Members of the BYP 100’s Chicago chapter joined hundreds in protest of the “school-to-prison” pipeline Monday evening.

Activists marched from Lawndale to the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. 

From Chicagoist:

Activists began their march with a rally at Paderewski Elementary, a school that was among the more than 50 closed in 2013 down Ogden Avenue to the detention center. Members of nearly 30 different community activist groups said they wanted to see more investment in education alternative programs for youth, rather than in prisons.

“Somebody once told me when you close a school you open a prison,” said Malcolm London, a member of the group Black Youth Project 100, as demonstrators placed and tied small padlocks to the fence in front of the school. “We’re placing these padlocks to symbolize being locked out of our systems,” said another demonstrator.

Read more at Chicagoist

View footage of the protest:

Statistics continue to show that young people of color continue to be incarcerated at disproportionately alarming levels. Schools across the nation are taking a closer look at their zero tolerance policies, which are credited with placing more youth of color in handcuffs, than classrooms.

Kudos to members of BYP 100 and other activists in Chicago for taking a stand!

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