NORTH LAWNDALE Compiled by Martha Bayne Neighborhood Captain DOUGLASS 18 MINIGOLF COURSE, PHOTO BY K'VON JACKSON
Pastor Phil Jackson has been working with young people in North Lawndale for more than thirty years. He currently runs the Firehouse Community Arts Center out of a converted 100-year-old firehouse at 21st and Hamlin, which he and some partners purchased in 2007. The center offers classes in dance, technology, film, music production through DJ classes and audio engineering, culinary arts, spoken word and open mic poetry, and visual arts. Firehouse’s Spark Arts program works with young people aged thirteen to eighteen—mostly young men but some young women—with the goal of violence prevention. Their V.I.P. (“Very Important Process”) program works intensively with youth up to age twenty-five to provide alternatives to violence they may be involved in . And the Firehouse culinary program and catering company offers employment and workforce development skills. Find more at thefcac. org.
O
ur mission is to interrupt the cycle of violence in the lives of youth and adults in North Lawndale through the power of arts and faith. And so when we say faith is not [about] church, it's just that we’re an African-American neighborhood where there are 130 churches. So, it is about being aware of the reality that sometimes faith is a part of people's lives. But it's not like we have church services or we’re praying with folks every time they come to the door for this and that. But we just [laughs]—we’re a Black neighborhood, so church, praying for food and praying for a situation, having guys on the block will be a part of the culture. This is just a cultural reality. And so it is with old situations, complicated systemic situations in our community, we're wanting to use art to create redemption and transformation in the lives of young people. There are lots of young people in the streets, lots of young people who are homeless, lots of young people who were just abandoned in their own world because of [their] family situation, and through the arts—whether it was through music and poetry, through dance, video, DJ classes—they find a space to have their identity and not be defined by those things that have kind of sucked the life out of them. What I've noticed over the years is that residents are tired of all that’s gone on. There comes a point when systemic injustice has just come to a head, such as fifty
schools being closed and things like that, that have created, you know, uncomfortable paradigms. Most of the younger guys that are shooting folks are more reckless than the ones in the generation before. But at the same time I think there is a rise in so many organizations that are a little bit more aggressive, in a good way, to create connections. I mean, schools are trying to be creative, you know, the high schools and some elementary schools, but there's only so much they can do as well. The thing that I've seen change has been that systemic issues are coming to a head and now, like Malcolm said, the roosters are coming home to roost, right? Chickens come home to roost. You know, like COVID showed there’s a great disparity for Latinos and African American communities in healthcare. Like, nobody else knew that! Everyone else covered it up. But Black and Latino folk knew it. In Lawndale at one point, I think that data was in 2011, it was like there was one program for every 398 kids. It’s like, what? That's a problem. All the money paid to the Park District, which is like the second largest budget in the city, in North Lawndale there should be more options for that. My whole premise is like Dr. King said, right? Darkness doesn't shoo away darkness. The quote is basically like light shoos away darkness. Love pushes out hate. And so we just need more light. Like when you can't find the keys, you've got one set of lights on and you turn on all the lights! So when things are just complicated, as they are, we need to turn on all the light, you know. We need to get churches a discount with ComEd so that they may be able to, if they're not full time, see if we can get them open four days a week, and now that's more light. And we’ve got the Firehouse: that’s a lamp. Our vision for North Lawndale would be an example of what safety, prosperity, and holistic shalom would be—that guys and ladies would be like, “What, they used to shoot over here? They used to shoot in this neighborhood? Get out of here.” That would be the ideal. And that the residents would rise up. That the residents would say, “Look, I may be raising my three grandkids, but this ain't happening anymore.” There’s so many folks taking care of folks, people raising their nephew ‘cause there was a situation that happened in the family. And people are just tired. SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 69
