorite moment of the strike is not represented in the exhibit. That came relatively late in the action, when Mayor Emanuel—desperately looking for any way to justify his policies—gathered a bunch of principals for a press conference.
