Chicagoans Protest Against Youth Incarceration ¹⁰

Grassroots Organizing around this issue is spearheaded by many different stakeholders – youth, teachers, parents, and community members. Their missions tend to revolve around solidarity in organizing a coherent unit to combat zero tolerance punishments. Many organizations approach their activism through a social justice or racial justice lens, emphasizing the fact that the School-to-Prison Pipeline  ³⁶ (watch video) is unjust, especially in it predominantly affecting minorities. Initiatives to end the Pipeline have been both proactive and reactive – youth-led organizations compile suspension stories and publicize them in an effort to raise awareness of student experiences while teacher and community-led organizations work to implement alternative disciplinary measures. Those measures include a Restorative Justice approach where emphasis is placed on repairing the harm that was caused as opposed to criminalizing the stakeholders. Restorative Justice theories are applied to workshops called “Peace Rooms” that have already been successfully launched in schools all over Chicago, including Lincoln Park High School:

http://soundcloud.com/dnainfo-radio/peace-room-successful-for-lphs-discipline#t=0:00

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