FREE COLLEGE COURSE THIS PROGRAM IS FOR YOU IF: You are 18 years of age or older You are income eligible (living at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines) You can commit to doing the assignments and completing the course You can read a newspaper in English You do not currently have a four- year college degree (B.A)
The Odyssey Project is a free, 32-week, college-credit granting humanities program for incomeeligible adults with limited to no access to a college education. Course materials are provided. Transportation assistance is also provided in cases of demonstrated need.
We offer classes at locations in Greater Grand Crossing, Austin, Rogers Park and Cicero, IL (in Spanish). Classes meet twice a week from 6:00-8:00 p.m., September through April. Apply online at www.ilhumanities.org/ odysseyproject OR by contacting Illinois Humanities at (312) 374-1550.
IN THE ODYSSEY PROJECT YOU WILL: Explore five different subject areas: Literature, Philosophy, Art History, U.S. History, and Critical Thinking & Writing Study with professors from local universities Work with like-minded adult students in a supportive environment Earn 6 transferable college credits from Bard College upon completion of the course.
APPLICATIONS DUE AUGUST 15
SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY The South Side Weekly is an independent nonprofit newsprint magazine written for and about neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago. We publish in-depth coverage of the arts and issues of public interest alongside oral histories, poetry, fiction, interviews, and artwork from local photographers and illustrators. The South Side Weekly is dedicated to supporting cultural and civic engagement on the South Side and to providing educational opportunities for developing journalists, writers, and artists. Volume 6, Issue 32 Editor-in-Chief Adam Przybyl Managing Editors Sam Stecklow Deputy Editor Jasmine Mithani Senior Editors Julia Aizuss, Christian Belanger, Mari Cohen, Emeline Posner, Olivia Stovicek Politics Editor Jim Daley Education Editor Ashvini Kartik-Narayan, Michelle Anderson Music Editor Atavia Reed Stage & Screen Editor Nicole Bond Visual Arts Editor Rod Sawyer Nature Editor Sam Joyce Food & Land Editor AV Benford Contributing Editors Mira Chauhan, Joshua Falk, Carly Graf, Ian Hodgson, Maple Joy, Morgan Richardson, Rachel Schastok, Robin Vaughan, Jocelyn Vega, Tammy Xu, Jade Yan Data Editor Jasmine Mithani Radio Exec. Producer Erisa Apantaku Social Media Editors Sam Stecklow Director of Fact Checking: Sam Joyce Fact Checkers: Abigail Bazin, Susan Chun, Elizabeth Winkler, Tammy Xu Visuals Editor Ellen Hao Deputy Visuals Editors Siena Fite, Mell Montezuma, Lizzie Smith Photo Editor Keeley Parenteau Staff Photographers: milo bosh, Jason Schumer Staff Illustrators: Siena Fite, Natalie Gonzalez, Katherine Hill Interim Layout Editor J. Michael Eugenio Deputy Layout Editor Haley Tweedell Webmaster Managing Director
Pat Sier Jason Schumer
The Weekly is produced by an all-volunteer editorial staff and seeks contributions from across the city. We distribute each Wednesday in the fall, winter, and spring. Over the summer we publish every other week. Send submissions, story ideas, comments, or questions to editor@southsideweekly.com or mail to: South Side Weekly 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Chicago, IL 60637 For advertising inquiries, contact: (773) 234-5388 or advertising@southsideweekly.com
Cover Illustration by Lizzie Smith
IN CHICAGO IN THIS A week’s worth of developing stories, odd events, and signs of the times, culled from the desks, inboxes, and wandering eyes of the editors
Port Declines to Rock Boat Last Wednesday, WTTW revealed that the Illinois International Port District (IIPD), which operates the Port of Chicago on the Far Southeast Side, was considering a massive deal to transfer control to a private operator, granting Utah-based Savage Enterprises the rights to decades of future profits in exchange for millions of dollars of private investment in IIPD facilities. These kinds of deals have been catastrophic for Chicago before—think the parking meter deal, or the sale of the Chicago Skyway—but the deal seemed headed for passage. Just as quickly, however, the deal was dead. In a closed session on Friday morning, the board of directors unanimously voted to cut off negotiations to privatize port operations. Chair Michael Forde, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s personal attorney, didn’t offer any details at the time, but he later told the Sun-Times that the board voted down the deal after Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office decided it was “not in the best interest” of the port. Neither the city nor the IIPD provided any further explanation. The board simply deferred to the mayor, but why she opposed the deal remains a mystery. She may be genuinely skeptical of the privatization of essential city services. She may also have chosen to respect the wishes of 10th Ward Alderwoman Sue Sadlowski Garza, who voiced her opposition to the deal on Wednesday. Another complication is the possibility of a Chicago casino; with the IIPD-owned Harborside International Golf Center among the sites in the mix, transforming the port next door into a bustling industrial facility once again may make the site less attractive for golfers and casino-goers. While disappointing, a lack of transparency from the IIPD is nothing new. The vague explanation from the mayor’s office, however, is a surprise. For a mayor elected on a promise of changing the way things work, this closed-door decision feels like the old way of doing things. A Blow to South Side Activism “We want you to know that someone tried to burn down our building.” “We want you to know that the city seized the property and bulldozed it this week.” “We want you to know that our HomeQuaters are gone.” -Assatas Daughters’ statement via Twitter on the destruction of their building.
ISSUE making an impact in bronzeville
“ You won’t find many self-defense courses or classes for women on the South Side, and quite frankly it’s very alarming.” maple joy............................................4 supreme court of the youth police project in graham v. connor
invisible institute youth police project...............................................6 celebrating pride on the south side
“At Pride South Side, I saw what I can be.” nathan petithomme......................10 never can you compensate nobody for their life
“The good thing about it is, we’re not dead.” ashvini kartik-narayan, maddie anderson and punkin.....................12 virgil abloh does his first mca show
Abloh’s “Figures of Speech” speaks more as an advertisement than an exhibition. efrain dorado.................................18 what you need to know about pilsen’s proposed historic landmark district
Assata’s Daughters was founded in March 2015 by Page May in response to the death of “Who do you think you’re dealing with, Eric Garner, the lack of an indictment of the officer involved, and in reaction to the fact that coming into our neighborhood and telling the rallies that were being held in Chicago to highlight this ardent failure of the NYPD us what to do with our homes?” were mainly organized by older white people. Assata’s Daughters was organized to provide a jacqueline serrato, chicago “tangible difference” in female-lead Black youth organizing. Of its sixty-eight members, forty reporter..........................................20 are under the age of nineteen. They have received financial backing from celebrities including Colin Capernick and Black-ish actor Yara Shahidi. Assata’s Daughters has become widely where you came from known for their slogans, posters and campaigns: "#ByeAnita," “sixteen shots and a cover “We just got the yearbook out and we just up," and "Blood on the Ballot," utilized to refer to former Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, who was ousted in 2016 in large part due to protests from groups like Assata’s started Googling people’s names.” Daughters. Recently, the group set its sights on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s campaign idea for rachel kim......................................23 closed schools to be used for mini-police academies, as well as the larger police academy plan originated under Mayor Rahm Emanuel. They are against the proposal and have been using mixed media and clear messaging #NoCopAcademy as a rallying cry throughout the city. This artistic exchange became even more According to the Chicago Police, there were two incidents involving fire at Assta’s significant than when it first started out. Headquarters located near 58th and Prairie in Washington Park this past June. The first manisha ar......................................24 occurred on June 15 and was reported to have been caused by faulty electrical wiring in the ceiling. The second fire was of a more suspicious nature. In the early morning hours of June 25, a witness reportedly flagged down a passing officer and said that he smelled smoke coming from the building. That fire left members of the organization recovering what they could from the building. ”We want you to know we grabbed all the books, but we couldn’t save the murals,” the group wrote on social media. On July 16—the birthday of exiled Black Panther Assata Shakur, the group’s namesake—the city tore down the remaining structure and leveled the site. For now the group is soliciting donations toward a new home and continuing to circle up and meet near their former home: “Rain or shine, we out here. Literally.” JULY 24, 2019 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 3
HEALTH
Making an IMPACT in Bronzeville Self-defense on the South Side
BY MAPLE JOY
LIZZIE SMITH
Y
our heart starts to race as you walk across the mat, knowing that you are about to be attacked from behind. You re-focus on the task at hand as you realize the scenario you’re practicing could happen in real life. The aggressor grabs you, and you swing around to deliver two powerful blows: a palm heel strike and a knee. You quickly drop to the ground yelling “NO,” ready to give a side kick. The aggressor gets flustered and flees the area. You get up, check the scene to make sure you’re safe, and run to safety. This is what it’s like to take a class with IMPACT Chicago, which teaches self-defense to women, girls, and people with disabilities to provide them with “the tools they need to prevent, minimize, and stop violence,” the organization says in its mission statement. Through its classes, some of which take place on the South Side, IMPACT Chicago seeks to empower people to improve their personal safety, and is “committed to ending violence and building a non-violent world in which all people can live safely and with dignity.” IMPACT Chicago offers a variety of programs for individuals of all ages and skill levels. Its main course is the 20-hour Core Program for cis and trans women sixteen and older, which teaches participants 4 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
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verbal and physical self-defense techniques as well as how to set boundaries. IMPACT for Girls is the organization’s eight-hour program for girls ages twelve to fifteen. IMPACT Chicago also offers a variety of shorter workshops that include elements of the programs. Female instructors support and motivate participants through courses that address boundary violations by strangers, acquaintances, and romantic partners. Male instructors in body armor pretend to be aggressors and attack the participants, grabbing or verbally insulting them to role-play potential real-life scenarios. The lead instructor is right beside the participant every step of the way, providing encouragement and reminders of what to do. The class assistant, a volunteer who has previously taken the course, cheers on each
participant and, at the end of the class, demonstrates what fighting off an aggressor should look like—showing participants can achieve it. IMPACT Chicago got its start with one of its lead instructors and administrative team co-leaders, Martha Thompson. After taking self-defense trainings held by the Personal Empowerment Center in 1988, she began to build the infrastructure for a chapter of the center in Chicago. The Personal Empowerment Center disbanded a year later, however, and in 1991, several chapters came together in Chicago to come up with a new international organization. They agreed to name the organization IMPACT. “Our goal is to empower women of all shapes and sizes and backgrounds, so that they realize they have options when faced
“We try our best to move throughout the city to different locations, because we know that not everybody is going to be able to get to certain locations and certain places.”
with a threatening situation. I think what makes IMPACT special is the opportunity to work within these realistic scenarios and being able to defend yourself against a potential assailant using full force,” said Aaron “A.C.” Christensen, one of IMPACT Chicago’s instructors. The organization makes a notable effort to ensure a wide range of people can take its classes. IMPACT Chicago prides itself on holding classes in a variety of Chicago neighborhoods; it is always looking for ways to collaborate with different organizations and businesses to use their spaces and extend its outreach. “We don’t have one location that we’re always working out of. We try our best to move throughout the city to different locations, because we know that not everybody is going to be able to get to certain locations and certain places,” said Courtney Henderson, one of IMPACT Chicago’s board members and a class assistant. IMPACT Chicago also offers several options for payment, to help make sure no one is turned away because they can’t afford to take a class. “When you register on our website, you are able to select sliding scale, and then based on your self-reported income, we reduce the tuition for the Core Program.
We also offer payment plans for people,” said Katie Skibbe, an IMPACT instructor and treasurer of IMPACT Chicago’s board. “If even a payment plan is not an option, we look at scholarships,” In the most recent IMPACT Chicago Core Program, participant Chelsea Baer was able to take advantage of the sliding scale option. “I wish this class could be accessible for everyone. When I found out [a sliding scale fee] was an option, and they let you pick out the salary price points and what works for you...I appreciated that, that was something that was flexible, and so it wasn’t just this hard set cost that would deter people from coming,” Baer said. Located right off the 51st Street Green Line stop, The Bronzeville Incubator hosted the Core Program last month for a third consecutive year. This beautiful space supports local entrepreneurs and businesses by offering flex or co-working spaces and training sessions to help them build capacity. The collaboration between the organizations began with a conversation between friends Lisa Amoroso, co-chair of the IMPACT Chicago administrative team, and Denise Lewin Loyd, the spouse of Bernard Loyd, founder of The Bronzeville Incubator. Serving the needs of the community is a high priority for The Bronzeville Incubator—as it is for IMPACT Chicago. Rachel Gadson, The Bronzeville Incubator’s managing director, said, “Making sure that people have access to things that aren’t readily available in underserved neighborhoods is very important to us. You won’t find many self-defense courses or classes for women on the South Side, and quite frankly it’s very alarming.” “The ultimate goal is for us to create and provide space that fosters connection, community, collaboration among folks,” Gadson said. IMPACT Chicago hopes to expand its outreach across other Chicago communities, along with offering more courses such as IMPACT: Ability, which helps people with disabilities build their skills at protecting and advocating for themselves. Some instructors from the Chicago chapter were able to train for this new program in Boston. IMPACT Chicago also encourages men to get involved and show their support. “It’s important that men take an active role [in] making the world a safer place for their sisters, mothers, daughters, co-workers,
family, and friends,” Christensen explained. “If you consider yourself a male ally, it’s imperative that you ask the women in your life what you can do to help, and then follow through.... Not just liking someone’s post on social media, but actual, real-world actions and deeds.” ¬ Maple Joy is a contributor to the Weekly. She has taken an IMPACT class herself and contributed to IMPACT Chicago’s blog. Maple is from Cleveland but has lived in the Chicago area for over six years. She is obsessed with Chicago food. In her spare time, you can find her biking on one of the Chicago trails or hanging out at a Chicago event or festival.
Every September we put out a collection of neighborhood bests to celebrate South Side gems and pay homage to the sites that structure our everyday lives. Help us put together this year’s list by telling us about a place, event, or that you love in your thing th neighborhood.
Leave your suggestion at bit.ly/ssw-bestof
JULY 24, 2019 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 5
JUSTICE
INVISIBLE INSTITUTE
Supreme Court of the Youth / Police Project in Graham v. Connor BY THE INVISIBLE INSTITUTE YOUTH / POLICE PROJECT
U
ntil 1989, when deciding whether police use of force was excessive, courts would evaluate the officer’s state of mind. Unless the officer maliciously and sadistically used force to hurt the person, that force was not excessive. The Supreme Court of the United States then decided in Graham v. Connor (1989) that police use of force is governed instead by the Fourth Amendment. The question becomes, was the use of force objectively reasonable? “An officer's evil intentions will not make a Fourth Amendment violation out of an objectively reasonable use of force; nor will an officer's good intentions make an objectively unreasonable use of force constitutional.”
T
he Youth / Police Project’s primary objective is to build conversations with teenagers about how their lives are affected by the character of the police presence in their neighborhoods. Each year, we meet weekly with a set of teenagers, discuss their questions about constitutional law, and commit to being a regular presence 6 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
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in their lives as they grow into young adults. We called a session of the Supreme Court of the Youth / Police Project to review, de novo, the question of whether excessive use of force should require that the officer had evil intentions. The Supreme Court of the Youth / Police Project immediately inquired into whether Dethorne Graham, the plaintiff in this case, was black. We had to look beyond the opinion for contextual reporting and analysis in order to determine that yes, Dethorne Graham was a black man. The Court could not determine the race of the officers, to their unending frustration. In a review of other landmark Fourth Amendment cases this omission proved consistent—race is not preserved in the record. Ultimately, Supreme Court of the Youth / Police Project agreed with the Supreme Court of the United States that an officer’s intentions need not be malicious in order for the force to be excessive. It is nearly impossible to prove someone is a racist in court. However, that should not prevent an
inquiry into the mind of the officer. For the historical record we must note whether any explicit racism (or other prejudice) is involved. Or we won’t know the whole story. The opinion published here reflects the logic of that position.
I
n the case of Graham v. Connor, the justices of the Supreme Court of the Youth / Police Project announced the opinion from the bench. There was no dissent. The footage captured of the reading has been combined with candid footage of the authors of the opinion. Justices are also humans with full lives and important experiences. Young black people have concepts of reasonableness that may differ from real-world justices. Do I need my hands up on the dashboard every time or can I just be a regular citizen?
In the Film Abriana Ariel Wellington Asha Futterman Kahari Black Kyle Lewis Maya Desmond Morgan Sanders Nicia Wellington Trina Reynolds-Tyler Torriana Byrd Authors Ariel Wellington Asha Futterman Elijah Carter Kyle Lewis Mamadou Touray Maya Desmond Morgan Sanders Torriana Byrd Editors & Advisors Asha Futterman Chaclyn Hunt Emma Chosy Maira Khwaja Rebecca Gornstein
JUSTICE
No. 87-6571
SUPREME COURT OF THE YOUTH / POLICE PROJECT GRAHAM v. CONNOR CERTIORARI BEFORE JUDGMENT TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. 87-6571. Argued July 03, 2019 – Decided July 03, 2019. This is what we know: On November 12, 1984, Graham, a diabetic, felt the onset of an insulin reaction. He asked a friend, William Berry, to drive him to a nearby convenience store so he could purchase some orange juice to counteract the reaction. Berry agreed, but when Graham entered the store, he saw a number of people ahead of him in the checkout line. Concerned about the delay, he hurried out of the store and asked Berry to drive him to a friend's house instead. An officer of the Charlotte, North Carolina Police Department, saw Graham hastily enter and leave the store. Officer Connor became suspicious that something was amiss and followed Berry's car. Nobody even called about the orange juice being possibly stolen. The police didn’t see him steal. About one-half mile from the store, he made an investigative stop. Although Berry told Connor that Graham was simply suffering from a "sugar reaction," the officer ordered Berry and Graham to wait while he found out what, if anything, had happened at the convenience store. Graham tried multiple times to explain that he was having a sugar reaction, which would have explained his behavior. When Officer Connor returned to his patrol car to call for backup assistance, Graham got out of the car, ran around it twice, and finally sat down on the curb, where he passed out briefly. In the ensuing confusion, a number of other Charlotte police officers arrived on the scene in response to Officer Connor's request for backup. One of the officers rolled Graham over on the sidewalk and cuffed his hands tightly behind his back, ignoring Berry's pleas to get him some sugar. Another officer said: "I've seen a lot of people with sugar diabetes that never acted like this. Ain't nothing wrong with the motherfucker but drunk. Lock the son of a bitch up." Several officers then lifted Graham up from behind, carried him over to Berry's car, and placed him face down on its hood. When he woke up, Graham asked the officers to check in his wallet for a diabetic decal that he carried. In response, one of the officers told him to "shut up" and shoved his face down against the hood of the car. Four officers grabbed Graham and threw him headfirst into the police car. A friend of Graham's brought some orange juice to the car, but the officers refused to let him have it. Berry was begging the cops to give graham some sugar, definitely not trying to hurt someone. The other person on the scene was the friend with orange juice; both were trying to help de-escalate and were not making threats or behaving threateningly. Finally, Officer Connor received a report that Graham had done nothing wrong at the convenience store, and the officers drove him home and released him. Also another Officer vouched for Graham saying "I know where he stay at. Please just take him home," and then he went to begging again. He said, "Please take him home. I'll take care of him." But Connor and the other officers wouldn’t listen to him. JULY 24, 2019 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 7
JUSTICE
Graham ended up with a broken foot, cuts on his wrists, a bruised forehead, and an injured shoulder; he also claims to have developed a loud ringing in his right ear that continues to this day. Also, Graham was bed ridden for 5 weeks. he couldn’t move his hands for weeks as well. Held: 1. First, we say there was no need for application of force. Overall, Graham had not committed any crimes. There was no need to even use force at all. If they had searched him, they would have seen that he did not shoplift at all, so there was no need for force. They automatically applied force. The supposed crime is not severe and it wasn’t a crime to be moving quickly. It’s not a super crime so there were many other` options. He could have had to pee, he could have been suffering a life threatening insulin reaction. It is not reasonable to assume that a person moving with haste is committing a crime. All of that happened over orange juice; they didn’t even see him drink it or take it out of the store. 2. Second, not committing any sort of crime and almost dying should not lead to this level of injury. His behavior after being stopped, while at times erratic, posed no threat to officers on the scene. Most of his injuries were sustained from being thrown into the police car after being cuffed, which is not reasonable in most cases, including this one. Making his cuffs excessively tight and throwing Graham into the police car was a degree of force that was not necessary to stop, cuff, or put Graham in the car. He has a case against the police because he was very badly injured, and could not move for five weeks. He couldn’t move his hands for two weeks, he had a ringing in his ear, a broken foot. As Mr. Graham was fully unconscious when the cops were abusing him and none of his actions, like running to no particular place, and then fainting, were directed towards the officers. The threat was not even a threat. Running in circles around a car isn’t a get away maneuver. Maybe the cops thought he was drunk or intoxicated, but that’s still not an excuse to use that much force. 3. Third, we say that the officer’s intentions don’t matter, the force was excessive no matter what. We should not need to ask the question about the officer’s intentions. That’s like reading somebody’s mind. You can’t just assume the intentions. It’s hard to prove in some situations. We can know from the outcomes about whether the force was excessive. Here, the police applied force for the purpose of petty theft. Which isn’t that big of a crime - if it was just orange juice, what does that cost, a dollar? Some change? Anything else that could be taken from a convenience store, probably of relatively low value, is not a severe crime A reasonable officer would have allowed him to speak & realized that he had witnessed panic due to a sugar reaction rather than shoplifting. Ain’t nobody even call him, obviously the store owner didn’t care. He wasn’t resisting. They also didn’t handle the situation right because the victim had a medical background. They weren’t listening to his friend saying he was diabetic. They didn’t check his ID. It does not matter what the cop thought in this situation. They had a whole other source, the friend of the diabetic man, but didn’t ask him. A reasonable officer would not beat up an unconscious person. Of course anyone could be armed? But why would you assume that. He had a wallet in his pocket w his diabetes card but any reasonable officer wouldn’t assume wallet is a gun. So if the officer is not being reasonable, we don’t care about why they’re doing that behavior. If we need to prove their intentions then of the course the cops will say they’re not being mean. It’s just to cover their ass. Everybody lies in court, cops lie, sometimes judges lie, everybody lies period. They can make up an excuse, like they would say, “The only reason I hurt him was because he was fighting back.” Like when they say, “I shot him because I thought he had a gun, but it was cell phone.” It’s covering their ass. Any cop who stops someone like that for orange juice is wrong. It needs to be a yes or no answer. The answer is no, the cops shouldn’t have done all that.
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JUSTICE
4. Finally, we say that we should still ask about the officer’s intentions, because if we don’t, the people in the future won’t know the full story. An officers’ position is to serve and protect, so the officer should have asked what was going on to actually assess the situation. Immediate violence is never the answer. Our opinion is that if it was a white man they would have took the time to assess the situation differently. I’m so glad I’m not a black male. As far as police stuff, that is extremely hard. It’s like they said “There go a n-word let’s get him.” That’s not what they said for sure, but that’s maybe what they were thinking. “Okay we have a target, it’s our intention to do something let’s get it down” They be bored, so the minute they found a black man, a target, they went in. Period. They saw an opportunity to be a bully, and they took that opportunity. To break someone’s foot and give them cuts is excessive. You should know what the cop’s intentions was by the results. If end up with a broke a foot, they all got bad intentions. If they had evil intentions, it was loaded from the beginning. Look at the man’s bruises. It’s complicated to ask about intentions, but we want still to know if they are racist or not. It’s important to record people’s races in court cases, because we don’t right now. We don’t include race so that we won’t seem racist. But if the officer is racist, that matters for history. So, if the cop is already in trouble, we should still ask about the intentions to determine the different degrees of excessive force. You should always care about the officer’s intentions. They are supposed to serve and protect. If the police officer approached me, I need to know their intentions. You definitely have to pay for the broken foot, or his headphones. You pay for his feelings if you are racist. You need to pay more restitution for racism. The ultimate question is do I need my hands up on the dashboard every time or can I just be a regular citizen? ¬
INVISIBLE INSTITUTE
JULY 24, 2019 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 9
OPINION
Celebrating Pride on the South Side
The Pride South Side festival provided a space for queer youth of color to find community. BY NATHAN PETITHOMME NATHAN PETTIHOMME
Imagine having to take the train for forty minutes for sexual health services. Imagine having to leave your community to travel fifteen miles to a place where you feel safe to be yourself. Imagine a world where many of your identities conflict with who you are as a person and it leaves you in the middle feeling lost. With intolerant families, churches, and peers, LGBTQ+ youth of color on the South Side of Chicago often struggle to find spaces around them where there are others like themselves. I knew that I wasn’t straight at a young age, but I was always afraid to admit it because I never saw postive images of queer people, or any queer people of color, in media, and because schools often don’t 10 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
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provide educational content for LGBTQ+ students. This explains why the South Side, as well as Black residents overall, are disproportionately impacted by HIV, and the racial division in the LGBTQ+ community. As a proud, queer, South Side Chicagoan, sometimes being Black and queer don’t blend well. Being Black in a racially segregated city comes with lack of access to healthcare, high quality schools, and affordable housing, along with blatant discrimination. When you add queerness to Blackness, there comes the usual refrain: “You can’t be gay and Black.”The white queer community may isolate you; rap music from notable Black women may be suspended from playing at a bar. An email leaked in
May from the Progress Bar in Boystown announced that the bar was banning DJs from playing rap music in order to promote a “positive, happy...and most importantly, a FUN vibe.” Some residents of Boystown even launched a campaign called “Take Back Boystown” in 2012 against queer youth of color. Due to persistent segregation and racism in the neighborhood, many Boystown spaces that could support queer youth of color--such as Center on Halsted, Howard Brown Health, and the Broadway Youth Center--are inaccessible and unwelcoming to them. Seeing how my identities mold together, of course you’d understand why I’d find refuge with other queer people of color in my own community. This is why I was so excited about Pride South Side.
Although many LGBTQ+ Chicagoans and allies attended the famous Pridefest and Pride Parade on the North Side of Chicago, the South Side was not lacking in our share of festivities. Pride South Side was created by Jared Lewis and Adrienne Irmer, who saw a need for more queer-affirming spaces on the South Side of Chicago. They planned to partner with community organizations to promote diversity and inclusion and create safe spaces. On June 28, there was a screening of LGBT-focused films at the Stony Island Arts Bank. On June 29, there was the South Side Pride Festival at the DuSable Museum of African American History, followed by youth and adult-friendly after parties. On June 30, after the Boystown Pride Parade, there was a “Beachnic” from at the South Shore Cultural Center. And I was able to experience some of the magic. Queer. Black. Pride. All of these elements came together at Pride South Side. What stunned me is that usually in queer spaces, I tend to be self-conscious because of racial demographics, but I felt accepted and welcome at this festival. There were many Black people at tables eating food and listening to music. And guess what? Music by queer Black people. Most notable was Cha$e, a queer Black male, who wrote the gay anthem of 2019, “F**k Boi.” Aside from adding another artist to my Apple Music, I was able to connect with community organizations that provide services to LGBTQ+ people. Right at the gate, there were two mobile health vans for HIV testing from the South Side Help Center. To get in with free admission, participants would have to get tested for HIV for free as well. Surrounding the tents were vendors like Harold’s Chicken—nothing says culturally relevant like Harold’s. At this festival, I saw people who looked like me and who loved like me. I vogued with people like me in a dance circle. We weren't afraid to freely express ourselves and our bodies. I didn’t have to code-switch and, most importantly, I didn’t have to calculate every step I made to avoid being racially profiled. While I was there, I felt proud to be myself and of the identities that come together to make me Nathan.
OPINION
Marian Wright Edelman has a famous quote, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” At Pride South Side, I saw what I can be. This opportunity for me to see Black LGBTQ+ people “bringing Pride home” and living up to the legacy of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two transgender pioneers for equity of LGBTQ+ folks, could not have been found elsewhere. Pride South Side organized an afterparty dedicated to women of color in the Back of the Yards neighborhood called She Proud, which Aaliyah Romer attended. “Being a queer Black woman could be challenging because there aren’t many dedicated spaces for us,” Romer said. “I felt emotional being surrounded by so many Black women living and displaying their authentic selves. Having events in my home part of the city and being surrounded by folks who look like me was truly an amazing and invaluable experience.” While Pride South Side will continue their work, there are few other organizations located on the South Side of Chicago that are doing ground-breaking work in the fight for equitable resources for everyone. The South Side Help Center offers an abundance of services to their residents, especially residents who have HIV or their men who have sex with men (MSM) population. Another organization is the Brave Space Alliance (BSA), the first Black and trans-led community center on the South Side. The BSA is unique in that it provides access to financial and employment workshops and training for queer and trans folk in the community. Affinity Community Services is an organization that centers Black queer and trans women, but strives to empower LGBTQ+ people of color. Noticing the intersectionality of being a person of color and LGBTQ, Affinity focuses on three areas: Health and Wellness, Civic Engagement, and Education. While all these organizations are doing amazing work, many have problems with access to capital to expand and provide resources. The South Side Help Center had to close a drop-in center because they lost a grant that was funding the program, according to Project Director Charles Nelson. The Brave Space Alliance staff
OPINION
doesn’t have a permanent office that they can access everyday for programming and administrative tasks. In contrast, the Center on Halsted receives funding from banks, corporations, and philanthropic organizations. All three of these South Side community organizations need as much funding as they can get. Despite the obstacles, they are still thriving and providing services. To achieve liberation for the Chicago LGBTQ+ community, we have to look through a racial equity lens to provide wellness and security for all our people. Support the three South Side organizations with volunteers or donations, support Pride South Side, and support your local queer people of color and tell them they are loved, supported, and are worth it all. ¬ Nathan Petithomme is a sophomore at Loyola University Chicago. Petithomme is majoring in Early Childhood Special Education with a minor in Educational Policy.
JULY 24, 2019 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 11
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Never Can You Compensate Nobody for Their Life
The path to reparations and remembrance for Chicago’s police torture survivors TEXT BY ASHVINI KARTIK-NARAYAN AND MADDIE ANDERSON ILLUSTRATIONS BY PUNKIN A Small Space on the South Side “The space is in a city house building in Englewood,” said Cindy Eigler, coexecutive director of the Chicago Torture Justice Center (CTJC). Right off of 63rd and Halsted, the entrance to CTJC is a little inconspicuous, but, since May 2017, 12 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
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CTJC has managed to create a home for survivors of police torture to meet and heal. “It’s accessible by train, it’s accessible by bus, it’s on the South Side. Those are all great things.” . When you enter CTJC, you are immediately greeted by decorations and photos created by the survivors themselves,
and often survivors are working the front desk. Moving further into the building, there are rooms for individual and group therapy, conference rooms, and a fully stocked kitchen. Eigler says the space doubles as a place for meetings and for community building. “We have a lot of people come and
just sit with us or hang out with us and just do their own thing.” But the center has its drawbacks. “[It’s] a small space, and it’s a mostly windowless space,” Eigler said. CTJC is in its last year of funding from the city, but Eigler said that with a promise from Mayor Lori Lightfoot to continue supporting the center, the
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chances of securing a better location are looking up. CTJC is a sister organization of the Chicago Torture Justice Memorial—both organizations are working to cement the memory of the Burge torture scandal, in which then–Chicago Police Department detective and commander Jon Burge and his crew of officers and detectives tortured police suspects for nearly thirty years without any public or private repercussions, and, importantly, without any acknowledgement. Around the center are portraits and photos created by torture survivors, along with captions on how they define resilience. One survivor wrote, “It is the ability to renew ourselves after something traumatic.” Part of that renewal begins with remembrance. For decades, survivors of the Burge torture scandal tried to make their harm known, to no avail. Now, activist organizations in Chicago, families of torture survivors, and torture survivors themselves are working to enact truly meaningful reparations and to ensure that these stories are never forgotten. The Long Road to Reparations In 1975, Andrew Wilson and his brother Jackie Wilson were pulled over by officers O’Brian and Fahey. Andrew shot and killed the two officers, and the brothers went into hiding for five days until Jon Burge, a Chicago Police Department detective and commander, and his “midnight crew” (the other detectives associated with him) found them. The two were taken to CPD headquarters at 11th and State. There, Andrew Wilson was tortured for fifteen hours by as many as eleven officers until he confessed. The Wilson brothers were convicted of murder and Andrew was sentenced to death. Andrew was the first survivor of Burge’s torture to come forward, filing a civil suit in 1983. Wilson testified six times under oath about what had happened to him (each time sobbing) and endured trial after trial for thirteen years while sitting in prison. He finally prevailed in 1996, when the Illinois Supreme Court judged, based on hospital documents, that the State had not demonstrated that Andrew’s confession was not coerced. Though he won his trial, Wilson received no money in damages and died in 2007 while serving a life sentence. Burge was fired from the police force in 1993, but the extent of the torture went
largely unacknowledged in the decades afterward. Wilson’s lawsuit was a crucial first step in bringing Burge’s crimes into the public consciousness. During a period officially recognized as extending from 1972 to 1991, but actually longer, Burge and his “midnight crew” tortured hundreds of men—mostly Black, but also Latinx—across the South and West Sides of Chicago. (The exact number is difficult to calculate—some survivors and relatives say it is around 500, while official counts usually place it at 120.) Along with this work came Jon Burge’s indictment, largely a consequence of the testimony of survivors Melvin Jones and Anthony Holmes. A federal grand jury indicted Jon Burge in October 2008 for lying about whether he tortured Black suspects. Ultimately, in late June 2010, Burge was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice—not numerous counts of torture— and sentenced to four and a half years in 2011. He was released nearly a year short of that and died last year in Florida, a few miles from his retirement home in a suburb of Tampa. Informed by all of this work, CJTM drafted the original Reparations Ordinance, intended to acknowledge the pain endured
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by survivors and go beyond the indictment of Burge. Activists intentionally identified what they sought as “reparations,” directly linking the racist brutality of Chicago police torture to the racist brutality of slavery. Once in negotiations with CJTM, City Council members dragged their feet for months. Finally, on May 6, 2015, then-1st Ward Alderman Joe Moreno introduced a revised reparations package. After it passed through City Council, Mayor Emanuel took the stage and officially apologized on behalf of the city. Holes in the Package The reparations package was a way to hold politicians and the police accountable, and to finally offer meaningful redress to victims. It includes financial compensation, tuition-free access to City Colleges of Chicago, a public memorial to survivors, the establishment of the CTJC, and a curriculum implemented in CPS about the scandal and fight for reparations. Alice Kim, one of the co-founders
of CTJM and a leading advocate for the Reparations Ordinance, noted that the ordinance’s passage was a miracle in itself. “Given that for decades, it had been so difficult to obtain any form of justice, it felt in some ways like a pipe dream to actually achieve anything,” she said. The reparations package was the first of its kind: Chicago was the first city in the country to provide reparations to survivors of police torture. Burge’s conviction also came as a surprise, but for activists and survivors the celebration couldn’t start there. “On the one hand, it was remarkable because no one had been convicted prior to Burge’s prosecution and conviction,” Kim said. “[But] even with Burge's conviction, the survivors were still suffering from the trauma of police torture.” Most notably, the package fails to provide reparations to all survivors of Burge’s torture, victims and relatives say. One of the mothers, Bertha, noted that her son Nick Escamilla was not included in the package and received no reparations. “You first had to be a Burge victim...and it had to be from a certain year to a certain
year, and a certain police station.” To receive reparations, victims had to have been tortured in Area 2 or Area 3, which together cover the South Side and downtown. “My son was in Area 1,” Bertha said. While the package doesn’t fulfill all of survivors’ needs and doesn’t extend to all survivors of police torture, those who designed the package say that the Burge scandal was the best shot they had at meaningful reparations. “We picked the Burge torture cases because there has been so much work to document and unearth the evidence that there was this racist pattern of torture,” Joey Mogul, a partner at the People’s Law Office, the law firm that negotiated the reparations package, said. “What we did was establish a precedent for giving reparations to people, and people should use our precedent and try to get reparations for others.” While the package offers tuitionfree access to city community colleges, it does not fund any other institution of higher education. Additionally, while the package requires that the city prioritize
giving survivors and their families access to healthcare, it fails to cover expenses or ensure that survivors’ medical needs are accounted for. The vast majority of these shortcomings are due to a lack of funding, but some survivors criticize the design of the package for missing these key components. Vincent Robinson, a torture survivor who now works as an artist, was frustrated by the lack of access to higher education beyond community college, and the failure to provide affordable housing and entrylevel jobs for survivors. “The center is supposed to provide employment,” he said. “A lot of it is in stagnation, and the money that we had allotted for certain areas, I don’t see it being allocated. To me, I see it as a slap in the face to all of us.” Mark Clements, another torture survivor, critiqued the city for not being open to a package that would truly acknowledge the value of the lives of the Black and brown people who lost so many years behind bars. “$100,000 to an individual who has served decades inside a prison is almost like a joke,” he said. “In reality, the problem is so big you JULY 24, 2019 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 15
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need fifty centers to [solve] them.” Clements also noted in particular the number of survivors that were left out of the package. Survivors of Burge’s torture regime that were tortured in the wrong location or the wrong year received no reparations.“And what about those guys that are still in prison?” Clements said. CTJC is in its early years and has plenty of room—and plans—for growth. But it has encountered challenges in finding the funds to do so, since the city had originally only promised to fund the center for three years after the ordinance was passed. Eigler is hopeful, though: she said that in a meeting between then–candidate Lori Lightfoot and the Survivor Family Advisory Council, Lightfoot committed to continue supporting the center. Following her election, Lightfoot’s administration has said that they will welcome funding proposals, but Eigler says that they are still waiting to see if Lightfoot will follow through on that commitment. Clements said that around one hundred potential torture victims are still incarcerated. Although activists in CTJC and CTJM are actively fighting for the release of these survivors, their reach can only extend so far with a small staff and limited funds. Still, Eigler said that they see this as a key component of reparations. CTJC and CTJM, along with other partner organizations and nonprofits, are working hard to advocate for the importance of the package and elicit support from different sources, collaborating in their mission and their fundraising efforts to ensure that the movement is able to move forward. “They Can Get It From the Horse’s Mouth” “It’s hard when somebody don’t believe you when you’re telling the truth,” said Anthony Holmes, whose early testimony played a large part in Burge’s conviction. For survivors, one of the most important aspects of reparations is ensuring a public memory and receiving acknowledgement of the torture that they suffered, as well as the torture that all victims of police violence and their families have been put through. There was no public acknowledgement of Burge’s torture for more than thirty years. When survivors and their families tried to speak out, the vast majority did not believe them. Mary L. Johnson, one of the first mothers of a torture survivor to come
forward with a complaint against Burge in the 1970s (her son, Michael Johnson, is still incarcerated), also faced significant backlash, and she said that all of the other victims’ family members who filed complaints with her—forty-six in all—dropped theirs due to threats from Burge and his crew. “I’ve been out here a long time,” she said. “And I don’t want this to die down.” The “Reparations Won” curriculum was established by the ordinance and requires all Chicago Public Schools to educate students about the Burge torture scandal and the path to reparations. The curriculum has been established successfully in majority Black and Latinx communities but largely delayed in majority white communities where parents are extremely resistant. At Wildwood Elementary, which is sixty-two percent white, parents were especially upset. Parents called the curriculum “insane” and complained that it was not telling the whole truth. “And then all the mugs that supposedly were ‘victims,’ are they gonna have their rap sheets, which are probably longer than this table? Are they gonna show these kids that? That’s what I wanna know,” said one parent. The principal and other staff members tried hard to educate parents about the importance of the curriculum, but with little success. Principal Cunat faced outrage from parents at the school due to the curriculum, in addition to an instance where she invited police abolitionist Ethan “Ethos” VietsVanLear of We Charge Genocide to speak at the school. She eventually received personal threats from parents. On June 6, 2018, two weeks before the end of class, Cunat resigned. “The good thing about it is, we’re not dead,” Holmes said. “They can get it from the horse’s mouth.” Holmes is a member of the CTJM advisory board and actively advocates for a public memorial as well as for more funding to be given to CTJC, so that services can be provided to survivors that acknowledge the widespread effects of police violence on entire communities. CTJC and CTJM have recently begun a committee that they call the Spokes Council to more specifically address different aspects of reparations, and they have partnered with the Chicago Teachers Union, CPS, and the Invisible Institute. CTJM also released a Report Card on Reparations in the primary stages of the mayoral election to evaluate different candidates on their dedication to honoring the reparations package and to acknowledging Chicago’s history, and the
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ROD SAWYER
present effects, of police torture. Holmes and other survivors hope that with the memorial and the CPS curriculum, it will become more difficult for further erasure of police violence to occur. “We’re here. And therefore we speak what we feel and what happened to us. It wasn’t just Burge, it was the whole crew, they were going on a city rampage and torturing people and getting away with it. That’s pure history, you can’t deny that, it’s going to always be there, and we’re trying to get something to go along with that.” Building A Public Memorial One of the biggest undertakings of the reparations package has been the creation
of a public memorial. In May, a design— created by Patricia Nguyen and John Lee— was finally picked for the memorial after a month-long exhibit at the Arts Incubator that showcased different ideas. A self-contained, spiraling grey building, Nguyen and Lee’s memorial bears the name of everyone who has been tortured, and contains a space for visitors to leave written reflections. In a statement, the artists said, “We envisioned a monumental anti-monument, where time does not stand still within the memorial to commemorate a history as past, but a past that is still present.” Ultimately, however, Eigler said that even the building of the memorial won’t close the book on the fight for reparations. “I think the message that we’ve gotten is
that the memorial won’t ever end up being just one thing,” she said, mentioning ideas for having archives at CTJC and further exhibits. There isn’t currently a designated site for the memorial, and CTJM is still in the process of negotiating with Mayor Lightfoot’s administration regarding funding. But survivors and activists have said, again and again, that this is just the beginning of their work. Robinson made it clear that the sacrifice of survivors’ lives that had been made could never be fully repaid: “Us, as survivors, we refuse to just let it go away. Because never can you compensate nobody for their life or their time that you’ve taken away. No monetary amount can be given to compensate.” ¬
Ashvini Kartik-Narayan is a student at the University of Chicago majoring in public policy. She last wrote for the Weekly about spoken word poetry’s roots in Chicago. Maddie Anderson is a contributor to the Weekly. She recently graduated from the University of Chicago where she wrote her thesis entitled “What Makes An Ideal Reparations Package?: A Typological Examination of Reparations for Jon Burge Torture Survivors,” forthcoming in the Chicago Studies Annual Journal. She is now a teacher at Mt. Pleasant High School in San Jose and pursuing her masters in education.
JULY 24, 2019 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 17
VISUAL ARTS
Virgil Abloh Does His First MCA Show
The fashion designer walks a fine line between accessibility and commercialism BY EFRAIN DORADO
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irgil Abloh gained prominence by way of casual namedrops on Kanye West albums and guest appearances at the rapper’s fashion shows. But more recently, as he has climbed in status toward visionary, the thirty-eight-year-old fashion designer’s name stands on its own merit. Abloh’s latest exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, entitled “Figures of Speech,” serves as retrospective recounting of his career, from his time as an
architecture student at IIT to the genesis of his Milan-based fashion house Off-White and his 2018 position as Men’s Artistic Director of Louis Vuitton. At a press preview of the exhibit on June 7th, Abloh joined MCA Chief Curator Michael Darling and Samir Bantal, director of AMO (a research and design studio), for a conversation. Darling took the museum’s Edlis Neeson stage decked in an outfit appropriately garnished with Abloh’s Off-
August 1st, 2019 | 6-8pm | Build Coffee, 6100 S Blackstone Ave It's been 100 days since city council elections, and City Bureau is celebrating with a month-long series on aldermanic accountability. On August 1st, we're teaming up with South Side Weekly to bring you a free workshop focusing on the 20th Ward. Learn more: tinyurl.com/pn112 Can’t make it this time? We’ll be hosting workshops in different wards all August. Check out more dates and info: tinyurl.com/100days-aug @city_bureau
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VISUAL ARTS
White branding on his back. If there could be a singular takeaway from this conversation, it was that this exhibit is Abloh’s way of, as he put it, “having a dialogue with the youth of Chicago that have the same skin tone as me.” The word that best encapsulates the museum and Abloh’s mission with this exhibit is “accessibility.” It remains to be seen whether this mission succeeds. The world of high fashion has routinely heralded itself as a champion of progressive thinking and boundary breaking practices, but has long remained inaccessible to most people. As contemporary art continues to intersect with the fashion world and lunges toward commercialism, it threatens to become equally inaccessible. While Abloh’s words convey messages of accessibility and opportunity, the exhibit
and the accompanying pop-up shop, entitled “Church & State,” weave a different narrative. The highly collaborative store occupies the museum’s fourth floor Turner Gallery space often used for smaller exhibitions and screenings. Among the items for sale are the exhibit’s art book, priced at $65, a poster set for $140, and Off-White hoodies priced at over $600. Abloh has said that he was always given feedback that Off-White was “super expensive” and unaffordable. This is partly why he wanted to collaborate with IKEA, for what Abloh calls their “democratic design, and ubiquity.” The use of things that are ubiquitous is seen throughout Abloh’s work. In the exhibit’s audio accompaniment, Amy Verner, contributing editor to Vogue Runway, relays how Virgil “wanted Off-
For better or worse, Abloh’s exhibit redefines what can be considered as art. What fills the space subverts what many traditionally expect within the halls of a museum: contemporary garments, blownup magazine ads, luxury store mannequins, and framed Supreme t-shirts.
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White, from the very beginning, to be perceived as luxury,” injecting it with a sort of youthfulness and familiarity to redefine what luxury can be, but luxury nonetheless is often inaccessible and unattainable by many. This positioning of Abloh’s fashion house contradicts the notion of the brand being something for everyone. And this pattern of repurposing symbols and ideas from places more familiar to the general public when utilized for luxury and highly accessible products seems like nothing more than appropriation. When you enter “Figures of Speech,” one of the first pieces that greets you is a portrait of Virgil sitting with a shirt atop his head while a European flag rests behind him. The caption to the side of the portrait serves as a mini-introduction to Virgil and his many influences. The caption specifically praises how his work blends influences from the downtown New York queer scene. But because these injections into luxury aren’t repurposed or done for the benefit of those who created this scene, the work feels less about equity and more about commodification. Abloh’s contemporary and co-founder of No Vacancy Inn, Tremaine Emory, likened Abloh’s process to that of Andy Warhol. In the audio accompaniment to the exhibit, Emory explained that, like Warhol, Abloh shares an understanding of confluence, of zeitgeist, and of high-low culture—the micro from the macro. The aptness of this comparison is reflected in a piece where Abloh screen-printed a Caravaggio painting over multiple boards of Pyrex. Like Warhol, who utilized the bridge between art and commercialism and mended them into a single entity, Abloh borrows from the worlds of art and music and implants elements of them into his fashion work, dismantling the barriers between the different worlds. And both artists also took ideas and influence from less visible cultures and repurposed them for a higher-paying audience. Yet, not all of what surrounds “Figures of Speech” negates the message of accessibility. One of the direct resources the show provides is the Design Challenge, a competition open to those between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, with prizes including apparel, an Instagram video production, and a meetand-greet with Abloh. The challenge asks for a response to the prompt: “Take something boring or broken and turn it into something extraordinary,” posted to Instagram with the challenge’s hashtag. Along with this challenge, various events throughout the
residency directly respond to the disparity between fashion and culture, for example promoting sustainability and the origins of streetwear. Despite the initiative to use the platform to increase the diversity of the fashion world, much of the program and its events reflect perhaps less so the museum’s own mission of accessibility, but rather Abloh and his own message. Often when those of affluence and influence speak about accessibility, the conversation becomes less about giving visibility to the process, to the tools, or to the opportunities, and more of an attempt to create more consumers. When a retrospective exhibit like “Figures of Speech” attempts to peel back the curtain on a creator, what should become accessible is the process— not the product. For better or worse, Abloh’s exhibit redefines what we can be considered as art. What fills the space subverts what many traditionally expect within the halls of a museum: contemporary garments, blownup magazine ads, luxury store mannequins and framed Supreme t-shirts. Abloh has said, “I don’t feel responsible to preconceived notions of art. I feel more responsible to a community that is trying to change the tide or—just sort of—live in an optimistic society that art, design, music, and fashion actually change the world for the better.” And his contemporary, Tremaine Emory, has spoken similarly: “Streetwear, like hip-hop music, punk music, blues music, jazz music, communicates the struggles, hopes, joys, dreams, and the art of the subculture, the downtrodden, the underdog.” Nevertheless, “Figures of Speech” speaks more as an advertisement than an exhibition. ¬ “Figures of Speech.” Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave. Through September 22. Suggested donation $8–$15. (312) 2802660. mcachicago.org Efrain Dorado is a contributor to the Weekly and lives in Chicago.
JULY 24, 2019 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 19
What You Need to Know About Pilsen’s Proposed Historic Landmark District PHOTO BY JASON SCHUMER
Will creating a landmark designation help or hurt longtime residents’ ability to stay in the neighborhood? BY JACQUELINE SERRATO, CHICAGO REPORTER This piece published with permission from the Chicago Reporter.
A
city effort to preserve the architectural history of 18th Street in Pilsen seems to have accomplished the impossible: bring together developers and affordable housing activists to oppose a plan they say will unnecessarily complicate development and make maintaining existing housing stock prohibitively expensive. After the Chicago Fire, the area around Pilsen was like the Ellis Island of Chicago’s West Side, according to historians. Yet with declining immigration in the last couple of decades and the long-term expansion of the 20 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
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University of Illinois at Chicago campus nearby, the neighborhood has turned into a magnet for tourism and developers. With a renewed interest in the neighborhood, the city is seeking to preserve what remains of the architecture and vestiges of culture, but many residents wonder what that will mean for them. The Chicago Department of Planning and Development (DPD) proposed creating the Pilsen Historic District after former 25th Ward Alderman Danny Solís disappeared from public life when it was revealed that he was wearing a wire in an investigation into indicted 14th Ward Alderman Ed Burke. The poorly understood proposal came to
light, it drew a multitude of residents to a public meeting in April at the Rudy Lozano Library. Property owners objected to the expedited timeline set by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks within DPD, saying the process was rushed and the meeting was just a formality. The landmark commission’s urgency to designate a portion of 18th Street, and thirteen adjacent blocks between Racine and Damen, as a historic district occurred when developers filed for a permit to demolish three buildings there. In a 120-page report, the commission argued the designation would protect the community against the razing or alteration of up to 850 buildings in
the area, and getting the ball rolling on that process would halt the demolition of those units. Residents testified and submitted sixty-five letters against the measure in a follow-up hearing at City Hall, arguing the designation would provide few benefits to current homeowners. In May, however, the landmarks commission unanimously voted to recommend the landmark district to City Council for a final vote in ninety days. Upon taking office, Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, who serves on the Housing and Real Estate Committee and on the Zoning, Landmarks, and Building Standards Committee, began a community-
DEVELOPMENT
driven zoning process to reduce what he considered undesirable and unaffordable development in the ward. His first move was to exercise his aldermanic prerogative to petition the planning department for a 365day extension on the landmark proposal’s initial timeline. “There will be no final vote next month. The process won’t be rushed and it can take up to a year,” Sigcho-Lopez confirmed. “I have spoken to the chair of zoning, and the zoning committee will respect the community’s decision. The proposal can be rejected at any point.” At the urging of the alderman, developers Michael and Ronald Fox withdrew their permit applications to demolish the two-story buildings at 17301734 W. 18th St. One of the three addresses housed Lily’s Gift Shop, whose owner of twenty years was asked to leave in November so the developers could erect a four-story building. Nixing those permits eliminated the intense time pressure that the city and residents were working under to deliberate the historic district. A focus on architecture Although Solís initiated the effort to list Pilsen in the National Register of Historic Places in 2006, the national designation was mostly symbolic, homeowners say, and does not manifest itself in practical protections for them. Yet it did come into play when the Resurrection Project applied for state tax credits to convert St. Vitus Church into a housing complex and was rejected by the state’s preservation office because their blueprints dramatically altered the property. The meat and potatoes of the designation at the city level would really pertain to the preservation of stone and brick structures of Bohemian Baroque influence. The commission is focused on architecturally unique flats, cottages, churches, schools, and banks built between 1870 and 1969, according to their report. Interestingly, the designation would omit St. Adalbert, which gave its last mass on Sunday, and St. Procopius from landmark protection. The Chicago Landmarks Ordinance states that no building that is owned by a religious organization and is used primarily for worship shall be designated as a historical landmark without the consent of its owner. Preservation Chicago suggested repealing the amendment, which dates back to 1987. Sigcho-Lopez said he would negotiate with the Archdiocese of Chicago
for the inclusion of the structures, or otherwise downzone the religious sites so that future developers do not have clearance to convert them into luxury spaces. It would be a measure to prevent what happened with St. Ann Church in Heart of Chicago, which sold earlier this year and is set to become condos without a zoning change. “No matter how big the institution, no matter how powerful they are… we communicated to the Archdiocese that if they don’t come to talk to the parishioners and the community at large, their property will be downzoned,” Sigcho-Lopez said last week at a public meeting on the matter. Important to note is that the
Hernández Bucio, who works out of her property, Sol Realty, on 18th Street next to the Jumping Bean coffee shop, said she worries that a landmark designation would impose expensive maintenance criteria on the owners of those structures, something that the city denies. She counts herself among property owners who are getting squeezed by accumulating property taxes, insurance rates, water fees and the garbage tax. The landmark commission told residents they may qualify for tax incentives to maintain their properties, but owners have to spend at least 25% of the market rate value of their building in order to unlock those incentives.
“You are dealing with people who have lived in their homes for forty, fifty years. Who do you think you’re dealing with, coming into our neighborhood and telling us what to do with our homes?” preservation effort only applies to the facades of the buildings that can be seen from the public way. Property interiors and alleys are not factored in, and structures that don’t fit the preferred style and timeframe are marked “non-contributing” and left out of the list. Landmark extensions could also be added down the line. “The Pilsen District will be unique in that it embodies the history of two groups important to the fabric of Chicago — Bohemian and Mexican communities. With this designation, the Commission will explore the intersection of cultural (sic) and heritage of both groups,” landmarks commission Chairman Rafael León said in a statement. The designation would cover murals painted after 1978. Pilsen artists agree that the bulk of public art arising from the Mexican and Chicano mural movement actually took place between 1968 and 1980, and much of it has already been demolished or erased. However, they welcome any protections by the city, muralist Hector Duarte has said before. More red tape for homeowners? Pilsenite real estate agent, Soledad
“Nowadays it’s hard to find a nice building that sells for under half a million dollars. Does that mean I have to spend… $125,000 out of pocket before I can qualify for help?” Bucio wondered. Historic landmark status can also be a selling point for predatory real estate companies, Bucio warned. Brochures and online listings often tout historic designations to make an area more appealing to outside buyers and renters who might otherwise not have the neighborhood in their radar. These and similar concerns brought over one hundred people to the second public meeting held last Thursday at 1661 S. Blue Island Ave. There was an unusual consensus among homeowners, renters, and developers who believed the designation would mean additional red tape and having to deal with bureaucracy downtown just to keep up their buildings. “Property owners will have to go through a review process if you are doing exterior alterations, if you’re proposing to remove something from the building or if you would like to demolish the property,” said Bonnie McDonald, President and CEO
of the nonprofit Landmarks Illinois, who sat on the panel. “Many times the staff will review those and many times approve them without them ever going to the landmarks commission.” At the meeting, a group of the developers towered over the crowd. Matt Richmond, representing “an informal alliance” of property owners in Pilsen, waved a stack of petitions against the proposal, claiming the city did “not understand real estate economics.” He was eventually shut down by people who accused him of being a speculator. “You are not welcome here,” a woman yelled at the panel of preservationists and city representatives. “You are dealing with people who have lived in their homes for forty, fifty years. I am one of them, I was born and raised here, I saw my parents finance two homes. Who do you think you’re dealing with, coming into our neighborhood and telling us what to do with our homes?” The Pilsen designation is part of a larger plan by the city called the Pilsen and Little Village Preservation Strategy that aims to increase affordable housing via the Affordable Requirement Ordinance, attract modern jobs to industrial corridors, and build the El Paseo trail that will connect the sister neighborhoods. The new co-director of the neighborhood group Pilsen Alliance, Ruth Maciulis, is skeptical. She says the nonprofit organization is not against a tool that would halt demolitions, but opposes the city’s “decidedly undemocratic” plan for implementation. “The preservation plan, like the proposed landmark designation, will never accomplish what their proponents claim because it contains a definition of affordable housing that is not affordable for the majority of our Latinx community, does not guarantee family-sized housing, and still allows developers to buy their way out of the program,” said Maciulis, whose group will be holding their own community discussions on the issue. Some before-and-after studies in other cities have shown that landmark designations raise property values faster than properties that are not protected. A comparison of New York City’s multiple historic districts between 1980 and 2000 showed that home prices per square foot rose significantly more than non-designated homes. Pilsen’s designation would be the largest in Chicago. Other well-known districts include Old Town, Wicker Park, Ukrainian JULY 24, 2019 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 21
DEVELOPMENT
JASON SCHUMER
Village, and Logan Square, according to the city website. “The gentrification of Logan Square, believe it or not, has actually been slowed from where it could’ve been when we were talking about demolishing single-family houses that keep families intact,” according to Ward Miller of Preservation Chicago and a Logan Square resident on the panel. “There was zero preservation of those buildings and now we’re probably at seventy-five percent preservation.” In 2015, the City Council designated the Fulton Market a landmark. It was formerly a meatpacking district, like Pilsen, but is now considered gentrified by the tech 22 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
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industry and the bar and dining scene. In the short and long term, declaring Pilsen a historic landmark would halt the destruction of its visually striking housing stock and reduce the ability for cookiecutter luxury condos and retail chains to swoop in, preservationists argue. But ultimately, the landmark designation would protect the facade of 18th Street alone and is not designed to preserve or even address the livelihood of its longstanding homeowners, small business owners, and renters. That would require a multi-pronged approach, the Department of Planning and Development said. Pilsen stakeholders have until May
2020 to decide for or against a city historic district. ¬ Jacqueline Serrato is a neighborhood journalist whose reporting captures the conditions and worldview of Mexicans and Latinos in Chicago. Her work has appeared in Chicago Tribune/Hoy, WTTW, DNAinfo, WBEZ, and City Bureau. She lives in Little Village, where she was born and raised. Follow her on Twitter at @HechaEnChicago.
EDUCATION
Where You Came From
Organizers of a reunion for Black students in Gage Park High School’s 1969 graduating class reflect on the struggles of integration BY RACHEL KIM
T
wo women from Gage Park High School’s Class of 1969—the neighborhood namesake high school’s first integrated graduating class— hosted a fifty-year reunion for the class’ Black students on the weekend of June 28 and 29. Pamela Hunter-Jones and Berdell Wheeler-Gregg, two classmates who have been friends since the fourth grade and who now both live in Georgia, have been planning the event for over a year. Both Wheeler-Gregg and Hunter-Jones saw their fifty-year milestone as an opportunity to celebrate their classmates and their memories. “We just got the yearbook out and we just started Googling people’s names,” said Hunter-Jones in an interview with the Weekly. “[There were] about 110 AfricanAmerican students who started in 1965 as freshmen. When we graduated, there were only forty-three of us left because of people getting kicked out and parents not wanting us to go through racial unrest anymore.” The integration of Gage Park High School in 1965 after the changing of the school’s boundary lines was followed by violent attacks as white residents began targeting and assaulting Black students throughout the sixties and seventies. Police officers were constantly deployed at the school to prevent rioting, but according to From the Bullet to the Ballot: The Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party and Racial Coalition Politics in Chicago by Jakobi Williams, they “seemed to be either ineffectual in or uncommitted to protecting black students from the more than 4,500 white youths in and around the school.” In 1970, 500 Black high school students organized a march to protest the
school administration’s lack of action in responding to the violence. According to Williams, the associate CPS superintendent proposed the school’s boundaries be changed again to “increase the population of white students and decrease the number of Black pupils.” While white parents, students, the PTA, and the Gage Park administration supported this proposal, the measure became an opportunity for many to reinforce segregationist policies. The proposal was later withdrawn in 1971. In 1972, over 1,000 white parents and students boycotted the high school for ten weeks. While these parents cited “overcrowding” as the reason behind their boycott, Jet Magazine reported they refused to attend the school “until several Gage Park students, nearly all of them Black, are transferred to all-Black high schools” like the nearby Englewood High School. In response, the Chicago Tribune reported Black students, parents, and members of Operation PUSH [People United to Save Humanity] picketed the school. For alumni like Hunter-Jones and Wheeler-Gregg, memories of the violence still remain clear. Hunter-Jones, who was vice president of her senior class, recalled being led onto her school bus with police escorts, people chanting “go back to where you came from,” and things being thrown at her. Both Hunter-Jones and WheelerGregg said that their brothers initially attended Gage Park but graduated from other high schools because of the constant violence aimed towards them. Moreover, they noted that Black students were more often punished with suspensions for fighting compared to white students. Yet for both women, the experiences of the Black students from Gage Park
MICHAEL GUNN
during this era emphasized the importance of holding a reunion specifically for Black alumni. “I did a Black student reunion specifically because many of the students who went to Gage Park had experiences that weren’t good ones. People calling you names, spitting in your face, teachers not being supported. A lot of people would say, ‘I’m not coming to be with the people who abused me,’” said Hunter-Jones. “And then we put specifically African-American alumni, and we’re getting a little blowback... but now people are getting excited.” Hunter-Jones hopes the event can also help their fellow classmates fondly look back on memories of being a teenager in the neighborhood—like going to house parties or blue light parties—as well as powerful and meaningful memories of being a Black student at Gage Park during the late sixties. “I remember when [Martin Luther King, Jr.] was assassinated,” recalled Hunter-Jones. “One of the gentlemen who will be at our reunion was the associate superintendent of [Chicago Public Schools.] He came through and knocked on all of our doors and said, ‘King is dead.’ And everybody walked out—all the Black students walked out. And they told us, ‘if y’all walk out you’ll be suspended.’ They told me I’d get kicked off the cheerleading squad.
And I didn’t care, I walked out.” While the event was specifically aimed to celebrate the Black students of the class of 1969, the event didn’t exclude anyone, and the event also welcomed alumni from the classes throughout the seventies, and even neighbors and alumni who attended neighboring schools like Harper or Lindblom. Both women noted that about sixty-five classmates and friends traveled from all over the country to attend the reunion. The event, which was held at the Chicago Marriott Midway hotel on June 28 and 29, included a meet & greet and formal banquet. Hunter-Jones hopes that the event inspires more students from Gage Park to host their own reunions. “Fifty years is a milestone, and we’ve lost quite a few of our classmates already,” said Hunter-Jones. “If we never get to meet again, I wanted to do it this time.” ¬ Rachel Kim is the Weekly’s former education editor. She last wrote a blurb on Surf ’s Up South Shore for the 2019 Food Issue.
JULY 24, 2019 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 23
VISUAL ARTS
Mixed Media and Clear Messaging Cross Currents / Intercambio Cultural at the Smart Museum bears the fruit of an artistic exchange between the United States and Cuba BY MANISHA AR
D
itching the usual museum opening wine and cheese platter soirée for food trucks and live music, the Smart Museum of Art hosted a summer cookout earlier this month in conjunction with the opening of its new exhibit with the National Museum of Mexican Art, “Cross Currents / Intercambio Cultural.” Featuring tacos, alcohol, and (((SONORAMA))), a Chicago based DJ collective known to spin classic Latin tunes, it was the perfect summer day to host an outdoor event. The reception, on the lawn outside the Smart building on the University of Chicago campus, drew a large crowd to the opening. Featuring works of twelve artists, six based in Chicago and six in Havana, the east gallery of the museum showcases a range of mediums—from performance to printmaking—all dealing with personal histories, collective memories, and the archive. Designed like a maze, the show begins and ends with Linocut prints on Kitakata paper—a fibrous material with a shine to it— by Chicago-based Nicaraguan printmaker Carlos Barberena that cover the wall and can easily be mistaken for decoration. Further into the show is an installation by CeliaYunior, titled “An Ecology of Frictions.” The Havana-based duo’s work simulates the tension between a controlled environment and natural elements, and reflects on the tension between immigration policies and their effects. Composed of the Boston Ivy, a wooden trellis, and the work of sociologists Ezra Park and Ernest Burgess from the Special Collection Research Center at the UofC, the ecosystem they’ve created is a visual metaphor for the way in which migrants (the Boston Ivy) surpass manmade boundaries in spite of laws (the trellis), based on Park and Burgess’ observations. Oftentimes, in a bid to stay relevant and attract audiences, fresh artwork ends up 24 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
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spilling into spaces on the internet, making it futile to attend an exhibition in person— why attend a show if the artist is going to post documentation and pictures on their Instagram? However, being present and surrounded by all of the context elevates the work at “Cross Currents.” Take, for instance, Puerto Rican artist Edra Soto’s interactive iteration of “GRAFT (Cuba),” a version of which was presented at the Chicago Cultural Center earlier this year, and which consists of a patterned metal wall that features photo documentation of Soto’s experiences. While the Cultural Center version showed images of Soto’s hometown in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, the Cuba iteration features photographs taken in Havana. The reward of seeing this piece in person is that in this iteration, the pieshaped mirrors on the patterned white wall also reflect the other pieces in the gallery, reminding viewers of the closeness and collaboration that sparked this show. It took a trip to Havana last year, interactions with some of the artists and multiple visits to the show for me to be able to see the context for this review. In 2014, former presidents Raul Castro and Barack Obama agreed to ease the trade and travel embargo, or el bloqueo, that President John F. Kennedy had put in place in 1960. This meant Americans could travel to Havana for pleasure. I visited Havana in January 2017 on an educational trip just before the new administration backtracked and banned travel from the United States to Cuba. In the spring of 2017, the National Museum of Mexican Art facilitated an exchange where six Chicago-based artists visited Havana. In the fall of the same year and summer of 2018, six Cuban artists visited Chicago. Later that year these travel allowances were rolled back, which in turn affected
participants of this exchange. As a result of these political changes, some of the Cuban artists were unable to obtain visas to visit Chicago. Moreover, the Cuban iteration of the exhibition, which was scheduled to open at El Centro Desarollo de las Artes Visuales in Havana in the fall of this year, has been postponed to 2020. In the midst of this diplomatic uncertainty, this exchange has become even more significant than when it first started out. While each work could hold its own when encountered alone there is harmony and magic in seeing them all together. Two of the works featured in the exhibition, one by Cuban artist Susana Pilar and the other by American artist Alberto Aguilar, were documentations of performances. During my tour we split our travel time between being in buses and walking on the streets. Having no access to regular internet can change your commute; I remember being able to pay a lot more attention to people and scenery when I was walking in Havana. I could understand Alberto Aguilar’s fascination with walks and using them as a medium for this show. In his series of photographs, which all begin with titles such as “Line with trash behind bleachers (Parque Deportivo Jose Marti) or “Line with corn being dried for cock fights (Plaza Vieja),” Aguilar photographed objects he came across that he assembled or already found assembled in a straight line. It’s unsurprising to find framed images of a performance—or maybe it started out as a walk and turned into a performance—by Aguilar. His work often blurs the boundaries between real life and art. In addition to these photographs, Aguilar intends to continue these walks and document them on Instagram for the duration of the exhibition. While Aguilar, Celia-Yunior, and Soto’s works engage with more recent events and
true stories, some of the other artists in the show reflect on histories and stories using fictional accounts. Cuban born Douglas Pérez’s work “La Historia del Tabaco (Nobody has known and loved as he has)” is a diptych of large acrylic paintings in gilded frames mounted on a velvet wall—one set above ground and others underground, commenting on politics in Cuba. It shares the space with Rodrigo Lara Zendejas’s “Untitled Installation” that features an assemblage of fake plants, astroturf, ceramic figures, tin cans, and wooden panels. These objects serve as links to his Mexican heritage, Catholic upbringing, and American identity that are contradictory, nuanced, and complex, yet somehow sit in the same space. The details become optional for viewers to explore when these works are viewed together. Instead of the significance behind using a small plastic statue of Jesus in Zendejas’s work, or the use of extravagance reminiscent of the Baroque era in Pérez’s paintings, the focal point is the multiple layers and collected histories in these pieces. Using the strained relationship between the two countries and their experiences navigating their Latin American and Latinx identities, the artists in this exhibit are able to make work that can be experienced without being bashed over the head with heavy political messaging. Instead, they create an experience that allows for natural curiosity to guide viewers through their work, moving seamlessly from one artist to the other. ¬ “Cross Currents / Intercambio Cultural.” Smart Museum of Art, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave. Through August 18. (773) 702-0200. smartmuseum.uchicago.edu
EVENTS
BULLETIN Fiesta del Sol 1400 W. Cermak Rd. Thursday, July 25, 5–10pm; Friday, July 26, 10am–11pm; Saturday, July 27, 8:30am–11pm; Sunday, July 27, 11am–2pm. Free, with food, merch, and carnival rides for sale. bit.ly/SolFiesta19 Every year, the Pilsen Neighbors Community Council hosts this four-day festival to fund its scholarship program. Local artists, food vendors, community resources and merchants fill Cermak from Ashland to Morgan. This year, the Fiesta’s theme is “Free your voice, make it count / Libera tu voz y Hazla Contar.” ( Jim Daley)
100th Anniversary Remembrance of the 1919 Race Riots 31st St. Beach, 3100 S. Lake Shore Dr. Saturday, July 27, 10am–noon. Free. bit.ly/1919Hist Join the Bronzeville Historical Society as it commemorates the 1919 race riots at the beach where they began when a white mob stoned Black teenager Eugene Williams to death for straying too near the whites-only area. A drumming procession, prayer, and poem will precede a reading of the names of the thirty-eight Chicagoans who were killed in the ensuing violence. The ceremony will conclude with another procession to the race riots historical marker. ( Jim Daley)
Latino Union’s Warehouse Party Lagunitas Brewing, 2607 W. 17th St. Monday, July 29, 5:30–8pm. $10. bit.ly/LUWP19 The Latino Union of Chicago was founded in 2000 by women working temp jobs. In the two decades since, they’ve scored victories such as passing the Day Labor Ordinance and the Cicero Sanctuary Law, helping found a workers’ center, and connecting laborers to training and resources. This affordable party will feature music, food, and drinks in one of the wackiest breweries in the Midwest—and will help them continue their work. ( Jim Daley)
The Big Deal - Maxwell Street Market Extravaganza Maxwell Street Market, 800 S. Desplaines St. Sunday, August 4, 9am–3pm. Free. bit.ly/MaxwellDeal This fair trade pop-up bazaar, featuring eco-friendly items and held at a festival put on by the city’s Department of Special Events, is a far cry from the original Maxwell Street Market and its “cheat you fair” ethos, which was lost to UIC’s expansion in the 1990s. Mull this and other casualties to Development while you munch Marz Brewing’s take on a Maxwell Street Polish, check out local artists’ portraits of former and current Market vendors, and catch Blues music, banda, and DJs. ( Jim Daley)
14th Ward IPO Inaugural Meeting Alcance Victoria Chicago Sur, 2620 W. 51st St. Wednesday, August 7, 6–8:30pm. Free. bit.ly/14WardIPO 14th Ward Alderman Ed Burke is not quite done yet. The once-powerful Machine player, facing federal racketeering charges, still holds his city council seat—for now. The 14th Ward Independent Progressive Organization may be poised to take advantage of a power vacuum in Garfield Ridge and Brighton Park. They say they are an alternative for working families in the community; their first meeting will be open to the public. ( Jim Daley)
VISUAL ARTS Amid Kinship Exhibition Opening Arts + Public Life, 301 E. Garfield Blvd. Friday, July 26, 6–8pm. Free. (773) 7022787. bit.ly/amid-kinship “Amid Kinship” is a showcase of work created by the Washington Park Arts Incubator’s 2019 resident artists, Amina Ross, Brandon Breaux, and Jarvis Boyland. The flyer for the show describes it as a meditation “on relationships, everyday divinity, and transformative spaces”—but stop by the gallery to form your own opinion. (Christopher Good)
Go Down Moses Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 S. Michigan Ave. 10am–5pm except for Thursdays (10am–8pm) and Sundays (noon– 5pm). Open now through Sunday, September 29. (312) 663-5554. www.mocp.org/exhibitions Though this installation at the MOCP marks his debut as a curator, Teju Cole has spent the past decade working with images across an arresting body of poems, novels, and photo essays. In “Go Down Moses,” named for the negro spiritual “beloved by Harriet Tubman and generations since,” Cole seeks to conjure a “visual tone poem of contemporary America.” (Christopher Good)
North Lawndale Arts Festival Douglas Park Field House, 1401 S. Sacramento Ave. Saturday, August 3, noon– 7pm. bit.ly/north-lawndale-arts-2019 At the fourth annual North Lawndale Arts Festival, you can grab a bite, meet your neighbors, and experience the art they’re creating. Stop by Douglas Park for the festivities, and contact Sheila McNarry at sjmcnary1@aol.com if you’re interested in exhibiting your work or being a vendor. (Christopher Good)
Envisioning Justice Sullivan Galleries, SAIC. August 6 through October 12. Tuesday–Saturday, 11am–6pm. Free. Public reception Saturday, August 17, 2pm–5pm. (312) 422-5580. www.envisioningjustice.org “What happens when you center the voices of those most directly affected by the criminal legal system to reimagine justice using the arts and humanities?” For two years, the Envisioning Justice initiative has sought to do exactly that. This installation documents this mission with artwork and ephemera from incarcerated artists. (Christopher Good)
MUSIC Second Annual Back Alley Jazz 7300 Block of S. Paxton Ave. Saturday, July 27. noon–8pm. All ages. Free. bit.ly/BackAlleyJazzFest For the second year, South Shore
community members are joining together to celebrate jazz and its impactful contribution to the history of the South Side Chicago. Live DJ sets will honor original Jazz in the Alley events from decades ago with the help of local up-andcoming artists. Interactive art games, food from local vendors, and constant tunes are a given for all who stop by.
“This is Not My America” with Donyae Asante The Martin, 2515 W. North Ave. Sunday, July 28. 6pm–9pm. $5 advance, $7 at the door. bit.ly/NotMyAmericaPerformance South Side singer and songwriter Donyae Asante will host “This Is Not My America,” an evening of twelve live performances in response to the nation’s current political climate. Performances will range from smooth R&B bops to short stand-up sets.
Lay Down the Beat: Music Coding Workshop WeWork, 515 N. State St. Tuesday, July 30. 6pm–9pm. Free. bit.ly/LayDownTheBeat Flatiron School, an educational organization that teaches software engineering and computer science, is offering entry-level workshops to noncoders and program creators hoping to compose fantastical beats with code. Guests are asked to bring a laptop and a willingness to learn.
Harper Court Summer Music Series Harper Court. 5235 S Harper Ct. Thursday, August 1. 6pm–9pm. Free. All ages welcome. bit.ly/HarperCourtSummerSeries The Silver Room and the University of Chicago are joining together for the fifth annual Harper Court Summer Music Series with special guest Kadhja Bonet. With a sound described as “psychedelic soul,” Bonet will close out the night of free, live music after opening act Drea the Vibe Dealer.
Jim DeRogatis - "Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly" Seminary Co-op Bookstore. 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave. Friday, August 9. 6pm–7pm. Free. RSVP requested but not required. JULY 24, 2019 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 25
EVENTS
bit.ly/SoullessBookSigning Jim DeRogatis, author of Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly, a book detailing the rise and fall of R&B artist R. Kelly, is hosting a live discussion about his investigative reporting into the life of Kelly and allegations first presented to him through text messages. A Q&A and book signing will follow the discussion.
STAGE & SCREEN Fossils & Flicks Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Dr. Wednesday, July 24, July 31, and August 7, 5pm–9pm. (312) 665-7600. Free. fieldmuseum.org/summerflicks Visit the Field for a free family-friendly movie night on the museum’s northeast terrace. Upcoming films include Toy Story on the 24th, Bee Movie on the 31st, and Finding Dory on the 7th. Movies start at 7pm, but fun activities, including Field Museum specimen carts and a hands-on dino dig. Stay to enjoy fireworks above Navy Pier after each movie.
Still Here/ Manifesting Joy and Survival South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Dr. Thursday, July 25, 6pm. Free. Visit bit.ly/2Y4GHg5 for more details. Presented in collaboration with the city’s Night Out in the Parks, this free, all-ages performance opens in South Shore before traveling to Humboldt Park and other locations. Written by a multicultural, multigenerational ensemble, Still Here asks the question: what would Chicago look like it were truly designed for all of its people? The production is part of Free Street Theater’s celebration of fifty years or joy and justice and promises to be part manifesto, part history lesson, and part fever dream of the future. (Nicole Bond)
South Side Comedy Central Network, premieres Wednesday, July 24, 10:30pm ET. Check your local listings for channels. Sultan Salahuddin and Chandra Russell are the male and female leads in a new comedy where the funny takes place in and around a fictional rent-to-own store in Englewood, and follows two recent college grads set out 26 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
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to take over the world. South Side talent fuels this show both in front and behind the camera, along with first season guest stars to include: Lil Rel Howery, Nathaniel “Earthquake” Stroman, Jeff Tweedy, LisaRaye McCoy, Kel Mitchell and Ed Lover. (Nicole Bond)
The Mic Check with Dorian H. Nash – Episode 1: Damon Williams Watch online now at bit.ly/2Xigj1x Author, playwright, and friend to the Weekly Dorian H. Nash has done it again! The Weekly last checked in with Nash in February 2018 on South Side Weekly Radio, where she and her husband Sean—who together are the Extraordinary Everyday Marriage Duo—served up sage wisdom, learned during their nearly twenty year marriage. Now Nash has a solo project on independent television forum indéTV. New episodes of The Mic Check will air Tuesday evenings at 7pm. Don’t miss the first episode online now featuring Chicago’s own comedy legend Damon Williams. Great conversation. Hot topics. Cool host. Tune in. (Nicole Bond)
Red Summer 31st Street Beach (at 29th Street), Lakefront. Saturday, July 27, 10am sharp. (312) 4288033. RSVP to bronzvillehistoricalsociety@gmail.com Bronzeville Historical Society President Sherry Williams will lead prayer, libations, and solemn reflection for the 100th year remembrance of the 1919 Chicago Race Riots. On July 27, 1919, seventeenyear-old Eugene Williams was stoned and drowned when he swam into the unofficially segregated waters at the 29th Street Beach. This day calling for peace and safe communities throughout the city will include honored guests: CPD Mounted Police, retired Battalion Chief of the CFD Dekalb Walcott, noted trauma and grief counselor Dr. Obari Cartman, along with poets, activists, and others, emceed by James Parker. Libations begin at 10am at 29th Street on the beach. (Nicole Bond)
NAJWA Dance Corps 2019 Night Out in the Parks Series Varying locations listed below. All performances begin at 6pm and are free and
open to the public. Call (312) 940-3718 or email najwadancecorps@sbcglobl.com for details not found here. Chicago’s premier African dance corps along with their junior corps will present evenings of dance and drumming around the city featuring an interactive program of West African dances. Here are the remaining dates and locations: Thursday, July 18, LaFollette Park, 1333 N. Laramie Ave. Wednesday, July 24, Grand Crossing Park, 7655 S. Ingleside Ave. Friday, August 16, West Chatham Park, 8223 S. Princeton Ave. (Nicole Bond)
Hull House Summer Theater Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, 800 S. Halsted St. Sundays now through August 12. Performance and workshop times vary. All are FREE and open to the public. Call (312) 413-5353 or visit hullhousemuseum.org for schedule. Sundays this summer the Hull House courtyard will transform into an “off-south side” live theater space, featuring a series of free performances and workshops from the local Chicago theater talent you know and love. See storyteller Lily Be on July 7 at 2pm, then stay for a spoken word inspired improvisation workshop with PREACH! at 3:30. On July 14 writer, actress comedian Adrienne Brandyburg and B.A.P.S take the stage at 3:30. Ratas de Dos Patas on July 21. Workshop with Mojdeh Stoakley from Poets with Class on August 4 at 2pm, plus so much more! (Nicole Bond)
FOOD & LAND Black and Brown Lives in Green Spaces DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Pl. Thursday, July 25, 5:30pm–7:30pm. Tickets $15. bit.ly/livesingreen The Metropolitan Planning Council and Friends of the Parks are hosting a panel discussion about park segregation and Black and brown ownership of green space in Chicago. Admission includes snacks, soft drinks, wine, and beer. (Sam Joyce)
National Moth Week Celebration Indian Ridge Marsh, 11740 S. Torrence Ave. Friday, July 26, 7pm–9pm. Free.
bit.ly/TWIMothWeek Learn about the nocturnal life of Indian Ridge Marsh with this rare opportunity for a night walk through the park. Trevor Edmonson, a moth expert with the Wetlands Initiative, will be available to teach attendees more about moths, and will even show you how to take a close-up photo of a moth. Bring water, sturdy shoes, a flashlight, and a rain jacket. (Sam Joyce)
Bantu Fest Midway Plaisance Park, E. 60th St. & S. Ellis Ave. Saturday, July 27 and Sunday, July 28, 10am–10pm. Free. bantufest.com Enjoy food from over thirty different countries—including South Africa, Haiti, Belize, Jamaica, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, the U.S., Liberia, Senegal, the Dominican Republic, and more—at the fifth iteration of this multi-cultural festival. Offerings also include arts, music, vendors, DJs, live performances, tributes to music legends, and international guest artists from around the world. This year’s fest is headlined by Syleena Johnson, with performances by Dee Alexander, Amyna Love, the Isaac Sisters, Haitian band D'Lux, Limitless Soundz, Belizean group Team B.A.D., and over fifty different artists and DJs from more than fifteen countries. (AV Benford)
31st Annual GhanaFest Washington Park, 5600 S. Russell Dr. Saturday, July 27 and Sunday, July 28, 10am–10pm. Saturday pass $10;“The Return” package deal including Sunday, $15. ghananationalcouncil.org Organized by the Ghana National Council of Chicago and fourteen other organizations representing Ghanaians in the Chicago area, GhanaFest is the largest showcase of African music, food, and fashion in the Midwest. Held since 1988, this two-day festival draws as many as 5,000 participants to Washington Park each year in a celebration of Ghana’s history and culture. (AV Benford)
Wooded Island Bird Walk Museum of Science and Industry East Parking Lot. Saturday, July 27 and August 3, 8am– 11am. Contact Pat Durkin for more: pat. durkin@comcast.net. Free. bit.ly/JPBirdWalk
EVENTS
Join the Chicago Audubon Society for a bird walk through Jackson Park, including the Wooded Island and Bobolink Meadow. You do not need to be a member of Chicago Audubon to participate. Walks are held weekly through December. (Sam Joyce)
Thismia Hunt and Calumet Celebration Day Indian Ridge Marsh, 11740 S. Torrence Ave. Sunday, August 4, 9am–1pm. bit.ly/ IRMDays Thismia americana was a species of tiny flower only ever recorded in the wetlands of Chicago’s Southeast Side. It hasn’t been seen since 1916, but this year, Audubon Great Lakes will host a celebratory hunt for the plant, followed by lunch and a Calumet Forum to discuss conservation in the region. Transportation will be provided from Hyde Park, Pullman, Hegewisch, and the East Side. (Sam Joyce)
Summer Burnham Long Walk 47th St parking lot (47th and Cornell). Sunday, August 4, 9am–1pm. Contact George Davis for more information: (773) 268-4856 or kenwoodgwd@yahoo.com. Join nature enthusiasts from across the city to explore the nature trail all the way through the Burnham Wildlife Corridor, from 47th Street up to the McCormick Bird Sanctuary. Three mile walk each way. (Sam Joyce)
Openings BEVERLY— Opening on July 31 at 5:30pm, Peace of Pizza is a new South Side offering with deep mission: “Eat a slice and save a life.” Founded by Tamar Manasseh as the business branch of the non-profit M.A.S.K. (Mothers/Men Against Senseless Killings), Peace of Pizza will dish up pasta, burgers, wings, and salad. It’ll also provide internships and job training for area youth and full-time jobs for a few residents. 1801 W. 95th St. (AV Benford) CHATHAM — Joesephine’s, formerly Captain Hard Times, reopened this summer on 79th Street after an intervention by Food Network’s Restaurant Impossible. As the name change suggests, this iconic eatery has been completely
remodeled. After thieves stole copper wiring last year, causing the refrigeration and other appliances to malfunction and spoiling supplies, the restaurant nearly went under. But by this June, Josephine’s had rebounded enough to open a second location in the McCormick Place convention center. 436 E. 79th St. (AV Benford) PULLMAN — One Eleven Food Hall is a unique concept that seeks to support South Side food businesses by providing “a larger market and [harnessing] the resources of a single shared space,” according to its website. The space is currently home to three entrepreneurs: Tsadakeeyah Ben Emmanuel’s Majani Soulful Vegan Cuisine, Tiffany Mone’t Williams’ Exquisite TO GO, and Rachel Bernier-Green’s Laine’s Bake Shop. Food Hall Hours: Monday–Friday, 7am–9pm; Saturday–Sunday, 8am–9pm. 756 E. 111th St. (AV Benford)
Lightfoot’s sworn promise to diversify Chicago’s institutionally weakened economies on the South and West sides. SOUTH CHICAGO — Metra is finally in talks with the CTA, Pace and Cook County about increasing service and lowering fares on routes servicing the South Side, which sits at the precarious juncture of being both public transit-dependent and public transit-strapped. The plan outlined in a new mobility study commissioned and released by Cook County considers lowering Metra fares to $2.50 and enabling Ventra cards to be used across all three systems. The study projects a thirty-three percent increase in Metra ridership.
Sponsored Fourth Annual Chicago Poetry Block Party National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W 19th St. Saturday July 27, 3:00pm–8:00pm. Free. poetryfoundation.org/CPBP Join us for the Fourth Annual Chicago Poetry Block Party: Saturday, July 27, 3:00–8:00 PM at the National Museum of Mexican Art! A free, all-ages event celebrating poetry, music, and creativity. Live music from Lester Rey, avery r. young, and DÉCIMA, performances by poets from Chicago and beyond, workshops, and activities with community organizations. It’s not a party without you! Presented by the Poetry Foundation and Crescendo Literary.
Land Notes SOUTH SIDE — As promised, Mayor Ligthfoot is taking steps towards the development of a new casino in Chicago— starting with an Economic Feasibility Study commissioned this past week. Union Gaming has been selected by the Illinois Gaming Board to “analyze the economic viability of a Chicago casino within the legislative framework established by the new legislation.” The city also submitted the first sites for consideration, all of which are (mainly) on publicly owned land and have been considered either for casinos or large public projects before. They are as follows: Harborside (111th and the Bishop Ford Freeway); the former Michael Reese hospital (31st and Cottage Grove); Pershing & State; Roosevelt & Kostner; and the former U.S. Steel parcel (80th and Lake Shore Dr). CITY— Mayor Lightfoot has made her pick for the head of the city planning department: Maurice Cox, the current director of planning and development in Detroit. Cox’s pedigree includes stints as the design director of the National Endowment of the Arts; the associate dean for community engagement at Tulane University; and the mayor of Charlottesville, Virgina. Cox, who is a stated proponent of “equitable recovery,” should fit right in line with Mayor
The 61st Street Farmers Market is a program of the Experimental Station, with the support of:
JULY 24, 2019 Chapin¬ MaySOUTH Foundation SIDE WEEKLY 27
THE BUILDERS INITIATIVE
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