A group of men and women are currently in the second week of a hunger strike to save a neighborhood school in Chicago.
DNA Info reports that the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett High School, led by 49-year-old Jitu Brown, has refused to eat solid food until a proposal to revitalize Dyett High School is accepted.
"We're united. We're strong. You know, we're feeling the effects of it," said Brown, who along with the group, is currently hungry and weak.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Dyett High School has been slated for a close this year, having been plagued by poor performance and low enrollment numbers. The latest class to graduate only had 13 students.
The school district has opened the floor to proposals from private community organizations to run the school for the Chicago Public Schools.
According to DNA Info, for two years now, the coalition has been pushing the revitalization of Dyett High School, turning it into a Global Leadership and Green Technology High School. This proposal will bring a science-based curriculum, capitalizing on the school's location in Washington Park.
This is one of the three plans that the Chicago Public Schools have for Dyett, and is what the protesters believe will be the best for the youth in their neighborhood.
Monica Haslip of the Little Black Pearl organization has also given a proposal to turn the school into an arts and design academy, giving "comprehensive four-year visual and performing arts" training. She envisions enrolling up to 650 students, per Chicago Tribune.
Another plan is proposed by Dyett interim principal, Charles Campbell, to reinvent the school with a focus on sports. His proposal targets around 800 to 900 students.
When a meeting and a decision regarding what to do with the school was postponed for another month, that's when the hunger strike began.
J. Brian Malone, executive director of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization who has rallied with the coalition, said that their group is "resilient" and will "strike for as long as it takes."
On Monday, Brown tweeted that a 50-year-old grandmother, who was a member of the group, was hospitalized. However, no word was received from Mayor Rahm Emanuel or the CPS.
#fightfordyett HUNGER STRIKE DAY 9. Grandmother Irene Robinson hospitalized Monday and NOTHING from mayor or CPS. pic.twitter.com/m656KEXeSy
— Jitu Brown (@brothajitu) August 25, 2015
This week, Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, a group allied with the coalition, expressed her support to the coalition. She asked the mayor and CPS CEO Forrest Claypool to "end their plan to eliminate Bronzeville's only neighborhood high school."
"We're undeterred. We'll be here until we get this school, Brown said, per DNA Info.
