Here’s some pretty neat news. Earlier in the week I posted a photograph of a sign I made in solidarity with Chicago’s public school teachers who had gone on strike for a fairer contract. After the image was shared over 150 times on the Chicago Teachers Solidarity Campaign Facebook page, my sister found the photograph on the 6 o’clock news!
ABC 7 ran a segment on the strike and included photographs of people and signs from around the country showing solidarity with the teachers. My sign, which reads “Teachers of the world unite! From Chicago to Palestine, Strike! Strike! Strike!” and was inspired by a friend, is the third featured image and was designed to draw connections between the Chicago teachers strike and the teachers strike in the occupied West Bank.
The segment has already been uploaded to the ABC 7 website but I am unable to embed the video. You can find the video here (the sign appears at 1:16 mark). I’ve also hyperlinked the screenshot above to the video.
The sign also made its way onto NBC 5 during its evening coverage of day one of the strike.
While the teachers strike in Palestine — which is part of a greater strike over general living and working conditions under the Palestinian Authority — and the teachers strike in Chicago aren’t identical, there are still many important connections to be made.
Thank you for supporting public school teachers. Your heart is definitely in the right place, and I am very grateful that you care. From a thirty-five year veteran Palestinian-American public school teacher.