ADVOCACY SPURS POLITICAL ACTION

Ibie Hart knew in law school at Loyola that she wanted to be involved in politics and policy after realizing there was power in advocating for Black and brown students in the education system. Photo courtesy of Ibie Hart
Ibie Hart knew in law school at Loyola that she wanted to be involved in politics and policy after realizing there was power in advocating for Black and brown students in the education system. Photo courtesy of Ibie Hart

Advocacy spurs political action
BY TIA CAROL JONES
    Ibie Hart realized she was interested in politics while in law school
at Loyola. She wanted to advocate for Black and brown children in the education system, so she got into the education law program, focusing on education reform policy, as well as school discipline laws and guidelines.
     “So, I think for me, being in law school, I realized that, reading about the law and learning about it, a lot about my Black life was already politicized and formulated through the law and I didn’t like what I was reading,” she said.
    “So, for me, you become a lawyer and uphold the law or you go into policy and politics to change it. That’s where my interest in politics started.”
     Hart was a teacher at Amundsen High School and was bothered by how the students were being disciplined. She said the students weren’t being prioritized, not being seen for who they were or having their situations understood.
     “If you talked to them in a different way or if we changed the way we did discipline in schools, I felt like they would have a better trajectory in their school system,” she said. “I really wanted to go to law school to work on that reform policy and school discipline policy to make sure we were not kicking students out of the classroom, but what do wraparound services really look like.”
     Later on, Hart was able to work on school discipline issues, with Illinois State Senator Kimberly Lightford. Hart said during the school closures in 2013, she went to schools to talk to parents about their rights. Through that work, Hart realized there was a lot more to do with the parents and families. She founded a clinic called Stand Up for Each Other in Chicago. It takes first-year law students into Black and brown communities and represents students who are pushed out of their schools, provides them with their educational rights, as well as restorative justice, so those students have a path to graduation. Lightford was working for Senate Bill 0565, which has a part about the disciplining of students. The legislation was passed in 2017.
     Hart, who was the chief of staff for Illinois State Senator Robert Peter, said she has been able to build a relationship with elected officials and hold them accountable to their “why.”
     “Why did you run for this in the first place, how is your value connected to the values of the community you’re representing and how do you make sure that why is central to what you do every day,” she said.
      For Hart, being on the Senate floor when the Cannabis Legalization Bill was passed was unreal. She said there is still a lot of work to be done, but it was a start.
    “It was the beginning of decriminalizing marijuana that so many Black
people have been in jail for, in prison for,” she said. “The legislative intent was always around we don’t want people to be locked up. Definitely, a beginning, but we’re going to do more work on it. But I think, it’s definitely, hopefully going to result in people having less Interactions with the legal system.”
     Hart, who works with the State’s Office of Minority Economic Empowerment, said that when you support Black women, the whole community comes up. She said it is how she thinks about everything
she does. In her current position, she supports women-owned businesses.
     Hart said voting is important because political officials are fighting for everything people experience every day. She said when people are voting, they are not just voting for a person, they are voting to have their voices heard. Hart said there are benefits to having Black women as elected officials.
     “Women, we hold a lot of roles. Societally, there has been a lot of
responsibility put on our back. At the end of the day, elected officials oversee people, they take care of people, they’re fighting for people. And, I think women do that naturally. It’s in the fabric of who we are,” she said. “Our voice hasn’t been a part of the system for so long.
    And, we’re not happy with the system, so something’s gotta change.”
Hart said when it comes to voting, it comes down to values.
     “We all know what values are taught to children are taught in school. We all know what good and bad is, and there are certain people who are in line with that and those who are not,” she said. “I want everyone to go to the polls and vote according to their values.”

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