In the fall of 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) carried out the most important public-sector strike in recent years. While the teachers on strike demanded higher wages and defended their benefits, the heart and soul of the strike was the fight for what the union called, in a special report, “The Schools Chicago Students Deserve.”

The CTU rightly identified school closings, tracking students through standardized testing, high class sizes and a host of other grievances in a district whose students are 90 percent people of color for what they are: racist. The report did not mince words. It called the segregation of schools and the deteriorating conditions faced by black students in particular an “apartheid-like system.”

The CTU put a special emphasis on defending its black members, who were disproportionately targeted by school closings. In 2011, black teachers in the CTU comprised 28% of educators overall, they accounted for 56.6% of teachers in schools slated for closure, disciplinary “turnaround” and other punitive actions.