October 6, 2022

The Race for the 10th Ward

Hundreds of Chicagoans Join Iran Protests in Solidarity

Protests in Iran and around the world were sparked after the death of Mahsa Amini, allegedly beaten to death by Iran’s morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly.

BY ALMA CAMPOS

OnSaturday afternoon, nearly a thousand demonstrators marched down Michigan Avenue to protest the death of Mahsa Amini, a twenty-two-year-old IranianKurdish woman who, on September 16, was allegedly beaten to death by the morality police in Tehran, Iran for not wearing her hijab correctly. To show solidarity for Amini and the women in Iran, similar protests took place in over 150 cities across the world on Saturday. Iran itself is now in their third week of protests.

Despite internet restrictions in Iran following the protests, violent videos have made their way to Twitter, showing students and people beaten and shot with tasers by security forces. According to human rights groups, more than ninety people, including children, have been killed.

According to media reports, Amini was traveling with her family to Tehran when she was stopped by the regime’s morality police. The police alleged she was not wearing her hijab correctly but the regime denies she was beaten and claims she died from a heart attack.

Women in Iran have been required to wear the hijab in public since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Monthly

A United Nations (UN) expert said in a report to the Human Rights Council that women are mistreated and abused, pointing to domestic violence, marriages of girls aged between 10 and 14, and the existence of discriminatory laws that require women to seek a husband’s permission for travel or make decisions about her career. But today, Iranian women from all walks of life are removing their hijabs and burning them in cities like Tehran, Qom and other large Iranian cities, at a scale never seen before in the country.

In Chicago, the desperation was felt on Saturday. Sahar, a demonstrator who recently came from Iran and didn’t want to provide her full name, said the anger has been building up for a while. Sahar explained that the protests have erupted in Iran for many other reasons too. She pointed to poverty, inefficient agriculture and economic sanctions as some of the main problems facing Iran today, and said people can get in trouble for speaking out against the government through music, social media, and at universities. “Everyone [at the protest] is angry because we had to leave our country because we needed freedom,” she said.

But this type of violence is not only present to Iran. Last year, Mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled a $25 million plan to combat gender-based violence in Chicago and to address the increased rates of women experiencing domestic violence, particularly during the pandemic, as well as intimate partner violence, human trafficking and homicide. While advocates think the funds are crucial, they worry the plan isn’t specific enough and hope it helps find an end to the murders of Black women in Chicago.

And women from all over the world have been rising up against gender-based violence and discrimination, such as in Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. In Latin America and the Caribbean, at least one out of every three women has experienced physical and/or sexual abuse. And while twelve women lose their lives to these crimes every day, ninety-eight percent of these murders go unpunished.

Holding up a sign with the phrase, ‘Women Life Freedom,’ Sahar said, “It could be any of us.”

Organizers encourage those who want to support Iranian women to sign the petition End the bloodshed in Iran with Amnesty International. ¬

Alma Campos is the Weekly’s Immigration editor.

PHOTO BY ALMA CAMPOS

SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

The South Side Weekly is an independent non-profit newspaper by and for the South Side of Chicago. We provide high-quality, critical arts and public interest coverage, and equip and develop journalists, artists, photographers, and mediamakers of all backgrounds.

Volume 10, Issue 2 Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Serrato

Managing Editor Adam Przybyl

Senior Editors Christopher Good Olivia Stovicek

Sam Stecklow

Martha Bayne

Arts Editor Isabel Nieves

Education Editor Madeleine Parrish

Housing Editor Malik Jackson Community

Organizing Editor Chima Ikoro Immigration Editor Alma Campos

Contributing Editors Lucia Geng Matt Moore Francisco Ramírez Pinedo Jocelyn Vega Scott Pemberton

Staff Writers Kiran Misra Yiwen Lu

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IN CHICAGO

There’s (Probably) Lead in Your Water

For years, we’ve known that Chicago’s lead water pipes are a looming public health disaster, but a Guardian investigation last month shows just how bad things are. Much of the city’s water is delivered via lead service lines, pipes that were made with lead a hundred years ago. Lead is a known neurotoxin that can create learning and behavioral difficulties in children and reproductive problems in adults. For decades, the City has placed the responsibility of replacing lead lines on property owners, but in 2020, Mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled a plan for the City to replace the pipes over the course of the next few decades at an estimated cost of $8.5 billion. The plan called for replacing 400-800 pipes a year, yet as of last month, only 180 of the 400,000 lines have been replaced. The City has also offered free testing kits to anyone who requests one, allowing residents to measure the concentrations of lead in their tap water.

It’s the results of these tests, some 24,000 in total, that the Guardian investigated, and their story highlights the need for urgent action, especially in neighborhoods with marginalized populations where lead levels are higher. Concentrations of minerals like lead in water are measured in parts per billion (ppb), and there are different acceptable safety levels depending on who you ask. The Environmental Protection Agency sets the safe limit of lead in tap water at 15 ppb—anything above that is dangerous. By that measure, one in twenty, or about five percent of tests exceeded that threshold. But some experts think that limit is too generous—the Food and Drug Administration, for example, sets the limit at 5 ppb in bottled water. By that measure, one third of Chicago lead tests exceeded the limit. And the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends setting the limit at 1 ppb for children, because their developing brains are particularly susceptible to the toxic effects of lead exposure. By that measure, seventy-one percent of tests had dangerous levels of lead.

But like so many negative outcomes in Chicago, the high concentrations of lead are themselves concentrated in low-income neighborhoods with significant Black and Latinx populations. Four out of the ten zip codes with the highest concentration of lead levels above 15 ppb were on the South Side, and include areas in Bronzeville, East Side, and South Chicago, for example. And while the City has expanded the number of people eligible to get the lead lines on their property replaced for free, saving them up to $30,000, the paperwork and bureaucracy involved is complicated and frustrating, slowing down the process and turning some people away. The results speak for themselves: just 180 lines replaced over several years. Meanwhile, the Guardian compared the efforts of cities like Newark, New Jersey, where crews replaced pipes block by block “at no cost to the homeowner” and used innovative methods that cut down on the time required, allowing them to replace up to 120 lines a day.

Lightfoot has yet to address the investigation or the pressure it places on her administration for the lack of progress in replacing the water lines. In the meantime, residents interested to see the lead levels in their tap water can request a free kit at chicagowaterquality.org and use a water filter at home that removes lead, especially if there are children. ¬

IN THIS ISSUE

hundreds of chicagoans join iran protests in solidarity

22-year-old Mahsa Amini was allegedly beaten to death by Iran’s morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly.

campos

meet the 10th ward candidate: óscar sánchez

The community organizer who stood up to General Iron wants to bring co-governance to the alderperson’s office.

francisco ramírez pinedo 4

conozca al candidato del distrito 10: óscar sánchez

El organizador comunitario que se enfrentó al General Iron quiere llevar la cogobernanza a la oficina del distrito. francisco ramírez pinedo

meet the 10th ward candidate: ana guajardo

The longtime workers’ rights organizer on how she’ll bring clean air, infrastructure improvements, and more for her ward. alma campos

conozca a la candidata del distrito 10: ana guajardo

La organizadora proinmigrante habla de su experiencia comunitaria y sus metas por tener agua y aire limpios, además de mejoras en la infraestructura. alma campos

natalie osborne paints portraits rooted in family

On falling in love with Chicago, painting Black women, and making time for art. dierdre robinson

returning citizens still face barriers despite protective policies

13

Policies that protect access to housing and employment not enforced consistently. kelli duncan 15

helen shiller on what it takes to win

The longtime Chicago organizer and former alderperson describes the approach she took in writing her memoir.

bobby vanecko 17

public meetings report

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level. documenters, jacqueline serrato, scott pemberton 21

calendar

Bulletin and events. south side weekly staff 22

Cover art by Kevin Moore Jr., Dionne Victoria, and Vivian Jones

Meet the Candidate: Óscar Sánchez

BY FRANCISCO RAMÍREZ PINEDO

Óscar

Sánchez is a community organizer from the East Side who announced his candidacy for 10th Ward Alderperson on August 11. He is known for organizing mutual aid, working with community groups like the Southeast Environmental Task Force, and participating in the hunger strike against General Iron. When he decided to run, sitting 10th Ward Alderperson Susan Sadlowski Garza was expected to run for her third term, but in September, Garza said she was retiring. So far, Sánchez’s only rival is Ana Guajardo (who the Weekly also interviewed in this issue). As of this month, Sanchez has $1,000 in campaign funds, according to Illinois Sunshine.

The election will take place February 28, 2023.

What motivated you to run for 10th Ward Alderperson? What’s your background and experience?

The experiences I’ve gone through and the sacrifices my community endured where governments at all levels did not do what they could or should to support residents compel me to run for Alderman of the 10th ward.

I spent recent years building resources, relationships, and power for and with my community. I co-founded the Southeast Youth Alliance to change our community

vision to what we the people could imagine. I also co-founded the Southeast Response Collective, a mutual aid network that collected and distributed food and helped the community to access COVID testing and essential services at the onset of the pandemic. My co-governance work continued in my role as Director of Youth and Restorative Justice Programming for Alliance of the Southeast (ASE) where I shared leadership with CPS students to redefine safety in our schools through a process that reinvested over $3.2 million into support services in Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

As a community we organized for our survival everyday during the pandemic, which led to the formation of the Stop General Iron Campaign, a coalition of groups and individuals that fought against a notorious toxic metal shredder that was seeking a permit across from two CPS schools. As residents, we saw city zoning policies allowing dumping into poor communities of color playing out once again. We encountered a difficult web of complexities with the city and mayor’s office. But what stuck with me the most was the response from within my own community.

Students, teachers, parents, and environmental leaders stood together to demand clean air and water. All of this collective struggle and organizing, which culminated with a thirty-day hunger

strike, finally pressured [Lightfoot’s administration] to deny the permit for General Iron. What I learned was that people who went through this experience

are what our representation must look like. This is what compels me to run for alderman.

ILLUSTRATION BY DIONNE VICTORIA

What roots or connection do you have to the 10th ward?

My family migrated to Chicago from Mexico, and like many other families, sought to pursue better economic opportunities. My parents bought a home and settled in Hegewisch, where I attended Henry Clay Elementary and graduated from George Washington High School.

I come from very humble beginnings, grew up in the 10th ward and have been rooted in social justice work from a very young age. The hardship of poverty created tremendous uncertainty in my life and so I made a commitment to improving my community.

As an Urban Planner for the Southeast Environmental Task Force (SETF), I fight for sustainable development, clean jobs, and environmental and economic justice.

Living in the 10th ward is where I have roots and where I hope to have children who will also call the southeast side their home.

What are the biggest issues residents are facing in the Southeast Side that you hope to address?

The Southeast Side, like so many other communities across the Rust Belt, faces economic, political, and social deterioration and destabilization. Therefore, we have issues of public safety, related to economic insecurity and housing insecurity. There are food and transit apartheids with very few public services to address the root of the issues. In order to address these issues we must create co-governance so we all have a stake in outcomes. Co-governance and organizing are essential to building power and uniting our communities.

What kind of interactions or working relationships have you had with outgoing Alderperson Sue Garza?

Alderwoman Sue Garza, champion of labor and education movements, came into office in response to rooting out corruption in City Hall. Sue fought with the community in our fight to rid the

Southeast Side of the piles of petcoke that once dotted the Calumet River and blew across our communities. But as the fight with General Iron intensified, rather than putting the health and wellbeing of 10th ward residents first, she prioritized the needs of a notorious polluter and refused to meet with the community. This was a reminder that the bar has been set too low for too long—we are deserving of leadership that will continuously fight for our right to live in a neighborhood in which we are safe to work, play and learn.

How will your organizing background contribute to the ward if you’re elected?

Having a strong organizing background is fundamental for elected officials. My work has intersected with aspects of improving the health, safety, and quality of life in our communities. In my current work I have built a network of organizations and community residents to address the pressing issues of sustainable economic development along the Calumet River.

I have fought and advocated for equitable policies, programs, investments, and representation for the hardest hit neighborhoods in the 10th ward. As a community organizer, my work has been rooted in addressing community needs. And if elected, my primary role is to be a public servant, while continuing to connect, build trust, and work with residents of the 10th ward to improve the quality of all our lives. We must be organized and we must use our organizing skills to build our power and unite our communities.

As (one of) the farthest area(s) from City Hall, how would you help your constituents feel included in government?

I have been working as the Community Planning Manager with the SETF, creating awareness and building on the expertise of community members on issues pertaining to zoning, land use, and community decision-making. Participatory Budgeting and Planning will be an important part of co-governing, if elected. My experience as a community organizer has helped to bring City Hall to

my community so that folks understand their power and the obligation City Hall has to every community in the city.

How would you address the diminished public transportation services as they relate to the 10th ward?

With the expansion of the Red Line passing 95th Street we have an opportunity to reconnect our ward to the rest of the city.

Twenty-four hour public transportation is a necessity missing for 10th ward residents. Many residents working third shift in service jobs cleaning downtown offices need to be able to get to work. I will push for a Metra/CTA partnership so commuters can transfer from Metra to CTA without extra charges. I am committed to fighting for increased investments in CTA and ensuring clean, safe, and reliable public transportation so we have a city that is accessible to every ward. We need free public transportation for students, people with disabilities, and elders to ensure there is access for all. Lastly, investing in public transportation and shifting towards the electrification of buses will reduce dependence on carbonemitting vehicles, which is paramount in our fight for clean air.

How do you plan to address environmental issues that have affected the area?

I plan to introduce the first Cumulative Environmental Impacts Ordinance within my first 100 days in office to prioritize the health and well-being of our residents and end sacrifice zones. I will work to restore the Department of the Environment and implement policies to shift us to a green economy with green jobs that pay liveable wages.

I will advocate for coordinated capital planning in water infrastructure investments throughout the city to expedite the removal of lead service lines, expand green stormwater infrastructure, and expedite the installation of water meters. I will work with state and city agencies to address the flooding due to climate change.

The impact of environmental racism has created some of the worst health outcomes for 10th ward residents compared to the rest of the city. Residents are overburdened by pollution. As a result, we suffer some of the highest rates of respiratory illnesses in the entire city. Access to universal healthcare is vital.

What are your thoughts about the current immigration crisis and how would you respond to that as alderperson?

United States immigration policy is built on racism, xenophobia, and white supremacy, and has only become more restrictive in recent years.

It is positive that Chicago enacted a welcoming city ordinance, however, it does not go far enough in providing resources to asylum seekers. Chicago must invest more resources to ensure that there are sufficient bilingual teachers, social workers, and therapists in our schools to support families seeking asylum. We must back our sanctuary city ordinance with meaningful services and funding to become a true sanctuary city that can welcome and support all immigrants and refugees.

The 10th ward is home to vibrant immigrant communities from Latin America, Africa, Jamaica, and Haiti. Thousands of Black residents arrived here [post-WWII] as their families fled the Jim Crow South and settled in this region only to encounter racism, violence, and housing discrimination.

Given the legacy of racism and white supremacy in the 10th ward, all residents must unite to fight for justice. I will work to build unity and solidarity among immigrant communities because our unity will impact the future. A united and organized community is a powerful community and this is what we need if we are going to reach the goals we have set for ourselves. ¬

Francisco Ramírez Pinedo is a contributing editor for the Weekly based in South Chicago, covering labor, tech/cybersecurity, politics, immigration, arts, and design. He last wrote for Best of the South Side 2022.

Conozca al candidato del Distrito 10: Óscar Sánchez

El organizador comunitario que se enfrentó al General Iron quiere llevar la cogobernanza a la oficina del distrito.

BY FRANCISCO RAMÍREZ PINEDO

Óscar

Sánchez es un organizador comunitario del East Side que anunció su candidatura a concejal del Distrito 10 el 11 de agosto. Cuando decidió postularse, se esperaba que la actual concejala, Susan Sadlowski Garza, se postulara para su tercer mandato, pero en septiembre Garza dijo que se retiraba.

Sánchez es conocido por organizar ayuda mutua, trabajar con grupos comunitarios como la organización ambiental, Southeast Environmental Task Force (Grupo de Trabajo Ambiental del Sureste), y participar en la huelga de hambre contra la reubicación de General Iron. Hasta ahora, la única oponente de Sánchez es Ana Guajardo (a quien el Weekly también entrevistó en esta edición). Hasta este mes, Sánchez cuenta con $1,000 en fondos de campaña, según Illinois Sunshine.

Las elecciones municipales se llevarán a cabo el 28 de febrero de 2023.

¿Qué te motivó a postularte para concejal del Distrito 10? ¿Cuáles son tus antecedentes y experiencia?

Las experiencias por las que he pasado y los sacrificios que ha soportado mi comunidad cuando los gobiernos a cada nivel no hicieron lo que podían o deberían para apoyar a los residentes me obligaron a postularme para concejal del Distrito 10.

He pasado los últimos años formando recursos, relaciones y poder para y con mi

comunidad. Fui cofundador del Southeast Youth Alliance (Alianza de Jóvenes del Sureste) para cambiar la visión de nuestra comunidad a lo que nosotros, la gente, pudiéramos imaginar. También cofundé el Colectivo de Respuesta del Sureste, una red de ayuda mutua que recogió y distribuyó alimentos y ayudó a la comunidad a acceder a las pruebas de coronavirus y a los servicios esenciales al inicio de la pandemia.

Mi trabajo de cogobierno continuó en mi papel como Director de Programación de Justicia Juvenil y Restaurativa para la Alianza del Sureste, donde compartí el liderazgo con los estudiantes de CPS para redefinir la seguridad en nuestras escuelas a través de un proceso que invirtió más de $3.2 millones en servicios de apoyo en las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago.

Como comunidad, nos organizamos para sobrevivir todos los días durante la pandemia, lo que llevó a la formación de la Campaña Stop General Iron, una coalición de grupos e individuos que lucharon contra una notoria trituradora de metales tóxicos que buscaba un permiso para operar frente a dos escuelas públicas. Como residentes, vimos cómo las políticas de zonificación municipales que permitían desechar posibles contaminantes en las comunidades pobres de color se ponían en práctica una vez más. Nos encontramos con una difícil red de complejidades con la Municipalidad y la oficina de la alcaldesa.

Pero lo que más me impactó fue la respuesta de mi propia comunidad.

Estudiantes, maestros, padres y

líderes ecologistas se unieron para exigir aire limpio y agua limpia. Toda esta lucha y organización colectiva, que culminó con una huelga de hambre de 30 días, finalmente presionó a Lightfoot para que le negara el permiso a General Iron. Lo que aprendí fue que los que pasaron por esta experiencia representan la verdadera representación. Esto es lo que me impulsa a postularme para concejal.

¿Qué raíces o conexión tienes con el Distrito 10?

Mi familia emigró a Chicago de México y, como muchas otras familias, buscó mejores oportunidades económicas. Mis padres compraron una casa y se instalaron en Hegewisch, donde asistí a la Escuela Primaria Henry Clay y me gradué de la secundaria George Washington High School.

Vengo de orígenes muy humildes, crecí en el Distrito 10 y me he arraigado al trabajo de justicia social desde muy joven. Las dificultades de la pobreza crearon una tremenda incertidumbre en mi vida y por eso me comprometí a mejorar mi comunidad.

Como planificador urbano del Southeast Environmental Task Force, lucho por el desarrollo sostenible, empleos limpios y la justicia ambiental y económica. El Distrito 10 es el lugar donde tengo mis raíces y donde espero tener hijos que también le llamen hogar al lado sureste.

¿Cuáles son los principales problemas que enfrentan los residentes del lado sureste que esperas abordar?

El lado sureste, como tantas otras comunidades del llamado Rust Belt, se enfrenta al deterioro y la desestabilización económica, política y social. Por lo tanto, tenemos problemas de seguridad pública, relacionados con la inseguridad económica y la inseguridad de la vivienda. Hay segregación racial en cuanto al acceso a la alimentación saludable y el tránsito, con muy pocos servicios públicos para ir a la raíz de los problemas. Para abordar estos problemas debemos crear una cogobernanza para que todos aportemos a los resultados. La cogobernanza y organizarnos son esenciales para construir el poder y unir a nuestras comunidades.

¿Qué tipo de interacciones o relación de trabajo haz tenido con la concejala Sue Garza?

La concejal Sue Garza, campeona de los movimientos laborales y educativos, llegó al cargo como resultado de una erradicación de corrupción en el Ayuntamiento. Sue apoyó a la comunidad en nuestra lucha por librar el lado sureste de los montones del contaminante, coque de petróleo, que una vez se encontraban en el Río Calumet y se esparcía por nuestras comunidades. Pero cuando la lucha con General Iron se intensificó, en lugar de poner la salud y el bienestar de los

residentes del Distrito 10 en primer lugar, ella le dio prioridad a las necesidades de un notorio contaminador y se negó a reunirse con la comunidad. Esto fue un recordatorio de que las expectativas han sido demasiado bajas por demasiado tiempo —nos merecemos un liderazgo que luche continuamente por nuestro derecho a vivir en un barrio en el que nos sintamos seguros de trabajar, jugar y aprender.

¿Cómo ayudaría tu experiencia organizadora al distrito si eres elegido?

Tener una sólida formación organizativa es fundamental para los funcionarios electos. Mi trabajo ha incluído aspectos para mejorar la salud, la seguridad y calidad de vida en nuestras comunidades.

En mi trabajo actual he creado una red de organizaciones y residentes de la comunidad para abordar los problemas urgentes de desarrollo económico sostenible a lo largo del Río Calumet.

He luchado y defendido políticas, programas, inversiones y representación equitativos para los barrios más afectados del Distrito 10. Como organizador de la comunidad, mi trabajo se ha basado en abordar las necesidades de la comunidad. Y si soy elegido, mi papel principal es ser un servidor público, sin dejar de conectar, crear confianza y trabajar con los residentes del Distrito 10 para mejorar la calidad de todas nuestras vidas. Debemos estar organizados y debemos utilizar nuestras habilidades de organización para construir nuestro poder y unir a nuestras comunidades.

Como (una de) las zonas más alejadas de la ciudad, ¿cómo ayudarías a tus electores a sentirse incluidos en el gobierno?

He estado trabajando como gestor de planificación comunitaria con el Grupo de Trabajo Ambiental del Sureste, creando conciencia y aprovechando la experiencia de los vecinos en temas relacionados con la zonificación, el uso de la tierra y la toma de decisiones de la comunidad. La planificación y los presupuestos participativos serán una

parte importante del cogobierno, si soy elegido. Mi experiencia como organizador comunitario ha ayudado a acercar el Ayuntamiento a mi comunidad para que la gente entienda su poder y la obligación que tiene el Ayuntamiento con <i>cada</ i> comunidad de la ciudad.

¿Cómo abordarías la falta de los servicios de transporte público en el Distrito 10?

Con la ampliación de la Línea Roja que pasa por la calle 95th tenemos la oportunidad de reconectar nuestro barrio con el resto de la ciudad.

El transporte público las 24 horas del día es una necesidad de los residentes del Distrito 10. Muchos residentes que trabajan en el tercer turno en empleos de servicios de limpieza en las oficinas del centro de la ciudad necesitan poder llegar al trabajo. Impulsaré una asociación entre Metra y la CTA para que los viajeros puedan pasar de Metra a la CTA sin cargos adicionales. Me comprometo a luchar por el aumento de las inversiones en la CTA y a garantizar un transporte público limpio, seguro y confiable para que tengamos una ciudad accesible a todos los distritos. Necesitamos que el transporte público sea gratuito para los estudiantes, las personas con discapacidades y los ancianos para garantizar que haya acceso para todos. Por último, la inversión en transporte público y el cambio hacia la electrificación de los autobuses reducirá la dependencia de los vehículos que emiten carbono, lo que es

primordial en nuestra lucha por un aire limpio.

¿Cómo piensas abordar los problemas ambientales que han afectado a la zona?

Tengo planeado presentar la primera Ordenanza de Impactos Ambientales

Acumulados en mis primeros 100 días en el mandato para dar prioridad a la salud y el bienestar de nuestros residentes y acabar con las llamadas zonas de sacrificio. Trabajaré para restaurar el Departamento de Medio Ambiente y aplicar políticas que nos lleven a una economía verde con empleos verdes que paguen sueldos dignos.

Abogaré por una planificación de capital coordinada para invertir en infraestructuras de agua en toda la ciudad para agilizar la eliminación de las líneas de servicio de plomo, ampliar la infraestructura verde de aguas pluviales y acelerar la instalación de medidores de agua. Me encargaré de trabajar con los organismos estatales y municipales para hacer frente a las inundaciones debidas al cambio climático.

El impacto del racismo ambiental ha creado algunos de los peores resultados de salud para los residentes del Distrito 10 en comparación con el resto de la ciudad. Los residentes están sobrecargados de contaminación. Como resultado, sufrimos algunas de las tasas más altas de enfermedades respiratorias en toda la ciudad. El acceso universal a los servicios de salud es vital.

¿Qué opinas de la actual crisis migratoria y cómo responderías a ella como concejal?

La política de inmigración de los Estados Unidos se basa en el racismo, la xenofobia y la supremacía blanca, y solo se ha vuelto más restrictiva en años recientes.

Es positivo que Chicago promulgó una Ordenanza de Ciudad Santuario, sin embargo, no hace lo suficientemente en la provisión de recursos a los solicitantes de asilo. Chicago debe invertir más recursos para garantizar que haya suficientes maestros, trabajadores sociales y terapeutas bilingües en nuestras escuelas para apoyar a las familias que buscan asilo. Debemos respaldar nuestra ordenanza de ciudad santuario con servicios y fondos significativos para convertirnos en una verdadera ciudad santuario que pueda recibir y apoyar a todos los inmigrantes y refugiados.

El Distrito 10 es el hogar de vibrantes comunidades de inmigrantes de Latinoamérica, África, Jamaica y Haití. Miles de residentes negros llegaron aquí [después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial] cuando sus familias huyeron del sur del país durante Jim Crow y se establecieron en esta región solo para encontrar racismo, violencia y discriminación en la vivienda.

Dado el legado de racismo y supremacía blanca en el Distrito 10, todos los residentes deben unirse para luchar por la justicia. Trabajaré para construir la unidad y la solidaridad entre las comunidades de inmigrantes porque nuestra unidad tendrá un impacto en el futuro. Una comunidad unida y organizada es una comunidad poderosa y eso es lo que necesitamos si vamos a alcanzar las metas que nos hemos propuesto. ¬

Francisco Ramírez Pinedo es un desarrollador web independiente y un editor colaborador del Weekly con sede en South Chicago, cubriendo trabajo, tecnología/seguridad cibernética, política, inmigración, artes y diseño. Escribió previamente para Best of the South Side 2022.

Trabajaré para restaurar el Departamento de Medio Ambiente y aplicar políticas que nos lleven a una economía verde con empleos verdes que paguen sueldos dignos.

Meet the 10th Ward Candidate: Ana Guajardo

The longtime workers’ rights organizer on how she’ll marshall her experience to secure clean air, infrastructure improvements, and ‘Greenlining’ for her ward.

BY ALMA CAMPOS

InSeptember, Ana Guajardo, a long-time immigrant and workers’ rights organizer from the Southeast Side announced she would enter the race to replace 10th Ward Alderperson Susan Sadlowski-Garza who is retiring after two terms. Guajardo, who co-founded Centro de Trabajadores Unidos (CTU) or United Workers Center in the Southeast Side, announced her candidacy at a rally hosted by Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García who endorsed her.

She told the Weekly some of her proudest accomplishments include organizing to win union contracts, helping workers recover millions in stolen wages, launching women-led worker cooperatives and organizing efforts to provide meals, rent, and funds for people struggling to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic. Guajardo is also an adjunct professor of community organizing at Loyola and has helped organize massive immigrants rights marches and rallies. So far, Guajardo’s only opponent is Óscar Sánchez (who the Weekly also interviewed in this issue).

The municipal election will take place on February 28, 2023.

What motivated you to run for 10th Ward Alderperson? What’s your background and experience?

I recall when I lived on 91st Street and Burley Avenue, having a love and passion for my community. After my parents decided to move out of the 10th Ward, I always hoped to move back to the community. I began to get involved in 2006 during the immigrant rights marches after leaving Service Employees International

Union (SEIU) Local 3 and shortly moved back. In 2007, I saw how Jays Potato Chips Company filed for bankruptcy and left their workers with nothing. It was then that I began to organize and cofounded Centro de Trabajadores Unidos with amazing and passionate leaders.

I have always wanted to contribute to the 10th Ward at a different level. During the Bike-4-Justice where I rode my bicycle over 1,500 miles from Monterrey, Mexico to Chicago I did a lot of reflection and soul searching and knew once I rode up to our community center that I needed to do more but at a different level. I believe I am the candidate for the job and know that everything I do will come from love and compassion for residents. I have devoted twenty years of my life to organizing for just and humane policies and advocating for the rights of low-income marginalized workers.

What roots or connection do you have to the 10th Ward?

Prior to my birth, my parents lived in the Bush community and moved to 91st St. and Buffalo Ave. when I was born. I attended J.N. Thorp Elementary School. I joined the Illinois Army National Guard and received my B.A. at Chicago State University majoring in political science with a minor in business administration, was a MacArthur Scholar and attended the University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs where I received my M.A. in Public Policy.

I currently reside in Vets Park (Slag Valley). Before moving back to the 10th Ward I was organizing for immigrant rights against the Sensenbrenner Immigration

Bill, H.R. 4437, which criminalized anyone and everyone that provided any assistance to immigrants. I was heavily involved in mobilizing buses from the 10th Ward, northwest Indiana and the south suburbs to pressure elected officials against the antiimmigrant legislation and pushing for just and humane comprehensive immigration reform.

Shortly after, I was assisting workers from the Jays Potato Chip Company that laid off over 400 workers who had as many as fifteen to forty years working for the plant. It was through this work that we decided to start a non-profit organization that would focus on protecting the rights of our communities and assist in labor, immigration and education. Immediately after we formed the organization, I was nominated by the board as the volunteer executive director. I remained in that role for one and a half years before coming in as paid staff.

I worked as an organizer with SEIU helping janitors win a union contract against the largest cleaning company in Indianapolis, as well as restoring antiworker firings. I took the lead in passing the Access to Religious Ministry Act in 2007 and introduced a worker cooperative bill in the State of Illinois that grants worker co-ops the ability to register as an Illinois Worker Cooperative Act (IWCA) business. I played a key role in passing an amendment to the Illinois Wage Payment Collection Act. I brought parent mentor programs to six schools in our 10th Ward and allocated over $250,000 funds to our community through the program. And through our civic engagement program, we have assisted over 250 residents in

becoming citizens.

What are the biggest issues residents are facing in the Southeast Side that you hope to address?

Employment: I have learned firsthand that Southeast Side residents need goodpaying jobs. Far too many are unemployed or underemployed. We need to foster jobs with dignity and ensure that those working are not faced with dicrimination or victims of wage-theft from exploitative employers.

Public Safety: As a community we must create a holistic understanding and investment in public safety for all by understanding the root causes of poverty and the resulting consequences. We need new strategies that invest in long-term solutions, build trust in our communities, and give first responders the training and resources to serve.

Clear air and clean water: The 10th Ward should be a place where residents feel comfortable and safe living and playing. There are a wealth of beautiful areas, from William Powers State Recreation area to the reclaimed Big Marsh Bike Park. We need to continue to remediate our brownfields and former industrial sites to improve the health of the community and restore the ecological diversity of the Southeast Side. I will actively engage with the Illinois and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure that our neighborhood is proactively addressing pollution concerns. We also need to ensure that as development comes back to the Southeast Side, that it is building on the principles of a green and closed loop economy.

Infrastructure and transportation: We need to bring more resources to public parks, libraries, schools, etc to ensure that we have safe spaces for constituents to engage with each other and foster community. I also will fight to improve the transportation system on the South Side. The Red Line extension can be a major boost to the far South Side, but only if we ensure residents have reliable connections to the new stations. I’m also a firm believer in improving the cycling infrastructure. As a cyclist myself I know that we need to improve our roads to accommodate cyclists as well as new lowcarbon transportation options like electric scooters so that residents can safely have a variety of transportation choices aside from cars.

The Burnham Greenway and its extension are exciting developments, but I want to ensure that the 10th Ward is connected to safe non-vehicle transportation options that provide both recreational as well as commuting options aside from the car-centric development that has characterized the far South Side.

Additionally, I would like to see how we can bring back the shuttle idea that the late South Chicago chamber executive director, Neil Bosanko, had to transport people from the South Side to the East Side and Hegewisch.

Redlining to Greenlining: While redlining was a discriminatory practice whereby banks, businesses, brokers and even the government systematically denied financial and other related services to certain neighborhoods based on race or ethnicity, it is currently illegal. Unfortunately, the destructive legacy of disinvestment caused by redlining is still with us today.

I propose we move to the idea of Greenlining. Where lenders would replace their redlined maps with maps that now have a Greenline drawn around minority neighborhoods. This Greenline will signify their intention to invest and provide access to capital for residents and businesses located there. Lenders who commit to intentional Greenlining practices will finally be able to free their institutions from the stigma associated

with redlining. The lenders who practice and engage in Greenlining will be at the vanguard of reimagining, along with all

of us, what our neighborhoods can truly become with access to fair and equitable investments. Now is the time for all lenders

JONES

to demonstrate their commitment to the Greenline movement by pledging to make intentional and equitable investments in us and our communities.

What kind of interactions or working relationship have you had with outgoing Alderperson Sue Garza?

Through my work at Centro de Trabajadores Unidos we have worked with Alderwoman Susan Sadlowski-Garza on issues of immigration such as the ICE raid at Route 66 Pizzeria, labor campaigns, workshops, spreading awareness about the need to build a community center and dispersing PPE gear during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, she connected CTU with labor unions who to this day have been helping to volunteer labor for the construction of our community center.

How will your organizing background contribute to the ward if you're elected?

I prioritize building relationships with leaders, residents, key stakeholders, grassroots and “grasstop” allies. During my decades of organizing, I have always been intentional in ensuring that there is unity among everyone. We must all put aside our differences and work together for the betterment of our community. I know from experience that the best decisions are made when there are many voices at the table. Organizing has taught me how to expand the conversation and engage people for change, a tool that will be important to help me advocate for residents of the ward and the entire city when I am on the City Council.

As (one of) the farthest area(s) from City Hall, how would you help your constituents feel included in government?

I believe in transparency and partnership. I would love to see town hall meetings and events where I hear directly from as many people as possible to have a better understanding of the needs of the community and be able to advocate for them in City Hall.

I am also committed to allocating a portion of the aldermanic “menu” funds each year for participatory budgeting. I’ve seen how previous projects have

found needs that otherwise might remain unknown to the City and Aldermen, such as the desire for neighborhood identifiers. I also believe in the process helps educate residents to make a more informed electorate and promote democracy.

How do you plan to address environmental issues that have affected the area?

The first thing we need to do is be proactive versus reactive, that’s why we need to inform folks about what is coming to us and engage early with the Illinois and U.S. EPA. Any new developments must meet the most current and stringent environmental regulations to promote long-term sustainable and green development.

I know that protecting our environment and health requires partnerships and collaboration.

My experience as an organizer and advocate will help me engage a wide range of advocates and experts. We need to ensure that the companies that come in do not harm our environment or risk our health. I want to engage our local universities to help study the high rates of chronic illness on the Southeast Side and improve the healthcare ecosystem to make accessing health resources easier for our residents.

What are your thoughts about the current immigration crisis and how would you respond to that as an alderperson?

While immigration is a federal issue, there are some local things that impact us. I will ensure that the voices of our immigrant brothers and sisters are heard in City Hall and that we remain a sanctuary city. I also plan to meet with our police department to ensure that the safety of our community members is a priority. I plan to ensure that workshops are conducted by our allies and partners to educate residents of their rights. I also will work on furthering the Rapid Response Committee to include others in ensuring that we can communicate effectively when there is a dire situation of ICE presence. ¬

Alma Campos is the Weekly’s Immigration editor

Conozca a la candidata del Distrito 10: Ana Guajardo

La organizadora proinmigrante habla de su experiencia comunitaria y sus metas por tener agua y aire limpios, además de mejoras en la infraestructura.

BY ALMA CAMPOS

Enseptiembre, Ana Guajardo, una organizadora de los derechos de los inmigrantes y de los trabajadores del lado sureste, anunció que entraría en la carrera para reemplazar a la concejala del Distrito 10, Susan Sadlowski-Garza, que se retira después de dos mandatos. Guajardo, quien cofundó el Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en el sureste de la ciudad, anunció su candidatura en un mitin organizado por el congresista Jesús “Chuy” García, quien la respalda.

Actualmente Guajardo espera recibir su doctorado en Loyola University, y le comentó al Weekly que algunos de los logros de los que se siente más orgullosa son conseguir contratos sindicales, ayudar a los trabajadores a recuperar millones en sueldos robados, lanzar cooperativas de trabajadores dirigidas por mujeres y organizar esfuerzos para proporcionar alimentos, renta y fondos a personas con dificultades durante la pandemia del COVID-19. Guajardo también es profesora adjunta de organización comunitaria en Loyola y ayudó a organizar grandes marchas por los derechos de los inmigrantes. Hasta la fecha, el único oponente de Guajardo es Óscar Sánchez (a quien el Weekly también entrevistó en esta edición).

Las elecciones municipales se

llevarán a cabo el 28 de febrero de 2023.

¿Qué te motivó a postularte para concejala del Distrito 10? ¿Cuáles son tus antecedentes y experiencia?

Recuerdo que cuando vivía en la calle 91th y la avenida Burley, sentía amor y pasión por mi comunidad. Después de que mis padres decidieron mudarse del Distrito 10, siempre tuve la esperanza de regresar a la comunidad. Comencé a involucrarme en 2006 durante las marchas por los derechos de los inmigrantes, después de mi trabajo con el Sindicato Internacional de Empleados de Servicios (SEIU) Local 3, y al poco tiempo me mudé de regreso. En 2007, vi cómo la empresa Jays Potato Chips se declaró en bancarrota y dejó a sus trabajadores en la calle. Fue entonces cuando empecé a organizar y cofundé el Centro de Trabajadores Unidos con líderes increíbles y apasionados.

Durante la campaña Bike-4-Justice, en la que recorrí más de 1,500 millas en bicicleta desde Monterrey, México, hasta Chicago, reflexioné mucho y busqué en mi interior y supe, una vez que llegué a nuestro centro comunitario, que tenía que hacer más,

pero a otro nivel. Creo que soy la candidata indicada para el puesto y sé que todo lo que haga vendrá de mi amor y compasión por los residentes. He dedicado veinte años de mi vida a organizar políticas justas y humanas y a defender los derechos de los trabajadores marginados de bajos ingresos.

¿Qué raíces o conexión tienes con el Distrito 10?

Antes de nacer, mis padres vivían en la comunidad de Bush y cuando nací se mudaron a la calle 91st y la avenida Buffalo. Asistí a la Escuela Primaria J.N. Thorp. Años después me inscribí en la Guardia Nacional del Ejército de Illinois y recibí mi bachillerato en ciencias políticas de Chicago State University con otra concentración en administración de empresas, y asistí a la Universidad de Minnesota como MacArthur Scholar donde recibí una maestría en política pública.

Actualmente vivo en Vets Park (Slag Valley) en el sureste de Chicago. Antes de mudarme de nuevo al Distrito 10, trabajé por los derechos de los inmigrantes contra el proyecto de ley de inmigración Sensenbrenner, H.R. 4437, que penalizaba a todo aquel que prestara cualquier tipo de ayuda a los inmigrantes. Estuve muy involucrada en llenar autobuses del Distrito 10, del noroeste de Indiana y de los suburbios del sur para presionar a los funcionarios electos contra la legislación antiinmigrante y presionar por una reforma migratoria integral justa y humana.

Poco después, ayudé a los trabajadores de la compañía Jays Potato Chip que despidió a más de 400 trabajadores que llevaban entre quince y cuarenta años trabajando en la planta. Gracias a este trabajo, decidimos crear una organización que se centrara en la protección de los derechos de nuestras comunidades y en ayuda laboral, migratoria y educativa. Inmediatamente después de formar la organización, fui nombrada por la junta directiva como directora ejecutiva voluntaria. Permanecí en ese puesto durante un año y medio antes de convertirme en personal asalariado.

Trabajé como organizadora con SEIU ayudando al personal de limpieza a ganar un contrato sindical contra la compañía de limpieza más grande de Indianápolis, así como a restaurar a los trabajadores despedidos. Tomé el liderazgo en la aprobación de la Ley de Acceso al Ministerio Religioso en 2007 e introduje un proyecto de ley de cooperativas de trabajo en el Estado de Illinois que les

otorga a las cooperativas la capacidad de registrarse como un negocio IWCA reconocido. Desempeñé un papel clave en la aprobación de una enmienda a la Ley de Colección de Sueldo Debido de Illinois. Introduje los programas de padres mentores en seis escuelas de nuestro distrito y designé más de 250,000 dólares a nuestra comunidad con el programa. Y a través de nuestro programa de participación cívica, hemos ayudado a más de 250 residentes a convertirse en ciudadanos.

¿Cuáles son los principales problemas que enfrentan los residentes del lado sureste que esperas abordar?

Empleo: He aprendido de primera mano que los residentes del sureste necesitan trabajos con buenos sueldos. Demasiados están desempleados o subempleados. Tenemos que fomentar trabajos dignos y garantizar que los que trabajan no sean víctimas de la discriminación o del robo de sueldo por parte de empleadores explotadores.

Seguridad pública: Como comunidad debemos crear una comprensión holística e invertir en seguridad pública para todos. Tenemos que tener en cuenta las causas fundamentales de la pobreza y sus consecuencias. Necesitamos nuevas estrategias que inviertan en soluciones a largo plazo, que generen confianza en nuestras comunidades y que den a los equipos de primeros auxilios el entrenamiento y los recursos necesarios para servir.

Aire limpio y agua limpia: El Distrito 10 debe ser un lugar donde los residentes se sientan cómodos y seguros viviendo y jugando. Hay una gran cantidad de áreas hermosas, como William Powers State Recreation area y el Big Marsh Park. Tenemos que seguir rehabilitando nuestros terrenos abandonados y áreas industriales para proteger la salud de la comunidad y restaurar la diversidad ecológica de la zona. Me comprometeré activamente con la Agencia de Protección Ambiental (EPA, por sus siglas en inglés) de Illinois y de los Estados Unidos para garantizar que nuestro vecindario aborde de forma proactiva los problemas de contaminación. También debemos asegurarnos de que, a medida que el desarrollo vuelve al sureste, se base en los principios de una economía ecológica que minimice el desperdicio.

Infraestructura y transporte: Tenemos que destinar más recursos a los parques públicos, las bibliotecas, las escuelas, etc. para garantizar que tengamos espacios

seguros para que los residentes interactúen y fomenten el sentido de comunidad. También lucharé por mejorar el sistema de transporte en el sur de Chicago.

La extensión de la Línea Roja puede ser un importante estímulo para la parte más lejana del lado sur pero sólo si nos aseguramos de que los residentes tengan acceso a las nuevas estaciones. También creo firmemente en la mejora de la infraestructura ciclista. Como ciclista que soy, sé que necesitamos mejorar nuestras carreteras para que sean adecuadas para los ciclistas, así como otras opciones de transporte con bajas emisiones de carbono, como las patinetas eléctricas, para que los residentes puedan tener con seguridad una variedad de opciones de transporte aparte de los automóviles.

La vía verde de Burnham y su extensión son desarrollos emocionantes, pero quiero asegurarme de que el Distrito 10 esté conectado a opciones seguras de transporte no vehicular que proporcionen opciones recreativas aparte del desarrollo centrado en el automóvil que ha caracterizado al extremo sur. Además, me gustaría ver cómo podemos recuperar la idea de autobuses que

el difunto director ejecutivo de la Cámara de Comercio de South Chicago, Neal Bonsako, tenía para transportar a la gente del lado sur al East Side y Hegewisch.

De “redlining” a “greenlining”: Aunque “redlining” fue una práctica discriminatoria con la que los bancos, las empresas, los intermediarios e incluso el gobierno les negaban sistemáticamente préstamos y otros servicios relacionados a ciertos barrios por la raza o etnia de sus residentes, actualmente esto es ilegal. Lamentablemente, el legado destructivo de la desinversión causada por el “redlining” sigue con nosotros hoy en día.

Propongo la idea de “greenlining” donde los prestamistas reemplazarían los viejos mapas de líneas rojas por mapas que ahora tienen una línea verde dibujada alrededor de las comunidades con minorías. Esta línea verde significaría su intención de invertir en y proporcionarles acceso a capital a los residentes y las empresas ubicadas ahí. Los prestamistas que se comprometan con estas prácticas podrán finalmente liberar a sus instituciones del estigma asociado con el redlining. Los prestamistas que practiquen y se comprometan al greenlining estarán

en la vanguardia de la reimaginación, junto con todos nosotros, sobre lo que nuestros barrios pueden llegar a ser realmente con acceso a inversiones justas y equitativas.

¿Qué tipo de interacciones o relación de trabajo haz tenido con la concejala Sue Garza?

A través de mi trabajo en el Centro de Trabajadores Unidos hemos trabajado con la concejala Susan Sadlowski-Garza en temas de inmigración como la redada de ICE en la pizzería Route 66, campañas laborales, talleres, la concientización para construir un centro comunitario y la dispersión de equipos de protección personal durante la pandemia de COVID-19. Además, ella conectó al Centro con los sindicatos que hasta el día de hoy han estado ayudando con mano de obra voluntaria en la construcción de nuestro centro comunitario.

¿Cómo ayudaría tu experiencia organizadora al distrito si eres elegida?

Doy prioridad a entablar relaciones con los líderes, los residentes, las partes interesadas y los aliados de base. Durante mis décadas de organización comunitaria, siempre he procurado que haya unidad entre todos. Todos debemos dejar de lado nuestras diferencias y trabajar juntos para mejorar nuestra comunidad. Sé por experiencia que las mejores decisiones se toman cuando hay muchas perspectivas sentadas en la mesa. Este trabajo me ha enseñado a ampliar la conversación y a involucrar a la gente para obtener el cambio, una herramienta que será importante para ayudarme a abogar por los residentes del distrito y de toda la ciudad cuando esté en el Concejo Municipal.

Como (una de) las zonas más alejadas de la ciudad, ¿cómo ayudarías a tus electores a sentirse incluidos en el gobierno?

Creo en la transparencia y la colaboración. Me encantaría ver reuniones y eventos en los que se escuche al mayor número posible de personas para tener una mejor comprensión de las necesidades de la comunidad y poder representarlas en el Ayuntamiento.

También me comprometo a destinar una parte de los fondos del “menú” del distrito cada año para desarrollar presupuestos participativos. He visto cómo en proyectos anteriores se han encontrado necesidades que de otro modo podrían pasar desapercibidas por el Ayuntamiento

y los concejales, como el deseo de tener monumentos en el barrio. También creo en ayudar a educar a los residentes para que sean votantes más informados y promover la democracia.

¿Cómo piensas abordar los problemas ambientales que han afectado a la zona?

Lo primero que tenemos que hacer es ser más proactivos que reactivos, por eso tenemos que informar a la gente de lo que se acerca y comunicarnos desde el principio con la EPA de Illinois y de Estados Unidos. Todo nuevo desarrollo debe cumplir las normas ambientales más actualizadas y estrictas para promover un desarrollo sostenible y ecológico a largo plazo.

Sé que la protección de nuestro medio ambiente y nuestra salud requiere asociaciones y colaboración. Mi experiencia como organizadora y defensora me ayudará a involucrar a una amplia gama de defensores y expertos. Tenemos que asegurarnos de que las empresas que vengan no dañen nuestro medio ambiente ni pongan en riesgo nuestra salud. Quiero involucrar a nuestras universidades locales para que ayuden a estudiar las altas tasas de enfermedades crónicas en el lado sureste y mejorar el ecosistema de salud para facilitar el acceso de nuestros residentes a los recursos de salud.

¿Qué opinas de la actual crisis migratoria y cómo responderías a ella como concejala?

Aunque la inmigración es un asunto federal, hay algunas cosas locales que nos afectan. Yo me encargaré de que las voces de nuestros hermanos y hermanas inmigrantes sean escuchadas en el Ayuntamiento y que sigamos siendo una ciudad santuario. También tengo planeado reunirme con nuestro departamento de policía para garantizar que la seguridad de los miembros de nuestra comunidad sea una prioridad. Pienso asegurarme de que nuestros aliados y socios realicen talleres para educar a los residentes sobre sus derechos. También trabajaré en la promoción del Comité de Respuesta Rápida para incluir a otros en asegurarnos de que podamos comunicarnos efectivamente cuando haya una situación grave como la presencia de ICE. ¬

Alma Campos es la editora de inmigración del Weekly

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Natalie Osborne Paints Portraits

Rooted in Family

The Oklahoma native on falling in love with Chicago, why she paints Black women, and how she found time to make art.

BY DIERDRE ROBINSON

Natalie

Osborne, a Tulsa, Oklahoma native, was exposed to art in its many forms from a young age. Obsourne had never been to Chicago—that is, until a teacher from The Art Institute of Chicago made a presentation to her high school class. Impressed with the striking artistic images of Chicago, Osborne decided to make the Windy City her alma mater. She went on to enroll at the Art Institute and majored in fine arts, joining the ranks of other talented and notable alumni such as Georgia O’Keefe, Nick Cave, Richard Hunt and Cynthia Rowley to name a few. Osborne creates works that reflect her background, heritage and upbringing. Her portraits of Black women are striking, familiar and colorful. We sat down with the talented artist to discuss her portraits, her inspiration, and the direction ahead. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did your journey begin?

Well, I’ve always known that I wanted to be an artist. From as early as I can remember it’s what I wanted to do. I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma—north Tulsa, Oklahoma. That’s known as Greenwood—Black Wall Street. It’s the historic site of the Tulsa massacre. I was raised in the historic area where everything is still Black. It’s still a Black

community. I went to a historically Black elementary school, middle school, high school and so, all the teachers there taught us about [Black] culture. Black history. I wasn’t somebody who learned Black history when I was in high school, I learned about it throughout my whole education. And, growing up, there was so much art because it’s just an area that’s commemorated all the time. There’s always some type of celebration or commemoration and that’s always included art, art shows, things like that. So I was always exposed to art. I always knew that I wanted to be an artist.

What brought you to Chicago from Tulsa?

I honestly had never been to Chicago. A teacher from The Art Institute of Chicago came to my high school in Tulsa. The painting classes that I had at Booker T. Washington High School were real painting classes, so she set it up as a studio. We had huge wooden easels, we had to paint large-scale paintings, we had critiques, we had to photographdocument our work, we had to do art history research. So it was taught like a college-level studio painting class. And that teacher entered our works in scholastic competitions and so we got enough awards where schools would come to talk to the class about if anybody’s interested

in going to art school. So someone came from the Art Institute of Chicago and they showed slides of Chicago and I was like “What?!” … I couldn’t believe it. I had never seen Chicago before… it really was like the Wizard of Oz to me! It really was like the Emerald City to me because in the photographs, she showed all the architecture and then she showed all of the large-scale city art. So, you could see the Picasso in Daley Square— the sculpture. There’s a Cezanne mural in the same area off State Street. There’s so much…and then she showed slides of the museum and slides of the collection. These were all of the paintings that we had been learning about. So, literally, all of the paintings that I had been studying in a book were in the permanent collection of that school, of the museum, and I just thought to myself, “I would be standing in front of those.” And, so…I was sold. I was like, “that’s where I’m going.”

You worked for the Downtown Arts Association in 2011, and in 2014 you

started your online store. Between 2011 and 2014, were you painting?

I did not have even one painting. I was so immersed in working. During that time, everything was rocky financially. I think that’s near and around the time when all the financial institutions had kinda hit bottom and all needed to be bailed out and everything was bad as far as money. Working for the Downtown Arts Association—it was because all of the storefronts in The Loop were empty because all those businesses had closed down because of the recession. I don’t know if that’s accurate but…because of the financial downfall, a lot of downtown Chicago was [a] ghost town. And so the Downtown Arts Association got in touch with artists to fill those storefronts with what they call “pop-up galleries.” So, between opening my online shop and getting back to Chicago, I basically just struggled. I was just working two and three jobs. I was just working all the time. And, I remember meeting somebody. I

PAINTING BY NATALIE OSBORNE

wanted to make sure one of the shows at some of these pop-ups were filmed and I remember telling him I was a painter, and he wanted to see my work. I had nothing. I had nothing to show because I had spent at least three years just hustling—just on the grind, you know. But then when I got good and on my feet, I was able to start making very small paintings, I had no supplies. I had no materials. All my money went to rent. So, I started painting on magazine pages. I would paint on magazine pages and I entered art markets in Chicago—little sales markets where vendors could set up. And then people would come to those markets, buy the little paintings on magazine pages, and I set up an Etsy shop so that whatever they didn’t buy I could sell in the shop. So that’s how the Etsy shop came along and those little magazine paintings then funded me to make my work and then that funded me to be able to stop doing all my jobs and to be a full-time artist.

Your paintings are very colorful—the eyes are very pronounced and the lips are very full. Is there a particular reason why you use the brown, pink and green colors?

The color combination came to be just because the Earth tone [is] brown. I use that same color—whether it’s a background or a face—that’s usually the base of it for me. And then I use the colors that really pop from it. To me the colors that really stand on it nice and strong, where it can stand by itself and [make] a bold image, are just a few colors. So I kinda have a palette… so I use the pink and the green. I kinda just interchange those colors. And then I’ll take white and mute out all of the brown and just kinda leave it where it’s just the face [or where it needs to be]. But it always starts as that rich earth. Whatever colors stand [out] of that are what’s gonna stay, and then I might just refine the background.

Do your paintings have names?

So they’re all Josephine Baker [laughs]. Every single one of the magazine pages is a Josephine Baker girl… But that’s where I do my nod to graffiti because it's

like in graffiti you have a tag—it’s kinda like how the artist [Takashi] Murakami has a character called [Mr.] Dob—that’s a reference to graffiti where you have a character that you can do over, and over and over again. Then you just give them different qualities each time. And so, in graffiti, they call that a “tag.” So my tag would have been a Josephine Baker Girl.

Your work has an element of graffiti and I saw a piece that looked abstract in nature also. Where do you get your inspiration from? Are your paintings influenced by someone you know?

Well, yes. I didn’t know until I made them and stepped back and looked at them. I’m aware that most of them are my mother. I’m very aware. Like when I step back and look at them now, each one of them looks

just like her. So… (points to picture) this one—it’s so obvious that it’s her… Pretty much all of them, it’s so obvious that it’s her (laughs). Now it’s obvious. At the time, I didn’t know I was making her over and over. But I grew up around… I had so many sisters. I have two brothers. I have a little brother and a big brother, but in between, it’s all girls. And, there’s a lot of us. There’s five girls total… so we’re all stair steps. And so growing up with my sisters… by the time we made it to middle school, high school, we would all be hanging out with our other friends in the neighborhood and they were girls and they would be the same as us… so when all of us would get together, it was like this whole… I used to say, girl gang. But it was sort of like a tribe of girls (laughs) and I recognized after a while, I didn’t know at first… that I was surrounding

myself with that type of dynamic by creating all these girls and I recognized kinda my hometown. I recognized that feeling in each one of my paintings. And so I kinda do feel that sentiment of all the girls together.

What does your mother think of your artwork? Does she look at them and say, “That’s me, and that’s me and there I am again”?

Absolutely! Yes! She tells everybody. She’s like, “That’s me, that’s me, that’s me, that’s me, that’s me.” Yes.

Do your brothers feel left out?

I think they do feel left out because I was raised by men. I had my grandfather, my uncles, my father, my big brother… and his whole crew all looked after us all. So I think they do feel like they’re not getting that recognition. I do think that.

Do you have any paintings that are of men? Or a male likeness?

I have, but they just all end up looking like this (laughs). It’s like this voice comes out and I can tell you why. I think it’s because… Black women are… their beauty techniques, like whatever they do to beautify themselves, whatever they do as far as their style is concerned, has always been the prototype. And when you walk through these institutions, when you walk through these museums, you do not see paintings of Black women. Kehinde Wiley has been making paintings of Black women. That’s beautiful. We have Mickalene Thomas. But, when you walk through the history of the museums, and not the contemporary side, when you walk through the history of it all, you don’t see Black women. And I know today Black women are the archetypes of style, of fashion, everything—makeup, entrepreneurship. The way that women look and what they describe as beauty is, you know, Black women. So I think that is where the ambition lies. I know that I make paintings that people can have in their homes, but I always aspire to leave behind something that I want to be… I want to put Black women on

PAINTING BY NATALIE OSBORNE

those walls in those museums. I really do. People always talk about, “Well, then you’re crossing boundaries. You can’t be commercial art. You can’t sell for interior and then want to have work one day in a museum.” But that’s not true. If you talk to artists, we don’t have any of those boundaries. It’s people who are not artists who say, “These are what the boundaries are.” But, artists… we’ll make some jewelry, we’ll make a painting.

How long does it take for you to make one of your pieces?

That’s the question of the year. The Josephines don’t take long at all. [Those] are acrylic on paper and so I can do three or four of those in a day. But the oil paintings…whew! They are tricky. I used to paint with nothing but acrylic. And so for the past four years, I’ve been just full oil and it is harder…it takes longer. Sometimes, I can get a large-scale oil piece finished in two days, but sometimes it’ll take two weeks. There’s one in there that has taken two months. It’s just because the material is less forgiving. The oil, you can’t just wait until it dries and paint over it. It takes a long time. You have to be very careful of how you handle it because it’s toxic. There’s a lot more that goes into it.

No discussion would be complete without my asking you about your Daydream piece. Your Daydream piece appeared on author Warsan Shire’s book titled, Bless the Daughter—Raised

By A Voice In Her Head. She’s a British poet. How did that collaboration get started?

Yes! I’m so proud of that. Warsan Shire purchased prints from me when I was first doing the prints. The only print I had was the Daydream print and the Reflection print. So it was just a black print and a white print. So, one was black with white lines and one was white with black lines and she bought those from me. I remember shipping those to the U.K. And then she contacted me and said she was writing a book of poetry and she wanted that image. And, I said “Yes!” Actually, it was a designer from Random

House Publishing—the Great Britain Random House Publishing contacted me and then she contacted me next. That was difficult because I had never worked with book illustration before and it’s very technical. You have to get things right… and that’s when I learned that artists cannot do everything creative. Just [because] they’re creative, they can’t do everything… I learned that’s the reason why she wanted this—when I look at a picture of her, she does look just like that Daydream. That looks like a portrait of her.

What’s next? What can our readers look forward to?

Well, I am going to continue to make the pieces bigger and bigger and bigger. But while I’m doing that, I’m gonna try not to get away from being able to have those accessible pieces because they have been getting fewer and fewer—the 11x17 ones that are forty or fifty dollars. They get fewer and fewer because I’ve been focusing so much on pushing myself to do something bigger, bigger, bigger. I don’t have any upcoming shows. I have an upcoming launch… and I am going to start launching differently. I am going to start doing a launch where it’s originals. So it’ll be a launch for original paintings—large and small and then they’ll be a launch for prints.

How can readers get in touch with you if they want to buy some of your works and if they want to reach out to you? What’s the best way to do that?

The best way really is through Instagram @natalieodecor. I know I say I don’t hop on there, but messaging me there is really good because I can get you my email address. People can email me as well. So email and Instagram. I do check my messages on Instagram and I let everybody know what’s available…My Etsy shop is called NatalieOdecor. ¬

Dierdre Robinson is a writer and accounting manager in Chicago. She has a BA in Journalism from Michigan State University. She last wrote about photographer Sulyiman Stokes for the Weekly.

Returning Citizens Still Face Barriers Despite Protective Policies

Advocates say policies that protect access to housing and employment for the formerly incarcerated must be enforced more consistently.

BY KELLI DUNCAN

WhenMark Mitchell got out of prison for his most recent felony conviction, he had nowhere to go and was left sleeping on couches, feeling like a burden to family and friends.

“A lot of people leaving prison say, ‘I’m going home.’ But you don’t have a home,” Mitchell said. “You’ve been locked up three, four, five years—you don’t have a home. You’re going to someone else’s home.”

“The same thing happened with me every time where I was like, ‘F it,’ and I’d end up back [in prison] because my ego felt demoralized, degraded. It was just like society wouldn’t give me a chance.”

Mitchell eventually met a formerly incarcerated mentor who helped him get more stability in his life. Today, he is the associate director of Teamwork Englewood, mentoring other formerly incarcerated people through the organization’s reentry programs.

Teamwork Englewood works to reduce recidivism by helping formerly incarcerated people or “returning citizens”—a term used by advocates—find housing, employment and support. There is a shortage of nonprofits like Teamwork Englewood, so they serve returning citizens in Hyde Park, Woodlawn and across Chicago’s South Side, Mitchell said.

POLITICS

About sixty-eight percent of returning citizens in Cook County were rearrested within three years of their release, a higher rate than Illinois as a whole, according to a 2019 study by Loyola University. The study found the highest recidivism rates among “younger individuals and those with more extensive criminal histories,” the majority of whom were non-violent offenders.

“Housing and employment are the biggest impediments—if you get a job and a place to live, you’re halfway there,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell was one of three speakers at a panel discussion hosted on Aug. 18 by the Chicago Urban League and the Kindness Campaign about how the city can better support returning citizens.

Kindness Campaign Executive Director, Founder, and President Christopher Watts said that even having a probationary sentence on his record meant that he couldn’t get an apartment in his name for ten years.

“I had a career and everything,” said Watts, a South Shore resident.

People who are released from prison without a home to return to are placed in “transitional housing” for sixty days, Mitchell said. After that, if they don’t have a plan, they often end up at homeless shelters.

“Once you’re there, you’re in an environment that’s not conducive to staying out of prison, to sobriety, to the whole reentry,” Mitchell said. “You’re back in a miserable place.”

Significant strides have been made at the city and the county level to implement policies that support returning citizens, but panelists said these policies are not consistently enforced.

University of Chicago Associate Professor Reuben Miller, who studies criminal justice policy, said that reforms often lack the teeth or the legal repercussions needed to ensure that returning citizens’ rights are protected.

The Just Housing Amendment (JHA), which took effect in early 2020, affords similar protections to renters

PHOTO BY PHOTO BY KELLI DUNCAN

and homeowners, requiring landlords to conduct an individualized assessment before denying returning citizens’ housing applications. The amendment also prohibits landlords from considering arrests without convictions and criminal history that is more than three years old. This has been difficult to enforce across all of the city’s landlords, particularly landlords who may only manage a few properties, the event’s speakers said.

Before blaming landlords, though, it is important to consider that they face great legal and cultural pressure to prevent crimes from occurring on their property, Miller said. Under current liability law, landlords can still be held responsible for some crimes that occur on their properties. Crimes on or near their property can also lead to a cultural perception that the building is unsafe or that the landlord has not done enough to prevent crime, leading to the loss of their reputation or their renters. For some smaller landlords, a loss in renters may mean the difference between

being able to cover mortgage payments or being put out themselves, Miller said.

In this way, the belief—which Miller said is largely unfounded—that tenants with a criminal history are more likely to commit crimes can push landlords to violate reforms and discriminate against returning citizens.

“The literature on reentry, literally decades of literature, tells us that if people are housing stable, they’re less likely to engage in crime,“ Miller said. “The fact that people are housing unstable contributes to the likelihood that they’ll participate in crime.”

Last month, a popular tool used to screen tenants called TransUnion® SmartMove®, which is often used by smallscale landlords, updated its platform to follow the requirements outlined in the Just Housing Amendment. The new two-step screening process requires that applicants be pre-qualified for housing based on things like income, rental history and credit score before allowing the landlord to advance to the next step, which can include a criminal background check, according to a press release from the Cook County Commission on Human Rights. With these updates, over 7,000 housing applications per month will be processed in accordance with the Just Housing Amendment.

“Operationalizing the two-step screening process of the JHA is key to broad compliance with the Amendment,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said in the release. “We must support a fair process for tenant screening throughout Cook County, so that residents with criminal records are not permanently barred from attaining housing and accessing other basic human rights.”

Miller said this move is a great example of how governing bodies can think critically about what adhering to criminal justice reforms looks like in everyday interactions.

“This is a wonderful intervention at sort-of the meso level. They’re saying, ‘Let’s think about where a landlord turns to make decisions about how they treat an individual,’” Miller said. “It’s fantastic.”

Residents with criminal records are now eligible to apply for public housing in Cook County, but only a limited number of subsidized units are available to them. According to Mitchell, it is not enough to meet the need.

“A lot of people leaving prison say, ‘I’m going home.’ But you don’t have a home,” Mitchell said. “You’ve been locked up three, four, five years, you don’t have a home. You’re going to someone else’s home.”

From left to right: Teamwork Englewood Associate Director Mark Mitchell and policy analyst Briana Payton listen as Cook County Public Defender Steven Tyson responds to a question from the audience at a panel discussion on Aug. 18.

Chicago made it illegal to require applicants to check a box on job applications if they have a criminal record back in 2015, but panelists said they hear reports that such boxes are still being used by some companies.

“You see the same thing among employers – liability concerns and also cultural concerns about what people believe the right thing to do is,” Miller said. “And we think the right thing to do is to exclude people who may have caused harm in the past.”

“I am not saying that it’s morally right to exclude,” he added. “I am saying that folks exclude some people because they want to…and some people because that’s what they feel like they have to do to be a good landlord or a good employer.”

According to Watts, employers should not be able to see specific criminal records unless the background check company determines there is a “proximate cause” to deny employment based on a person’s record, like if someone convicted of securities fraud applied for a job at a bank.

All of these challenges conspire to make reintegration feel impossible for someone leaving prison with no resources, said Cook County Public Defender Steven Tyson. After seeing his clients end up back behind bars for years, Tyson decided to take a more proactive approach to his role as a public defender through educational outreach.

“This is something that affects entire communities,” he said.

It affects low-income communities and communities of color more than others, said Briana Payton, policy analyst for the Chicago Community Bond Fund.

The common practice of holding defendants on cash bonds as they await trial “creates a legal system that is different for the poor than it is for the wealthy,” she said. “That is violating our right to equal protection under the law.”

The Pretrial Fairness Act, passed with Gov. JB Pritzker’s criminal justice reform bill in 2021, was designed to address this, eliminating wealth-based detention to keep more defendants out of jail while awaiting trial.

“There are people that might have ultimately been acquitted, but just in that time spent in jail awaiting trial they lost their job, lost their housing or their family

got evicted,” Payton said. “...That damage cannot be undone.”

The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2023, replaces this system by allowing courts to use “risk assessment tools” to require pre-trial detention in cases that might pose a flight risk or a risk to public safety—a stipulation that some fear could be abused or overused.

This stipulation can only be used in certain circumstances and a hearing must be held to determine whether it is necessary, according to a press release from State Senator Robert Peters (D-Chicago), who introduced the Pretrial Fairness Act in January of last year.

“Being poor is not a crime, end of story,” Peters said in the release. “Folks who have the means to cover their bail don’t spend a minute in jail, while others could be locked up for weeks or even months before their trial begins. This is not a just or equitable system, and I’m proud to have fought for its elimination.”

Payton said she and the Chicago Community Bond Fund will be watching carefully to hold the city accountable in the enforcement of this new law when it goes into effect in the new year.

For now, Mitchell said he does not refer to himself as a “returning citizen,” but, rather, as a “returning resident.”

“If I were a citizen, then I would have the same rights that any other citizen does and those rights would be protected under the law,” he said.

Miller agreed with Mitchell, saying it makes more sense to think of the term as aspirational.

“It suggests, ‘I will be able to move about the world freely like everyone else.

I'll be able to vote or pay my taxes or provide for my family.’ …But those things are all diminished once accused of a crime,” Miller said. “It’s the moment of accusation that really matters. Not even proved to have been a criminal, not convicted yet, but before the conviction is even settled you live under a different set of social conditions than everyone else.” ¬

Kelli Duncan is a local journalist and currently earning her Master of Science in Journalism at Northwestern University, specializing in investigative journalism. This is her first story for the Weekly

Helen Shiller on What it Takes to Win

The longtime Chicago organizer and former alderperson talks about her upcoming memoir and the lessons from her long career.

BY BOBBY VANECKO

HelenShiller has been a champion for progressive change in the city of Chicago and the country for over forty years. First as a member of Students for a Democratic Society, a radical anti-war activist student group, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; then as a member of the Intercommunal Survival Committee, a revolutionary white solidarity group working alongside the Illinois Black Panther Party; later as a political organizer with Mayor Harold Washington, and as a City Council member from Uptown until 2011.

In her new autobiographical book, Daring to Struggle, Daring to Win, Shiller writes about her experience fighting on behalf of the most marginalized Chicagoans on issues such as housing, economic justice, and police brutality since the 1970s. After her political career ended, she was instrumental in cofounding the Westside Justice Center, a legal office and clinic in East Garfield Park that provides free legal services to the poor on the West Side and houses an exhibit on the Illinois Black Panther Party. Out in November, Daring to Struggle, Daring to Win is sure to be an essential read for anyone interested in the City of Chicago’s political organizing past or future.

Shiller spoke with the Weekly about the book.

Helen Shiller: [The book is] kind of a political memoir in the sense that it is stories. I do talk about my history so that there’s some understanding [of] where I’m coming from, and the focus is really Uptown and our citywide coalitions through the 70s, and then the development of the movement and what was going on in the city and the country leading up to Harold Washington’s election (in 1983), his first term, and then basically my time as alderman (19872011). I [ended the book] when I leave the City Council. And it’s clearly my slice, from the perspective of the things I was involved in as part of initially coming to Chicago to become part of the Intercommunal Survival Committee, which was basically a cadre of white people working under the direction of the Black Panther Party to organize white people to join the Black-led struggle for justice and liberation.

So, by the end of the 70s, we had organized the Heart of Uptown Block Club Coalition and Heart of Uptown Coalition. And through all of that we had developed a series of coalition partners throughout the city, where we were jointly engaged in multiple issues.

That [organizing] really started with opposition to the Chicago 21 Plan, or Chicago’s master plan at the time, because all of us were involved in working our different communities, and what we had in common was multiple things that were going on. And what I realized when I got to the end of the book, is that there really were consistent [issues] throughout [different neighborhoods]. Issues that related to healthcare, housing, police misconduct, and education.

[Some] of our most important partners, Rudy Lozano, Art Vasquez and Chuy Garcia, who were all very involved in a group called CASA (Center for Autonomous Social Action), organizing in Pilsen and in Little Village. [They were] coming out of a very strong perspective and leading principle really about organizing the undocumented [people] in the world, [emphasizing the role the] undocumented really had in building our city as well as the country. So that had an impact, I think, on the whole coalition as well. Although it’s referenced in the book, it’s not as much of a strain all the way through, because in Uptown the issue was really, while Uptown had people from all over the world, and more and more people coming in, we did do [immigration work] whenever we had a chance. And when there was a big amnesty program that came from the federal government (in 1986), we did a bunch of workshops and organizing around that to help a lot of people put in their applications successfully. But for the most part, there were multiple groups in Uptown that represented people from where they came.

So there were mutual aid associations for the Vietnamese and Cambodians and multiple African groups from Nigeria or from Ethiopia. There were people from all over the world that were living in Uptown, and [these groups] were doing their own things, which we interacted with, but they weren’t necessarily the stories that I focused on [in the book]. Because everyone had the same issues, which was, especially in Uptown, where everyone had come [from somewhere else], whether it was from inside the city, inside the country, or from outside the

The most important thing is that you’re willing to take action. The best we can do is analyze the situation with the facts that are known to us, collect as many as possible, try and be as objective as possible based on the reality of people’s lives. And then to come to a conclusion about what to do next.

country. The majority of people living in Uptown in the 70s [were] people that have been transplanted from somewhere else, pretty much displaced for either economic, political, or other reasons— and in some cases racially motivated reasons—and had ended up in Uptown. And really when we started talking about urban removal and displacement, people said, “we’ve gone through all this, we want to take a stand”. And so there was very strong [community] support for many of those activities, but they were really based on guiding principles or strategies from our work with the Black Panther Party— of which “survival pending revolution” was a very key aspect.

And so, all of our activities on a daily basis, as well as political education, really included multiple survival programs that were not only modeled after those of the Black Panther Party, but in every case really came out of the needs that were expressed in our conversations with people. [And] we ended up having [those conversations] because we went door to door every day, with both Black Panther papers, but also with other publications that we printed ourselves. So starting in 1975, we had Keep Strong Magazine and then, in the 80s, it was All Chicago City News, which were publications that came out of Uptown. We published in order to be able to get information out to people, but we also created the entity so that we could then provide printing and access to printing less expensively across the board to people engaged in movement activities.

Weekly: That’s really interesting. I feel like there’s a lot of different threads we could go to that connect to today, and because the main things you said: education, police misconduct, housing, and healthcare, I think those are still the same, like, the same communities still lack, or are affected by all of those issues.

I’m not going to go through all the threads. What I’m going to tell you is this: the reason I wrote the book is because I was frustrated, to say the least, by the politics in our country and our city, and lack of a real cohesive perspective on

COURTESY OF HAYMARKET BOOKS

multiple things. In some measure, [it is] just the inability, it seemed, for there to be a united front that would really address the inherent racism that was—that is— embedded in our political reality and the way in which we react to it. It seemed like anyone concerned with social justice was not just the underdog, but somehow we weren’t getting where we needed to get to.

And I don’t pretend to have that many answers. What I do have is a perspective on what it takes to be able to really challenge, to speak to power and to challenge it in a way that affects change and has a material impact. For me it’s about a material impact, but how do you get there? And everyone has different roles, so I really wanted to at least tell a bunch of stories that reflected on my experience doing those things to whatever end. If that’s helpful to anyone, then I hope that it’s helpful. If it’s not, then it’s just a story and maybe someone will enjoy it or not.

I did realize when I got to the end of the book that I had really focused on the four things I mentioned earlier, which was: education, health, housing, and police misconduct, and not necessarily in that order. And for every one of those, it’s common for people to look back and say, well, not much has changed; the more things change, the more they remain the same. And I understand that perspective, but all of these things are prolonged struggles [and] that it’s in the context of the rules and laws of our own country, but also of the world, because we exist in the world and we’re impacted by that. And, I mean, things are changing constantly. So the real issue is, [how] do we organize in a manner [that affects change]? How do we live in a manner [that affects change]? How do we define things in a manner that allows us to be able to be part of making a more just society, as opposed to the reactionary elements that are represented over and over again by fear and fear mongering and hate and bullying and all of that stuff.

What do we do to be able to [make a more just society]? And how do we create unity? Because people understand how to have unity at different points and what that means and how to hear what other people are saying and understand the connection

between our struggles and all of that. So, I don’t know. Maybe this is truly just my slice of my experience in a very collective process that I was engaged in with many people in many forms over many years. And that’s really what the book is, and so [I’m] hopeful that’s helpful. It was great for me to write it. I learned a lot, and I’m hopeful that it is beneficial.

…You asked me in your email [about] the [book’s] title. So what I wanted to tell you, Fred Hampton said, “[If you] dare to struggle, [you] dare to win. If you [dare not] struggle, [then damn it], you don’t deserve

So for me, that’s about daring to struggle in order to dare to win. And it’s not about winning one thing, it’s about moving forward in this very long protracted struggle, it is a way to move forward, to have both in the immediate sense, with the notion of survival pending revolution, an immediate sense to have a material impact, a positive material impact on people’s lives. But in the long-term sense, being able to move towards creating a consciousness, as well as more and more avenues opening up for people to take action. So that’s the title. It’s an action title as opposed to a sort of

What I do have is a perspective on what it takes to be able to speak to power and to challenge it in a way that affects change and has a material impact…so I really wanted to at least tell a bunch of stories that reflected on my experience doing those things to whatever end. If that’s helpful to anyone, then I hope that it’s helpful. If it’s not, then it’s just a story and maybe someone will enjoy it or not.

to win.” That was his actual quote, and I take that as kind of a cautionary demand if you will. So, yeah, that’s absolutely true, the real issue now, sometimes we talk about courage and often in the context of bullying people, you know, people sort of distort what that means. I think for me, the most important thing is that you’re willing to take action. We don’t always know what is going to be the result of what we do. We may not know that for twenty years.

The best we can do is analyze the situation with the facts that are known to us, collect as many as possible, try and be as objective as possible based on the reality of people’s lives. And then to come to a conclusion about what to do next. But if you don’t dare to do it, then you won’t go anywhere. You’ll never do anything and you’ll never have an impact.

a demand, I guess, or cautionary demand.

The other thing I think is really important is that we talk a lot about power, but we rarely define it, and in my life experience the one definition of power that I found really helpful because it’s instructional, it’s informative, is actually a definition that I get from Huey Newton, which is: “Power is the ability to define phenomena, and make it act in a desired manner.”

So in any given situation, you can apply that and you can apply it honestly, if you’re objective about where you really want to go and on what really exists. And if you’re not, and if you fool yourself and you listen to people who are just making up stuff and not really based on actual fact, you’re probably not going to really realize what you’re after. But if you, in any given

situation, you’re able to really define the situation you’re in and look at it objectively, you can redefine it in a manner. And [you] may be limited [in] what you can do. It’s not like you can change the world by thinking of that in one minute or in one day. But it allows you to be able to figure out a path to be able to proceed on. Yeah, so there’s a lot in the book.

There’s a history of the creation of the police union, the police contract and union, which I think is really important, referring to today, you know, why are we often stuck [in “police reform”] and stuff. So there’s a lot of history I ended up with, that had to do with interaction between the community and the police. There’s obviously a lot about housing, but not everything that I was involved in over time.

But the core, and I say this in the introduction, it’s kind of a bookend. The book, in some measures at least, the Uptown and City story is bookended between a lawsuit we filed in the mid 70s and a lawsuit that was filed against me in the mid 2000s. We filed the [1970s] lawsuit that argued that the City was engaged with a private developer in destroying an integrated community. Then we brought HUD into it as well. In the bookend, the mid 2000s version, [the lawsuit] against me, [was alleging that] I was engaged in a conspiracy with a private developer and therefore the City was engaged in a conspiracy to basically create or maintain an integrated community. And while they denied it, they pretty much described what a NIMBY response would be [today], and that’s what theirs was. So we have this bookend [lawsuit] on either end, everything in between speaks to it—but I couldn’t speak to it without talking about all these other factors that affect someone’s ability to have a stable environment, either in their home, let alone their community. That’s kind of the story. ¬

Helen Shiller, Daring to Struggle, Daring to Win. $24.95 (paperback). Haymarket Books, 2022. 500 pages.

Bobby Vanecko is a contributor to the Weekly. He last interviewed Ceno for the Weekly

Public Meetings Report

issue $20 million in tax-exempt bonds for construction of a $35.4 million affordable housing development near the police station at 3401-3423 West Ogden Avenue. Units will be available at sixty percent of the area’s median income. The committee approved approximately $25 million to settle cases against the City of Chicago involving wrongful convictions, police misconduct, and discrimination. Each case was thoroughly discussed, including numerous questions. Renovations costing a total of $4.75 million at two Chicago parks, Gompers Park and Touhy Herbert Park, include showers and restrooms, including playground modernization, landscaping, and other improvements.

September 20

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level.

DOCUMENTERS, JACQUELINE SERRATO, SCOTT PEMBERTON

September 14

At its meeting the Cook County Land Bank Authority (CCLBA) Land Transactions Committee approved a land “banking” agreement, meaning designating specific land parcels for use in extending the Red Line from 95th Street to 130th Street by 2029. Calling the $2.3 billion extension “fundamentally an equity project,” Leah Mooney, the CTA’s director of strategic planning and policy, made a presentation on the Red Line Extension Project before the vote. The mostly-elevated route would add stations at 103rd Street, 111th Street, and Michigan Avenue. The banked properties are generally vacant or unimproved. No relocations would be required and no occupied parcels targeted. It’s estimated the extension construction would provide 30,000 jobs and, upon completion, 40,000 trips per day. The committee also learned that the West Garfield Park wellness center will be built and available to provide services in mental health care, financial literacy, nutrition, and for other community spaces.

September 15

A proposal to facilitate the development of a Chicago Fire Football Club training facility in the area generally bounded by Roosevelt Rd, Ashland Ave, 14th St, and Loomis St, passed at the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) Chicago Plan Commission meeting. A few speakers opposed it, stating that there are more pressing housing and employment issues at hand in the area that need to be addressed. CHA, which is aiding the development, reportedly procured support from local residents and said that it would not disrupt the other housing developments. A cannabis dispensary was also approved near the Roosevelt Red Line stop, as well as a five-story residential building at 25th and Federal that would include thirty-two affordable housing units. Developing a vacant lot near the Green Line station at 43rd and Prairie for residential and commercial use was also approved, among other items.

September 19

The need for training Local School Council (LSC) members was emphasized at the Local School Council Advisory Board meeting, especially since practically half of elected LSC members are new. Kishasha Williams-Ford, director of the Office of Local School Council Relations, explained that “our members need to know how to effectively conduct business [and] make decisions. It’s important that all of our members participate in the training.” In addition to conducting LSC elections, Ford’s office supports local school councils with training and mediation. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer Michael Brunson also supported training for school staff members as to LSC’s roles and responsibilities so that the LSCs can fully exercise their powers which may otherwise be assumed by school principals.

At a meeting of the City Council Committee on Finance a proposal was approved to

There was discussion about how City Council committee leadership assignments are delegated. At the City Council Committee on Committees and Rules meeting, Aldermen Sposato and Vasquez remarked on how, with at least 21 departures from the Council and 21 new members (in what is being called “The Great Resignation” of city aldermen), that it seems that newbies are getting a lot of the assignments that perhaps more senior aldermen might want. Ald. Scott replied that the mayor said that she would take on the committees that her predecessor had been assigned to and that she believed that with 21 alderpersons resigning there would be a lot of opportunity for being assigned to new committees. Ald. Cardenas (12th Ward) spoke in favor of assigning Ald. Timothy Knudsen (43rd Ward) to the Committee on Committees and Rules and finished by saying that he is one of the aldermen who will be leaving at the end of this term.

September 21

A guest speaker shared her concerns about an alcohol tracking system, SCRAM, a technology that has been in use for two years in Cook County without a contract. At the Cook County Board of Commissioners Criminal Justice Committee meeting, they discussed whether or not they should submit a request for the County to acquire a contract with this private company and whether or not the County should be profiting from the suffering of those that are under surveillance of SCRAM. A representative of the Public Defender's office of Cook County warned the board that SCRAM is financially ruining some of the low-income people that end up wearing an ankle monitor. A representative from the Chief Judge office reminded the board that drunk driving can be tried as violent crime. They voted in favor of drawing up a contract.

September 22

During public comments, two court interpreters said they don’t feel their contracts are fair. For example, pandemic pay only applied to some interpreters but not others. Public commenter Briana Payton, of the Chicago Community Bond Fund, said that the bond fund is in favor of the 911 Alternative Task Force, but opposes the proposition that electronic monitoring could be expanded. Both were approved at the Cook County Board of Commissioners meeting. A labor rep for nurses at Jackson Park Hospital read a statement about the need for special resources for mental health services in hospitals and aftercare. She supported the 911 alternative being staffed only by healthcare professionals, not police who aren't fully trained in this area. Another commenter said law enforcement is the first to arrive and they don't know how to address overdoses or how to administer NARCAN.

September 28

At the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education meeting, there was a special presentation to honor the life of Manuel Sanchez, the city’s first Mexican-American school principal, who recently passed. CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said the district has received students from the busloads of asylum-seekers arriving from Texas. Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) recording secretary Christel Williams-Hayes said the board should reconsider alternatives to building a new $120 million high school on land set originally aside for public housing. The proposed high school was the subject of several more public comments. State Rep Theresa Mah (2nd District) said that it was a divisive idea to choose the site and that discussion should not continue. She cited many reasons including proximity to other schools whose decline in enrollment would be accelerated by the presence of a new school. "As the legislator who secured the $50 million in state funding for the construction of a CPS school in response to decades-long community advocacy to get the high school built, I nonetheless oppose the current proposal at the site on 24th and State.” Martinez said the proposal is not “either or” but “both and,” meaning that the City can invest in the school and the neighborhood together. The authorization to purchase property at 23rd Street and Wabash Ave. to construct a new Near South high school was approved 4-3.

Wabash YMCA Historic Tour

3763 S. Wabash Ave. Saturday, October 8, 10:30am–11:30am. Free, with a $20 suggested donation for those can afford to support future tours and the upkeep of the building. bit.ly/wabashtour

Join The Renaissance Collaborative (TRC) for a guided tour of the historic former Wabash YMCA, the Birthplace of Black History Month and heart of cultural and economic progress for African Americans in Bronzeville.

Visitors will be led by TRC staff through a guided tour of the building augmented with a collection of newly compiled vintage photos and archived newspaper articles, so that attendees can fully see and experience the impact of this building in the lives of several thousand Black Chicago residents in the 20th Century. Tours are held on the second Saturday of each month at 10:30 a.m. (Zoe Pharo)

Black Storytellers Chicago Meet Up

Chicago French Press at Roosevelt Collection, 1021 S. Delano Court. Saturday, October 8, 12pm–2pm. Free. bit.ly/storytellersmeetup

Connect with writers, actors, director and other storytellers in the city and hear from professionals in the film and theater industries. Presented by Good Content Productions and Chicago French Press (a Black-owned coffee shop), confirmed storytellers include Tyla Abercrumbie (The CHI), Corey Hendrix (The Bear & Chicago P.D.), Latoya Hunter (Hyde Park Film) and more. (Zoe Pharo)

Eve L. Ewing

Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. Wednesday, October 12, 7pm–8:15pm. 15. bit.ly/1919event

Reflections on 1919 with Eve L. Ewing: WBEZ’s Sasha-Ann Simons hosts a reflective conversation with Dr. Ewing, a Chicago-based sociologist and poet who explores the lasting impact of Chicago’s Red Summer in her second collection of poems titled “1919.” Chicago’s Red Summer ignited when Eugene Williams, a Black teenager, crossed the segregated shores of Lake Michigan and was killed by a group of white beachgoers. The murder incited race riots that spread throughout the city, and hundreds of people died, were injured or had their homes destroyed. “1919” was recently adapted for the stage by J. Nicole Brooks and will make its world premier at Steppenwolf Theater this October. (Zoe Pharo)

CAC Open House Chicago 2022

Various locations. Saturday, October 15–Sunday, October 16, 9am–5pm. Free. openhousechicago.org/

The Chicago Architecture Center will host Open House Chicago 2022—a returning free public festival that provides self-guided history and architecture trails throughout Chicago, talks and programming, and behind-the-scenes access to over 150 architecturally, historically and culturally significant sites across the city. This year, the Open House will feature more than 30 sites across the South Side. Open and free to visit

Theater, Stony Island Arts Bank, South Side Community Art Center, Hyde Park Union Church, KAM Isaiah and Kenwood UCC, among others. (Zoe Pharo)(Kate Gallagher)

Slow & Low: Chicago Lowrider Festival

Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave. Saturday, October 15, 10am–8pm. TBD. chicagolowriderfestival.com

After a four-year hiatus, the Lowrider Festival is back and taking over Navy Pier. The festival last took place in Pilsen in 2018 and the pandemic put a hold on organizing efforts for a few years. The event is sure to have hundreds of customized cars, motorcycles, and bicycles, as well as music, food, art, and entertainment. Going on more than a decade now, the festival celebrates the ingenuity and creativity of MexicanAmericans and highlights the importance of lowriders in culture, history, and even politics. As the festival's website notes, "during the Chicano Movement in the 1970s, lowriders took on a more formalized political function. Car clubs, which were forming, began offering community services, like fundraising for the United Farm Workers labor union and hosting health initiatives." Those who want to display their vehicles at the festival can sign up to be exhibitors for a small price through the website, and vendors can apply for booth space too. Festival organizers are working on determining an appropriate admission fee at this time. (Adam Przybyl)

Screening

ITT Tower Auditorium, 10 W. 35th St. Saturday, October 15, 12pm–2:30pm. Free. bit.ly/thechicagoplan

How and why did so many of Chicago’s Black communities fall into disrepair during the 1950s and 1960s, while surrounding white areas created middleclass wealth that endures today? The Chicago South Side Film Festival and the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Office of Community Affairs present the premier screening of “The Chicago Plan,” a 40-minute documentary film chronicling the early history of Chicago’s Neighborhood Improvement Associations preventing Black from moving into white communities. What began as a myth of endangered property values during the Great Migration turned into ostracism, vandalism and house bombings. Panelists include Chicago Sun-Times architecture critic, writer, photographer and author of “Southern Exposure” Lee Bey and retired Chicago Sun-Times Editor-In-Chief and author of “Binga: The Rise and Fall of Chicago’s First Black Banker” Don Hayner. Moderating the panel will be Assistant Vice President of Community Affairs for the Illinois Institute of Technology Alicia Bunton. (Zoe Pharo)

Lee Bey: Architecture in Pullman

Greenstone Church, 11211 S. St. Lawrence Ave. Sunday, October 16, 4pm–6pm. Free for members, $10 for all other attendees. bit. ly/pullmanarch

The

Speaker Series features a presentation by Lee Bey, author of “Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side.” Originally designed by S. S. Berman in the 1880s as part of Pullman’s plan for the ideal working and living community, resident photographer and author Lee Bey will take a closer look at the architecture of Pullman, both the neighborhood and the (largely demolished) factory. Bey focuses on the built environment, examining the political, social and racial factors that shape them. (Zoe Pharo)

“Light in Gaza” Book Tour

Grace Place Sanctuary, 637 S. Dearborn St. Monday, October 17, 6:30pm–8:30pm. Free. bit.ly/lightingaza

The “Light in Gaza: Imagining a Liberated Future” tour comes to Chicago, with supporting organizations American Muslims for Palestine, Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace - Chicago, US Palestinian Community Network and Chicago Area Peace Action (CAPA), and co-sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee and Haymarket Books. Hear from economic development and social inclusion specialist Asmaa Abu Mezied and Palestinian refugee and Ph.D. candidate Yousef Aljamal, contributors to the book. Chicago community weaver and founding members of the Palestinian feminist collective Leena Odeh will moderate the conversation. Plan on wearing a mask for the safety of all. (Zoe Pharo)

EDUCATION

U.N.I.T.Y. Squad Teen Time

Salud Center, 3039 E. 91st St. Tuesday, October 11, 3:30pm–5pm. Free. bit.ly/ unitysquadafterschool

The South Chicago Neighborhood Network’s U.N.I.T.Y. (United Network Influencing the Transformation of Youth) squad began their Teen Time after school program on September 6. Affectionately called “SQUAD UP,” this youth cohort engages in all things related to College and Workforce preparedness, mental health and trauma-informed awareness and civic engagement. They will provide snacks, fun and games and will be assisting with homework. Contact Ms. Robinson, 773-734-9181 ext. 2037 with any questions. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:30pm-5pm. (Zoe Pharo)

ARTS

Ruth Carter Film Series: Amistad

The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, 740 E. 56th Pl. Entry at the 57th St. Harold Washington Wing entrance. Thursday, October 13, 5:30pm–8pm. Free. bit.ly/ruthcarteramistad

This four-part film series celebrates Academy Award-winning costume designer Ruth Carter. The first up is “Amistad,” a 1997 American historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the events in 1839 aboard the slave ship “La Amistad,” during which Mende tribesman abducted for the slave trade managed to gain control of their captors’ ship off the coast of Cuba, only to

be captured by the “Washington,” a U.S. revenue cutter, which served an an armed enforcement service. The ensuing legal battle was resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841. (Zoe Pharo)

Black Fine Art Month Salon

Talk “Who’s Got Next”

South Side Community Art Center, 3831 S. Michigan Ave. Friday, October 14, 6pm–8pm. Free. bit.ly/blackfineart

Pigment International is hosting a Black Fine Art Month (BFAM) 2022 Salon

Talk that explores Black Chicago Art History titled “Who’s Got Next,” featuring a video by Chicago urban historian Shermann “Dilla” Thomas, tracing the long lineage of Chicago art history and its global impact. The Salon talk will feature Ciera McKissack (curator), Jordan A. Porter-Woodruff (collector), zakkiyyah najeebah dumas-o’Neal (SSCAC) and Indianapolis-based historian Kaila Austin. The conversation will be moderated by Angel Idoru, and is an intimate discussion with the next generation who’s creating today’s art history. (Zoe Pharo)

Old School House Party

South Side YMCA, 6330 S. Stony Island Ave. Friday, October 14, 7pm–12am. $10 early bird ticket pricing available through October 7. bit.ly/ymcahouseparty

The South Side YMCA is hosting an Old School House Party with the theme “Rep your High School” and will feature house music by DJ Jeff Da Illest. All proceeds go toward the South Side YMCA’s Financial Assistance Program, ensuring that all children and families can access the South Side Y’s programs and services.

The celebration will take place in the gym, and food and drinks will be available for purchase. (Zoe Pharo)

Pullman Arts and Culture Fest

Arcade Park, 1132 S. St. Lawrence Ave. Saturday, October 15–Sunday, October 16, 9am–12am. Free. bit.ly/pullmanarts

Pullman Arts will present a two-day festival in the Pullman and Roseland neighborhoods. This year’s fest will be all in one place, as opposed to the “art walk” of previous years, and will feature live music, food trucks and visual arts. Artists include Megan Krout, James Caffrey, Ancestry Moon, Lawrence Kuhn, Michael Ramova, Garrett C. Jones, Mosnart Visiting Artist Project, Didier Nolet, Linda Bullen, Libby Anson, ELUKE.co and ADVM Creations. (Zoe Pharo)

Connect South Shore Art Festival

7001-7037 S. Jeffery Blvd. Saturday, October 15–Sunday, October 16, 11am–7pm. Free. connectsouthshore.org/

The Silver Room and Connect Gallery— the collective behind the Silver Room Block Party, Connect Hyde Park and the Harper Court Summer Music Series— partner once again for their 4th annual Southside arts festival, in partnership with the South Shore Chamber of Commerce and Special Service Area #42. The two-day community festival will feature gallery spaces, live performances, DJs, independent film programs, pop-up experiences, roller skating, food trucks, a pumpkin patch and an outdoor skating rink. Performances will feature Kahil El Zabar, Ron Trent and Duane Powell, among others. (Zoe Pharo)

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