CHICAGO, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Black leaders in Chicago say city residents should join a four-day boycott of public schools to protest what they say is unequal funding.
The Rev. Larry Trotter, an influential South Side pastor, joined the effort Sunday, telling his congregation that reliance by the state of Illinois on local property taxes to finance schools has created wide divisions in quality, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
"If schools in Winnetka and other areas can have state-of-the-art computer labs, then we ought to have the same thing in Chicago," Trotter reportedly said to loud applause at his Sweet Holy Spirit Church.
The Sun-Times said a recent survey by the National Center for Education Statistics ranked Illinois 49th out of 50 states in state funding of public education.
The newspaper reported state Sen. James Meeks, a pastor who is among the boycott's organizers, said during a sermon Sunday: "I want the whole nation to look at Illinois. I want the whole nation to ask, 'Why is Illinois racist?'"
