Leid Stories - 05/29/13

Lawsuit In Paris Opens Closed Chapter on Reparations; Lawsuit in Chicago Seeks to Reopen Doors of Closed Schools A lawsuit filed in Paris by a group of black civil-rights organizations has revived a vexing question that continues to haunt many in the post-colonial/post-slavery world: Does a former colonial/imperialist country or government, enriched by the free labor of people it enslaved, even by force or terror, have a financial obligation to its former colony and its people? A class-action lawsuit filed against the city and school administrations in Chicago challenges a decision last week to close 50 public schools, almost all of them in African American and Latino communities. The teachers union says the city wants to close about 120 schools – a policy that is being enacted in major cities across the United States. The toll so far is 4,000 and counting.