cut $200 million from the public school budget. this resulted in 1,400 staff layoffs. where were most of the layoffs? bridgeport? lincoln park? nope, the south side and west side where the black people live. that's like a really odd coincidence. >> why do black and brown parents, educators, students, why do we always have to fight so hard for what should be given to us? >> and we want to talk about violence in our communities, we have to talk about the support systems we have. teachers are our support systems. and that's what we're fighting for, and black lives matter chicago stands firmly on that. thank you. [ applause ] >> the thing i was interested in today, we're here to talk about the violence in chicago. parents connected the lack of schools and lack of school resources directly to the violence. >> that's right. >> i think that's something people don't really think about. they think violence is one thing, schools is another thing. >> that's the problem. people want to individualize it and put it solely on the shooters or gang members.