Government school apologists are appealing to a global power -- none other than the United Nations, in fact -- in their effort to stop Mayor Rahm Emanuel from closing 49 elementary schools in Chicago.
Employing what they call a “letter of allegation,” a group of Chicago activists, under the banner of The Midwest Coalition for Human Rights, sent a 24-page request to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights in Switzerland.
The letter asks U.N. officials to investigate whether the closing of 49 Chicago elementary schools violates children’s human rights, according to a report from WBEZ.
The group is asking the U.N. to “monitor” the closings, according to the radio station.
Among the signees: The Chicago Teachers Union, Action Now (formerly known as ACORN), domestic terrorist-turned-professor Bill Ayers, former Students for a Democratic Society leader-turned-professor Michael Klonsky, and retired professor and Barack Obama hero Timuel Black.
“The United Nations taking this issue up and giving it serious attention will really bring home to Chicago and the United States that there are violations occurring here of human rights, potentially, not just about a budget crisis,” said Sital Kalantry, the University of Chicago law professor who filed the letter, WBEZ reported.
The news station notes the U.N. “has no jurisdiction” over the United States, but could “investigate and issue findings.” It quotes Kalantry as saying the U.N. has previously “nudged public officials to act” on its opinions.
The letter concludes, “The Midwest Coalition for Human Rights on behalf of itself and the undersigned organizations and individuals requests the United Nations investigate these human rights violations and take measures to prevent them.”
Imagine the United Nations potentially meddling in the business of the President’s hometown.
Is that how far America’s influence has waned?
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