The Daily Northwestern Wednesday, February 21, 2018
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Group looks to save Family Focus locale 5th Ward advocates want resources to stay in building By CATHERINE HENDERSON
the daily northwestern @caity_henderson
Colin Boyle/Daily Senior Staffer
FMO former board members Will Evans, Herman Cage, Asadah Kirkland, Justin Clarke, and current president of FMO Kasey Brown (left to right) participate in a panel at the Black House. On Tuesday night, the panel discussed the past and future of the black community at Northwestern University and the 50th anniversary of the Bursar’s Office Takeover coming up in May.
Panelists discuss FMO’s history By COLIN BOYLE
daily senior staffer @colinbphoto
The past, present and future of For Members Only, Northwestern’s black student alliance, gathered in the Black House on Tuesday night for
a panel discussion about the evolution of the black community at Northwestern since the group’s founding 50 years ago. Roughl y 30 people attended the event, which started with a video by panelist Asadah Kirkland (Communication ’93). The video,
titled “Continuum,” depicted how the presence of black students on campus during Kirkland’s time as a student was a continuation of what students fought for in the past. The panel included five important faces of FMO, including Herman Cage (Weinberg ’69, Kellogg ’73),
who founded the group in 1967. Cage said he was inspired after seeing a country club sign that read “For Members Only,” sparking a thought that black students on campus “needed an entity that was theirs and theirs » See FMO, page 6
Community advocates are attempting to save the Family Focus building in the 5th Ward by purchasing the building and keeping the nonprofit providing educational resources in the space. Last year, Family Focus president and CEO Merri Ex announced the organization could not maintain the costs of building ownership and maintenance for their Evanston chapter. However, at a 5th Ward meeting last Thursday, Ald. Robin Rue Simmons (5th) said community organizers were working to keep the nonprofit running out of the former Foster School building at 2010 Dewey Ave. She said the effort to keep the nonprofit open is “great news.” “We are working towards keeping Family Focus in the community, owned by the community, keeping all the great nonprofits housed in that building,” Rue Simmons said. Family Focus alumni and residents of the 5th Ward have banded together to save the building,
former 5th Ward alderman Delores Holmes said. She said the community members would need to raise $5 million to purchase, renovate and maintain the building. To achieve this goal, Holmes said the group could apply for grants, work with the Evanston Community Foundation and find other funders. Holmes added that the building has historical significance as a landmark in the 5th Ward, a historically black community. She not several other buildings owned by black community members are gone now, but that the Family Focus building remains. Community activism organization Evanston Collective founder and president Bobby Burns said Family Focus programming provides one solution to the greater problem of education in Evanston. Burns pointed out that the 5th Ward is the only ward in Evanston without a neighborhood school, which he says forces the burden of busing on the community. “Every morning, if you’re around here, you’ll see a bunch of black and brown kids standing at bus stops in this neighborhood being placed in all these schools across the Evanston community,” Burns said. “When you live around a school, it’s a community school, and now for many years it hasn’t » See FOCUS, page 6
Hopeful restaurant Former Obama staffers talk at NU owner seeks appeal Speakers lament Trump’s policy reversals, call for fair tax reforms Following Council pushback, man tries to revive Rubie’s By SAMANTHA HANDLER
the daily northwestern @sn_handler
After aldermen at a Planning and Development committee meeting unanimously denied a special use permit for a new restaurant in the 5th Ward, the property’s leasee hopes to appeal the decision and reverse the outcome. Robert Crayton, who applied for a special use permit for his proposed restaurant, Rubie’s, at 1723 Simpson St., said he had to “jump through hoops” to try to get his restaurant and community space approved by the city. “There’s no next step with me,” Crayton said. “They don’t want to do business with me. Period. They just said that they feel like I didn’t earn the privilege to do business in Evanston, which I don’t understand.” Ald. Melissa Wynne (3rd) said at the Feb. 12 meeting that Crayton’s “current pending legal proceedings” meant she could not support the approval of his restaurant. Crayton was charged with five
counts of felony unlawful delivery of a controlled substance for allegedly selling heroin to undercover officers in April 2017, according to the Chicago Tribune. “Special uses are privileges that the city council grants so that someone can operate a type of restaurant … that we don’t consider normal in the district, and we have fairly high standards,” Wynne said. “It’s a privilege that someone earns. It’s not a right.” Crayton initially applied for a permit to run a carry-out service, which he said would be the primary source of revenue for the business. Crayton said he wants to give back to the children in the 5th Ward and provide them with a “safe haven” where residents can meet for book clubs, after-school reading programs or baby showers. Crayton added that the community has been supportive of his endeavor, with several people telling him to “just keep fighting” when they see him working multiple jobs. “The community understands that this is bigger than just a restaurant,” Crayton said, “in (that) this is like for people that was in trouble like myself … with jail and could come home and own a business..” » See RUBIES, page 6
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
By ADRIAN WAN
the daily northwestern @piuadrianw
Considering how President Donald Trump has reversed several Obama-era reforms and initiatives, Don Graves, director of domestic and economic policy for former Vice President Joe Biden, said it feels like a “repudiation of the legacy” which he and many other people “pour(ed) their hearts and souls” into. Graves said the results of the 2016 election were tough to deal with. “(I worked) for seven-plus years, days and nights not seeing my family,” said Graves at a Tuesday on-campus event. “It’s really hard to come in the next day and feel like, ‘We tried our best, and American people didn’t think that we were the right team to continue what we had done.’” Graves spoke on a panel alongside two other former officials from the Obama administration: Roy Austin, who served as deputy assistant to former President Barack Obama for urban affairs, justice and opportunity, and Tonya Williams, who served as Biden’s director for legislative affairs. At the event, hosted by the
David Lee/The Daily Northwestern
Former White House staffers Don Graves, Roy Austin, Tonya Williams speak at a Tuesday event moderated by NU alumna Dorothy Tucker. The group spoke about gun control and tax reform.
Kellogg School of Management at Kellogg Global Hub, the three former White House staffers discussed current politics. About 150 people attended the talk moderated by NU alumna Dorothy Tucker, who currently works at CBS Chicago. Graves attributed the recent tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in
Parkland, Florida — in which a shooter killed 17 people — to the Trump administration’s repeal of an Obama executive order that required some to get background checks in order to purchase firearms. As a result of Trump’s decision, people with “medically diagnosed, severe mental illness” cannot be prevented from purchasing guns.
Williams said the Congressional impasse on gun control is caused by the “selfishness” of those Congress members who fear they will lose support from power players involved in the gun industry if they voted for gun control measures. “It is powerful interest. It is » See OBAMA, page 6
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