In Moving Forward, What Will It Take For Black Chicago?

citizen |

by Thelma Sardin

While the African American presence in Chicago is evident even when it comes to the citys founding father in Chicago, several images come to mind in thinking about what represents Black Chicago. From the Black Frenchman, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, who became the first permanent resident in the city, to Chicagos first Black mayor Harold Washington to a crowd of thousands who packed Grant Park to hear President Barack Obama speak the night he was elected, these events and others have been pivotal in describing the Black experience in the city .

Weaving the tale of the history of the African American in the city, the Citizen Newspapers has also been an iconoclast distributor of news, and for the past 46 years, has captured the names, faces and places associated with these stories.

In 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.s visit to Chicago represented the determination of Blacks anxious to see reform in city politics. Kings visit was epic in many ways. His trip was organized by the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO). The CCCO was a coalition of community based organizations that united to fight racial disparities in Chicago. The basis of his trip to Chicago was open housing and he was not received well by Chicagos power political structure back then. Some Black preachers who were aligned with [Mayor Richard J.] Daley, denounced King coming to Chicago. It was during that time that there was the famous march to Marquette Park, said Dr. Conrad Worrill, director, Jacob Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies at Northeastern Illinois University.

Worrill adds that the whites illuminated the fact that Blacks were not able to move into certain areas of Chicago, in particular Gage Park. The white people came out of their houses that day. They stoned the demonstrators and threw rocks at Dr. King, it was quite a spectacle. It opened a can of worms in Chicago in terms of racism in Chicago, in terms of housing in Chicago, and how that related to the overall treatment of black people in this city, he said.

Dr. Howard Lindsey, associate professor of History at DePaul University believes Kings 1966 visit to Chicago highlighted some of the citys deep racial issues. He says Mayor Richard J. Daley had long preached that Chicago did not have any problems and that all the racists were down South. Essentially, Kings visit helped to, highlight problems in housing and some extent in education in the black community under Mayor Daley, Lindsey said. He also said that Blacks who were loyal to Mayor Daley did not like that King was unveiling Chicagos deep rooted issues. Many Black ministers opposed Kings visit to Chicago.

Chicagos Westside was significantly affected by the riots that ensued after Dr. Kings 1968 assassination. Black people were quite angry regarding what happened to Dr. King. The [Black] Panthers were already formed, said Worrill. He continued by saying that the riots that followed Dr. Kings death was [an] outcry that people call a riot and we call a rebellion.

During this time, Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party began to gain significant attention. Worrill says this is the time period where the Black Consciousness Movement arose.

On December 4, 1969, as he lay in bed in his apartment, Hampton was shot and killed by a tactical unit of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, in conjunction with the Chicago Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Worrill says many Blacks call Hamptons death an assassination. Edward Hanrahan was Cook County States Attorney at the time of Hamptons death. Black people vowed that they were going to get Hanrahan. In 1971, when Hanrahan ran for re-election, Black people organized to get [other] blacks people to vote Republican against Hanrahan, Worrill said. As a result, Bernard Carey was elected Cook County States Attorney as a payback for Hanrahans connection in Fred Hamptons murder.

According to Worrill, the Black Panthers were thought of as a violent organization that was set up to overthrow the government of the United States. That couldnt be further from the truth, Worrill said. The Panthers had free breakfast programs and conducted Black History programs to educate young children, adding the Panthers had been pigeonholed because of COINTELPRO (counter intelligence program) led by J. Edgar Hoover then FBI Director. The Panthers were symbolic of COINTELPROs mission which was designed to wipe out black militant organizations and Black Nationalist organizations in the [United States], he said.

While the turbulent sixties saw the rise of groups like the Panthers, the 1970s saw the end of a Chicago dynasty. Mayor Richard J. Daley died of a massive heart attack on December 20, 1976 at the age of 74. He had been mayor for 21 years. Michael Bilandic succeeded Daley and was in office until 1979. Near the end of his term, Chicago was hit with a massive blizzard. The citys slow response to the crippling storm cost Bilandic his re-election bid. Chicagos first female mayor, Jane Byrne took office in April 16, 1979.

The Vietnam War also came to an end in 1970s after 19 years. According to veteranshour.com, 10.6% (275,000) of the men who fought in Vietnam were Black. Of the casualties, 12.5% (7,241) Black soldiers lost their lives fighting in the war. Today, America is engaged in two wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) and one of President Obamas campaign promises was to bring the troops home. No one is sure how long it will take the President to fulfill his promise, but an exit strategy for Iraq was announced February 27th 2009. The U.S. combat mission in Iraq ended on August 31, 2010.

While Obama tackles opposition from the right and left as the nations first Black president, Harold Washington faced similar push back in the 1980s. Defying Chicago-style machine politics, Washington was elected the citys first Black mayor in 1983; however, he faced many challenges during his mayoralty including his experience with the infamous Council Wars. Lindsey notes that many councilmen provided their constituents with false information about Washingtons plans for the city.

It wasnt until [the citizens] heard from Harold himself and found out that some of their aldermen werent telling the truth that they finally realized that Harold Washington was actually trying to do something for the entire city-- black and white. But he was thwarted in so many cases by these aldermen who were constantly trying to block his programs, he said.

Being Chicagos first Black mayor impacted Washington with several issues because of his race.

Lindsey adds that a lot of the problems Washington faced happened because he was black. Outgoing Mayor Richard M. Daley and Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel are not and will not face the same issue Washington faced during his mayoralty. Mayors coming after [Washington] including current and exiting Mayor Daley and incoming Rahm Emanuel [are] not going to have those same problems, he said.

The momentum of progression that captivated the 1980s by the election of the citys first Black mayor continued in Chicago during the following decade.

In 1992, long time Illinois politician Carol Moseley Braun became the first African American female to serve in the U.S. Senate. She had a lot of support. She had a number of white women who were Republicans that supported her because they wanted to see a woman in the Senate, Lindsey said. Moseley Braun unfortunately loss her bid for re-election in 1998 to Peter Fitzgerald.

One of the most pivotal political events of the 2000s was the election of then U.S. Senator Barack Obama to the Presidency. Lindsey said Obamas historic 2008 win gave African Americans hope. The win captivated Black Chicago because Obama began his career in the neighborhoods as a community organizer. Its given us a lot of things to be proud of which we thought wed never see happen, he said. Even if many Blacks are of the opinion that Obama has sold out and is not helping people at home, Lindsey adds that many of the problems that plague the Black community cannot be fixed by a national figure like Obama. The unfortunate things are a lot of the problems Blacks in Chicago face are much more local and cannot be solved at the federal level. Unemployment, education and crime rates are things that a President cannot affect, he said.

He adds Black neighborhoods have also undergone a significant transformation in the last fifteen years. With the demolition of the CHA housing projects, Lindsey says many Blacks are now more dispersed because of the housing projects deconstruction adding neighborhoods that housed the Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor projects are virtually gone.

Throughout the city, Joanna Trotter, community development director at the Metropolitan Planning Council said many Blacks are leaving Chicago for better educational opportunities and for better jobs in the south suburbs or even going as far as down South. Trotter calls the phenomenon of Blacks leaving the city Black flight, and believes those in power i.e. politicians and urban planners, should be prepared to invest in Black communities to possibly lower the number of Blacks fleeing those neighborhoods.

Given the fact that we are experiencing some black flight we need to really think about how to be much more targeted in how we invest in these communities, she said, adding more community organizations need to work with the communities to develop strategies to help alleviate some of the societal factors that cause people to leave. Attracting new retail opportunities, businesses and events as Mayor Daley tried to accomplish with the 2016 Olympics will help revitalize these communities, she said. I think it just really calls for non-profit organizations working more collaboratively to support these communities. I think it requires new attention on these neighborhoods as well to stabilize them.

Rutherford Wilson, a former entrepreneur and Chicago Police Department (CPD) Detective shares a unique perspective both from a residents point of view, entrepreneur and advocate for stopping crime. He thinks its going to take a change in attitude and work ethic to help solve many of Black Chicagos problems.

In 1974, he opened the New Rivera Motel at 91st and Stony Island. Over the years, he and his business partners purchase several more motels including the Seville, the Grand South and Grand West motels. Wilson led an equally rewarding life as an officer and entrepreneur. As a young patrolman, he was at the scene of the Richard Speck murders in 1966. Speck was a mass murderer who methodically tortured, raped and killed eight student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital. Wilson was also a victim of an armed robbery outside of a supermarket located on Chicagos South side and played a critical role in helping to apprehend the suspect in the Chatham murders, where over a twenty-six day period, eight people were killed.

As a former entrepreneur, he says more community businesses are needed to remedy unemployment in Black neighborhoods. According to a February report by the U.S. Census Bureau, Cook County had the most black-owned businesses, with 83,733, accounting for 4.4 percent of all the nation's black-owned businesses. This figure proves Black businesses are thriving in the Chicago area, but Black businesses need to flourish, he says in order to help solve the problem of unemployment. If we [are] ever going to do anything about the unemployment rate in our community-- we [are] going to have to get into some of these businesses. We cannot depend on all large businesses to support us. We are going to have to have community businesses. We are going to have to be entrepreneurs, he said.

But not only entrepreneurship will help change life for Blacks in the city he added. As a former police officer, he says people have to be willing to report crime if things are going to get any better, but the police have to be willing to protect the people who tell, he said.

We have to protect our witnesses. Nobody wants to be out on a limb telling on somebody and got no kind of protection. We have to be willing to tell the police who committed [a] crime. If the police are not willing to protect us then people are simply not going to tell, he said.

Its also said its going to take a different way blacks think about work. We have to learn how to enjoy work, he said, adding that Black children must be trained, if they want to be successful in this life. Its going to involve changing ideas about work ethic, he said.

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