11.04.24

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 11, Issue 20

Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Serrato

Managing Editor Adam Przybyl

Investigations Editor Jim Daley

Senior Editors Martha Bayne

Christopher Good

Olivia Stovicek

Sam Stecklow

Alma Campos

Politics Editor J. Patrick Patterson

Music Editor Jocelyn Martínez-Rosales

Immigration Editor Wendy Wei

Community Builder Chima Ikoro

Public Meetings Editor Scott Pemberton

Visuals Editor Kayla Bickham

Deputy Visuals Editor Shane Tolentino

Staff Illustrators Mell Montezuma

Shane Tolentino

Director of

Fact Checking: Ellie Gilbert-Bair

Fact Checkers: Isi Frank Ativie

Christopher Good Alani Oyola

Cesar Toscano

Rubi Valentin

Layout Editor Tony Zralka

Executive Director Malik Jackson

Office Manager Mary Leonard

Advertising Manager Susan Malone

Webmaster Pat Sier

The Weekly publishes online weekly and in print every other Thursday. We seek contributions from all over the city.

Send submissions, story ideas, comments, or questions to editor@southsideweekly.com or mail to:

South Side Weekly

6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Chicago, IL 60637

For advertising inquiries, please contact: Susan Malone (773) 358-3129 or email: malone@southsideweekly.com

For general inquiries, please call: (773) 643-8533

IN CHICAGO

Pepsi facility abruptly lays off workers

On the last Monday of October, as PepsiCo workers showed up to the company’s Back of the Yards facility before sunrise, they were surprised to learn that dozens of them had been laid off. The Teamsters Local 727 union said employees were sent home and Chicago police were onsite to escort them away. The lack of notice may have violated state law, which requires a sixty-day advance notice known as WARN; the company said affected employees would get pay and benefits for sixty days. The Sun-Times reported that a PepsiCo letter spoke of seventy-nine employees, but according to the union, 150 worked at the facility, which is set to close at the end of the year. Labor activists believe those who were unaccounted for may be temporary agency workers for whom labor protections apply, too.

Sims Metal permit public comment

Last week, Pilsen residents and environmental advocates raised concerns over a permit renewal request for Sims Metal Management, a metal shredding facility with a record of environmental violations. In 2021, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul sued Sims Metal Management for failing to meet emissions standards, citing health risks after tests. Sims was ordered to install new monitoring equipment, but it has yet to happen, according to neighbors. The community’s plea is to ensure the air is safe to breathe before greenlighting the facility’s operations.

Groups like the Southwest Environmental Alliance insist no permits should be granted until emission controls are in place and proven to contain emissions. Advocates cite risks to local schools and call on Mayor Brandon Johnson to act. It would be the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) which withholds the permit until Sims demonstrates that the new controls are installed and that they are effective. Members of the environmental group report limited and unhelpful communication with the mayor’s office and the CDPH regarding the matter. Groups point to former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who blocked General Iron, a similar facility from opening on the Southeast Side, as a precedent to follow. The public comment period ends on November 7, 2024, after which the CDPH will review and summarize feedback on Sims’ permit application submitted in 2021.

Check if you have unclaimed property

One of the best feelings is when something that promises you money and looks like a scam is actually the real thing. That’s kind of the deal with unclaimed property. It might seem shady to get mail or emails asking you to input personal information and in exchange you’ll get the money from a long-lost checking account, but if it’s coming through the Office of the Illinois State Treasurer, it’s legit. Unclaimed property is a term for financial accounts with some funds in them that have not been accessed for some period of time. Think old savings accounts, utility deposits, traveler’s checks, money orders, and refunds. Maybe you had some money left in a People’s Gas account, but haven’t checked in years because you moved; or you bought some stock in 2012 and forgot all about it. Unclaimed property is a consumer protection program and the state will hold onto it in perpetuity, but you might as well get yours now. Though for the sake of managing expectations, most of the time it seems the amounts are under $100. Head over to icash.illinoistreasurer gov to search your name and see if you’re owed anything.

IN THIS ISSUE

new documents detail dnc security expenses

$75 million in federal funds paid for equipment such as a new police helicopter and bodycams, as well as training and overtime costs.

corli jay, the triibe ................................ 4 public meetings report

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

scott pemberton and documenters .... 5 the complicated history of the globetrotters

Q&A with Marc and Matthew Jacob, authors of Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up the World of Sports evan f. moore ........................................... 6

south sider grapples with her identity in mariachi-infused play

A review of Jocey y Las Mariachis at Destino’s Chicago International Latino Theater Festival. josé alfredo guerrero ........................... 9 in the moment of yes

A Q&A with Nigerian-American artist and photographer Obi Uwakwe. dierdre robinson 10 migrants who fled violence and war struggle with their mental health

One of the country’s most diverse cities is helping migrants build a new life. alma campos, mindsite news 12 migrantes que huyeron de la violencia lidian con sus traumas y salud mental Una de las ciudades más diversas del país está ayudando a los migrantes a construir una nueva vida. por alma campos, mindsite news/palabra traducido por nathalie alonso, mindsite news/palabra .......................... 17 calendar Bulletin and events. zoe pharo ................................................ 22

Cover photo by Xavier Custodio, Visión Latino Theatre

New Documents Detail DNC Security Expenses

$75 million in federal funds paid for equipment such as a new police helicopter and bodycams, as well as training and overtime costs.

BY CORLI JAY

This story was co-produced in partnership with The TRiiBE.

Abreakdown of how Chicago planned to use security funds for the Democratic National Convention (DNC) shows that nearly half of the $75 million the Department of Justice (DOJ) gave the city went to the Chicago Police Department (CPD).

If the DOJ approves the expenditures, CPD will be reimbursed about $35.5 million, or 47% of the federal funds.

According to a budget narrative obtained by The TRiiBE, the total earmarked for CPD included $16.6 million for personnel, including hourly and overtime pay; $990,414 for DNC training; and $12.9 million for supplies and equipment, including a new police helicopter. More than $79,000 was also allocated for Chicago police officers to travel to Springfield for motorcycle-riding training conducted by the Illinois State Police.

In August, The TRiiBE obtained a heavily redacted budget narrative from the city’s Office of Budget and Management (OBM) via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. This month, the OBM provided a less-redacted version of the document that better reveals how costs related to DNC security were calculated, as well as where the money was slated to be spent.

The detail is a breakdown of how the city expected to use the funds for the DNC and has not been approved by the DOJ, which has to sign off on all contracts and invoices. The DOJ’s review is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2025, according to someone familiar with the process.

In August, ahead of the DNC, The

TRiiBE reported that CPD would get the bulk of the funds after receiving a heavily redacted budget narrative that showed at least $26.7 million of the DOJ funds would be spent on personnel including CPD, Fire Department and Office of Emergency Management and Communications workers.

The Mayor’s Office said at the time that the equipment purchased to outfit police officers for the DNC would be kept as “permanent assets of the City.”

CPD also used the federal funds to purchase an $11 million helicopter with upgrades such as strobe lights, folding rotor blades, interactive touchscreen monitors and more. $250,662 was allocated for an unspecified number of new Harley Davidson motorcycles, and $95,230 was allocated for five new ATVs. Another $785,000 was spent on bicycles and related supplies; $650,000 on five cargo trucks; and

$203,242 for Bomb Squad Remediation Equipment and PPE.

The document also shows $2.5 million was allocated for riot-control kits, but details of what was included in the kits were redacted. Nearly $1.9 million was allotted for purchasing additional bodyworn cameras.

The department allocated more than $120,000 on “special munitions” for anticipated protests. More than $68,000 was appropriated for “mass arrest supplies,” the details of which were heavily redacted. The document also shows $5.7 million was appropriated to cover the cost of an Asset Protection Program that arrayed personnel and vehicles from the Departments of Transportation (CDOT), Streets and Sanitation (DSS), and Water Management (DWM) to secure the convention sites at McCormick Place and the United Center, as well as critical infrastructure such as

water pumping stations.

The number of officers trained for the DNC preparations was redacted. The training included three-day training operations and included overtime pay for officers working regular days off to attend. At least one day of the training was considered mandatory for any officers working the convention.

Also revealed in the budget breakdown is the amount of money designated to police departments other than CPD. The Milwaukee Police Department was slated to receive $362,568 and the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System was designated to get more than $1.7 million to help during the DNC. The total allocated for the Illinois State Police was redacted from the document, but the total expected to be spent on staff from other departments is $3.1 million, with a total of $6.8 million for “Law Enforcement Related Contracts.”

Notably, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) is not listed in the budget detail. A separate contract shows an agreement between the City of Chicago and the CCSO, but the total amount paid to the agency is not included. The agreement stated that the City sought “the assistance of up to 174 additional law enforcement personnel, 3 prisoner buses and 12 passenger vans and drivers for mass arrest operations to assist with the protection of certain areas of the City of Chicago.”

The Office of Budget Management did not comment on the appropriations. ¬

Corli Jay is The TRiiBE’s community investment reporter.

DNC fence breach.

Photo by Jim Daley

Public Meetings Report

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

BY SCOTT PEMBERTON AND DOCUMENTERS

October 7

At its meeting, the City Council Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development reviewed provider agreements that cover the scope of service, budget, tax levy, and services; approval of public hearings for establishing Special Service Areas (SSAs), and class 6B tax incentives. The meeting opened with thirty minutes of public comments on topics such as ShotSpotter and funding for migrants. The committee took ten minutes to approve twenty-four reappointments and appointments of members of SSA commissions, “local tax districts that fund expanded services and programs through a localized property tax levy within contiguous areas,” the department’s website states. The meeting concluded with a review of tax incentives for two projects in the 28th Ward, together involving investments of more than $15 million. One project includes 42,750 square feet of warehouse space and 4,200 square feet of office space. It’s expected to generate $1.6 million in tax revenue over twelve years. The second project calls for a warehouse with loading docks on a city-owned vacant lot at 2515-2561 W. Taylor Street. A potential partnership with USAMAA Construction might be able to leverage the company’s status as a Minority or Women-Owned Business (MWBE). Once completed, the project is expected to boost tax revenues from the property to $419,000 annually from the current $2,000.

October 18

At its meeting, the Chicago Transit Authority Citizens Advisory Board heard a presentation on the CTA’s proposed 2025 budget of $2.16 billion. One set of unsettling numbers revealed that the CTA’s operating cost per ride averages $5.93, while regular fares range from seventy-five cents to $2.50 per ride—an estimated difference of more than one hundred percent. The CTA’s subsidized and charged fare amounts are lower than most other comparable public transit systems, CTA officials explained to the Board. Not surprisingly, the officials emphasized that ridership—and revenue—must increase to decrease operating losses. Ridership has been slow to rebound since COVID. In 2019, it was projected to reach sixty percent of pre-pandemic rates in 2023, the Illinois Public Institute reported. Three years ago a study by Block Club Chicago based on Freedom of Information Requests (FOIAs) and use of official work cards, which allow free use of CTA services, showed that CTA senior management rarely used the system. One individual had not used their pass in two years. The Citizens Advisory Board meets four times a year, and several of the eleven seats are held by regular CTA riders and transit activists. The Advisory Board has no official decision-making power and cannot effect change directly. It can, however, increase awareness of the status of the CTA operations, revenues and cost to the public. The Board can also bring rider feedback and other input to CTA’s staff leadership and Board of Directors.

October 23

Chicago police stopped using the controversial ShotSpotter technology at midnight on September 22, after Mayor Brandon Johnson declined to renew the company’s contract. At its meeting ten days later, the Chicago City Council Joint Committee: Economic,

Capital and Technology Development; Public Safety heard about StarChase, another law-enforcement technology. One public commenter said, “I’m not really for ShotSpotter, but…it’s incompetent to have nothing to replace it.” StarChase is a “pursuit mitigation tool” officers can use to launch GPS-tagged darts that attach to vehicles and allow tracking, according to the company’s website. “We can only deploy StarChase when we have reason to believe a crime has been committed or is being committed,” Oak Brook Police Sergeant Jason Wood told Committee members. The tags can be removed manually, Wood explained, but Oak Brook police have had an “85 to 90 percent success rate when a tag is actually affixed.” Committee members were positive about StarChase. “Really important technology,” said Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st). “This is a fantastic product,” said Ald. Walter Burnett Jr., (21st). “Can you be accused of racial profiling with it?” Wood replied that “you can always be accused of that.”

October 23

"Imagine for a moment your daughter, your sister or friend just disappears, and the silence that follows is deafening,” Jaribu Lee, deputy director at the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO, told the City Council Committee on Public Safety at its meeting. “That is the reality for far too many Black and Brown families here in our city. When our girls go missing, their stories don’t make the headlines." Families, advocates and police were invited to speak at the meeting, which was conducted as a hearing to learn more about Chicago’s crisis of missing Black women and girls. Some speakers contended that CPD is not doing enough to solve the problem. The hearing came about mostly thanks to a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation, “Missing in Chicago” published by City Bureau and the Invisible Institute. “Everybody failed my mother,” another speaker, Teresa Smith, told committee members. “Every last one of y’all. I’m so serious. Everybody failed my mother. She got nothing.” Smith’s mother, sixty-five-year-old Daisy Hayes, went missing in 2018. A suspect was convicted of her murder, spent four years in jail, and was freed in 2022 after a judge ruled that the evidence introduced during his trial did not prove he was guilty. Hayes’ body has not been found.

October 24

Despite persistent concerns about reliability and privacy, the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted at their meeting to renew a victim notification technology contract. The system—Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE)—is intended to automatically notify victims of violence, such as assault and stalking, of changes in alleged or convicted abusers court hearings, release dates, and other information. Several public commenters opposed sharing personal data with VINE because, they contended, its parent company is one of several commercial data brokers that have provided information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This data can be used by ICE to target and deport undocumented residents in spite of local sanctuary laws, critics have said. The system can also suffer outages and other issues. In such cases, government resources may be used to conduct the notifications. In 2022, Cook County Board members raised similar concerns.

October 25

At its meeting, the City Council Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation heard from Sharon Bush, the mayor’s choice to fill an open seat on the Chicago Park District’s board of commissioners and an experienced nonprofit leader. Committee members questioned Bush on several matters, including the handling of problems related to tent cities, decreased TIF funding, and unleashed dogs in a city neighborhood. Bush grew up playing at Garfield Park and is the president of the Grand Victoria Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Elgin riverboat casino and oversees a $150 million budget. She has served on the board of trustees of Roosevelt University and is a graduate of the school. If the appointment is confirmed by the full City Council, Bush would fill the vacancy left by former board chair Myetie Hamilton, who abruptly resigned over the summer. Prior to her resignation, Hamilton had overseen the creation and development of the Office of Prevention and Accountability and an amendment to the district’s code to improve reporting and transparency. Her appointment in 2021 came on the heels of allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct in the aquatics program. Senior leadership on the Park District Board and professional staff resigned after the scandal came to light.

This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.

illustration by Holley Appold/South Side Weekly

The Complicated History of the Globetrotters

Q&A with Marc and Matthew Jacob, authors of Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up the World of Sports.

BY EVAN F. MOORE

Many of us know about the Harlem Globetrotters, a South Side all-Black basketball team, and Abe Saperstein, its Jewish, Chicagobased promoter. The Globetrotters had its impetus at Bronzeville’s Wendell Phillips High School (now William Phillips Academy High School) and went on to become a worldwide sensation that entertained millions. Saperstein championed the three-point shot, a staple in modern basketball.

Saperstein was a fixture in baseball’s Negro Leagues. He also elevated Black folks in positions of authority within his Globetrotter organization, and assisted Olympic champion Jesse Owens financially when he fell on hard times. But he also leaned into some of the racial stereotypes of the day and used his team to assist the U.S. government by spreading propaganda in the aftermath of the bad publicity America received amid the 1957 desegregation of a Little Rock, Arkansas high school by playing exhibition games all over the world.

Journalists and brothers Mark and Matthew Jacob’s book, Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up the World of Sports, isn’t a hit piece. It’s also not sportswashing—the practice of utilizing sports to divert attention away from unethical behavior—even though Saperstein was himself guilty of it.

Some of Saperstein’s players, budding hoops iconoclasts, and, perhaps most notably, the Black press including the Chicago Defender, often called Saperstein out for the minstrel vibes given off by the Globetrotters. Even as a kid who couldn’t quite formulate what I was watching at the time, I knew something wasn’t right.

The type of respectability politics where Black men are forced—or in some

cases are willing participants—to be subservient to white people via comedy in order to not upset them was often a common theme, as the Globetrotters entertained generations of people worldwide:

When Bill Russell of the University of San Francisco emerged as a huge talent, San Francisco Examiner columnist Curley Grieve wrote that it was “generally assumed” that Russell would join the Globetrotters upon graduation. But the six-foot-ten Russell wasn’t so sure, unless Saperstein offered a deal too huge to reject. “I don’t want to be a basketball clown,” Russell said. “I like to laugh. But not on the court.”

Despite comments like that, Saperstein courted Russell with determination. When Russell’s college team was in Chicago for the DePaul Invitational Tournament in December 1955, Saperstein met with him privately and, according to Russell, tried to sell him on the “social advantages” of being a Globetrotter. Russell later wrote that he was put off by the approach but did agree to a second meeting that included Russell’s coach, at Saperstein’s suggestion, “to keep everything on the up and up.” Russell said Saperstein annoyed him further at that second meeting by discussing his money offer only with his coach, without including Russell. To Russell, the message was: “As one Great White Father to another Great White Father this is what we’ll do for this poor dumb Negro boy.”

Many of the supporting characters in the book are Black folks who held important roles in making the Globetrotters the global brand they are today, such as Inman Jackson, a longtime Globetrotter who eventually became Saperstein’s best friend. The authors dedicated the book to Jackson, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022.

The Jacob brothers sat down with the Weekly to discuss Abe Saperstein’s innovations, his business acumen, the conflicting views his Black players have of him, the press’s role in shaping America’s views regarding Black people in sports, and how the two tackled his legacy.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why a book about Saperstein? Also, why tell the full story? There’s been so many books. Even before I was told about your book, I had seen the Vice Sports documentary.

Mark Jacob: Matt lives in Arlington, Virginia. I live here in the Chicago area, and, you know, we’ve written a book before together, and we stay close, and just because we had the same interests… we were trying to find a book project to write together. A friend of ours suggested and said, ‘Have you thought about Abe Saperstein?’ and when we started looking into it, we were just amazed by how much we didn’t know. I mean, we knew the Harlem Globetrotters angle a little bit, but we didn’t know anything else. We didn’t realize he pioneered the threepoint shot in basketball. For example, all his activities with the Negro Leagues and his promotion of Satchel Paige and his dealings with the State Department to promote Americanism during the Cold War. We were just shocked by how much we didn’t know, and so we started diving into it. As far as that Vice documentary, I thought it was pretty bad, actually. I mean, it was. The thing about it is they melded eras because Abe Saperstein died in 1966 and a lot of that reporting they had, and the interviews they had were about stuff that happened after Abe died.

Matthew Jacob: I think Mark summed it up well. Saperstein was a complicated figure and we wanted to paint a very accurate portrait of him that we felt was textured and not just kind of this good guy-bad guy dichotomy.

Growing up, what was your view of the Globetrotters? Because with me, I saw their shows, and I saw them on Scooby

Doo growing up. But as a kid, I couldn’t contextualize what’s going on. But years later, I’m like: Yeah, there was a minstrel vibe going on—and you all get into a lot of that. And in the book, where you have Black players and Black folks who on one end thought he was a great guy, and on the other end, folks like [Black sportswriters] Wendell Smith and Lacy J. Banks saw what they thought he was doing and called him out on it.

Matthew: Yeah, I had kind of a similar reaction as a kid. You know, they were on Saturday morning TV; they were front and center. I didn’t physically go see them, but I remember they were on CBS Sports, Wide World of Sports on ABC so you would see them on TV. They had a high profile but what you don’t fully appreciate until you read into [the book] and really do a lot of research, is some of the routines, some of the gimmicks that were going on. The dice game in the corner while the game was going on, and how that plays into white stereotypes of what young Black men are into. Even Saperstein, late in his career, told a news sports editor at one point, “we’ve revamped the show in a way that we've gotten rid of a few routines that fans had told me they didn't

like, that they didn't feel reflected well on the Black community.” You know, he did some things that definitely helped move the ball forward. He was a coowner of the Birmingham Black Barons and helped to get young Black stars like Satchel Paige’s—an older Black star—into the major leagues. By the same token, this is a guy who promoted two teams that made some people wince. And by today’s standards, we would go: “Whoa, wait a minute….”

Mark: I saw the Globetrotters once as a kid and, you know, Matt and I saw them again when we were doing research for the book. Being a white kid growing up in suburbia, I didn’t critically think it was offensive or anything. I just thought they were a comedy act. And it’s really complicated. I can understand why Black people didn’t want one of the primary images of Black people in the United States to be clowns at a basketball court, but at the same time, you know, Abe was developing a very profitable product because other people were more racist than he was.

One of the things that blew me away as we were doing the research was this white perception in the middle of the last century that Black people weren’t good at

team sports. There was this idea that Black people, Black players, were athletically, physically endowed, but they would choke in the clutch. There were all these stupid misconceptions that in the modern world seemed like stupid misconceptions; seemed utterly ridiculous. But back then, it was considered to be an accepted thing in white circles, at least. And to some extent, to a great extent, really, Abe Saperstein explored this mess, and I think he should get some credit for that.

What was it like writing about how Saperstein was great in some areas, and completely terrible in others, and went along with what was going on at the time?

Matthew: Yeah, I think what helped Mark and I very early on; [we] sort of had some good conversations about what our objective was. And you know our objective was to bring to life somebody that many people, even those who were very interested in sports, knew little or nothing about. But our objective was not to take aim at someone. It was also not to polish someone’s image. We really wanted to look at everything we found, pull apart the news articles, the coverage, the research, look at our interviews that we did, and let the cards fall where they may, and feel like we’re telling an accurate story and not get caught up. Mark was talking with family members, several of them, and they’re very invested in this man. He is this largerthan-life figure that they either grew up knowing or grew up hearing about. And so, I think it was a delicate situation for them. They wanted to feel like we were being very fair, but to us, fair was letting the facts and the information speak for itself. And I think that’s something we made every effort to do.

Mark: The interesting thing was that there were a lot of people who wanted to be irrationally positive about Abe and a lot of people who wanted to be rationally negative about Abe. And the truth is somewhere in between, obviously, and we were really honest with Abe’s descendants. We talked to grandkids of Saperstein, and they had shared information with us and memorabilia and their stories, and we were

The earliest known team photo of the Globetrotters, from the 1930–1931 season. Standing from left: Abe Saperstein, Walter “Toots” Wright, Byron “Fat” Long, Inman Jackson, and William “Kid” Oliver. Seated: Al “Runt” Pullins. Photo courtesy of the Berkley Family Collection

grateful for that, and I do give them some credit for continuing to cooperate with us even though we made it clear from the get go that we were not going to hide any facts that we thought were important, positive or negative, about Saperstein. And I mean, it goes a little bit to the question of whether you judge somebody and some historical figure by their times or by modern standards. But at the same time, the more we got into it, the more we realized that there was another side to it, which was that he helped explode a lot of myths about Black athletes. He helped get Black athletes into major sports when they were being excluded. He gave responsibility to Black people. I gotta say that almost nobody knows that Abe Saperstein pioneered the three-point shot in basketball. This is a great achievement. This transformed the sport. I mean, we see it every day. You know how game three of the WNBA Finals was won last night? It was won by a three-point shot.

Knowing that [Saperstein] pioneered the three-point shot, and that in the NBA game there isn’t a big man that’s relevant that doesn’t have some type of outside shot, let alone a three point shot, what do you think Saperstein—knowing his battles with the NBA and now seeing that most centers now have a three-point shot—would think?

Matthew: Yeah, maybe it’s a case of where Saperstein lost the battle but won the war because the game did change. But in some ways, like you say, Evan, that’s in ways that maybe he didn’t expect or anticipate it. It also reminds me of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, late in his career, telling a sports writer that he realized, even though he’s this big man, he’s right dead center in the action working in the paint. He knew he needed to work more on his ball handling. And the person that inspired him to do that was in one of the Globetrotters movies.

Mark: When you think about the Globetrotters and their behind-the-back passes and no-look passes and alley-oops and all kinds of the tricks they pulled, and you also combined that with Saperstein pioneering the three-point shot in the American Basketball League, I think you

could make an argument that Saperstein is one of the most influential people in what the NBA looks like today. The NBA back then was really kind of boring. I mean, and it wasn’t just flashy. [The NBA] kind of shut Saperstein out to a large extent. They just were sports purists and they thought he was simply a showman. But the modern NBA, I think, has shown that you can be both at the same time: great athletes trying to win, but also being entertaining.

In the book I think there’s these different images that go back to the same point about what we always see when management and players are deciding what a player is worth. In a lot of cases, fans take the side of the owner or management over the player, and the player is always seen as greedy. What was it like to see those conversations come full circle?

Yeah, one interesting comment about that and there’s a point in the book is where Abe likes to be that guy after a big game or a big win, to say: “Hey, here’s $100. Here’s $50.” And [Globetrotter] Marques Haynes at one point says: “Just put it on my salary.” And, of course, as we explain in the book, eventually things came to a head there, and Marques Haynes got very estranged from the team, and eventually left and felt like he wasn’t being treated fairly, I think, for reasons that people can understand. And then, on the other hand, in baseball, as a business agent for Satchel Paige, he was actually helping to enable Satchel Paige to walk out of contracts, right? I mean, in the mid-1930s, Gus Greenlee [team owner] of the Pittsburgh Crawfords was furious when Satchel Paige left to go play for a semi-pro team in North Dakota. Well, it was a team that was going to pay him more money and Saperstein worked out the deal. So Saperstein was

on both sides of that contractual salary negotiation dynamic that was kind of interesting.

Mark: The thing we point out in the book, clearly, in that era in all sports, Black or white, players were underpaid compared to today, and the owners had all the leverage. And so it just was a different dynamic. We were really trying to examine how fair [Saperstein] was to his players or how unfair he was to his players, and you hear from both sides. You have some players who really had great testimonials to Abe and talk about how generous he was… but others thought he was tough to deal with. I think at least I came away with the impression that it was more of a manager or an owner-player dynamic than a white owner-Black player dynamic; that it wasn’t as much of a racial dynamic as a capitalist dynamic.

You all did research with a lot of newspapers, and how you read how Black people were described in a lot of newspapers. What was it like to see that, and thinking, as two former editors saying: This got past everyone in the newsroom?

Mark: I guess I wasn’t surprised because I read a lot of newspaper clips, and I know how racist American newspapers were back then, and how society was, and that’s what it was reflecting. What’s really amazing is that sometimes these sportswriters thought they were complimenting the Globetrotters when they were actually insulting them. I guess this casual racism of that era still stunned me sometimes because of the pervasiveness of it.

Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up the World of Sports by Mark Jacob and Matthew Jacob. 320 pages. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2024. $35. Hardcover. ¬

Evan F. Moore is an award-winning writer, author, and DePaul University journalism adjunct instructor. Evan is a third-generation South Shore homeowner.

Saperstein with basketball.

South Sider Grapples with Her Identity in Mariachi-Infused Play

A review of Jocey y las Mariachis at Destino’s Chicago International Latino Theater Festival.

BY JOSÉ ALFREDO GUERRERO

Part of the Destinos Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, takes a look at the internal conflicts of a Mexican-American woman caught between the expectations of her heritage and her desire to forge her own path. In the production, which concluded at the end of October and was presented by Visión Latino Theatre Company at the APO Cultural Center in Pilsen, South Sider Jocelyn Villa, playing herself on stage as “Jocey”, exposed some of the most personal struggles that shape who she is: her confusing relationships with her loved ones and with herself.

Co-written by Villa and Flavia Pallozzi, this one-woman show, accompanied by a live five-piece all-female mariachi (featuring María de Lourdes Sandoval on vihuela, María Jarquin on guitarrón, Liliana Cruz on trumpet, and Yazmin Núñez and Jennifer Pérez on violins) examines the complexities of moving on from heartbreak and figuring out your purpose afterwards.

The show opens with an upset Jocey in her living room, dressed in black sweats and sweatshirt with pink fluffy slippers, as if coming home from a play rehearsal. The dialogue opens up to her muttering to herself that she is unsure of how her story—or show, which she’s writing throughout the play—should end. This question drives the narrative as Jocey reflects on key moments from her life. At the heart of her struggle is her recent divorce, a devastating blow that has made her question not just her future, but her very sense of self. The show doesn’t shy away from these moments of

vulnerability; Jocey’s pain is laid bare, but peppered with moments of humor and resilience.

One of the most poignant themes is her complicated relationship with her Mexican culture. As a child, Jocey wrestled with feelings of inadequacy.

She didn’t like her brown skin, feeling different from the European beauty standards she saw on TV and around her, specifically noting, “even the lead actresses in telenovelas are white!” She confesses that she idolized Hilary Duff in Lizzie McGuire, a Disney Channel show.

Her exclamation, “That’s right—I wanted to grow up to be a white woman!” and the anguishing, “Did you know it’s expensive to get a divorce?” helps us see Jocey as our friend. Much of the humor in the show comes from Jocey’s interaction with a secondary character, her intrusive thoughts, which are portrayed as her own voice coming out of a broken Alexa.

This is largely inspired by her obsession with Lizzie McGuire, where the titular character has a cartoon version of herself offering insight into Lizzie’s inner monologues. Her thoughts, which the audience can hear, help Jocey navigate the hard questions, while providing painfully honest peanut gallery commentary on her decisions.

Throughout the play, she tries to love herself and reconcile that love with who mainstream media says deserves to be loved. This tension is beautifully captured in the music, a blend of iconic Mexican classics and American musical theater and pop songs that mirror Jocey’s own identity crisis. There exists an understanding of the magnitude that her love for theater has led her to write and star in her own musical theater show as a Latina who doubted she’d succeed on Broadway or in a traditional college theater program.

The mariachi band plays an essential role in transmitting these cultural nuances. Led by Daniel Ochoa’s powerful musical score, the arrangements take the audience on a journey, blending traditional Mexican sounds with modern genres in a way that feels both timeless and contemporary. The music underscores Jocey’s internal battles, from her struggles to move on from her STAGE AND SCREEN

Jocelyn Villa stars in Jocey y Las Mariachis play at APO Cultural Center, where she is learning to love all parts of herself.

Photo by Jacqueline Serrato

divorce from her high school sweetheart to her quest for self-acceptance, offering a deeply resonant backdrop.

A particularly electrifying moment unfolds when Jocey, in the heat of frustration, confronts her family’s insistence that she should only sing Spanish music rather than English. She exclaims, “No! I hate when people tell me what to do!” As she launches into an impassioned monologue, expressing anger at their expectations, the tension builds.

The mariachi band, already seated upstage behind a large picture frame outline, begins to play the iconic opening notes of “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” As Jocey’s speech intensifies, the mariachi’s music swells behind her, echoing her defiance. The moment climaxes when Jocey declares, voice belting out, “Hey Abuelito, here I am!” It’s a bold, triumphant moment where tradition and individuality collide, capturing the heart of Jocey’s journey to embrace all parts of herself.

The set, designed by Shayna Patel, plays a critical role in grounding the narrative in Jocey’s world. Her living room, cluttered and chaotic, is a reflection of her internal state. The space feels lived-in, with objects strewn about that hint at both her emotional baggage and her attempt to make sense of it all. The mess is a symbol of Jocey’s struggle to move forward, to organize her life after the wreckage of her marriage, especially when we see her unsigned divorce papers.

Throughout the performance, Jocey speaks and interacts directly with the audience, thinking out loud and sharing her anxieties. Director Yajaira Custodio makes excellent use of the space, guiding the audience through Jocey’s highs and lows with carefully crafted transitions between past and present. She transports the audience from Jocey’s intimate conversations with her ex-husband to moments of self-reflection. These creative decisions keep the audience engaged, ensuring that the one-woman show never feels stagnant or confined to its singleroom setting.

Villa’s performance is raw and honest, capturing the many layers of Jocey’s character. She navigates the full

spectrum of emotions, from the pain of her shortcomings to the humor in her self-deprecating remarks, with a naturalness that makes her story feel all the more real.

But it’s in the musical numbers where Villa truly shines. Her voice, warm and smokey, yet powerful and full, moves effortlessly between languages and genres, from the heartbreaking ballads of Adele’s “To Be Loved” to the soaring high notes in Linda Ronstadt’s “La Cigarra.” Each song reflects a different part of Jocey’s emotional journey. Her rendition of Christina Aguilera’s “La Reina” is a highlight, serving as a powerful anthem of self-empowerment as Jocey finally embraces her identity and realizes her worth.

Jocey y las Mariachis is a personal exploration of one woman’s quest for self-acceptance in the wake of heartbreak while figuring out cultural displacement. The combination of Villa’s powerful vocal performance, Ochoa’s beautiful score, and Custodio’s thoughtful direction creates a rich, immersive experience that leaves a lasting impression. It’s a story that feels both deeply individual and universally relatable, making Jocey y las Mariachis a triumph of storytelling, musical expression and pushing through. ¬

José Alfredo Guerrero is a versatile singer and educator who grew up in Little Village and graduated from the DePaul School of Music. With experience in theater, music, and comedy, he has captivated audiences in roles such as Angel in RENT and as the creative force behind the band Madera Once.

In the Moment of Yes A Q&A with Nigerian-American artist and photographer Obi Uwakwe.

BY DIERDRE ROBINSON

Obi Soulstar, born Obi Uwakwe, is an artist, photographer, musician, and owner of the Electriqsoul Hideout Studios art gallery at 216 S. Jefferson St. Uwakwe has been frequently referred to as the “SoulRockinRolla,” the minister of “AFROROCK RELIGION,” and a “Renaissance Man.”

Uwakwe, whose name means “heart of the father,” spent his early childhood on the South Side. However, at the age of five, his father made the decision to move the family to their native Nigeria. While living with his family in West Africa, Uwakwe experienced a multitude of experiences that seemingly shaped his resilience, such as joining the Nigerian military. It was also during those years that his artistic talent began to take bloom.

Uwakwe moved back to Chicago at the age of eighteen and his young life was marked by new challenges. Initially, he juggled multiple jobs to make ends meet and leaned on the kindness of family and friends for support and temporary housing.

Eventually, his efforts paid off, and Uwakwe began to gain exposure and recognition for his unique designs that were infused with elements of his Nigerian upbringing. The influence of his life there is found in the vibrant colors characteristic of his style, the subliminal messages in his designs, and his use of styrofoam to make his artwork, which he learned to create with as a child.

Uwakwe’s artistic journey continued to unfold throughout the years as if it had been pre-ordained. In 2023, he exhibited at the Bridgeport Art Center and, most recently, four of Uwakwe’s works were on display at the Sundance Institute X Film Festival held for the first time in Chicago

earlier this year.

South Side Weekly caught up with Uwakwe to discuss his journey, artistic process and latest work.

When did you first realize that you had a talent and a love for art?

That started at a really young age and for as far back as I can remember. I would probably say when my parents separated. My dad remarried and I know when I stayed with my dad and my auntie, as we would call our stepmothers, I kind of stayed in my…I was very reclusive. I stayed to myself a lot…even staying in the room alone while everyone else was in the front room I would always draw and back then we didn’t have tracing paper. So, you would just pour kerosene on your regular paper, let it dry, and then put it on top of your image, and I used to trace Michael Jackson a lot. That’s when he was wearing the marching band stuff…. I used to trace Michael Jackson a lot until I was able to freehand him. And then in Nigeria, they teach art like they do here, and you know, in kindergarten, primary schools and all that other stuff, in high schools. They may be a little bit more intense there to make sure you get it right. I think it really came from when I was in high school and because I loved it a lot anyway…. It really started at a young age. So, I would say around ten I started cultivating that.

Your first image was of Michael Jackson. Have you always drawn people? Or have you focused on anything else?

From the drawing aspect it was mostly people. I can do abstract paintings now, but growing up it wasn’t about abstract

[art]. It was about still life. In high school they’ll put a shoe, an apple and a banana, and you have to draw them and you have to maintain the scale. So, no matter how great your theme was—sometimes my images were pretty great—but my art teacher was the type that when he came to do corrections, he did it with a pen. So now you need to redraw the whole thing. It was rather frustrating but, hey, when I look back, everything happens for a reason. But it was great and all he changed was this little thing and he was like, ‘do it again.’ Those were the only times I was really drawing more, you know, still life stuff, but usually people. And that transitioned into photography as well.

How did the opportunity to showcase your art at Sundance Institute X Film Festival in Chicago come about?

One of my good friends, NK Gutierrez, was one of the organizers of that event and she and I hadn’t seen each other for a handful of years…and we reconnected. I’m like, “I got this gallery, I need you to stop by…cuz you knew me way before this ever was a thought.” She came through, we broke bread, and we just caught up. Everything just started clicking and she was like “you know, I have to showcase you. People need to see this. And would you know it, I just got on the board for Sundance and these are the movies we’re showing.” So, for her, she was looking at pieces that I had in here… and I was like, “yeah, but how about I make something specific for what these themes of these films are,” and then when she told me about Luther [Vandross], which was so hush-hush…my brain just started churning. And that technique [in the paintings] of Luther, Chance and Common [was] a technique that I started… in Nigeria. …You have to just find little raw materials to create stuff, whatever you can find in the garbage. Sometimes you take the silver or the gold lining from inside a cigarette pack, you cut your letters out, that’s how you get your gold letters and things like that. That technique… I started doing when I was a kid. And, as I matured, I perfected it.

What is your process?

Well, the first struggle is having the initial idea. For me, when I’m excited about something, it’s easier to knock it out. This was definitely a situation where I had different plates spinning on different sticks and neither one of them could crash because there was drying time…so

to have it look like your subject. If you miss on the first round, you can’t erase off of styrofoam once you start, you got to toss that, get the next one, and just make it look exactly how that subject is, and I kind of pride myself in that when I do portraits. You know exactly who it is without it being, you know, altered or looking too abstract or wonky.

“One of the greatest challenges is really just to be sustainable from one’s talent. It’s like a fruit. To be able to eat from your own tree that you’ve planted and you’re staying nourished and you’re thriving from the fruits of your labor.”

let’s say the Luther, for instance…if you got close enough to it, you were probably wondering whether it was wood or if it was styrofoam. It was actually styrofoam. It’s one thick piece of styrofoam and then I start shaving the background to make the foreground image stand out. Right? And then, first rule of thumb, you have

What are some of the biggest challenges that you face as a multi-hyphenated artist?

I’d say one of the challenges would be: I say if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? Hell, yeah because it’s a tree! But if there’s no one there, no one

feels the impact. So, for me, it’s like I can create all this beautifulness when it comes to art, but if I can’t bring it to the people then there’s no impact. An opportunity arose and I was in the moment of yes. I’m still in the moment of yes….You have to lean into your moment of yes for things to manifest.

One of the greatest challenges is really just to be sustainable from one’s talent. It’s like a fruit. To be able to eat from your own tree that you’ve planted and you’re staying nourished and you’re thriving from the fruits of your labor.

Looking ahead, do you have any upcoming projects that will bring your painting, music and photography together in a new way?

I’ve been working on a breast cancer project for the past three years, going into its fourth year, and it’s called “Scarred: The Journey of a Warrior.” The purpose of this project: it’s a photographic project that I was inspired to do after I opened this gallery…. It kinda happened from a dream I had twenty years ago and I wanted to be of service and give back to a cause. I thought about a fellow musician who had breast cancer and had a mastectomy and that resonated with me. I’ve been fortunate to photograph twenty-six, twenty-seven women around the world. And one of the women was the one that decided… to just make a coffee table book because there are a lot of women who would like to see that there is still life after diagnosis. Whichever woman wants to be a part of it, all you have to do is…be sure that this is something that would help you in your journey. Then show up and we just let the moments create themselves.

To learn more about Obi Soulstar, visit his IG page @ObiSoulstar @Electriqsoul_ Hideout_Studios and @ObiSoulstar_Shot_ It and Spotify and iTunes for his music. ¬

Dierdre Robinson is a writer and accounting manager in Chicago. She has a BA in Journalism from Michigan State University. She last contributed to the Best of the South Side 2024

Obi Soulstar with two of his most popular painted portraits.

Photo courtesy of Obi Uwakwe

Migrants Who Fled Violence and War Struggle With Their Mental Health

One of the country’s most diverse cities is helping migrants build a new life.

BY ALMA CAMPOS, MINDSITE NEWS

Silent Battles is a new reporting project focusing on the mental health of immigrant and refugee communities in the U.S. We begin in Chicago, a city founded by a Haitian immigrant that has the fourthlargest immigrant population in the U.S. The series is a collaboration between MindSite News and palabra, a multimedia platform from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) and is supported by the Field Foundation of Illinois.

This story was originally published on October 16 on MindSite News. Printed with permission.

Maria Suares was sweeping her front patio at her home in Maracay, Venezuela, around 8am in March of 2018 when she heard a loud knock on her door. She opened it and found three men on motorcycles with guns pointed at her.

The men forced her onto a bus along with other captives being taken to march at a pro-government political rally in favor of Nicolás Maduro, but she eventually managed to escape and hide in an auto repair shop before returning home. The incident was so stressful, she said, that she suffered a stroke and spent almost two months recovering in a hospital. She is being identified by only parts of her name in order to protect her from legal action.

When Suares, then forty, finally recovered, she knew she had to get her family out of Venezuela so they fled to neighboring Colombia. But after street gangs began extorting them in Bogotá, the family started a perilous journey to the U.S. in August 2023. Together with their three daughters and nine-year-old twin

grandchildren, Suares and her husband joined a caravan with thousands of migrants headed to Medellín, then Acandí where they got on a boat to the Darién Gap—a treacherous stretch of jungle between Colombia and Panama.

The family trekked across the Darién Gap for six days, surviving without food for four of them. The jungle was unforgiving, with swollen rivers, crocodiles, deadly snakes and the lurking threat of sexual violence. “My children were very sick, especially my daughter, who is epileptic.” Suares recalled. “I’m diabetic, and the stress and hunger nearly killed me.” Suares said she nearly drowned twice.

After almost a month, they made it to the Texas border and sought asylum. One day later, Suares, her husband and youngest daughter were put on a bus to Chicago.

They arrived in September 2023—part of a wave of some 49,000 migrants that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sent to Chicago, mostly by bus, since August 31, 2022. Most, like Suares, come from Venezuela. Others arrive from different parts of South and Central America.

Suares and her family spent their first two weeks sleeping on the floor of the District 2 police station on the South Side, one of many overcrowded police stations and shelters where the city placed thousands of new arrivals. The city currently accommodates 5,454 migrants in seventeen shelters and is spending $150 million to provide housing, food, and care for new arrivals this year, as it did in 2023.

Eventually, the family moved to an apartment, but tragedy struck once more when their building caught fire. “We lost

everything,” Suares said. “We left barefoot, in our pajamas.” They were relocated to a temporary shelter by the Red Cross.

Trauma is almost universal for new arrivals, said psychologist Kiara Álvarez, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, whose research focuses on the mental health of immigrants. The city of Chicago and a network of community-based organizations have been working to address both the material and psychological needs of the newcomers—but the task is daunting.

Many are under enormous stress as a result of the violent persecution that caused them to flee and the traumas they experienced during their journeys, Álvarez said. Most are in survival mode, focused on finding work and housing and disconnected from support systems.

Though many migrants suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression—usually undiagnosed—it can be nearly impossible for them to get services or treatment for their trauma, she said. And some also avoid talking about mental health issues because of shame, stigma or cultural barriers. Still, she said, trauma has a way of rising to the surface.

“They start having bad dreams. They start having bad sleep—nightmares, stomach aches, feelings of being nervous,” Álvarez explained.

Ukrainian immigrant Darina Semenets can testify to that.

She and her husband were vacationing in Egypt in February 2022, when they found out that Russia had invaded Ukraine. They flew to Poland and stayed there for eight months until a friend in Chicago sponsored them through the Uniting for Ukraine program. In October 2022, they

Maria Suares, a refugee, found a home in Chicago after fleeing violence in Venezuela.

Photo: Olga L. Jaramillo for palabra/MindSite News

settled in Ukrainian Village, a Chicago neighborhood that for decades has had a large Ukrainian community.

“I will never get back the time to be with my family,” she said.

Semenets is one of an estimated 30,000 Ukrainians who have made their way to Chicago since Russia invaded Ukraine. The newcomers from Ukraine, Venezuela and Central America join established immigrant communities in the city, including one of the largest Mexican populations in the U.S. centered in neighborhoods like La Villita (Little Village), where street vendors on La 26—26th Street—sell elotes, chicharrones, and tamales, and Pilsen, where vibrant murals tell the stories of the community’s history, immigration and culture—as well as ongoing gentrification.

Adding to the city’s diversity are people from China, India, Poland, the Philippines, West Africa, Haiti and numerous other countries—an estimated 1.7 million immigrants in the metro area altogether, many fleeing political violence at home.

Many of them also face wrenching turmoil, anxiety and stress in their new lives in the United States.

For Suares, who took her family temporarily to Washington, D.C. after the fire to squeeze into an apartment with a relative, the anxiety of being displaced has fused with her worries about her asylum application. With help from a legal aid volunteer provided by a Chicago nonprofit, she submitted it in mid-September but it may take up to five years to resolve.

“Without papers, you can’t work, and that also overwhelms us a lot,” she said. It is hard, she said, not to feel depressed.

And all of that compounds her existing health problems—hypertension, diabetes and chronic pain.

“I had a bunch of pains in my body, my legs,” she said. “As a consequence of everything I went through, I imagine, all the efforts I made, my body was damaged.”

In Washington, Suares said, she has had a hard time getting her medical visits covered—one reason she wants to go back to Illinois. In both places, asylum seekers are theoretically eligible for health services covered through the Medicaid program— if they can find their way through the bureaucracy.

“Current immigration policies erode connections, leaving immigrants isolated from supportive communities,” said Kiara Álvarez, the Johns Hopkins psychologist.

“Fear of immigration enforcement further prevents them from accessing help, deepening their isolation and its negative impact on mental health. Having citizenship, permanent status and full rights improves people’s mental health.”

To address at least some of these challenges, the Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health (CIMH) in Chicago has partnered with the city’s Department of Public Health and the Illinois Department of Human Services to create a mental health plan for asylum-seekers.

The initiative, Reimagining Mental Health Supports for Migrant Arrivals

in Chicago, trains shelter workers and other front-line staff in trauma-informed care—an approach that recognizes the destructive impact of trauma and integrates practices to avoid re-traumatizing patients and staff members, who may have their own experiences with direct or secondary trauma. Providers also learn tips and practices they can share with migrants to improve their emotional wellness. So far, more than 500 service providers have been trained in these techniques.

Glohan Choi, thirty-two, is a Korean immigrant without documents who has been living in the U.S. since the age of four. Today, he is a community organizer with the HANA Center, a Chicago-based immigrant justice organization, where he advocates for the rights of Korean, Asian and multi-ethnic immigrant communities.

Choi is deeply worried about his family’s future, agonized about how he’ll be able to care for his aging parents and support his disabled sister—issues that are exacerbated by their undocumented status.

“There are all these big problems,” he said. “I feel anxiety about my family. I worry about my parents’ retirement plan— they don’t have one. My parents are almost seventy years old, they’re working laborintensive jobs, and their bodies will only sustain that for a very limited amount of time moving forward.”

Meanwhile, Maria Suares and her family continue to navigate a new life in Chicago and Washington, D.C.—and

struggle with the trauma of their harrowing journey to a new and uncertain future. She had wanted to do everything by the book, but fate intervened.

She originally tried to apply for asylum from Colombia after she fled there from Venezuela. She attended an interview with U.S. immigration in 2022 and completed all the paperwork, but the process would have excluded her older daughters from going to the United States with her.

This was alarming because some “malandros”—young street criminals—had threatened Suares and her family with their safety during an attempted shakedown while she was selling clothes, coffee and other hot drinks on the streets of Bogotá.

The malandros held up pictures of Suares’ daughters and the home where they were living. “They would say: ‘If you don’t pay this, we know where they are,’” Suares recalled. As the threats continued, she felt they had no choice but to flee together to the U.S.

After crossing all of Central America, the family continued their journey into Mexico, facing extortion from gangs and authorities along the way. As the danger mounted, there was another round of horrors in store: They now needed to travel on the freight train known as La Bestia (The Beast) or el tren de la muerte (death train), which gained its nicknames from the horrific accidents that happen when migrants fall off the tops of cars.

They spent four days inside the packed

More than 40 asylum seekers found refuge at the Chicago Police District 20 station in Lincoln Square on May 8, 2023. Police stations saw thousands of people in rotation before shelters became the city’s main aid strategy later in the year. Photo by Sebastián Hidalgo

Maria Suares escaped violence in Venezuela and now suffers from stress as she navigates life in the U.S.

Photo: Olga L. Jaramillo for palabra/MindSite News

freight cars of La Bestia, enduring heat, dehydration and hunger. But when they went to take the final leg of the journey to Piedras Negras at the U.S.-Mexican border, the train was full, so some members of the family had to ride on top of it for seventeen hours.

“We tied ourselves there with bedsheets,” Suares said. She placed the bread and water people offered them in a small hole on top. “The sun was terrible. With the same bed sheets, we covered

At the border in El Paso, after collecting data and assessing their status, immigration agents asked what city they wanted to go to. Suares chose Chicago because she had heard from others that the city “was receiving migrants without a problem.” They ate and showered before boarding a bus for a ride of almost twentyfour hours.

In Chicago, they stayed in the police station for nearly two weeks, until staff members moved the family to one of the downtown migrant shelters set up by the city due to her daughter’s medical condition. They stayed there for two months before being given temporary housing assistance at an apartment in Roseland, a community on Chicago’s far South Side.

“People came and gave us sheets, clothes, because we arrived with nothing,” she recalls. Then came the fire that forced them to evacuate their apartment and

Suares is thankful for the support she received from the city, particularly for the apartment they lived in until the building

“They helped me, they gave me six months of rent,” she said. But now, as the family squeezes in with family in Washington, she feels like she’s starting all over again.

“Every dollar we get is a dollar we have to save,” Suares said. “We have to limit

ourselves a lot, buy the necessary, only the necessary, because we know that we have to pay rent, we know that we have to have a roof to live under.”

Finding work is one of the family’s greatest stresses. Without legal documents, her husband takes whatever odd jobs he can find, while Suares, like other desperate migrants, sells small items like candy, food or bottled water on city streets to make ends meet.

“It’s hard because we want to work, but without papers, it’s almost impossible to find jobs,” she explained. “We don’t want to rely on government assistance. We just want the opportunity to work.”

Suares has never received counseling or talked to a clinical professional about her mental health since she’s been in the U.S. but she thinks it would be helpful. She is increasingly aware of the burden that stress is placing on her and her family.

“I know we all have our own problems and help is always good. And talking about problems has always helped,” she said. “Truly, it is the Lord that keeps us on our feet, but it has not been easy. And yes, we have been in a strong state of depression. Sometimes my children get depressed. Sometimes we cry, but sometimes we laugh.”

Reporting for this story was supported by the Field Foundation. ¬

Alma Campos is an award-winning bilingual journalist in Chicago and contributes to The Guardian, is a senior editor at South Side Weekly, and leads reporting on the intersection of immigration and mental health for the Chicago bureau of MindSite News. Her work has also appeared in WTTW, Crain’s Chicago Business and Univision. @alma_campos

Olga Jaramillo, born in Colombia, is an independent visual storyteller based in the Washington D.C., metropolitan area. With a background in economics, she transitioned into photography, bringing her social awareness and experience in Latin American socioeconomic development into her visual work. Through photography, short films, and text, she explores the intricate relationships between identity, culture, and migration. Olga’s most recent work focuses on the intergenerational impact of migration on the families of migrant mothers from Central America. Her multimedia documentary project “Dos Mundos,” begun in 2019, was awarded the Women Photojournalists of Washington’s inaugural Butterfly Grant in 2024. @olgajarsa

Sebastián Hidalgo is a photojournalist and investigative reporter in Chicago, covering the intersection of low-wage labor and policing. @sebastianhidalgo_photo

More than 40 asylum seekers found refuge at the Chicago Police District 20 station in Lincoln Square on May 8, 2023. Police stations saw thousands of people in rotation before shelters became the city’s main aid strategy later in the year. Photo by Sebastián Hidalgo

A crowd of asylum seekers from Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador receive donations outside the 12th District police station in Pilsen on Sept. 29, 2024. The station houses families with children suffering from respiratory issues. Photo by Sebastián Hidalgo

Glohan Choi with his parents at a martial arts class he attended as a child. Photo courtesy of Glohan Choi

Migrantes que huyeron de la violencia lidian con sus traumas y salud mental

Una de las ciudades más diversas del país está ayudando a los migrantes a construir una nueva vida.

POR ALMA CAMPOS, MINDSITE NEWS/PALABRA TRADUCIDO POR NATHALIE ALONSO, MINDSITE NEWS/PALABRA

“Luchas invisibles” es un nuevo proyecto de reportajes enfocado en la salud mental de las comunidades de inmigrantes, refugiados y solicitantes de asilo en los Estados Unidos. Comenzamos en Chicago, una ciudad fundada por un inmigrante haitiano que tiene la cuarta población inmigrante más grande del país. La serie es una colaboración entre la oficina de Chicago de MindSite News y palabra, una plataforma multimedia de la Asociación Nacional de Periodistas Hispanos (NAHJ por sus siglas en inglés). Es posible gracias al apoyo de la Field Foundation of Illinois.

Esta nota fue publicada originalmente por MindSite News y palabra el 16 de octubre. Impreso con permiso.

María Suares estaba barriendo el patio interior de su casa, en Maracay, Venezuela, alrededor de las 8 de la mañana, en marzo de 2018, cuando escuchó un fuerte golpe en la puerta. Al abrirla, se encontró con tres hombres en motocicletas que le apuntaban con armas de fuego.

Los hombres la obligaron a subir a un autobús en el que había otros prisioneros a los que llevaban a marchar en un mitin político a favor del gobierno del venezolano Nicolás Maduro, pero Suares finalmente logró escapar y esconderse en un taller mecánico, antes de regresar a su casa. El incidente fue tan estresante, dijo, que sufrió un derrame cerebral y pasó casi dos meses recuperándose en el hospital. No estamos usando el nombre completo de Suares para protegerla de eventuales acciones legales.

Cuando Suares, que en aquel entonces tenía 40 años, se recuperó, supo que debía sacar a su familia de Venezuela, así que huyeron al país vecino, Colombia. Pero,

en agosto de 2023. Junto con su esposo, sus tres hijas y sus nietos gemelos de 9 años, se unieron a una caravana de miles de migrantes que se dirigían —todavía dentro de Colombia— a Medellín y luego a Acandí. Allí, se subieron a un bote que los llevó al Tapón del Darién, un peligroso tramo de selva entre Colombia y Panamá.

La familia atravesó el Tapón del Darién a pie durante seis días, sobreviviendo sin comida durante cuatro de ellos. La selva era implacable, con ríos crecidos, cocodrilos

venía muy descompensada”, agregó. “Soy diabética y el hambre y el estrés por poco me mató”. Suares dijo también que estuvo a punto de ahogarse en dos ocasiones.

Después de aproximadamente un mes, llegaron a la parte texana de la frontera entre México y Estados Unidos y solicitaron asilo en este último país. Al día siguiente, Suares, su esposo y su hija menor fueron colocados en un autobús con destino a Chicago. Llegaron en septiembre de 2023, y fueron parte de una oleada de unos 49.000

migrantes que el gobernador de Texas, Greg Abbott, envió desde la frontera con México hasta Chicago, Illinois —la mayoría en autobús— desde el 31 de agosto de 2022. La mayoría, como Suares, llegaban desde Venezuela. Otros, desde distintas partes de América del Sur y América Central. Suares y su familia pasaron sus primeras dos semanas durmiendo en el suelo de la estación de policía del distrito 2, en el sur de Chicago, una de muchas estaciones de policías y albergues abarrotados en los que el gobierno de la ciudad instaló a miles de recién llegados. La ciudad actualmente alberga a 5.454 migrantes en 17 centros de acogida y sus autoridades están destinando

El arco que da la bienvenida a la calle comercial principal de La Villita, en Chicago. Foto de Sebastián Hidalgo para palabra/MindSite News

150 millones de dólares para proporcionar vivienda, comida y atención a los recién llegados este año, como lo hizo en 2023.

Con el tiempo, la familia se mudó a un apartamento, pero la tragedia los golpeó una vez más cuando el edificio en el que vivían se incendió. “Perdimos todo”, dijo Suares. “Nos fuimos descalzos con pijamas”. La Cruz Roja los reubicó en un albergue temporal.

Los traumas son generalizados entre los recién llegados, dijo la psicóloga Kiara Álvarez, profesora adjunta de la Facultad de Salud Pública Bloomberg, de la Universidad Johns Hopkins, cuyas investigaciones se enfocan en la salud mental de los inmigrantes. El gobierno de la ciudad de Chicago y una red de organizaciones comunitarias han estado trabajando para atender las necesidades materiales y psicológicas de los recién llegados, pero la tarea es abrumadora.

Muchos de los migrantes se encuentran bajo un estrés enorme como consecuencia de la persecución violenta que los obligó a huir y de los traumas que vivieron durante sus desplazamientos hasta Estados Unidos, dijo Álvarez. La mayoría está en modo supervivienda, enfocados en buscar trabajo y vivienda, y desvinculados de los sistemas de apoyo.

Aunque muchos migrantes sufren estrés postraumático y depresión — usualmente sin diagnosticar—, puede resultarles casi imposible recibir servicios o tratamientos para sus traumas, dijo la psicóloga. Y algunos evitan hablar de

temas de salud mental por vergüenza, por estigmatización o por barreras culturales. Sin embargo, dijo Álvarez, el trauma tiene su forma de salir a la superficie.

“Empiezan a tener pesadillas. Empiezan a dormir mal: pesadillas, dolores de estómago, sensación de nerviosismo”, explicó Álvarez.

Darina Semenets, una inmigrante ucraniana, lo puede corroborar.

Ella y su esposo estaban de vacaciones en Egipto, en febrero de 2022, cuando se enteraron de que Rusia había invadido Ucrania. Tomaron un vuelo a Polonia y permanecieron allí durante ocho meses, hasta que un amigo de Chicago los apadrinó a través del programa Uniting for Ukraine (unidos por Ucrania) y, en octubre de 2022, se establecieron en Ukrainian Village, un barrio de Chicago que desde hace décadas cuenta con una gran comunidad ucraniana.

En Chicago, Semenets trabaja en una asociación que ayuda a los ucranianos recién llegados y organiza protestas y eventos comunitarios en apoyo de su patria. Se siente culpable por quedarse en Estados Unidos y "no hacer lo suficiente" por su país mientras está siendo asediado, especialmente porque los padres de ambos permanecen en Ucrania a pesar de que sus hogares fueron alcanzados por misiles rusos y de que el padre de Semenets sufrió una conmoción cerebral.

“Nunca voy a recuperar ese tiempo para estar con mi familia”, dijo.

Semenets es una de los cerca de 30.000 ucranianos que han llegado a Chicago

desde que Rusia invadió Ucrania. Los recién llegados de Ucrania, Venezuela y Centroamérica se unen a las comunidades de inmigrantes ya establecidas en la ciudad, que incluyen a una de las poblaciones mexicanas más grandes de Estados Unidos. La misma está concentrada en barrios como La Villita, donde los vendedores ambulantes de La 26 (la calle 26) venden elotes, chicharrones, tamales y cerveza pilsen, y donde vivos murales cuentan los relatos de la comunidad relacionados con su historia, la inmigración y su cultura, así como con una gentrificación en desarrollo.

Personas que llegan desde China, India, Polonia, Filipinas, África Occidental, Haití y desde numerosos otros países contribuyen a la diversidad de la ciudad: Se estima que hay 1,7 millones de inmigrantes en total en Chicago, muchos de los cuales huyeron de la violencia política en sus países.

Muchos de ellos también se enfrentan a desgarradores desórdenes, ansiedad y estrés en sus nuevas vidas en Estados Unidos.

Para Suares, que llevó temporalmente a su familia a Washington, D.C. después del incendio, para apiñarse en un apartamento con un pariente, la ansiedad por verse desplazada se ha fusionado con sus preocupaciones por su solicitud de asilo. La presentó a mediados de septiembre con la ayuda de un voluntario de asistencia legal proporcionado por una organización sin

fines de lucro de Chicago, pero la misma puede tardar hasta cinco años en resolverse.

“Una de las cosas que más nos ha afectado es que no dan trabajo sin papeles”, dijo. Es “difícil”, agregó, no sentirse deprimida. Y todo ello agrava sus problemas de salud: hipertensión, diabetes y dolores crónicos.

“Tenía un grupo de dolores en mi cuerpo, mis piernas”, dijo. “Consecuencia de todo lo que pasé, me imagino, todos los esfuerzos que yo hice, se maló mi cuerpo”.

En Washington, D.C., dijo Suares, se le ha hecho difícil conseguir que cubran sus visitas médicas. Es una de las razones por las que quiere regresar a Illinois. En ambos lugares, las personas que piden asilo político tienen acceso, en teoría, a atención médica cubierta por el programa de Medicaid, si consiguen sortear la burocracia.

“Las actuales políticas de inmigración erosionan los vínculos, dejando a los inmigrantes aislados de las comunidades de apoyo”, dijo Álvarez, la psicóloga de la Universidad Johns Hopkins. “El temor a la aplicación (de las leyes) de inmigración les impide aún más acceder a la ayuda, profundizando su aislamiento y los efectos negativos en la salud mental. Tener la ciudadanía, un estatus permanente y plenos derechos mejora la salud mental de las personas”.

Para abordar al menos algunos de estos desafíos, la Coalition for Immigrant

María Suares cruzó el Tapón de Darién con su familia para llegar a Estados Unidos y solicitar asilo. Debió reubicarse temporalmente en Washington, D.C., pero espera volver a Chicago, donde encontró aire de hogar. Foto de Olga L. Jaramillo para palabra/MindSite News

La catedral católica ucraniana de San Nicolás en Ukrainian Village, Chicago. Foto de Sebastián Hidalgo for palabra/MindSite News

Mental Health (Coalición por la salud mental de los inmigrantes; CIMH, por sus siglas en inglés) de Chicago, se ha asociado con el Departamento de Salud Pública de la ciudad y el Departamento de Servicios Humanos de Illinois para formular un plan de salud mental para los solicitantes de asilo.

La iniciativa, Reimagining Mental Health Supports for Migrant Arrivals (Reimaginando los apoyos en salud mental para los migrantes arribados), de Chicago, capacita a proveedores de servicios de salud que no son de salud mental en la atención informada sobre el trauma, un enfoque que reconoce el impacto destructivo del trauma e integra conocimientos y prácticas para evitar retraumatizar a los pacientes o al personal que pudiera tener experiencias traumáticas o que pudiera haber estado expuesto a traumas secundarios. Los proveedores también aprenden consejos y prácticas que pueden compartir con los migrantes para mejorar su bienestar emocional. Hasta ahora, más de 500 proveedores de servicios de salud han recibido capacitación en estos métodos.

Glohan Choi, de 32 años, es un inmigrante coreano sin documentos legales que ha vivido en Estados Unidos desde sus 4 años. Hoy es activista comunitario del HANA Center, una organización con sede en Chicago que lucha por justicia para los inmigrantes. Allí, aboga por los derechos de las comunidades de inmigrantes coreanos, asiáticos y de múltiples etnias.

Choi está profundamente preocupado por el futuro de su familia, y se pregunta desesperado cómo va a poder cuidar de sus padres ancianos y mantener a su hermana discapacitada, problemas agravados por sus estatus legales.

“Hay todos estos grandes problemas”, dijo. “Siento ansiedad por mi familia. Me preocupa el plan de jubilación de mis padres; ellos no tienen uno. Mis padres tienen casi 70 años, trabajan en empleos de mucho esfuerzo físico y sus cuerpos solo soportarán eso por un tiempo muy limitado de ahora en adelante”.

Mientras tanto, Maria Suares y su familia continúan haciendo una nueva vida en Chicago y Washington, D.C., y luchan con el trauma de su desgarrador desplazamiento hacia un futuro nuevo e incierto. Ella había querido hacer todo

según las reglas, pero el destino intervino.

En un principio, intentó solicitar asilo desde Colombia, después de huir de Venezuela. Allí, asistió a una entrevista con inmigración de Estados Unidos, en el 2022, y completó toda la documentación, pero el proceso habría excluido a sus hijas mayores de viajar a los Estados Unidos con ella.

Esto era preocupante porque algunos “malandros” habían amenazado a Suares y a su familia durante un intento de extorsión mientras ella vendía ropa, café y otras bebidas calientes en las calles de Bogotá. Los delincuentes le mostraron fotos de las hijas de Suares y de la casa en la que vivían. “Me decían: ‘Si no pagas eso, sabemos dónde están’”. Como las amenazas continuaban, ella sintió que no tenían otra opción que huir todos juntos a Estados Unidos.

Después de cruzar toda Centroamérica, la familia continuó su viaje hacia México, enfrentándose a la extorsión de las pandillas y de las autoridades en el camino. A medida que el peligro iba aumentando, se acercaba otra ronda de horrores: ahora tenían que viajar en el tren de carga conocido como La Bestia o “el tren de la muerte”, que recibió su nombre por los horrendos accidentes que ocurren cuando los migrantes caen de la parte superior de los vagones. Pasaron cuatro días dentro de los abarrotados vagones de carga de La Bestia, soportando el calor, la deshidratación y el hambre. Pero, cuando llegó la última

etapa del viaje, hasta Piedras Negras, en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México, el tren estaba tan lleno que Suares y algunos miembros de la familia tuvieron que viajar en el techo del tren durante 17 horas.

“Nos amarramos con sábanas”, dijo Suares. Ella colocó el pan y el agua que les ofrecía la gente en un pequeño agujero en el techo del tren. “El sol era terrible. Y con la misma sábana nos cubríamos del sol”.

En la frontera de El Paso, después de recopilar datos y evaluar sus estatus migratorios, los agentes de inmigración les preguntaron a qué ciudad querían ir. Suares eligió Chicago porque había escuchado a otras personas decir que la ciudad “estaba recibiendo a migrantes sin problema”. Comieron y se ducharon antes de abordar un autobús para hacer un viaje de casi 24 horas.

En Chicago, permanecieron en la estación de policía durante casi dos semanas, hasta que, debido a la condición médica de la hija de Suares, el personal trasladó a la familia a uno de los albergues para migrantes del centro de la ciudad, que fueron establecidos por el gobierno municipal. Se quedaron allí durante dos meses antes de recibir ayuda para un alojamiento temporal en un apartamento en Roseland, una comunidad del extremo sur de Chicago.

“Llegó gente que nos regaló sábanas, ropa, porque llegamos sin nada”, recordó. Luego, fue el incendio que los obligó a

evacuar su apartamento y trasladarse a Washington.

Suares está agradecida por el apoyo que recibió por parte de la ciudad, particularmente por el apartamento en el que vivieron hasta que el edificio se incendió.

“Ellos me ayudaron con seis meses de arriendo”, dijo. Pero ahora, con la familia apiñada con parientes en Washington, ella siente que está comenzando de nuevo.

“Un dólar agarramos, un dólar tenemos que guardar”, dijo. “Tenemos que limitarnos mucho, comprar lo necesario, lo necesario, porque sabemos que hay que pagar un arriendo, sabemos que tenemos que tener un techo para vivir”.

Encontrar trabajo es uno de los principales problemas de la familia. Sin documentos legales, su esposo acepta cualquier trabajo esporádico que encuentra, mientras que Suares, como otros migrantes desesperados, vende pequeños artículos como caramelos, comida o agua embotellada en las calles de la ciudad para llegar a fin de mes.

“La cuestión del trabajo es muy difícil, muy fuerte, sin papeles”, explicó. “No queremos que el gobierno nos mantenga. Lo único que queremos es trabajar”.

Suares nunca recibió asesoramiento ni ha hablado con un profesional clínico sobre su salud mental desde que está en Estados Unidos, pero ella cree que le sería de ayuda. Cada vez es más consciente de la carga que el estrés supone sobre ella y su familia. “Yo sé que todos tenemos nuestros propios problemas y que una ayuda siempre ha sido buena. Y hablar de los problemas siempre ha ayudado”, dijo.

“Realmente, es el Señor que nos mantiene en pie, pero no ha sido fácil. Y sí, hemos estado en un estado de depresión fuerte. A veces mis hijos se deprimen, a veces lloramos, a veces nos reímos”. ¬

Alma Campos es una galardonada periodista bilingüe que vive en Chicago y colabora con The Guardian, es editora en South Side Weekly y lidera la cobertura periodística que se enfoca en la intersección entre la inmigración y la salud mental en MindSite News. Su trabajo ha sido publicado en medios como The Guardian, WTTW, Crain’s Chicago Business y Univision Chicago. @alma_campos.

María Suares en su cocina, preparando la comida que vende fuera de su apartamento por las noches entre semana Foto de Olga L. Jaramillo para palabra/MindSite News

Saying the Hard Part Out Loud

Green Line Performing Arts Center, 329 E. Garfield Blvd. Saturday, November 9, 6pm–9pm. Free. bit.ly/3ABNvG8

Chicago Critics Table 2023 cohort members Rikki Byrd and Camille Bacon will guide this public conversation on “the intramural tensions of criticism, more specifically, how Black writers, artists, thinkers, makers, and creatives critique each other’s work in this contemporary moment. What can we say, and how do we say it, how can we be honest about the fears of saying the difficult parts out loud when we disagree, don’t like a work, or understand it?” (Zoe Pharo)

The People’s Town Hall Movement on Montrose, 2951 W. Montrose Ave. Sunday, November 10, 2:30pm–4:30pm. Free.

Various local organizations, including the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, are hosting a panel discussion with city officials and community organizers to discuss the issue of police officers who have ties to the far-right group the Oath Keepers. Doors open at 2pm. (Zoe Pharo)

Ink + Impact: The Power of Journalism

DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, 714 E 56th St. Wednesday, November 13, 5:30pm–8pm. Free, attendees are encouraged to donate $20 for their ticket. bit.ly/inkandimpact

The Better Government Association is hosting a panel of leading editors and publishers, including Crystal Paul, state investigations editor of Illinois Answers Project; Jackie Serrato, editor-in-chief of South Side Weekly; Morgan Elise Johnson, co-founder and publisher of The TRiiBE; and Salem Collo-Julin, editor-in-chief of the Chicago Reader. (Zoe Pharo)

Silent Book Club: Chicago Loop & South Side

So happy you’re here, 3331 S. Halsted St. Thursday, November 21, 7:30pm–9pm. Free. bit.ly/sohappyyourehere

So Happy You’re Here, a vintage clothing arts and more shop in Bridgeport, is hosting a silent book club. BYO-tea and enjoy reading in nooks set up throughout the store. Silent reading time from 7:30pm. to 8:30pm. and quiet shopping, socializing or continued reading time from 8:30pm. to 9pm. (Zoe Pharo)

Family

Table: Hearth

SkyART South, 3026 E. 91st St. Friday, December 6, 6pm–8pm. bit.ly/3UGj3l1

Join SkyART for this interactive dinner and performance featuring a collaborative shared soup created by two local chefs. It will pay homage to SkyART’s newly imagined mobile food cart, and the “resourcefulness and sustainability” of soup, “transforming what might otherwise be wasted into a nourishing meal.” The series highlights themes of social justice and community reclamation, through the experience of both service and consumption. (Zoe Pharo)

Green

Light for Change:

A Community Forum on Traffic Stop Reform

The Front Porch, 1130 W. 51st St. Saturday, December 7, 11:30am–1pm. Free, lunch will be provided. partiful. bit.ly/3CcFzeV

In 2022, the number of Black drivers in Illinois who were stopped by police for nonmoving violations and given a warning was five times more than it was in 2004. Hosted by the Investigative Project on Race and Equity and other local organizations, this event will feature a panel of local organizers and experts who have spent decades pushing for reform. Learn your rights, speak with lawyers from First Defense Legal Aid and connect with other people thinking about change and how issues with traffic stops affect our neighborhoods, and especially Black and Brown community members. (Zoe Pharo)

BREAK CYCLES TO BUILD FUTURES