One year later: Dyett hunger strikers celebrate, reflect

On Aug. 17, 2015, a group of South Side community members decided to go on a hunger strike to preserve Dyett High School, 555 E. 51st St., as a neighborhood school. Due to the tenacity of the 12 hunger strikers, who participated in a liquid-only fast for 34 days, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced that Dyett would reopen for the 2016-17 school year as an open enrollment neighborhood school.

One year has passed, and on Tuesday, Sep. 6, 150 new students will walk through Dyett’s doors thanks to the sacrifice made by the hunger strikers. Several of the hunger strikers and their supporters celebrated the one-year anniversary of the strike, Wednesday, Aug. 17, at Rainbow PUSH, 930 E. 50th St.

“The energy that we feel is the victory that the people in this room achieved,” said former Illinois State Representative candidate, Jay Travis. “There is still work that needs to be done…we are not finished yet.”

http://hpherald.com/2016/08/18/one-year-later-dyett-hunger-strikers-celebrate-reflect/