New Chicago Teachers Union president on "institutions, individuals" that have "had hundreds of years to deprioritize the needs of everyone except for wealthy white men" regarding education

Hey, sometimes those social network algorithms work for me. While scrolling on my iPod, yes, I grabbed one of the last ones, I found an intriguing podcast recommendation on my screen, CTU Speaks! Which, according to Apple, "CTU Speaks! is a production of the Chicago Teachers Union."

This morning I listened to the August 26, 2022 episode, "Changing of the Guard." One of the guests was the Chicago Teachers Union's new president, Stacy Davis Gates.

She set forth these hateful comments, as she discusses starting her new post, which you'll find at the eight-minute mark of the podcast.

"It's a three-year term and all of the institutions, individuals have had hundreds of years to cement the inequity embedded in our educational system," Gates said, "they've had hundreds of years to deprioritize the needs of everyone except for wealthy white men. And so, I feel that we have a lot to catch up to."

Chicago Public Schools, which recently slipped down from being the third-largest district in the nation to the fourth, are doing a terrible job educating students. Test scores are terrible, and many schools are operating way below capacity. There's plenty of blame to share, and at the top of that list, belongs CPS brass and the Chicago Teachers Union. Blaming the 21st-century bogeyman, "wealthy white men," to use Gates' verb, cements the divide on how to fix CPS. 

Speaking as a middle-class white male, I can assure you that there is not a centuries-old plot encourage "inequity" in public schools. Of course, there is disagreement on how to right the ship. As for myself, I favor more and better charter schools and school choice, for starters, which the Chicago Teachers Union has long opposed. 

“School choice” has a racist history. It hasn’t really improved with time. https://t.co/r60DIIJ4Zb

— Chicago Teachers Union (@CTULocal1) August 17, 2021

In the above CTU Tweet, which is from last year and of course pre-dates Gates' rise to the union's presidency, it reads "'School choice' has a racist history. It hasn't really improved with time." The link goes to a Chicago Tribune op-ed written by Jon Hale. The Daily Wire offered a different opinion.