Blackstone Bicycle Works
Weekly Bike Sale Every Saturday at 12pm Wide selection of refurbished bikes! (most bikes are between $120 & $250)
follow us at @blackstonebikes blackstonebikes.org
Blackstone Bicycle Works is a bustling community bike shop that each year empowers over 200 boys and girls from Chicago’s south side—teaching them mechanical skills, job skills, business literacy and how to become responsible community members. In our year-round ‘earn and learn’ youth program, participants earn bicycles and accessories for their work in the shop. In addition, our youths receive after-school tutoring, mentoring, internships and externships, college and career advising, and scholarships. Hours Tuesday - Friday 1pm - 6pm 12pm - 5pm Saturday
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773 241 5458 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Chicago, IL 60637
A PROGRAM OF
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 5, Issue 15 Editor-in-Chief Hafsa Razi Managing Editors Julia Aizuss, Andrew Koski Directors of Staff Support Baci Weiler Community Outreach Jasmin Liang Senior Editors Christian Belanger, Mari Cohen, Olivia Stovicek Politics Editor Adia Robinson Education Editor Rachel Kim Stage & Screen Editor Nicole Bond Visual Arts Editor Rod Sawyer Food & Land Editor Emeline Posner Music Editor Christopher Good Contributing Editors Maddie Anderson, Elaine Chen, Mira Chauhan, Bridget Newsham, Adam Przybyl, Rachel Schastok, Sam Stecklow, Michael Wasney, Yunhan Wen Data Editor Jasmine Mithani Radio Editor Erisa Apantaku Radio Hosts Andrew Koski Olivia Obineme Sam Larsen Social Media Editors Bridget Newsham, Sam Stecklow Visuals Editor Ellen Hao Deputy Visuals Editor Lizzie Smith Photography Editor Jason Schumer Layout Editor Baci Weiler Staff Writers: Ashvini Kartik-Narayan Fact Checkers: Abigail Bazin, Sam Joyce, Bridget Newsham, Adam Przybyl, Hafsa Razi, Sam Stecklow, Tiffany Wang Staff Photographers: Denise Naim, Jason Schumer, Luke Sironski-White Staff Illustrators: Zelda Galewsky, Natalie Gonzalez, Courtney Kendrick, Turtel Onli, Raziel Puma Webmaster
Pat Sier
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Harry Backlund
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Jason Schumer
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Cover illustration by Lizzie Smith
IN CHICAGO
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
IN THIS ISSUE
EPA to Make Coke Plant Pay Up On Thursday, the EPA settled a case with Indiana Harbor Coke Company, an East Chicago plant that produces coke, a product of coal distillation, for the country’s biggest steel mills. Under the terms of a federal consent decree, the plant must, among other measures, curb leaks from its coke ovens, pay a $5 million fine to be split between the state and federal governments, and pay $250,000 to build lead mitigation infrastructure in the city. East Chicago has spent much of the past century as a hub for petroleum refineries, steel mills, and chemical factories; its residents have spent that time suffering under the effects of this history. In 2016, the mayor recommended that more than 1,000 residents relocate after the city found dangerously high levels of arsenic and lead in the soil near their housing complex. That crisis prompted The Atlantic (among other publications) to ask, “Is East Chicago the Next Flint?” As the details of this week’s settlement show, it’s a question too reductive to properly grapple with the long past and complex present of the harmful industrial practices threatening the city and its people.
student activism takes the stage
Extending the Red Line...Eventually The mayor’s office and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) finally announced a planned route last Friday for a Red Line extension farther south, which would bring its terminus from 95th Street to 130th Street and add four more stops to the line. But don’t expect the city to cut red ribbons on this Red Line project anytime soon: this $2.3 billion hulk of a project still lacks most of its funding aside from what will be needed to pay for an initial engineering and environmental analysis, and there are doubts about how much fiscal relief Trump’s imminent infrastructure plan would actually supply. Even if the project were underwritten in full tomorrow, construction still wouldn’t begin for at least another four years. Financial viability aside, it’s still unclear how much support exists for the extension in neighborhoods through which the Red Line will be extended. Tribune interviews with residents and business owners in the area expressed “wide support for the project,” but others have expressed concern that it could displace residents.
“What we’re doing today is reflected in the images themselves.” erisa apantaku................................11
#RahmHatesUs Protest at the UofC Lab School Last week, parents, students, and education activists protested in front of the University of Chicago Laboratory School in Hyde Park, where Mayor Emanuel’s children attend school, in response to the controversial CPS announcement that four Englewood high schools—Hope, Harper, Robeson, and TEAM Englewood—would be closed the following year to make room for a new $85 million dollar high school. Using the hashtag #RahmHatesUs, the protestors attempted to enroll and be given a tour of the Lab School but were stopped by security at the door. In 2011, Emanuel let his notorious temper flare in an interview with NBC Chicago when the station probed his choice to enroll his kids into the Lab School instead of CPS schools and said, “My children are not in a public position. I am....My children are not an instrument of me being mayor...I’m making this decision as a father,” before abruptly walking out of the interview.
SSW Radio soundcloud.com/south-side-weekly-radio WHPK 88.5 FM Tuesdays, 3pm–4pm
Paul Vallas to Run Against Rahm? Thinking about the mayoral election in February 2019? It looks like former CPS CEO— and, now, former chief administrative officer of Chicago State University—Paul Vallas may be too. Vallas recently stated that he would step down as chief administrative officer of Chicago State in March 2018 since “the university is on the right track” and he “may very well make the mayoral run.” Apparently the Chicago State trustees disagreed, because they voted unanimously on Monday to terminate their contract with Vallas immediately. Several trustees seemed taken aback by Vallas’s political ambitions, such as board Vice President Nicholas Gowen, who said that he found “it unfortunate that [Vallas] would attempt to use Chicago State University as a platform to run for the mayor of the city of Chicago.” It seems like it may be a rocky road for Vallas—aside from what happened this week, his past ties to Daley’s administration and controversial high school reform policies across the country can’t help.
“My voice is important and so is everyone else’s.” rachel kim........................................4 who loves you more?
Looking to expand, the Healthy Food Hub moves to Englewood emeline posner.................................6 a history of bail reform
Separate, but parallel justice systems kiran misra........................................8 you just have to be there
total immersion
“I mean, why aren’t we smashing the state right now?” elaine chen.....................................13
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JANUARY 31, 2018 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 3
Student Activism Takes the Stage Hancock College Prep turns conflict, from the personal to the global, into theater BY RACHEL KIM
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he day before the opening night of Hancock College Preparatory High School’s theater showcase “Content Warning: Real Life,” the students in Sarah Baranoff ’s Drama II and Drama III classes are thrumming with nervous excitement. In the darkened performance hall within the West Elsdon selective enrollment high school, students walk in and out with costumes in hand, leap on and off the stage, and chatter in the audience seats. “Are you excited?” a student asks another. “Are you kidding me?” he responds playfully. “I’m super excited.” The class begins with Baranoff maneuvering thirty-five students onto the wooden stage to practice their final bow—a task which proves challenging, given that safety concerns keep the performers from using the thirty feet of stage behind the curtains. According to Baranoff, administrators told her that contractors would be enlisted to help fix the stage. But with these promises unkept only hours before the show, she affectionately calls the performances “an experiment in minimalist theater.” The students spend the rest of the period running through six ten-minute plays—each of which they had written, directed, and acted. In November, the students had been split into groups and given the opportunity to pick a news story to use as inspiration for their plays. The resulting plays tackle difficult topics––from racism in corporate advertising and the #MeToo movement to the death of a Hancock student years ago–– with sincerity and passion. For many students, drama class at Hancock became a space where they could learn more about themselves and gain the self-confidence needed to take the stage. Joey Padilla, a senior, credited the class for the growth he experienced in his high school career. “In middle school, I felt like I thought drama wasn’t cool because I was still in the 4 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
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process of figuring out what’s cool and what’s not cool because of that typical masculinity thing,” said Padilla. “After freshman and sophomore year, I realized that doesn’t matter. I found myself and I accepted myself. Drama class gave me that license to be who I want and I don’t care what anyone else says about me. That gave me a lot of respect for other people too.” Padilla participated in the fourth play of the show, ¡Viva el pueblo! Long Live the Nation!: a reenactment of Catalonia’s pursuit of independence from Spain, a process that began in 2014 and continues today. Padilla played two characters: a cameraman and Jose, a Spanish man who disagrees with the independence movement. While Padilla didn’t know much about the movement before the conception of the play, as he learned more about Catalonia, he became more passionate about the country’s independence movement. He practiced his lines every day and adopted a Spanish accent for his character, all in preparation for his stage debut. “I saw myself on a poster and I was like, ‘damn, that’s crazy!’ I’m still nervous because it’s my first play, but I just need to stay focused and passionate and everything will be fine,” said Padilla. Kat Gomez, a junior at Hancock whose group tackled the difficult issue of suicide, hopes that her play can inspire audience members to start making a change at home. Gomez was assigned to direct Focus, which tells the story of a young girl who struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts after being bullied at school. Though the girl recovers after attending therapy, her father struggles with parental guilt and a strained marriage and, at the end of the play, attempts suicide himself. Despite the play’s tragic end, Gomez wants her play to act as a learning moment so classmates can begin to check up on each other––and their parents as well. “I feel like a lot of kids don’t have a really deep strong connection where they’re
talking with their parents about really deep stuff,” she said. “A lot of people see their parents as just parents—you don’t see them like they have feelings too. I feel like kids should ask their parents if they can help around the house or if they can do anything.” During the question and answer session that followed the show, an audience member asked how students were able to portray roles that required a familiarity with deep emotional pain. After his fellow classmates cheered Adrian Sandoval, who played the father in Focus, for volunteering to answer the question, Sandoval said that needing to act dead was difficult mentally, but he was able to push through with the support of his classmates. Baranoff echoed his sentiment, noting that while many students confronted emotional blocks––especially with The Untold Stories, which covered the #MeToo movement, and In Memoriam, which was dedicated to a Hancock student lost to gun violence two years ago––the students continued to support each other through the discomfort and fear. The pamphlet for “Content Warning: Real Life” even included a page with crisis and support hotlines. Jo Luna, a senior, used satire and humor to tackle institutional racism in large corporations. Her group’s play, Give the People What They Want, was created from a set of improvised skits and culminated in a play that opened with a musical number (accompanied by a student’s live piano playing) that addressed the Kellogg’s Corn Pops box scandal, in which the cartoon on the back of a Corn Pops box depicted a sea of yellow corn pops in a mall setting. The lone brown corn pop in the cartoon was the janitor. “Big companies are getting away with subtle racist messages, and we’re just letting [them] because we’re consuming the things they’re giving us,” said Luna, who plays a mother, a lawyer, and the CEO of Kellogg’s. “I want [the audience] to stand up and say that it’s okay to call out big companies like this. We need to stand up for ourselves.”
Luna, who delivered her lines atop a piano in the opening musical number, says that she plans to pursue a double major in computer science and theater to pursue her long-term goal of being on Broadway. “Even being in the orchestra for a Broadway show, or being the people behind the stage setting up the props, anything. I just want to be on Broadway somehow,” said Luna. Daniella Cruz, who played another CEO in Give the People What they Want, also admitted that it was hard for her and her groupmates to play the CEOs––even satirically. “It was tough to get into a mindset where one would be hateful to others and make offensive jokes,” said Cruz in the Q&A. “We just had to make us laugh despite how uncomfortable we were.” Like her classmates, junior Liliana Villa was deeply familiar with the intersection of art and activism. Villa plays a professor in her group’s play, ...but for what?, which was inspired by a story about a ten-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who was stopped and detained by border patrol on her way to the hospital. Considering the current tensions surrounding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Villa hopes that her group’s play can be a way for the audience to learn and empathize with others. As a student representative with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) student advisory council, which makes policy recommendations and presents them to new CPS CEO Janice Jackson, Villa says “Content Warning: Real Life” was the perfect opportunity to combine her passions for art and student activism. After graduation, Villa is looking to go into local politics, where she hopes to be an alderman or a community organizer and work with youth. But even as a student, she is acutely aware of the power student organizing can have. “I started off being in my student
STAGE & SCREEN
COURTESY OF HANCOCK COLLEGE PREP
council. It was in that space that I realized that student voices can really have an impact in the decision being made in our schools. Being in student council is where I learned about the inequality with all our schools. I didn’t get it. Why do we have inequity? That isn’t fair. That inspired me to keep going,” said Villa. “There’s something about making a change for better that was really important for me. Through student voice, I learned that my voice is important and so is everyone else’s.” For Angel Hilario Alvarez, a senior at Hancock and co-writer of ¡Viva el pueblo! Long Live the Nation!, the subject matter hit even closer to home. As someone of Spanish descent and with family from Catalonia, Alvarez found that his personal background
meshed with his interest in historical conflicts. As a self-described “120% theater kid” with extensive experience in theater, Alvarez was able to both act and try his hand at directing. Alvarez plays two characters: an anchorman and the prime minister of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, who he embodies to deliver a rousing address to a rally (played by the students sitting in the audience). For Alvarez, playing Spanish characters, speaking in Spanish, English, and Catalan, and being able to teach his peers the Spanish accent and mannerisms was not only an opportunity to explore his identity, but also a way to extend the opportunity to audience members. “This is a predominately Hispanic
community and school, so we’re going to have Hispanic parents here who either speak English or they don’t, and if they speak English it might be a very little bit. So I think that our play, our use of Spanish will really open up to those parents,” said Alvarez. “I just like that the idea of going against that Tower of Babel thing in the Bible, you know, where all of the languages were switched. In our play we’re bringing all three of them together so many people can understand. I think doing that on stage will really show that culture to the audience and make them, if not anything, feel at home.” Alvarez, who is pursuing a position in the priesthood following his graduation, hopes to use his love for theater by advocating for the arts in his future parish
and community. “Because the arts have opened up a door for me and my personal life and my experience...I think so many other people should have these opportunities. It’s so bad that people don’t,” Alvarez said. “The budget cuts happening in CPS, schools getting their arts programs taken away—it’s so horrible. I think that the arts are equally important as academics, because you need a little bit of both: you need the blank paper that you write on but you also need that colored ink. If we’re not using the arts to their fullest potential, which for me is causing change and causing action, then what are we doing?” ¬
JANUARY 31, 2018 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 5
Who Loves You More?
Dr. Jifunza Wright Carter on Healthy Food Hub’s move to Englewood and the power of the peri-urban food network BY EMELINE POSNER
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n early December, the Healthy Food Hub—a Black-owned agricultural cooperative— announced that, after nearly three years in South Shore, it would be moving its operations to Englewood’s Barbara A. Sizemore Academy. The Hub had come to South Shore on the invitation of residents and organizers to help the neighborhood address its food access concerns. South Shore has seen nearly four years pass without a grocery store despite promises from the alderman to bring one in. Though the Hub is moving to cut costs and to gain access to a larger space, they don’t see the move as an end to their relationship with South Shore, but rather as an opportunity to expand the reach and impact of their produce on the South Side. Founded by holistic doctor Dr. Jifunza Wright Carter and her husband Fred Carter (the Beyoncé and Jay-Z of permaculture as they have occasionally been called), the Healthy Food Hub is a variant on the Community Supported Agriculture model. Instead of paying upfront for a regular portion of one farm’s harvest, the Hub’s 200+ members pay an annual membership fee of twenty-five dollars and place customizable weekly orders for produce grown by Black farmers, primarily in Pembroke, where the Wright-Carter family runs a sustainability center and organic farm, but also in the Chicagoland suburbs and on the South Side. They’re working on building a “peri-urban” food system that connects Black eaters, growers, and farmers in the greater Chicagoland region—a system that’s built on restorative, rather than extractive and exploitative, relationships. “The example they set is how to involve community in the process of building the local food system—not simply give people what they think they want but to actually find out what the community wants,” says Safia Rashid, who is a member of the Hub and the founder of Your Bountiful Harvest, a Grand Boulevard– based agricultural education organization. 6 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
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“I appreciate them allowing everyday folks to professionals to come together in one space and work together.” Now, the Hub is working to maintain that level of community accountability while settling into its new home in Englewood. They’re taking the winter to restructure their membership structure and scale up operations so that they can serve Chicagoland residents whether they live in South Shore, Englewood, or the South Suburbs. In anticipation of their Englewood market days, which will begin in April, the Weekly spoke with Dr. J about the Hub, the power of a peri-urban food network, and the work that lies ahead.
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ransitions are never easy, but they’re good, and I think this transition is no exception. It’s been a lot of support from everyone and it’s clear that we’re going to be approaching food access in high-need areas in a different way. That’s really what’s afoot right now. Would you talk a little bit about the origin of the Black Oaks Center and how it runs the Healthy Food Hub? The Black Oaks Center is a nonprofit that is committed to helping communities become resilient. We’re a little over ten years old and we knew that skills-building was what was hugely needed to prepare people to transition to a low-carbon, resource-constrained way of life. How do we live inside of this [world] and thrive? There’s four skills-building tracks: there’s a sustainable building track, there’s a sustainable energy track, and what we call the resilience track, which is the ability to manage your head and your relationships. And the one that everybody’s familiar with is the sustainable agriculture track: growing nutrient dense food, organically and
sustainably, and facilitating the development of a local food system from Pembroke to Chicago. The Healthy Food Hub is the activity of the sustainable agriculture track, it’s really not a separate thing. It was in South Shore for a little more than two years. We were at Betty Shabazz [International Charter School, in Greater Grand Crossing] for five years, from 2009 to 2014. [When] Betty Shabazz was having construction, we were unable to have the market there so we were invited to come and help South Shore address its food access issues—and that’s how we landed at the Quarry, through the facilitation of Yvette Moyo [founder of South Shore–based organization Real Men Cook]. The beautiful thing about being at the Quarry is that it gave me this opportunity to go from what my visions were of what was possible in healthcare to actually experiencing it. My patients could actually come to the Quarry on a Saturday, they could get the food that they needed, they could get the medicinal herbs that they needed, and they could see me as a patient. To address the high levels of morbidity and mortality in low-income, low-foodaccess communities...[you] gotta build deep relationships. There’s a lot of teaching that goes on, a lot of teaching and sharing. To have a scenario where people are really getting that you can actually eat a pumpkin and not just make a jack-o’-lantern—and actually taste it in a stew or in a beverage, and for the community to be able to do it together, it’s very remarkable.
have to look at the landscape. A city can’t seed itself. There’s just not enough space— unless we were doing this very, very energyintensive vertical agriculture. In urban areas, there’s less land and there’s more people. When we go into southern Cook [County], in Kankakee County, there’s more land and less people. … The peri-urban model is really necessary for the vitality of all three regions. The urban being able to support the rural, that’s part of our commitment. Where I’m sitting right now, [Pembroke], a historic Black farming community, happens to be one of the poorest townships in the state of Illinois financially. But it has a legacy of being able to seed many towns and neighborhoods to the north, going on into Chicago. Propping that economic engine back up and sourcing healthy food in areas where it’s needed: that’s our vision and that’s our commitment and focus. And you know, we can do that with food. And we’re slowly doing it with food. There’s definitely more people growing food, more people looking to production as a means of income, and more people being exposed to local food as a concept. We have cultivated growers through our farmer training program, we have developed relationships through the farmer training program, with producers or growers as mentors, and we have provided a foundation for urban farmers to generate income. If you wanted to get a range of locally grown products from Black farmers, Black growers—urban, suburban, or rural—the Healthy Food Hub is definitely the place to come. And we’re very proud of that.
How does the relationship work on the other side? Talk a little bit about the periurban network and how you cultivate relationships with growers from Pembroke to Chicago.
You’ve just moved from South Shore, which is still without a grocery store, into Englewood, a historically underinvested neighborhood whose food access infrastructure is rapidly changing. What are you thinking about in terms of food access between the two neighborhoods?
In order to make a local food system, you
FOOD
KATHERINE HILL
You know, since we’ve been in South Shore, not only has South Shore not gotten a grocery store, but there’s numbers of neighborhoods that have lost the stores that they had and there’s indicators that neither South Shore nor those other neighborhoods will get a grocery store back. Perhaps there’s those that would sit and wait for affluent white people to move into these challenged communities and then the groceries will come. But in the meantime we have a wonderful ecological, economic opportunity where we can have the people in that neighborhood grow the food and be networked into a peri-urban local food system infrastructure that we’re creating— that would help to retain money within that network, within that community, and to get the best quality food. One of the main things that we’ve kept hearing from [Englewood] residents is, “I really can’t afford to go to [the Whole Foods in] Englewood.” … So on the one hand I’m sure that Whole Foods is serving somebody’s needs in Englewood, but apparently there’s a
whole other dimension of food needs that are still not being addressed. And as we used to say, who loves you more? [laughs] A grocery store is not gonna be interested in you learning how to prepare the foods in the most healthful way, or if they are, it’s so that they can increase sales. If you are part of a community, you want your community to be well, so there’s a whole other dimension to your intent that’s much deeper than just a conversation around “How do I increase the amount of people purchasing?” What do the coming months look like in terms of moving, scaling up, and restructuring? We’ve heard from quite a few South Shorians who are dismayed. Unfortunately, there are still residents who show up every Saturday since we left. And we are in the process of establishing a new relationship in South Shore. There’s also been a request on behalf of Roseland, two neighborhoods on the West Side, and neighborhoods in southern
Cook [County]—Robbins, Ford Heights, Markham, Harvey, and Dixmoor. So that’s what we’re turning to address right now is, my god, there’s more and more communities that are in greater need and we can’t just have a hub in one place. Our commitment is to [becoming] a nonprofit cooperative food hub. That would be a vertically integrated food hub where there’s members who are eaters, members who are workers, and members who are growers. So everyone would have input, but the eaters should be letting the growers know what they want to eat, and workers may be sharing with the growers and the eaters how it’s going to work to get the food to them— but you shouldn’t have the eaters telling the growers how to grow [laughs]. We’re really working toward deepening our members’ investments and working toward a cooperative model. Our members have actually been meeting and we’re about to roll out a drive and MyTab—[a system] where our members guests and supporters will pay at minimum twenty dollars per month and then they would tell us what it
is they need (so, a dozen of lemons per week, or every two weeks). Then they would have option of picking it up, or having it delivered to their doorsteps, or picking it up at a dropoff center. ’Cause we have members all over the city and South Suburbs and this is our way of getting people’s needs met, even though we are under reconstruction. We are slowing down to strengthen our core. It’s been a gift in a lot of ways to be able to fix everything so that we can be stronger coming out in the spring. We’re giving ourselves a good ninety days to do everything: crop planning, working collectively with our growers, and rolling out our therapeutic foods program. We’ll be training people from within the organizations that we’re collaborating with in the communities we’ll be located in to actually run the hubs so that this growing season there could be more than one hub going on at the same time. We’re very proud that through the efforts of our members, our community, our family, we were able to gross over $100,000 in sales. Those were dollars that went into local foods from within our community, from South Shore, from Ford Heights, from Robbins, and the outlying communities around Oak Forest. And we did that under-resourced, with limited capacity. Right now our goal is to strengthen our capacity, broaden it, deepen it, perfect our process, so that we can be better equipped to handle the demand. We definitely started out as a social movement around food justice and food equality and the possibility of food security and food sovereignty. I think the lesson, if you ask me, going on nine years, is that you still need an economic base. Social movements need to be able to yield to something that’s going to last and continue to keep the values and the mission and the vision alive. It’s going to have to be hashed out, is what I’m saying. When you have this concept of collective ownership—and then someone’s telling someone what they think should happen, but they’re not the one who’s experiencing it—you have to make sure that wires don’t cross. So we’re trying our best to do what we usually do, and that’s to learn from what worked and what didn’t work. ¬ Healthy Food Hub, Barbara A. Sizemore Academy, 6547 S. Stewart Ave. Starting in April, Saturdays, 11am–3pm; interim pop-up market days TBA. (773) 410-3446. healthyfoodhub.org JANUARY 31, 2018 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 7
A History of Bail Reform A medieval pay-your-way system may be on its way out THE FIRST IN A SERIES ON PRETRIAL DETENTION BY KIRAN MISRA
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or people charged with a crime in Cook County, the most important word that comes out of a judge’s mouth is “guilty” or “not guilty.” The next most important is how high the bond is. At least, that’s the way the deputy director of the Illinois Justice Project and former public defender Sharone Mitchell describes it, explaining, “It is almost like there are two separate, but parallel justice systems—one for people who are detained in jail pretrial and one for people who are out of custody.” Lavette Mayes, a forty-seven-year-old mother from the Southeast Side knows this to be all too true. “Your entire life is determined in thirty seconds. Thirty seconds and you can tear a family apart forever,” Mayes reflected in a recent interview with the Weekly. Mayes was incarcerated in 2015 following a dispute with her motherin-law. She had no criminal record, had never been arrested before, had two young children, and owned her own business. In an interview for a series on mass incarceration by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Mayes explained, “I had no inkling that I was even going to be arrested because I didn’t start it. I was defending myself.” That’s why, when Mayes found herself in Cook County Jail with a bail of $250,000, she was absolutely shocked. Ultimately, she was detained for fourteen months before being bailed out with the
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help of the Chicago Community Bail Fund, a nonprofit volunteer-run fund that pays bond for some detainees and advocates for an end to the cash bail system. The unequal, wealth-based system has prompted waves of reforms to Chicago’s bail system, all leading up to the most recent wave of bail reform and the Bail Reform Act passed last June. These reforms have caused Cook County Jail to reach its lowest population in decades, around 5,900 in December 2017. In this article, and following installations of this series to be published in coming weeks, the Weekly will trace the history of this system, its reform movements, and the people involved in both.
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here are three main types of bond in Cook County: Recognizance Bonds (I-Bonds), Cash Bonds (C-Bonds), and Detainer Bonds (D-Bonds). I-Bonds assign each person a monetary amount to pay if they do not show up to court, but do not require that any cash be posted to be let out of jail. C-Bonds, used primarily in civil cases, require defendants to pay the entire bond amount to be let out of jail pretrial. Once the case is over, this money is returned to the defendant. D-Bonds require people to post ten percent of the total amount of bond to be released pretrial. Of this ten percent, Cook County retains ten percent of the
payment, regardless of the outcome of the case, as a processing fee. This is the type of bond Mayes received, requiring her to pay $25,000 to be released pending trial. “At the time, if my bail had been set at $10,000, I would have been able to bail myself out, but I don’t think the court even considered that,” she said. “The damage of the Cook County Criminal Courts to the right to pretrial freedom is a very fundamental aspect of being arrested in Chicago,” said University of Connecticut-Hartford history professor and criminal justice researcher Melanie Newport of the “punishment before prosecution” approach to criminal justice. Setting bonds above people’s ability to pay creates an illusion of release without any actual potential for freedom. Popular wisdom behind the bail system argues that cash bail ensures that people come to court for their trial. However, numerous studies have shown this to be false. A 2013 study by the Pretrial Justice Institute found that people released on their own recognizance were just as likely to come back to court for their trials as people who posted money bond. Additionally, the two groups were equally likely to reoffend while awaiting trial. Providing people with bus passes, an initiative which some cities are starting to explore, could be more effective than money bond in getting people to come to their court dates. Factors like lack of
transportation, conflicting work schedules, and lack of childcare are some of the most common forces preventing people from meeting their court dates. “On a certain level, we all know money bond doesn’t make us safer,” said Sharlyn Grace, a cofounder and board member of the Community Bond Fund and a Senior Criminal Justice Policy Analyst at Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice, a research and advocacy nonprofit. s is the case with many facets of American life, the United States inherited its bail practices from England, where bail was created in medieval times to ensure that those accused of crimes returned to court for their trials. As a result of numerous attempts by sheriffs to exploit this system for their own monetary gain, the Statute of Westminster of 1275 amended the limits of the bail system to release everyone except those facing the death penalty. In the United States, initial bail legislation mirrored this norm, with the Judiciary Act of 1789 stating that every person had a right to post bail for noncapital offenses. However, in practice, this has been far from the case. “[Cash bail] has been for a very long time a back door that's permitted judges to avoid the constitutional limitations on pretrial incarceration, quite frankly,” Grace said. As of July 2017, nearly 450,000 people
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were incarcerated pretrial in the United States, ninety percent of them only because they couldn’t afford to pay a monetary bail. “We have more people incarcerated pretrial than almost any other country has incarcerated, period,” added Grace. Cook County mirrors this national trend: ninety percent of Cook County Jail residents are pretrial detainees, and two-thirds of them would be free if they could afford to post bail. Bail policy in Chicago and across the country remained a largely dormant issue until the passage of the national Bail Reform Act of 1966. “You can see in the sixties and seventies, overlapping with the height of the civil rights movement, professional reformer organizations like the ACLU are really trying ensure that people had a right to a speedy trial,” Newport, who is at work on a book titled Community of the Condemned: Chicago and the Transformation of the American Jail, said.
“They really came on the heels of a national movement towards bail reform after very big judicial corruption cases in the 1950s,” she added. “Bail reform has historically coincided with moments when criminal courts lack legitimacy.” In response to pressure from these organizations, Illinois made bounty hunting illegal with the passage of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963, removing incentive for the private industry to operate in the state, although the industry was not explicitly outlawed. To replace for-profit bail bondsmen, state legislators created the D-Bond system, which was considered a major victory for pretrial rights. To date, Illinois is one of only four states, in addition to Washington, D.C., without a private bail industry. Internationally, the United States and the Philippines stand alone as the only two countries with any for-profit element in
the pretrial system. “It’s always hard for people to remember what an outlier system we have in the U.S.,” said Grace. In 1970, the Alliance to End Repression, later known for its efforts to end surveillance on political dissidents by the Chicago Police Department, created a Bail Task Force, which was later renamed the Cook County Special Bail Project (CCSBP). According to Chicago Historical Society notes on their records, “At the time of the creation of the Cook County Special Bail Project, there were two hundred volunteers working on bail projects. In 1975, CCSBP possessed a paid staff of five.” The Project succeeded in increasing the number of people released on recognizance in Cook County while organizing to bail people out of jail. The Alliance also worked to coordinate court-watching and pretrial interviewing efforts, and to draw attention to the fact that most people before the criminal court didn’t have access to crucial social support systems and therefore didn’t actually need high bonds to ensure that they would come to court. “The Alliance was a primarily white liberal group whose grassroots effort organized lawyers, law students, housewife activists with the League of Women Voters, and all kinds of volunteers to have an activist presence in the courts,” said Newport, explaining that court-watching has always been an integral part of the bail reform movement. “Pretty much any time you get people in observing the courts, you find that courts are not necessarily upholding their side of the bargain in terms of resuming the innocence of people who are awaiting trial,” she added. Combined with community activism, court-watching efforts resulted in some major victories for the Alliance to End Repression, such as establishing a weekend court and getting rid of the separate courts for women. Explains Newport, “A lot of that activism was able to happen because
in the seventies there was a lot of federal funding for local criminal justice reform projects through the Department of Justice.” However, this funding prioritization of criminal justice reform was short-lived. “When the money dries up at the end of the seventies and in the eighties under the Reagan Administration, things stagnate partially because there was no money and partially because people are burned out,” Newport said. “When the grants dry up, the government chooses not to institutionalize these programs in the late seventies.” In the decades that followed, the rise of mass incarceration, the Wars on crime and drugs, and the intensification of racialized policing in Chicago resulted in a massive expansion of the population of pretrial detainees in the Cook County Jail. With it came extreme jail overcrowding. “When there are issues with conditions in the jail, there are movements to keep people out of the jail, like through changing the bail system,” said Newport. Because of this overcrowding, in the early 1990s, both actors outside of the bail system, like the prison oversight nonprofit John Howard Association, and those inside of it, like the Cook County Sheriff ’s Office itself, came together to try and gain support for release on recognizance. Due to a federal population cap on the number of detainees allowed to be housed in any given jail, the sheriff ’s office started electing to release people on their own recognizance, without bail. “This was very radical, especially since he was a sheriff,” Newport said. These efforts showed some results. In 1992, the jail population briefly fell, attributable to the implementation and expansion of an Electronic Monitoring (EM) program, and in 1995, the jail’s average daily population briefly dropped again after the creation of a Day Reporting Center for pretrial detainees. “However, in tandem with this reform,
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there was an all-out assault on people who were accused of crimes, at a neighborhood level, in the courts, and within the jails themselves,” Newport said, referring to the tough-on-crime policies of the Clinton era.
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typical bail hearing goes something like this: first, the prosecutor asks the individual about their background and what they are accused of doing. Then the defense attorney offers “mitigation”—positive qualities and actions that could be a reason for release. Then, “the judge decides [your bail] based on your background, accused crime, and how scary you look,” Grace said. Sometimes, this process of deciding one’s access to liberty takes less than a minute, calling into serious question the legitimacy of bond decisions. In Lavette Mayes’ experience, the process of being assigned a bail amount was even more harrowing. After being arrested, she was taken to a local jail then to the county jail. She spent about three days in lockup with no access to showers, provided with little more than bread and bologna to eat, and wore only a nightgown and a coat. “I never knew when I got there that I wasn’t even going to be allowed to take a shower before I went to see the judge,” Mayes said. She ended up having to go in front of the judge for her bail hearing in her nightgown. Right before her bail hearing, Mayes and the others awaiting their moment before a bail court judge were lined up in a hallway outside the courtroom. “They told us to listen because it really goes fast and to just remember our next court date,” Mayes said. “When I spoke to the intake worker, he [said], ‘You don’t have a background, you shouldn’t really be spending any time, I’m pretty sure they’re just going to give you I-monitoring and just have you come back before the court.’” Defendants entered the courtroom three at a time, standing in front of the
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judge with their hands behind their back. “It’s kind of hard to remember, because when you’ve been in lockup, you’ve been transferred, you’re really fatigued, you’re really extremely tired,” Mayes said. “I remember being the second person going in...and I remember there was no deliberation, it’s literally like an auction.” She continued, “I remember a judge saying what the charges were, reading from a manila envelope he had gotten from the back, the public defender saying that I had no background, no prior experience, then that was it. The judge hit the gavel, saying $250,000, and it was over.” Mayes’ family had hired a private lawyer to represent her in court, but had been unable to communicate this to Mayes. “People always say you get a phone call, but you don’t get a phone call until you are processed in,” she said. “I didn’t get a phone call while I was at the local jail, so I didn’t know my family had hired a private attorney.” The whole bail hearing ended so quickly Mayes’ private attorney didn’t have a chance to advocate for her before the bail was set. “We saw and continue to see tremendous disparities [in bond court] that result in widespread injustices,” said Cara Smith, the chief policy adviser to and spokeswoman for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. An Injustice Watch report from November 2016 found that defendants with almost identical charges are often assigned bails that differ by tens of thousands of dollars, another reflection on the capricious nature of the system. In my own experience court-watching, I found the nature of bond to be completely arbitrary as well. Oftentimes, a small, seemingly justified reaction of disappointment from an defendant could result in judges doubling, tripling, or quadrupling their bonds. Cash bail creates a system in which a wealthy defendant can buy their way out
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of jail, even when they may pose a higher threat to their community than a poorer person. Amy Campinelli, the Cook County Public Defender, noted to Injustice Watch last year, “Not only do the poor who pose no risk remain locked up, but those who pose a risk often end up released before trial because they had access to money to secure their release.” These sentiments and skepticisms about cash bail aren’t new. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson observed that a poor defendant “does not stay in jail because he is any more likely to flee before trial. He stays in jail for one reason only— he stays in jail because he is poor.” “The history of mass incarceration is really a story about racism,” said Newport. In the Cook County Jail, seventy-three percent of detainees are African American, reflecting the national trend that Black, Latinx, and indigenous people are detained at far higher rates than people of other ethnicities, with Black Americans bearing the brunt of that trend. If given a money bail, Black people receive “significantly higher bail amounts than all other ethnic and racial groups” and are less likely to be able to post the bail amount, the national criminal justice reform nonprofit Justice Policy Institute found in 2012. Overuse of pretrial incarceration through exorbitant monetary bonds is a problem that affects everyone in the city, not just those awaiting their trials in the Cook County Jail. In 2011, daily costs of detaining suspects awaiting trial in the Cook County jail amounted to more than one million dollars a day. These unnecessary costs add up. The Injustice Watch investigation found that in Chicago during an eighteen-month period ending last May, 1,527 “turnarounds,” as they are called, spent so long awaiting their trials in the Cook County jail that they collectively spent an extra 323 years incarcerated than their sentences called for. After remaining dormant for a few decades, bail reform has in recent years
once again seized local and national attention and efforts, experiencing a resurgence in recent years. “I give a lot of credit for [recent] bail reform to the Black Lives Matter Movement,” said Grace. “The public interest in criminal justice reform is a part of that conversation, a result of that conversation.” In the last few years, as they did in the 1960s and 1970s, local stakeholders have come together to once again try to address this problem of mass incarceration and dismantle the cash bail system in Illinois while alleviating some of the harm caused by the current overuse of pretrial detention. Their efforts are varied and multifaceted, ranging from a lawsuit against the bail court judges of Cook County to proposed national bail legislation brought to Capitol Hill by U.S. Representative Danny Davis, who represents parts of the South and West Sides and suburbs, earlier this month. This convergence of efforts to reform and abolish the cash bail system illustrates how unique this moment is in Chicago, Illinois, and the nation at large. But the pendulum has swung back before—the real question is not only how successful these initiatives will be and how radically the system will change, but also how long those changes will last. These initiatives to reform the cash bail system, among others, are the focus of the next installments of this Weekly series on bail reform in Cook County.
VISUAL ARTS
You Just Have to Be There Larry Redmond on his exhibit about resisting police violence BY ERISA APANTAKU
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y name is Larry Redmond. My nom de plume is Obi. So when people see the exhibit at the gallery people will see a little O-B-I on each of them, which would be me. Would you say that you’re a renaissance man? I can elaborate if you’d like me to. Elaborate. So you’re a lawyer, general counsel for the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. That’s correct. And you’re staff attorney with First Defense Legal Aid. And in addition, you’ve written and published novels, short stories, plays, photography books, and you’ve raised seven children. That is correct. So how do you balance all that? Yeah…[laughs] Well, really, I’ve been around for a minute. So you can take the time, in a life, to take a few years learning something. For example, when I was a young man, I was a writer, so that’s what I spent my time doing. I thought I was also a poet, but I found out that writing poetry is too hard. So I restrict my writing to prose. But once you learn how to write, you don’t have to learn how to write anymore. You just sort of write when you feel like writing. And so, as a young man I learned how to write, and after that, I learned other things. I learned photography; I went to law school. And each of those takes a chunk out of your life, but once it’s done, it’s done. And so you can move to the next thing. So you’re showing work at the Uri-Eichen
Gallery in Pilsen. The event is called Resistance Reception as part of the Do Not Resist? 100 Years of Chicago Police Violence Project by the For the People Artists Collective. What was the process of being part of this multi-artist, multineighborhood, multi-event collaboration? Well, my participation was merely that I submitted some works. They sent out a call for works for the exhibit that they were planning. And I submitted some works. And they liked them. And I had a question for them—how many pieces can I submit? And they seemed to like the pieces a lot, and they said we’d like for you to put just your works in a gallery by itself. And so I said, cool, I’ll put together a dozen pieces and we can go with that. The exhibit is multi-locational. UriEichen is merely one location. On the twelfth of January there will be an opening for some other pieces at the Hairpin Gallery up on the North Side, on Milwaukee Avenue, so I’m not sure of all the locations. But it will be multiple flora and multiple artists. It’s just that my particular piece at the Uri-Eichen will be opening on the nineteenth. And describe the pieces—are they new, old? A mixture of new and old? They are photographic collages. Actually I photograph a lot of different things, but when it comes to activism, I like photographing rallies. And so, I go to rallies and I photograph the people in the rally. I photograph the cops at the rally. I photograph the signs. I photograph just whatever is happening at the rally. And then I’ll come home—some of the pieces, a lot of the pieces, will stand on their own. But sometimes I like putting them together into a collage, so I’ll take a couple of pieces and
COURTESY OF LARRY REDMOND
lace them together, and then I’ll superimpose other pieces on top of them and make the top pieces transparent, so you can see through those pieces to the piece that is behind it. And that effect is collage-like. I have work here I can show you, it won’t be helpful for radio, but you’ll get an idea of what it looks like. [laughs] Yeah in fact I’ll get up and take a look at it and if you want to verbally describe what I’m looking at here... Okay, this is a rally that took place on North Michigan Avenue. This is Tribune Tower back here. And this is one of the pieces—this particular print didn’t make the cut because the color is off a little. You see here how blue that is—it should be grey. And the Tribune building is…a little bluish, and in front of that, is that the back image? Like you mentioned it’s a collage—so what are we seeing? This is a collection of some of the people that were at the rally raising their fists. This is another shot of different individuals at the same rally, raising their fists. This is an individual here—I caught this shot of him from the side—and captured that. This line is
just the police officers as they were watching us. And this is the commander that was in charge. And if you notice, I’ve got him backwards, because my view is that he is a backwards person, because of, you know—I won’t get into that. But anyway, you can see the Tribune Tower behind these people. You can see things behind the individuals because I’ve made them transparent in the first pieces. But composition—I tried to be cognizant of composition as well. I don’t know if you know about the thirds concept in composition, but the police officers are along a line that is onethird from the bottom of the picture, and this column runs right down this officer and that forms a column that is one-third into the side of the composition. This piece here covers one third of the other side of the composition. These individuals’ heads are along the top third. And so it is composed, it’s not just stuff randomly thrown in. But overall, I like to think it’s a composition that is complete and it’s compositionally satisfying. Definitely. This reminds me of your other work which also shown at Uri-Eichen, right? That was part of the ghosts of slavery in corporate Chicago? JANUARY 31, 2018 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 11
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You know about that one? [laughs] Yeah, in fact, it’s the same technique. It’s just it’s a different subject matter. That exhibit was how corporations over time benefited from slavery. And that had some corporate giants in the city and superimposed on those images were images of me in the nude, because I represented a slave. And slaves were nude when they were bought. So I wanted to show how slavery enhanced the corporate world in this country. In fact, just a little tidbit—Wall Street today is what it is because it financed slavery in the south. So, that’s a tidbit of the history. From what I’ve read about that exhibition, that work was partly informed by a legal case, right? Yes but I don’t remember all the details of that case... From what I’ve read, I believe an individual brought to the city of Chicago.....I should’ve written this down in my notes but I didn’t… they created an ordinance that corporations... Dorothy Tillman. Yeah, that ordinance passed. In Chicago. Meaning that—if I recall correctly—that corporations were required to disclose in some way how they benefited over time from slavery- and this is from memory so this information may just be wrong... the lawsuit later on was brought because the city had not been enforcing that ordinance. And so the lawsuit was an attempt to get the city to enforce that ordinance. But the lawsuit failed because the individuals bringing the lawsuit didn’t have standing to do it. Only the city can do that. So if I recall correctly it got dismissed. When your piece was exhibited at UriEichen, that exhibit was influenced by aspects of that case, correct? It is correct. Some of the corporations that I took pictures of and superimposed myself onto were… parties to that lawsuit. So, to me, that’s an example of how your work as a lawyer has influenced
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your photography work. And I’m wondering if the reverse is true? Do you feel like in your law practice you’ve brought aspects of your creative work, be it photography or writing, into your law practice? Some. But, not an awful lot because I think that my being a writer of fiction helps me when I draft motions and complaints and that kind of thing, because I can be a little more colorful, I suppose, but that’s about the extent of it. In terms of material, the lawsuits that come in are the lawsuits that come in. But my legal work, to some extent, has shown its way into some of the fiction I write...I can talk about that a bit, but that’s a slightly different story. Thank you very much. As someone who photographs these rallies and protests and acts of resistance, can you give insight to other people who strive to document in different ways, be they written reporters or photographers or radio people? You just have to be there. And the truth of the matter is independent media are doing a good job now documenting the changes that are happening in this country. In fact, a number of them in DC were arrested when your current president was inaugurated. And they faced federal charges. Some of them were journalists who just got swept up in the moment. Because the police were overreacting and just gathered up everybody. Some of these individuals were journalists. Independent journalists, photographers, and writers, and so the independent media is out there. They are doing what needs to be done to apprise the people of what’s happening in this country. And so my only advice would be, you know, keep doing what you’re doing. Keep doing what you’re doing. ¬ Do Not Resist? 100 Years of Chicago Police Violence. Uri-Eichen Gallery, 2101 S. Halsted St. Through February 2. Call for appointment to visit. (312) 852-7717. uri-eichen.com A version of this interview aired on South Side Weekly Radio on January 16 and was published online on January 19.
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Total Immersion Judy Hoffman’s ‘experimental and undefinable’ filmmaking kicks off Cinema 53’s second series BY ELAINE CHEN
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s the crowd trickled into the movie theater, Britney Spears played on the big screen. The footage, desaturated and shaky, cut between shots of Spears beaming and performing on stage and shots of her anxiously calling someone on her phone. But as the theater filled, the footage cut to an uncomfortably close still of Spears standing worried backstage while concertgoers’ cheers played in the background. What at first appeared to be a glitch quickly revealed itself to be an intentional choice made by the filmmaker— one that evoked an unsettling sadness for Spears’s situation. The footage in question comes from a 2002 documentary called “Stages: Three Days in Mexico,” directed by Judy Hoffman and screened at Hyde Park’s Harper Theater on January 25. The event was part of Cinema 53, a screening and discussion series curated by Jacqueline Stewart of the University of Chicago’s Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry, which presents films by and about women and people of color. Before starting Cinema 53 in September, Stewart saw “a real need in the South Side of Chicago to show films, and even more importantly, to discuss them,” she said. She had resources from teaching Black film at University of Chicago and working as a curator at the Rebuild Foundation’s Black Cinema House, but had no outlet to share them, and so she created Cinema 53. She now says that she wanted Cinema 53 to bridge the historically fraught relationship between the UofC and the South Side at large, describing the project as an opportunity to encourage “authentic learning between the two constituencies.” Stewart focused the first quarter of Cinema 53 on Black feminism, ending with a screening of Beyoncé’s “Lemonade”
followed by a discussion with filmmaker Julie Dash and singer Jamila Woods. There were so many people present that some had to sit on the ground, Stewart explained. Cinema 53 is now in its second quarter, with Judy Hoffman kicking off the new series “Women Make Docs.” “Judy’s entire practice has been based on the notion of collectivities and the collective,” Stewart said as she introduced Hoffman. Later, as Hoffman discussed her experiences and showed clips of her work, the value she places on community shined through. Hoffman’s filmmaking is unusual in this respect: she immerses herself in the communities she films, and shares her filmmaking techniques with her subjects. But the result is that communities support her, as was clear when whistles and cheers erupted as Hoffman sat at the front of the theater. Hoffman began by talking about the Spears documentary. She said that she was hesitant to film it at first, but knew that she could make something “a little bit out of the ordinary.” Hoffman saw Spears as “an abused child in the industry, with no real agency... made into a commodity.” The empathy Hoffman showed for Spears has been a continuous strand in her work since she began filmmaking. Hoffman began her post-screening discussion by relating her first experiences in the Alternative Television movement in Chicago in the 1970s. She assisted French ethnographer and filmmaker Jean Rouch, and learned from him cinéma vérité, a style of documentary filmmaking that showed people performing authentic everyday tasks and avoided artificial and artistic effects. At this point in the conversation, Hoffman pulled out a large rectangular contraption with a long lens jutting out.
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“All of you with your iPhones, this is where it started,” she remarked. Hoffman was showing off a Portapak, a battery-powered, video recording system that could be carried by one person. It was one of the first devices that allowed people to easily record outside of the studio. “I wanted to be on the streets, observing, but more than that, interacting,” Hoffman said, and the Portapak allowed her to do just that. She could document the civil rights movements happening in Chicago at the time––but more than that, she could walk with the activists and participate in the movements. Hoffman noted that she “jumped right into” the movements because she came from a working-class family and is female—two factors that had shaped her experiences thus far, and would continue to for the duration of her career. During shoots, Hoffman explained, she would often feel uncomfortable with her male colleagues. She remembers finding it difficult to even wear a T-shirt, for fear men
would make comments about her breasts. When she carried a 35mm camera, her male grips would tell her that “a guy should be doing this.” Even Hoffman’s use of video over film was gendered––film was seen as an exclusively male field and superior to video, which was seen as experimental and undefinable. Hoffman immersed herself in these movements, and then also began sharing her Portapak practices with fellow activists. She taught them how to videotape, because she believed that “the media belongs in the hands of the people.” She was fully committed to the activist community. In the 1980s, Hoffman found community in a different part of the world, with the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation in British Columbia. With them, she created the award-winning documentary Box of Treasures, which followed the Kwakwaka’wakw’s efforts to repatriate their stolen artifacts. After screening Box of Treasures at the event, Hoffman explained why there “appears to be four endings” to
the documentary. Hoffman’s team, a group of “white people from the States,” went to British Columbia thinking the film would be only about the repatriation efforts. But after screening rough cuts of the film to the Kwakwaka’wakw, Hoffman’s team realized they needed to address language, education, and more. There was “a lot of back and forth” with the Kwakwaka’wakw before they “had control for what content was in the film.” As with her early activist work, Hoffman stayed with community members and taught them video skills. For over ten years, she taught a group of seven or eight young women who called themselves the Salmonistas (after the Sandinistas). One of the girls, Barb Cranmer, went on to become one of the most well-known First Nation filmmakers, winning the American Indian Film Festival multiple times. After Hoffman’s continued interactions with the Kwakwaka’wakw, they eventually adopted her as a member of their First Nation, officially integrating Hoffman into their
community. The community-spirited activism that characterized Hoffman’s filmmaking career seems, in her opinion, to now be dwindling. As the event winded down, an audience member asked Hoffman what she thought of the current filmmaking scene in Chicago. “It’s changed,” answered Hoffman. “Documentary used to be counter to Hollywood [the mainstream culture]. Now it’s embraced it, part of the apparatus.” She attributed the change in documentary filmmaking to the change in people’s attitudes towards activism. “Part of it is the internet. Everybody’s asses are in a chair as we’re all online.” Things have changed since Hoffman’s involvement with the civil rights movement in the 1970s and the Kwakwaka’wakw in the 1980s––but not too much. “I mean,” she asked, “Why aren’t we smashing the state right now?” ¬
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BULLETIN Fun-Filled Parent and Tot Demo Classes Comprehensive Learning Services, 1642 E. 56th St. ste. 110. Wednesday, January 31, 9am–11am. Classes for ages 18 months–4 years. Free. bit.ly/TotDemoClass Enjoy a fun and free morning with two demonstration classes designed to help your child play and grow. Buddha Belly Yoga explores yoga through movement, stretching, singing and more, while Learning Out Loud helps develop toddlers’ early language skills. (Adia Robinson)
Black History Month African American Lit Fest Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St. February 3–February 26. Opening program Saturday, February 3, 10am–4pm. soulfulchicagobookfair.com/events Kick off Black History Month by getting lit with the African American Lit Fest. The Soulful Chicago Book Fair, in partnership with the Chicago Public Library African American Services Committee, will host a series of events with local authors, poets, and storytellers throughout the month. The opening program on Saturday features Dr. Haki Madhubuti, Maggie Brown, and Princess Pe’Tehn, a five-year-old poet prodigy. (Erisa Apantaku)
For Black Liberation and Socialism: A Black History Program Trinity Episcopal Church, 125 E. 26th St. Saturday, February 3, 3pm–5pm. bit.ly/LiberationBHM The Freedom Road Socialist Organization invites you to join them in a program on Chicago’s racial and socioeconomic struggles today. Frank Chapman, Chicago Chair of the Joint Nationalist Commission of Freedom Road, and Curtis Bynum, teacher and Chicago Teachers Union organizer, will speak about the fight for racial equality, focusing on divestment from education in Black communities. (Erisa Apantaku)
Free Utility Clinic John C. Haines Elementary School, 247 W. 23rd Pl. Monday, February 5, 5pm–7pm. Register by calling (872) 281-5775. theresamah.com 14 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
State Representative Theresa Mah (2nd District) and the Citizens Utility Board will be hosting a clinic to help ensure that residents are not overpaying for their services. Organizers ask community members to bring copies of their gas, electric, and/or phone bills for an expert to personally review. Spanish- and Chinesespeaking translators will be available. (Adia Robinson)
Activist In You, an emerging non-profit social justice organization dedicated to empowering minority groups, will host a Black History Month celebration in Woodlawn. The event will include plenty of vendors and activities, as well as a panel from 7pm–8pm. ( Jacob Swindell-Sakoor)
Free English Classes
Call for Teen Artwork: Teen Arts Council Exhibition
Breakaway, 2424 S. Western Ave. Entrance on 24th Pl. Every Monday, 6:30pm–9pm. Free. breakawaychicago.wordpress.com Breakaway social center is offering free English classes for Spanish speakers. A ninety-minute class will be followed by an informal hour-long language exchange between students and teachers. Student interests will shape topics and materials. (Rachel Schastok)
Clases de inglés gratuitas Breakaway, 2424 S. Western Ave. La entrada está en la 24th Pl. Cada lunes, 6:30pm–9pm. Gratis. breakawaychicago.wordpress.com Breakway centro social ofrece clases de inglés gratuitas para hispanohablantes. Una clase de noventa minutos será seguida de un intercambio de idiomas informal de una hora entre lxs estudiantes y lxs maestrxs. Los temas de la clase pueden cambiarse en función de los intereses de lxs estudiantes. (Rachel Schastok)
Ben Austen High-Risers Book Release Party The Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park Ave. Tuesday, February 6, 7pm. Free. (312) 8012100. promontorychicago.com. Celebrate the release of Ben Austen’s new book, High-Risers, which explores the history of Cabrini-Green and its significance to housing practices in Chicago and nationwide. Remembrance of the now-defunct housing complex will be a multimedia affair: Sugar Ray Dinke will perform his eighties classic, “Cabrini Green Rap.” (Michael Wasney)
Reclaiming Our Throne South Side YMCA, 6330 S. Stony Island Ave. Friday, February 9, 6pm–9:30pm. bit.ly/ReclaimingOurThrone
¬ JANUARY 31, 2018
VISUAL ARTS
Applications due Monday, February 5, 5pm. (773) 834-0224. uchicago.slideroom.com/#/login/program/34209 Are you a Chicago teen interested in sharing your work in a public venue? The Teen Arts Council (TAC) at the University of Chicago’s Arts Incubator is accepting submissions for an exhibition in spring 2018. The TAC is looking for work related to the themes of “Neighborhood” or “the Teen Experience”—however you interpret them in whatever medium you choose. (Roderick Sawyer)
3, 12pm, performance at 5:08pm; Sunday, February 4, 12pm, performance at 5:10pm. (773) 702-8670. renaissancesociety.org Gordon Hall’s “Brothers and Sisters” exhibition doubles as a show and performance. The family of sculptures is made from a variety of materials, such as cast concrete, colored pencil, and carved brick, and will also serve as a setting for performances at select times (listed above) during the exhibition. (Roderick Sawyer)
MUSIC Music@Grace Presents: Piano Performance Majors Grace Episcopal Church, 637 S. Dearborn St. Thursday, February 1, 7:30pm–9:30pm. Free. (312) 922-1426. bit.ly/MusicGracePiano
Rompiendo Barrera
In need of melody? Maybe the pianists of Roosevelt University’s College of Performing Arts will strike a chord with you. This Thursday, they’ll play at a recital in the South Loop, free of charge. (Christopher Good)
Casa Calle 20, 1538 W. Cullerton St. Friday, February 2, 6pm–9:30pm. Free. bit.ly/RompiendoBarrera
No Trend Records presents: Cell Phones, Absolutely Not, Ganser, and Avantist
Moises Salazar curates Casa Calle 20’s new exhibition, “Rompiendo Barrera.” This group show aims to humanize undocumented immigrants and shatter the stereotypes used to criminalize them. The art shown reveals the trauma, dreams, and strength of undocumented immigrants— narratives that too often go untold in political discourse. ( Joseph S. Pete)
Co-Prosperity Sphere, 3219 S. Morgan St. Friday, February 2, 8pm–11pm. $5. 18+ (773) 837-0145. bit.ly/NoTrend2218
Chicago Pop Up: MadebyFresco x Sky Apparel CHICAGOMIDWESTMADE, 1418 W. 18th St. Saturday, February 3, 5pm–10pm. (312) 722-6808. bit.ly/FrescoSkyPopup Come vibe with Sky Apparel and MadebyFresco as they team up for a one-day pop-up shop. Both brands design T-shirts, sweatshirts, and hats with a Chicago flavor, and this collab will feature newly released items from both brands. (Erisa Apantaku)
Intermissions: Gordon Hall The Renaissance Society, 5811 S. Ellis Ave., Cobb Hall rm. 418. Saturday, February
Indie label No Trend Records is putting on a showcase for four bands with upcoming album releases. Labelmates Cell Phones, Absolutely Not, Ganser, and Avantist will bring post-punk riffs and a taste of the tunes you’ll be listening to in 2018. (Erisa Apantaku)
Evolution of African American Music: From Africa to Hip Hop DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Pl. Saturday, February 3, 2pm–3pm. $10 includes regular museum admission. (773) 947-0600. bit.ly/FromAfricatoHipHop Kick off Black History Month with some “kick snare kick snare high-hat.” The DuSable museum will trace the evolution of African American music from field hollers to R&B with an entertaining, educational and interactive concert for all ages. (Erisa Apantaku)
EVENTS
Soft Opening of Kálab Kálab, 501.5 E. 47th St. (773) 336-2729. Saturday, February 3, 11am–7pm. Free, BYOB with $10+ contribution. funatflp.com For the Love of Perception, an arts, music and entertainment center, will celebrate its move to Bronzeville with a soft opening this Saturday. Come through for vendors (11am–3pm), live music, an open mic (5–7pm), and mimosas––free with RSVP. (Christopher Good)
Love Songs Fam Jam Hyde Park Neighborhood Club (Early Childhood Classroom E), 5480 S. Kenwood Ave. Sunday, February 4, 11am–12:30pm. $20 registration per family (all proceeds benefit scholarship fund). bit.ly/LoveSongsFamJam Local organization Marsha’s Music Class aims to teach children basic music competency. This Sunday, they’ll host an event in Hyde Park to raise money for their scholarship fund. If you can’t attend, you can still consider donating to the cause. ( Jacob Swindell-Sakoor)
STAGE & SCREEN Doc Films Friday Series: Marriage on the Verge of Collapse: “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof” Max Palevsky Cinema, Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th St. Friday, February 2, 7pm and 9:30pm $5. docfilms.uchicago.edu Come enjoy this classic, adapted from Tennessee Williams’s play, starring Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor, screened in 35mm format. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof explores themes of legacies and paradise lost as Brick, played by Newman, tries to deal with a crumbling marriage and disillusionment with society. (Erisa Apantaku)
Family Saturday: Animation by Local Legends Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. Saturday, February 3, 3pm. southsideprojections.org This month’s Family Saturday program celebrates five films by Lillian Somersaulter-Moats and J.P. Somersaulter, Downers Grove residents whose work from the seventies through the nineties
used watercolor, stop-motion collage, and more to animate fairy tales and other idiosyncratic fantasies for children. ( Julia Aizuss)
Too Lit for TV: Love & Nappiness The Revival, 1160 E. 55th St. Saturday, February 3, doors at 9pm. $15. the-revival. com The Revival, the company bringing improv back to its roots on 55th and University, is putting on a Black History Month edition of “Too Lit for TV” featuring the Martin Luther Kings of Comedy, Clare AustenSmith, and a surprise musical guest. (Erisa Apantaku)
Lady Moses: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman DuSable Museum, 740 E. 56th Pl. Saturday, February 10, noon. $10. (773) 947-0600. dusablemuseum.org Chicago actress, playwright, and producer Cynthia Maddox uses monologue, music, and poetry to reinvent her original onewoman show, which tells the story of Underground Railroad abolitionist Harriet Tubman. (Nicole Bond)
King of the Policy: Running Numbers Harold Washington Cultural Center, 4701 S. King Dr. Friday, February 9 and Saturday, February 10, 7pm; Sunday, February 11, 5pm; Monday, February 12–Wednesday, February 14, 10am. $40. (773) 373-1900. broadwayinbronzeville.com The Harold Washington Cultural Center in Bronzeville presents this forties-era musical, written by Jimalita Tillman and directed by Boaz McGee, about how Black communities flourished by running the precursor to national lottery games: the policy racket. (Nicole Bond)
All My Sons Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. Through Sunday, February 11. Tickets $20–$68. (773) 753-4472. courttheatre.org Charles Newell directs Arthur Miller’s 1947 Drama Critics’ Award-winning play All My Sons. Featuring Timothy Edward Kane, John Judd, and Kate Collins, this dramatic tale, based on true events, weaves business, love, and tragedy and established Miller as an American theater icon. (Nicole Bond)
FOOD & LAND Jewel-Osco’s Taste of Black History Kickoff Event Jewel-Osco, 1655 E. 95th St. Thursday, February 1, 3pm–7pm; 101 W. 87th St. Saturday, February 3, noon–4pm. Free. (877) 276-9637. jewelosco.com To celebrate Black History Month, JewelOsco locations will be hosting events throughout February. The Jewel-Oscos on 95th and Stony Island and on 87th and State will be kicking off their own festivities this Thursday and Saturday, respectively. Come by to sample food products sold by Black-owned businesses, learn fire tips from chef demonstrations, win giveaways—and maybe even snag an autograph from one of the celebrity guests present. (Emeline Posner)
Indoor Market at The Plant The Plant, 1400 W. 46th St. Saturday, February 3, 11pm–3pm. Free. (773) 8475523. plantchicago.org The Plant, a small food business collaborative in Back of the Yards, will host a number of local vendors like Four Letter Word Coffee, Pleasant House Bakery, Vegan Food Truck Chicago, Faith’s Farm, Corazon Mixteco, and Verdant Matter at its monthly Indoor Market. There will also be a cooking demonstration, an advanced aquaponics workshop, live music and a craft beer taproom. ( Joseph S. Pete)
Urban Livestock Expo! Southside Occupational Academy, 7342 S. Hoyne Ave. Saturday, February 3, 11am– 2pm. Free. (773) 850-0428. bit.ly/SSUrbanLivestockExpo Advocates for Urban Agriculture, a sustainable agriculture nonprofit in Chicago, teams up with Southside Occupational Academy to showcase the high school’s urban agriculture program and give workshops on raising urban livestock. Tips on how to raise bees, goats, chickens, ducks, and other animals in the city will be available for all experience levels. (Tammy Xu)
Windy City Harvest Corps Info Session Arturo Velasquez Institute, 2800 S. Western Ave., rm. 1102. Monday, February 5, 9am–11am, and Monday, February 12, 9am–11am. Free. bit.ly/HarvestCorps Every year, Windy City Harvest runs a fourteen-week-long Harvest Corps training program designed to open a door into urban agriculture for those with (nonviolent) criminal backgrounds. Come by on one of the listed mornings for more information on how the multifaceted training program could suit your interests, and where it might lead you. (Emeline Posner)
51st Street Community Farmers Market Internship Applications Send applications, questions, to Stephanie Dunn, sdunn1342@gmail.com. Applications accepted through February 15. bit.ly/51stInternshipApps United Human Services, a food pantry that operates twelve community gardens and farms in Back of the Yards, is looking for three farmers market interns and three farming interns for the coming season. The marketing internship will offer a $500 stipend for ten hours a week from May to October, and the farm internship is unpaid, with a free produce share and money-making opportunities at weekly farmers markets, for sixteen hours a week. Candidates will be interviewed and selected by March 15. (Emeline Posner)
Chicago Food Policy Summit South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Dr. Friday, February 23, summit 9am–5pm, reception 5:30pm–7:30pm. Reception $10, summit and reception $20. chicagofoodpolicy.com Registration is now open for the thirteenth annual Chicago Food Policy Summit, organized around this year’s theme “From Survive to Thrive.” The event is hosted by the Chicago Food Policy Action Council, a volunteer organization advocating for equal access to healthy food options in the city. Details about summit workshops, speakers, and vendors to be announced. (Tammy Xu)
JANUARY 31, 2018 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 15
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