In today’s world, it seems almost impossible to not speak or critique what is going on in our nation. Today, three time Grammy winner Chancellor Jonathan Bennett decided to take it a step further and humbly take matters into his own hands. Chancellor, better known as Chance the Rapper, held a press conference today that was also streamed through Instagram Live and Twitter. He began the discussion by stating that he had previously met up on Friday with Governor Rauner, the first Republican to govern the state of Illinois in a dozen years. Chance then spoke on the governor’s failed promises for the children of Chicago, and his frustration with the lack of commitment Rauner has shown. The overall issue that Chance spoke upon was Governor Rauner’s failure. He continued by explaining that he has only received very vague answers, but has had successful discussions. Governor Rauner had previously promised to bridge the wide disparity between Chicago’s pension payments and those of every other school district by giving 215 million dollar to CPS. Governor Rauner went against his own word a few months ago which Chance stated was, “A result of an admitted emotional reaction when he vetoed the $215 million in funding the Chicago schools were counting on to close out this school year.” He followed up, saying,
Our kids should not be held hostage because of political positions.
Ultimately, Chance the Rapper turned words into actions by donating a $1 million check “for the kids”. This money will be used to support arts programs throughout the district.
Throughout my years of elementary school, I always heard about injustices and lack of money, but never once did my peers or I believe it was a big deal. It only went as far as discussing it in the PTA meetings. No musician I looked up to was there to shed light to these on going injustices, no artist ever did anything besides make a comment about it on a talk show or during an interview. Much too often we hear people in power, or people we look up to, say “we need to make a change”, but very rarely is anything done to make said change.
People often forget about their roots and where they came from, where their life journey began. Chance, however, did not; he went back to where it all began and rather than forgetting the teachers that only wanted to make every student succeed, and forgetting the children that surrounded him he made it possible for future children to get the same chances he did. Chance saw an injustice and tried to make things right; and when that didn’t work, he took action. He is someone we should all look up to and admire. In times like these we must all take a chance.
