By Maya Dusenbery • @mayadusenbery • 10 years ago

9-year-old future president calls for Chicago’s public schools to stay open

At a rally to protest Chicago’s plan to close 53 public schools, 9-year-old Asean Johnson had some words for Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Transcript here.

Black students make up about 40 percent of the Chicago public school population but 88 percent of the students who will be affected by the closures. Unfortunately, it looks like only five schools will be spared.

One silver lining is that Asean Johnson’s 2043 presidential campaign is off to a great start. And Emanuel better watch out–this kid is clearly gunning for him and I’d put money on Johnson winning just as soon as he’s old enough to run.

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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