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November 1, 2017 Volume 23, No. 5
#MeToo Long before the #MeToo hashtag or references to “pussy grabbing” there were screams and tears from women across all civilizations, that went unanswered. And, let’s not forget the slave woman, mother and child, Maya Angelou or The Color Purple. But, unlike ever before and thank goodness in our time, Alyssa Milano shared her experiences and now the world responds -- FINALLY! The #MeToo hashtag has lent a voice and opened the doors for the victims of sexual harassment and abuse to tell their stories and release the pain and secrets of a lifetime. May this door never close and enable all who wish to do so, to walk through with a new meaning and understanding of what is actually taking place around the world in this sick cycle of the abuse of boys and girls and women and men. In France, Twitter users are using #balancetonporc or "expose the pig" to encourage women to name and shame their attackers, while #WomenWhoRoar is also being used to encourage victims of sexual
abuse to speak up. Let’s wave our own flags and shout out #MeToo from sea-to-shining-sea.
ously lived in that apartment had been the owners of the building. They had four foster children and Kenneth’s mother was their granddaughter. When the mother died, all of the children, except Robert, My #MeToo Story. were returned to their parents or to the Excerpt from “Black America – Asking state. Maybe there was no place for him to go. He moved in with the elderly gentleOurselves The Tough Questions” by man and his new wife in their home, two Sonja Cassandra Perdue. I was very young. 12 years doors down. old. Kenneth Johnson was younger. He Robert and I had been at war since I was 5 years old. We lived on the first floor was small enough to crawl under a of a small two-flat and Kenneth and his bed. That’s my earliest memory of him family lived upstairs. The Johnsons were chasing me and grabbing me in a sexual in their late 20s and had four children; manner. I would come to play with the whenever the young couple wanted to go other kids and he’d begin grabbing me and out, I was the children’s playmate/ touching me and I would run and slide unbabysitter. der his mother’s bed. He was trying to get It would be a grand time — every me from under there, but he was too big to time. We’d play games, play school, but crawl under there and reach me. I knew most importantly there was no screaming, even then that he was afraid of getting no beatings, or arguing. Although I was caught, so he coached me out with smoothyoung, they knew that they were safe with ing words that he was not going to bother me because I loved being in charge and I me. just loved small children. Continued on Page 4 The elderly couple who had previ-
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Another Black Great Migration.
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#MeToo This game (attack) of cat and mouse went on and on. I was just as intense and determined and he could not get a grip on me. I had always sent the signal that I was ready for a fight. The first few times, I could crawl under the bed, but after a while I was too big and I had to stand and fight or take flight. As Robert got older and bigger and stronger, he became more aggressive. It became harder and harder to fight him off, but he came knowing that there would be a battle. I don’t believe that he was yet old enough to be that sure of himself. Fast forward to my being 12 and Robert being 17 years of age. Somehow he had gotten wind of the fact that I was upstairs with the children. We were sitting on the sofa watching TV when the door opened. All of us turned and looked; as he spoke, he moved from the door over to me. “I’m going to get you today. I’m going to get me some today.” I was thinking, how did he know that I was up here? Fear rose up in me and as I prepared myself for a fight. I felt fear. When he moved in for the attack, I was still sitting on the sofa because it all seemed like one motion from the door to me. There was no time for anything else. As we struggled, he was on my right side sitting on the sofa and trying to push me down into a lying position. He was trying to get a grip on my hands and arms and could not because I was swinging them all of the time. If he could have stopped me from hitting him, he could have mounted me. I kept fighting to keep control or to keep him from gaining control. For some reason, I didn’t want to start screaming because I didn’t want to scare the children. Too late. I looked to my left and the three smaller children were huddled against the
Chicago Street Journal wall watching us. They had a bewildered, wildeyed, and confused look on their faces (one of those “deer-caught-in-the-headlights” expressions). Kenneth was standing in front of Robert, a little off to his right about a foot or two away from him. I can’t say what he was thinking, but in retrospect, he was gauging the situation. Maybe at first, he didn’t perceive that I was in danger. There was no fear in his face and I don’t recall seeing any sense of panic in his eyes. This little boy was just standing there watching us do battle. Then, things changed. It seemed fast and in slow-motion at the same time. Now I was the observer. I will never be sure, but maybe this little boy sensed, after giving the situation some thought, that I just might lose that battle. Quite unexpectedly. Quite, quite wondrously, this 5year-old boy leaped on this 17-year-old and began to beat him so viciously that he couldn’t maintain his grip on me for having to defend himself against this child’s blows. Kenneth was beating him and screaming and screaming and screaming. “Take your hands off of her. You stop it. You stop it. You leave her alone.” It was happening so fast. He was moving so fast that I could not keep up with what was happening. Those little arms were moving and swinging and clawing. It was like something flashing before my eyes. Watching it would make you say, “What the hell?” Robert was not trying to hurt or injure him, but just trying to stop Kenneth from hitting him. Robert was laughing at him, at first. He thought that it was funny. He tried to grab his arms. Tried to calm him down. Tried to hang on to me. It didn’t work out like he expected. He had to let go of me. I was looking directly into Robert’s face when that child wiped that smile off of his mug. He was taking a good look at that child attacking him. I watched the change taking place. I heard the change in his tone, his words, his whole being as he tried to assure Kenneth
that he would not touch me again. He was trying to hold Kenneth down and tell him that he was going to stop and that he was not going to touch me. “Calm down, man. Calm down.” He kept saying, “OK man. OK man.” He repeated these words to him over and over again. I was frozen. I didn’t know how to move. I only knew how to watch as a participant in a movie with a surprise ending that was never even written into the script. Robert was finally able to calm Kenneth down and we both sat there staring at this little boy, who was sobbing and taking these huge loud breaths. The attack itself was a shock, but the hollering and crying took it over the edge. It seemed that that child had gotten so wound up that he couldn’t come down immediately. He finally calmed and he told him one more time, “You leave her alone! Don’t you bother her again!” I was taken aback, as I sat there that day, but Robert was taken further. Robert told him that he would not touch me again. And he never did. Without regard to the size or might of the enemy, this little boy moved into position, executed an attack, and was victorious. He left the enemy/potential rapist empty and impotent. Robert stood up from the sofa as we all watched him straighten his clothes. He told me that he was sorry and that he would never, ever touch me again. He told me that I had nothing to worry about. I can only think that if shame had a smell, it would smell just like Robert Johnson. Here and now, I wonder if Robert remembers the day that a 5-year-old boy became more man then he would ever be. Sonja Cassandra Perdue is the author of “Black America – Asking Ourselves The Tough Questions” now available on Amazon.com, Founder of Chicago’s Black Business Network and Associate Publisher for Chicago Street Journal’s Digital Division. She has completed close to 300 podcasts available on Chicago’s Black Business Radio Network.
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CHICAGO POLITICS – Keep an eye on Chicago City Council Meetings from the comfort of your home by viewing live streaming or archives of past meetings. For each City Council meeting, the Office of the City Clerk provides live streaming video, including captions, on their Council News Central page. To watch live click HERE. For more information on attending a Chicago City Council meeting, please contact the Chicago City Council Sergeant-at-Arms at 312-744-6800 or via email. (CityCouncilSeating@cityofchicago.org) EDUCATION - Is 5 years of age too young to start learning about stocks and bonds? John Rogers, CEO of Ariel Investments, doesn’t think so and is currently involved in creating future financial professionals at the Ariel Community Academy located on the south side of Chicago. In a recent interview with Black Enterprises, Mr. Rogers stated that, “First, we wanted our students to be really comfortable with the stock market.” He also indicated that, “...it’s critical for young people to start out with a sound financial footing.” CRIME – The trial for alleged Chicago west side street gang leaders Cornel Dawson and Terry Odum will be the first test in Cook County of Illinois’ racketeering law. The new law was passed in 2012 and permits prosecutors to hold crime bosses accountable for the actions of the entire gang. More than 20 purported Black Soul members were arrested in 2013 under this statute. SPORTS – Love Basketball? Sherman Park will be hosting a Basketball Skills Camp for ages 9 – 18 every Friday from 3:30 pm – 6 pm at 1301 W. 52nd Street. According to Dr. Health Benefits.com, being involved with sports helps youth control weight, build endurance, improves mental development, helps develop socialization skills and it’s just plain fun. BOOKS – Author Matt Taibbi’s book “I Can’t Breathe” was just released. Those words launched a nation outcry and prompted protest by the “Black Lives Matter” movement in response to the death of Eric Gardner at the hands of New York police officers in July of 2014. SUBMIT YOUR EVENTS TO CSJ – #FREE insertion in the next edition. Chicago Street Journal (CSJ) will be launching an event page in its next issue. And, you are invited! Submit your event with title and 100 words or less description for a free insert. This is a limited time offer, so get on board and let our Chicago readership know where you’ll be hosting your next networking, tech or nonprofit get-together. (Only one free insertion every six months.) Click HERE to submit.
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Chicago Street Journal screens. This was by design....it may not have been a joint effort by the hidden hands of power and the media, but whatever it was, it has worked! Black people, afraid for their sad lives, left the city. They either moved to the burbs or exited the entire state for what they thought was better and safer surroundings. They may be accurate in some cases, but in most cases, urban removal is being planned in many big states, especially if there is prime realestate to gobble-up, and Chicago's Southside is open for an A 1 land grab. Mayor Emanuel and Governor Rauner have decided that it's politically correct or in their best interest, politically, to declare the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago as 'sanctuary' landing location for anyone non-black to stakeout their territory. I strongly recommend instead of blacks selling their property and moving out of the city, they declare their current dwelling grounds as 'sanctuary communities,' for their many relatives who wanna relocate to the CHI. Black people, call your kinfolk in every southern state or send smoke signals to your lost and deprived cousins and cast away family members, instruct them to redirect their journey and head to Chicago. Make this their sanctuary city and state. Give them housing and help them either get jobs or create employment opportunities to ensure that they can have a simple quality of life. Better yet, since the mayor just announced that his administration would provide Section 8 vouchers for immigrants or U.S. citizens displaced by ravaging tragedies, there is no better excuse, than now to make Chicago the new black migrant's 'sanctuary' home.
CARL WEST
Another Black Great Migration As the world faces many, many troubling catastrophes, such as raging brush fires on the West Coast, massive terrorist shootings in major cities or states including Nevada, as well as deadly hurricanes in Houston, Texas and Puerto Rico--there are horrible transformations occurring in places like Chicago.
Make this movement to Chicago another Great Black Migration. Come and take advantage of all the privileges that the mayor and governor have decided to give to anyone who comes to Chicago or Illinois to start anew. So get on the phone and find your peeps and send them a life-line. Let us use social media, community newspapers, and talk radio to make the call-toaction like the Chicago Defender did over 60 years ago. This historic newspaper was responsible for instructing Negroes in the south to come to the north and find refuge from bigotry and racism. And the people who ran from the city to the suburbs, pack your Gucci bags and move hastily back to Beverly, Chatham, South Shore, Lincoln Park, Avalon Park.....just bring your black behinds back to CHI! Until the next edition.....Peace and One Love. I Write To Differ
All these concerns listed above are life-altering experiences, and we as Americans should feel their pain. But what's happening in my state and city hurts even greater. I'm witnessing the demise or destruction or demotion or deduction--whatever you wanna label it--of black people from the concrete jungles of the Windy City. The hidden hands of power have taken steps to ensure that black people remove (themselves) from Chicago. They're using tactics like profiling violence and other quality of life issues to drive people out of the city limits. This was initiated with the blowing up of Cabrini Green, which was the first step in removing unwanted black bodies from Chicago's census count. Now as black folks move out and others move in at record numbers, it hurts to see what I predicted is coming full force. I told you naĂŻve people who played the blame game and denounced your own community and children with the help of local media as they presented horrific violence on the nightly news, that this was not priority number one. It was all propaganda. They used images of black boys and men committing crimes against their neighbors to mentally kill the spirit of weak people who feared for their lives as they continued to see crime flash across their TV
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Sorrow Beyond Syntax*… Hussein Ali Hill-Johnson In America things are now absurd and “Alt-Truth” has become the key word Innocence citizens were beaten and one murdered by terrorist and our President took 3 days to denounce this All I feel is pain and lack the words to fully show my disdain This morning’s sunlight exposed all of the above as sad facts and all I am left with is a sorrow beyond syntax *Inspired by the murder of Heather Heyer and brutal beating of Deandre Harris
Our Moral Decay… Hussein Ali-Hill Johnson Change just for change sake is a major mistake If you follow leaders that are lost guess who pays the cost If you have a square and you cut off four corners you have a circle that reminds me of the common sense wisdom of Studs Terkel When it comes to self-respect and respecting others we are going backwards my Sisters and Brothers In a car reverse is the strongest gear but, you can’t win Indy guiding you car with its rear The answer is not as simple is turning back the clock in order to rebuild our society GOD must be our bedrock Because Devil is saying a big hooray at the state of our moral decay Hussein Ali Hill-Johnson has been a Poet and Activist since his Freshman year in High School back in the 1973. The addition of the -Johnson is to his name is to honor is Mother (R.I.P.). She was a Short Story Writer, who taught him 90% of what he knows about writing and 100% of what it is to be a person of faith. In the past 30 months, he has written 200 poems, 98 of which are currently published on-line. He can be contacted via Twitter and via e-mail at husseinhill@yahoo.com
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