Rahm's publicity stunt backfires as he hears 'Sixteen Shots!' even at Urban Prep...
Rahm Emanuel tried to come out from hiding in his City Hall "bunker" by going to Urban Prep charter school to announced the Chicago version of "My Brothers Keeper" on December 16. Urban Prep, whose claims about success have been part of the propaganda campaign of Chicago's charter schools for a decade, is usually safe for Rahm's publicity stunts. But ever there he was greeted by a brief outburst of "Sixteen Shots" before the critic was drowned out by the Urban Prep chanting. This photo was supplied to the press by the "Mayor"s Press Office," paid for by Chicago taxpayers.After more than two weeks of avoiding major media events -- for the first time since his May 2011 inauguration -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel ventured out of his "bunker" on December 16, 2015, to Urban Prep, one of Chicago's more notorious charter schools. The reason for Rahm's visit was one of those infinite number of publicity stunts that Emanuel has engaged in since he took over the fifth floor office at Chicago's City Hall. This one was to promote a venture that Rahm's buddy, Barack Obama, is also pushing -- "My Brother's Keeper." Rahm was there to announce the Chicago version of that activity and name those who would be on the "Brother's Keeper" steering committee for Chicago.
Urban Prep was also noting its annual claim that by a miracle known only to the charter school and its founder, Tim King, once again all of the students poised to graduate from the school have been "accepted" to college.
But even Tim King's fraudulent Urban Prep charter school couldn't save Rahm. During his speech he heard the phrase "Sixteen Shots!" just long enough to interrupt and expose the vapid publicity stunt.
As DNA Info reported:
Rahm Heckled With '16 Shots' as He Announces Plan To Help Minority Youths. By Ted Cox, December 16, 2015 10:38am, Updated on December 16, 2015 4:21pm
ENGLEWOOD Moving to address inequities dredged up bythe Laquan McDonald case, Mayor Rahm Emanuel Wednesday announced he was embracing a presidential initiative for minority youths, but student protesters at a high-achieving charter school nevertheless heckled him with shouts of "16 shots."
Emanuel announced what he called a "My Brother's Keeper" Cabinet Wednesday at the Urban Prep Academies campus in Englewood.
Building on President Barack Obama's "My Brother's Keeper" initiative, which seeks to boost achievement for minority youths, the mayor will create a 22-member panel made up of "representatives from the faith-based, business, civic, and educational communities in Chicago," his press office said.
The mayor said the panel "will spearhead a comprehensive, citywide strategy to continue to expand opportunity for every child and young man of color in Chicago."
After the mayor's remarks at the all-male charter high school Wednesday morning, some students shouted, "16 shots," a chant referring to 17-year-old Laquan's shooting death at the hands of officer Jason Van Dyke in October 2014. The chants came as the school celebrated its annual ceremony presenting students with school ties for being accepted to college.
The claim that certain schools get a "100 percent college acceptance rate" has been a mainstay of alternative schools' fraud since it was pioneered by Paul Adams on Chicago's West Side 25 years ago. Basically, any school can get a "100 percent college acceptance rate" by a simple (and simplistic) trick: require every student to apply to college -- including colleges that accept every graduate. At place like Urban Prep, the hype surrounding the claims has blinded reporters to the simple fact that any high school can duplicate that "miracle" by simply requiring all students who are poised to graduate to apply to easy to get into schools. For Urban Prep, racism also feeds into the media coverage (and Rahm Emanuel's version of reality): the notion that black young men are not going to graduate, let alone go to college, is imbedded in the racist version of reality that Rahm lives by. The fact is, every year any of Chicago's main selective enrollment high schools graduates more young black men than Urban Prep. But the graduation day at Whitney Young, for example, is ignored because it is simply part of the mission of Whitney Young as a real public school. Photo above was supplied to the media by "The Mayor's Press Office.""The mayor recognizes that Chicagoans are understandably frustrated," Emanuel spokeswoman Lauren Huffman said afterward. "He has called for systemic reform to bring safety to every community and rebuild trust where it has been lost. As part of that process he will continue to engage with residents, police and community leaders to address their specific concerns."
Later in the day, in a news conference at the Harold Washington Library, Emanuel cast the controversy in a historical context.
"We as a city have come face to face with our history," he said. "This is decades in the making."
Emanuel pledged that this time Police reforms would be different.
"I think it's appropriate that we be held accountable, that this incident, and all the events involving Laquan McDonald, do not get put off to the side, do not get half measures as we've had before, but in a fundamental way we deal with it," he added. "I'm energized to deal with that, and I'm also energized that we have to be held accountable and make this different than last time."
At the Urban Prep event, he emphasized the cabinet would be part of the solution. Saying he wanted to expand Urban Prep's record of students graduating and going on to college, Emanuel said, "If you invest in the children of the City of Chicago, you'll always come out a winner."
Yet he also made reference to it being "a particular time in the city," and the chants that have echoed in the streets during protests all through that time the last few weeks followed him even to Urban Prep.
The announcement was made at Urban Prep because the Cabinet includes the school's founder, Tim King, as well as Chicago Public Schools Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson and Monica Haslip of Little Black Pearl in Bronzeville. King is one of the chairmen, along with Juan Salgado of the Instituto del Progresso Latino.
"I am proud to support any initiative that promotes greater opportunities for our youth, particularly children and young men of color, King said.
I look forward to my role as co-chair to the mayor's MBK Cabinet. With the mayors leadership on and commitment to this initiative, Chicagos youth will be even closer to realizing their full promise and potential."
The other members of the Cabinet include:
Berto Aguayo, of Hoops in the Hood
Torrey Barrett, of the KLEO Center
Eddie Bocanegra, of the YMCA of Chicago
Noel Chambers, of the Boys and Girls Club of Chicago
Charlie Dates, of the Progressive Baptist Church
Evelyn Diaz, of the Heartland Alliance
Adrian Esquivel, of the Chicago Workforce Funders Alliance
Shayne Evans, of the University of Chicago
Kirk Harris, of Fathers, Families, and Healthy Communities
Aarti Kotak, of the city's Department of Planning and Development
Sequane Lawrence, of the Chicago Center for Arts and Technology
Patrick Milton, of CPS
Katya Nuques, of En Lace
Sheldon Smith, of the Dovetail Project
Alfred Tatum, of the University of Illinois at Chicago
Carl Tutt, of 100 Black Men of Chicago
A.J. Watson, of Youth Guidance
