-Caveat Lector-
>From TheChicagoTribune
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Decatur debate turns into 3-ring act
Talks fail to end dispute as dueling rallies take place
Rev. Jesse Jackson (center) led protesters in Decatur on Sunday, including
U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, to reaffirm support for the students who were expelled
from school. (Tribune photo by Phil Greer)
By Flynn McRoberts
Tribune Staff Writer
November 15, 1999
Balkanized by the controversy over seven students expelled for fighting, this
factory town became a stage Sunday for everything from evocations of civil
rights heroes to hate-spewing Klansmen.
A cheering crowd of more than 2,000 came to hear Rev. Jesse Jackson and support
the African-American students. Blocks away, a subdued procession of about 250
residents marched to show solidarity with local school officials. And across
town, 100 people gathered with hooded Klansmen to vent their resentment at
Jackson for entering the fray.
But away from the sound and fury, quiet negotiations continued Sunday as the
state schools chief returned to Decatur for separate talks with Jackson and the
local school board president. After weeks of negotiations between Jackson's
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and school officials, the two sides still are haggling
over how to punish the young men.
Publicly, however, Jackson rejected the local board's request for a cooling-off
period while both sides consider a compromise being brokered by State Schools
Supt. Glenn "Max" McGee.
"They've been cooled off since Sept. 17," Jackson told a crowd of thousands
gathered in the MacArthur High School parking lot, referring to the date of the
football game during which the seven youths engaged in a bleacher-clearing
brawl. "Now it's time to turn the heat up."
To that end, Jackson urged state and federal prosecutors to subpoena local
school officials who, without naming names, have released information on the
students' attendance records and, in some cases, academic standing. Referring
to felony mob action charges filed last week against the young men by local
prosecutors, Jackson warned: "For those who would send them to jail--they might
be your (jail) mate."
For her part, school board President Jackie Goetter eschewed incendiary
rhetoric for the day. Goetter said she and the district's top lawyer met with
McGee on Sunday "just to continue the discussion" on a 10-point plan offered by
McGee and Jackson. Under that proposal, the students would be eligible to
return to regular classes in January if they "maintained a high standard of
conduct, attendance, completion of homework and a C average in the Alternative
Placement Program."
Jackson again accused the local school board of rebuffing McGee, who left
Decatur late Sunday saying he had done all he could.
Goetter would not elaborate on discussions with McGee.
The board met in special session early last week, cutting the original
expulsions from two years to one year and agreeing to let the students earn
credit while attending alternative school.
Since then, the controversy has dissipated little, and it reached a new peak
Sunday with the three separate marches or demonstrations.
For the second Sunday in a row, Jackson led a march through the city streets.
The gathering Sunday, which included U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) as well as
other politicians and the students, stretched about 12 blocks as it wended its
way from Decatur's civic center to MacArthur High School.
There were women in Malcolm X T-shirts, communists waving red flags of
revolution and parents hoisting hand-scrawled signs that read, "Leave No
Children Behind." Many came from Chicago and elsewhere to hear the rousing
speech of Jackson, and they were not disappointed.
Recalling the efforts of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1950s and '60s,
Jackson told the crowd, "If Dr. King could do it in Birmingham, we can do it in
Decatur."
Jackson called for prayer vigils at each of the district's three high schools,
which were closed for all but a half-day last week due to safety concerns but
are scheduled to be open Monday morning. If the issue is not resolved by Monday
night, Jackson repeated his vow to take the students back to school "and face
jail to save our children."
The Chicago civil rights leader has made that promise before during his
personal showdown with the board, which is nearing its third week. But Jackson
seemed to turn up the volume by insisting that if Monday night doesn't bring
resolution, "on Tuesday morning, we're going to cross the line."
Rush vowed to push for congressional hearings on zero-tolerance policies on
school violence, which are at the center of the dispute.
As for the young men, Jackson said they had "made a grievous error; they fought
each other." But he again noted that there were "no guns, no bullets, no
knives, no blood" involved -- "less violence than a hockey match."
Those who take a much more serious view of the scene -- in which there were no
major injuries, but women and children are seen sheltering themselves from the
fight -- held their own march.
About 250 people, many wielding "Stop the Violence" placards, followed City
Council member Betsy Stockard down one of Decatur's main streets. Holding a
blue ribbon meant to symbolize solidarity with the school board, the mostly
white crowd also was showing its support for Stockard, an African-American who
has been criticized by some for changing her opinion and supporting the board
after she saw the videotape.
"I've never played the race card," she said. "I do know a lot of (black) people
don't want to stand out" by voicing their support for the board.
At least one of the parents with her was worried the situation could get worse.
"With white supremacists showing up, I think it could just blow this more out
of hand than it is," said Donna Wallis, an assistant teacher at MacArthur High
School. "It's wrong. This should be handled by the Decatur people."
But some of those Decatur people, as well as others who came from hours away,
gathered on the east side of town to listen to the imperial wizard of the
American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
About 100 supporters exchanged stiff-arm salutes and taunted a counter-
demonstrator who sought to shout down Jeff Berry, whose Klan chapter drove in
from Butler, Ind. Berry chastised the white residents for allowing Jackson to
take control of the debate over the expulsions.
"You people let it happen," he said, as about 15 fellow Klan members stood in
robes under a pavilion at Nelson Park. With American and Confederate flags as a
backdrop, Berry urged the crowd from behind a cordon of police officers: "Stand
up for your rights!"
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