Classy: Chicago protesters hold jazz funeral for 'death of public education' as homicides rise 72 percent

Around 400,000 students missed classes yesterday in Chicago as 27,000 teachers walked out as part the Chicago Teachers Union’s “Day of Action.” Jesse Jackson, who recently took to Twitter to complain about the lack of media coverage and outrage regarding Chicago’s insanely high homicide rate, kicked off the main protest with a call for “teachers, not funerals.”

"Teachers, not funerals. End racism now. End wars now. Together we will win. We will win." #CTUStrike Jesse Jackson pic.twitter.com/3l8PhwMzed

— Sarah4Justice (@Sarah4Justice) April 1, 2016

A day earlier, Jackson had attempted to make a similarly strained logical connection between the city’s rise in violent crime and the rumored closing of Chicago State University over a budget dispute.

As the violent crime rises & jails expand, closing @ChicagoState is wrong. Let's rally Sat Morning @RPCoalition HQ. pic.twitter.com/gjJZLmIquH

— Rev Jesse Jackson Sr (@RevJJackson) March 30, 2016

For the record, CSU President Thomas Calhoun had insisted that the school is not closing, although the university on Tuesday took the unprecedented step of asking all employees to turn in their keys in anticipation of hundreds of layoffs on April 30. How will the school remain open, then? Calhoun has said the university will rely on tuition money to keep the school running through the summer and fall semesters.

The sorry state of education in Chicago led many protesters Friday to hold a New Orleans-style “jazz funeral” for the city’s schools.

https://twitter.com/marwaeltagouri/status/715920560576991232

https://twitter.com/CarolineSpiezio/status/715919969637236736

The repurposed “Hamilton” logo looks awfully lazy next to that skeleton on a stick wearing a graduation cap and gown. They say in comedy timing is everything, but it’s flat-out tragic that members of the teachers union and their supporters would walk out on students to hold their pretend funeral march just a day before the city announced a 72 percent increase in homicides this year alone.

Chicago's murder rate has soared 72% in 2016; shootings are up more than 88%. pic.twitter.com/1d7dlNCKBr

— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 2, 2016

Could the problem really be too little public school funding?

Marching down Washington "no cops no prisons freedom is our mission" #FightForFunding #ShutDownChi #schoolsnotjails pic.twitter.com/JELnR8oxLH

— m e l i 1 s a (@peacecosour) April 1, 2016

FUND SCHOOLS NOT JAILS banner by @ForThePeopleChi #schoolsnotjails #ShutDownChi #FightForFunding pic.twitter.com/tSBwhrQ0pR

— m e l i 1 s a (@peacecosour) April 1, 2016

There are 6 youth prisons in Illinois. That's appalling #schoolsnotjails #ShutDownChi

— #SchoolsNotPrisons (@HarrietTubelman) April 1, 2016

While Jackson is somehow connecting the rumored closing of Chicago State with a rise in the prison population, the city’s cops are blaming the ACLU for telling them how (not) to do their jobs.

@ACLU Chicago's murder rate has double since they stopped "gang profiling" how's that working out for ya won't have to worry soon

— Mary King (@queenieking57) April 3, 2016

https://twitter.com/FriskandStop/status/716412370436882433