SOUTH CHICAGO Compiled by Francisco Ramírez Pinedo, Neighborhood Captain
PHOTO BY FRANCISCO RAMIREZ PINEDO
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ny time I’m in the Loop or on the North Side, people ask me where I’m from. I tell them South Chicago. Then they ask me to specify which neighborhood, presuming I meant the South Side in general. I repeat: South Chicago. Only when I give up, I say, “Close to the border with Indiana, but very much still in Chicago.” Although I was not born here, I’m adamant about the nomenclature because of how the neighborhood has shaped me and my fellow residents. Oftentimes, the barrio can feel like a small town because everyone knows everyone; there are usually only about two or three degrees of separation at most. Many of us still follow the old Chicago tradition of belonging to a certain parish and/or school. Many families who lived in the same houses since kindergarten still live in those homes. However, the erasure that the neighborhood experiences even by other Chicagoans belies the reality of a neighborhood that sits along so much lakefront. Michael InnisJiménez’s book Steel Barrio: The Great Mexican Migration to South Chicago, 1915-1940 is required reading if one is to understand how the neighborhood shifted from mostly Eastern European to the mostly Black and Latinx community it is today; how a previous influx of Mexican immigrants created an identity and home despite residents
that at the time were hostile to Black and Latinx people. Those Mexican immigrants built spaces, like the first church in the city to serve people like them, and introduced baseball leagues to set roots here. As overlooked as the neighborhood is, there is still a sense of potential. South Chicago residents are well aware of our disparities: public transportation into Chicago’s economic hubs is lacking, and people here continue to be threatened with health-adverse industries like General Iron. South Chicago was also one of the neighborhoods that experienced property damage on May 31 due to outrage over police brutality. However the very next day, people in the neighborhood promptly organized a cleanup starting at Nine 3 Studio that, like the steel that was forged along Lake Michigan decades prior, showed a resilience, pride in community, and a will to defy typecasting for a neighborhood I believe is one of Chicago’s best-kept secrets. Francisco Ramírez Pinedo is a freelance web developer and contributing editor for the Weekly based in South Chicago covering labor, tech/cybersecurity, politics, immigration, arts, and design. NOVEMBER 25, 2020 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 73
