CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A hunger strike against an industrial metal shredder proposed for Chicago’s Southeast Side is in its twelfth day and more opponents are joining.
Chuck Stark said he’s not eating because he wants “the city to stop using the Southeast Side for industrial development only”.
It’s in an effort to get the Lightfoot Administration to deny a permit for Reserve Management Group to operate a metal shredder blocks from George Washington High School where Stark teaches.
Activists accuse the city of engaging in environmental racism and question why the owners of the former General Iron would be allowed to operate the shredder in a predominantly Latino and Black neighborhood when Lincoln Park residents’ complaints led to the facility closure there.
Sophomore Alejandra Cruz plans to participate in a one-day hunger strike Thursday along with other students at George Washington High School.
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In a conference call, a group of 77 teachers and professors from across the city said they’re going without food in a one-day strike Monday.
A spokesman for RMG said they regret people are choosing to engage in unwarranted conduct with the hunger strike and strongly urge them not to put their health at risk.