Storming the Gates: Inequality in Education

"Power concedes nothing without a demand," said panelist DJ Wells, Director of Public Relations and Marketing at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Storming the Gates: The Struggle for Access to Higher Education in Illinois," a documentary about the beginnings of how minority groups, particularly Latino and African-Americans, gained access to higher education and equality, was featured on Friday, Sept. 11 in the auditorium at Northeastern Illinois University.

The film was produced by the faculty from the University of Illinois at Chicago as well as the Illinois African-American and Latino Higher Education Alliance. The event was one of the first events to kick off Latin American History Month.

This film hopefully raises awareness to the younger generation about the challenges the previous generations had to face to receive a college education, said Leonard Ramírez, Director of the Latin American Recruitment and Educational Services Program (LARES) of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)."Without history there is no meaning, without context there is no meaning," said Ramierz. 

As the panelists stated, the motto "Expect nothing, demand everything" has turned to "Expect everything, demand nothing", meaning to say that the younger generation sometimes forgets the work it took from the previous generations to provide that mentality.

This generation of young students has much to look forward to thanks to the efforts of their predecessors. Without the help from the Illinois Latino Council on Higher Education (ILACHE), Illinois Committee on Black Concerns in Higher Education (ICBCHE) and other such organizations mentioned in the documentary, the opportunities would not have existed as they do now for minority students. As the film mentioned, there may have been many steps taken forward, but there is still more to be done by the younger generation to maintain the efforts that took place and further the movement for the right to higher education.