In 2013, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a massive wave of school closings, mostly on the city’s South Side, citing poor performance, under-enrollment or both.

Parents protested, concerned for the safety of their children, many of whom would now have to deal with the threat of gang violence on their way to and from their new schools.

They were also dismayed that the most important and visible anchors of their neighborhoods were being shuttered.

In her new book Ghosts In The Schoolyard: Racism And School Closings On Chicago’s South Side, sociologist and writer Eve Ewing deconstructs what happened in local communities when those 50 public schools abruptly closed.

Morning Shift talks with Ewing about the families she interviewed and the overall impact of the school closures on largely black and brown communities.