The Zombie Rights Campaign largely stayed out of commenting on the political arena this year, but we would like to, now that the campaign season has cooled down, issue a word of caution about a trend we are observing: Protesting as Zombies. In other words, dressing up as Zombies, not to protest on behalf of Zombies, to show solidarity with the Differently Animated, but to use the Undead image for your own, separate cause.

Case in point:

Dressed as zombies and calling themselves “the learning dead,” Chicago public school students marched from CPS headquarters to City Hall on Friday to protest what they call “the death of Chicago public education.” The students demanded a meeting with Mayor Rahm Emanuel to address their requests, which include reallocating CPS funds given to charter schools back to public schools, installing a democratically elected board of education, and using the city’s TIF surplus for public education. The effort was organized by Chicago Student Union and included participants from at least 10 public schools.

This is a concern for the Zombie Rights Movement. For one thing, as alluded to above, it can detract from attention paid to actual civil rights issues for the Undead. It could even be seen as co-opting their unique voices, which the ZRC feels strongly should be heard, even if they are sometimes (we’re not judgmental) more of a gutteral, growling sort of communication.

No one is perfect.

On the other hand, we also feel that public education is a vital tool for spreading Zombie Tolerance into larger American society. (see our pamphlet on Education for the Undead)

As Justice Marshall lamented in 1974 (in a dissent for Milliken v. Bradley, for legal scholars), “ ..unless our children begin to learn together, there is little
hope that our people will ever learn to live together.”

So we share the great concern of these young individuals protesting the closure of their schools in Chicago for a robust future public education system. It’s one of the best chances Undead children have, after all.

We just hope that the future of public education involves Zombies in the classroom, not only as symbols.

For more, here’s the press release of said protesting ‘Zombies’. It’s not terribly Zombie Friendly.

Tags: Don't Use the Zed Word, Greenface

This entry was posted by John Sears on Saturday, November 16th, 2013 at 1:48 am and is filed under Zombie Media, ZRC News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.