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. Editor-in-Chief
Volume 9, Issue 14 Jacqueline Serrato
Managing Editor
Adam Przybyl
Senior Editors Christopher Good Olivia Stovicek Sam Stecklow Martha Bayne Arts Editor Education Editor Housing Editor Community Organizing Editor Immigration Editor
Isabel Nieves Madeleine Parrish Malik Jackson Chima Ikoro Alma Campos
Contributing Editors Lucia Geng Matt Moore Francisco Ramírez Pinedo Jocelyn Vega Scott Pemberton Staff Writers Kiran Misra Yiwen Lu Director of Fact Checking: Kate Gallagher Fact Checkers: Grace Del Vecchio, Hannah Farris, Savannah Hugueley, Caroline Kubzansky, Yiwen Lu, and Sky Patterson Visuals Editor Bridget Killian Deputy Visuals Editors Shane Tolentino Mell Montezuma Staff Illustrators Mell Montezuma Shane Tolentino Layout Editors Colleen Hogan Shane Tolentino Webmaster Pat Sier Managing Director Jason Schumer Director of Operations Brigid Maniates The Weekly is produced by a mostly all-volunteer editorial staff and seeks contributions from across the city. We publish online weekly and in print every other Thursday. 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, contact: (773) 234-5388 or advertising@southsideweekly.com
Cover Illustration by Meg Studer
IN CHICAGO
Mayor picks new 11th Ward alderperson On March 28, Mayor Lori Lightfoot appointed Nicole Lee as Alderperson of the 11th Ward, the first Asian-American woman to serve on City Council. The ward includes parts of Bridgeport, Chinatown, and Pilsen. “I take this historic moment with a lot of stride and responsibility,” said Lee, who was raised in Chinatown. She mentioned that the first Chinese immigrant arrived in Chicago in the 1870’s. “One hundred fifty years later, we’re getting some representation, and it’s me.” Lee has a background in corporate giving and consulting. She last worked as director of social impact optimization and global community engagement at American Airlines. She also worked at Premier Bank and BP America, according to her resume. Lee is replacing Patrick Daley Thompson, who was forced to resign in February after he was found guilty of filing false tax returns. Lee has roots with the Daley Machine. Not only did the 11th ward help elect former mayors Richard J. Daley and Richard M. Daley, but Lee’s father, Gene Lee, worked as deputy chief of staff for Daley son. He was convicted of embezzlement and tax fraud, stealing more than $90,000 from a federally funded nonprofit that helps Chinese immigrants and senior citizens—something Ald. Lee has not publicly addressed. Lee has not yet taken a stance on the ward remapping debate. Scrutinize asphalt plants MAT Asphalt in McKinley Park made news recently for offering to supply the city’s asphalt for five years for $500 million. At the end of last month, about two dozen community, environmental, and health organizations penned a letter to the City’s Chief Procurement Officer Aileen Velasquez to request a higher level of scrutiny when evaluating the environmental impact of companies that wish to operate in the city, like MAT Asphalt. The plant has racked up hundreds of IEPA complaints about their emissions, which are believed to cause a strong odor in the residential and green areas nearby. The letter was also signed by Ald. Byron SigchoLopez (25th) and six North Side alderpersons: “We believe this contract requires a degree of consideration, public involvement and environmental awareness proportional to its large size and long duration.” Currently, MAT Asphalt’s coowner Michael Tadin Jr. is appealing $4,000 worth of City fines. Chicago public television workers on strike Two dozen unionized broadcast technicians at Chicago’s WTTW (Window To The World) channel 11 will enter their fourth week of striking for a contract that preserves their jobs. WTTW, an affiliate of PBS, has been negotiating a contract with the union since May of last year and is attempting to “modernize” by offloading more work to non-union workers. The union, a local of the International Brotherhood of Electricians that represents camera operators, graphic artists, and audio professionals who produce Chicago Tonight and their weekend segments Latino Voices and Black Voices, among other programs, has argued that maintaining the union’s jurisdiction over traditional production tasks preserves better-paying jobs and ensures quality work. John Rizzo, the local’s business manager, believes WTTW’s stance is part of the company’s broader campaign to diminish the power of the union. In the last couple years, the company has hired exclusively non-union employees and apparently attempted to buy out senior union members, leading to the number of union employees dropping from thirty-two to twenty-three. Since going on strike on March 16, WTTW has streamed reruns and shortened the usual hourly Chicago Tonight segment to a half hour. Meanwhile, the union has garnered support from a number of sources, including several politicians, like ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33rd) and even Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who said “Make no mistake, Chicago is a union town” despite clashing with organized labor such as the Chicago Teachers Union in the past. On April 1st, WTTW took away health insurance coverage for striking workers
IN THIS ISSUE public meetings report
A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level. documenters, scott pemberton............4 finding chicago bop in today’s hyperpop
The production on bop songs typically includes heavy bass, high-pitched synthesizers, and autotune. bobby vanecko...........................................5 norberto freed after will county violates illinois way forward act
“It is clear that Will County didn’t know anyone was watching.” alma campos.............................................9 liberan a norberto después de haber sido detenido ilegalmente en will county
“Está claro que Will County no pensaba que alguien estuviera [poniendo atención]”. alma campos...........................................10 new bodycam images show cpd attack on miracle boyd
Last May, COPA concluded its investigation of the incident and recommended he be fired for excessive force and other violations.
jim daley..................................................11 book review: w-3 by bette howland
Howland’s story, filled with inherent curiosities, is backed up by a complex and masterful literary voice. sage behr ...............................................13 what’s next for the southeast side?
“Organizers are starting to finally have an actual ‘seat at the table,’ so to speak.” mckenzie richmond...............................15 data highlights leniency of ex-officer van dyke’s murder sentence
The eighty-one-month sentence was half the average for similar charges. maya dukmasova, injustice watch.......18 student essay contest
Submissions open! Due date is May 1st. South Side Weekly Staff.....................19 the exchange
The Weekly's poetry corner offers our thoughts in exchange for yours. chima ikoro, imani joseph.....................20 calendar
Bulletin and events. south side weekly staff........................21
Public Meetings Report
A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level for the April 7 Issue. BY DOCUMENTERS, SCOTT PEMBERTON
ILLUSTRATION BY HOLLEY APPOLD
Mar. 17 A series of panel discussions to bring youth, community leaders, and police together to discuss various issues is being planned by The Chicago Youth Council for Police Accountability, which is a one-year paid leadership opportunity for residents ages fourteen to twenty-five. It’s managed by We Are Able, Chicago200, Youth Guidance, and Becoming A Man (BAM). At this month’s meeting of the Chicago Police Board, youth council representative Mia Bonds said the events will be in May, and Police Board president Ghian Foreman said the board is working with the council to better understand youth perspectives on policing. The board is also coordinating a police station visit for the group because a youth council member reported that they were having trouble contacting the District 1 police station. CPD reviewed its ongoing partnership with Chicago Survivors, namely the creation of a family liaison unit within each of the CPD’s five detective bureaus. These units are responsible for coordinating with groups to support families affected by homicide. The board also reviewed two COPA recommendations for discipline of police officers for excessive use of force against protesters, including that officer Nicholas Jovanovich be discharged from CPD for striking Miracle Boyd and making a false report. Mar. 21 A demolition surcharge covering Pilsen and the 606 trail has helped to preserve twoflats and other residential buildings, advocates said at a meeting of the City Council Committee on Finance. Since the demolition surcharge was imposed and compared to pre-pandemic levels, demolitions have fallen by eighty percent around the 606 and twenty percent in Pilsen, Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara reported. The surcharge is a fee of at least $15,000 or $5,000 per unit on residential demolitions (whichever is greater) and is intended to protect naturally occurring affordable housing in gentrifying areas. The current demolition rates are significantly lower than in comparable parts of Humboldt Park and Little Village, Novara said. The demolition surcharge has brought in $120,000 for affordable housing and homeownership grants. Originally a one-year pilot, the surcharge will now extend through April 2024. During public comment, real estate and construction representatives, who oppose the program, argued that the surcharge is arbitrary, limits the options of long-term owners, and exacerbates segregation by discouraging investment. Representatives of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association who support the measure said it helps to preserve affordable housing for people of color. An analysis by DePaul’s Institute for Housing Studies revealed the city is losing two- and four-flat residential units, which are a key source of affordable housing. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) representatives presented about school renaming, chronic absenteeism, truancy, and safety and security at the Local School Council (LSC) Advisory Board meeting. Former Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) official Michael Brunson said that meeting minutes and video conferences should be posted publicly to ensure that the LSCAB is following protocols. Liam Bird, CPS director of racial equity initiatives, discussed promoting equity and anti-racism through processes for naming or renaming schools. The naming process is designed so that community members and students must work together to determine new names. Fifty percent of students in a school are to be surveyed. He noted that sixty percent of schools 4 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
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are named after white males. The purpose of the LSCAB is to advise the Board of Education on issues related to LSC elections, operations, powers, duties, and school improvement plans. Mar. 23 Council members cast their votes electronically at this month’s City Council meeting using tablets—the culmination of months of preparation by the City clerk’s office. Traditionally, the City Council has used a voice vote, in which the City clerk performs a roll call of council members with each replying “yea” or “nay.” In February, the clerk’s office explained that in the initial phase of rollout, e-voting would be implemented only at full in-person City Council meetings. After each electronic vote, a digital display indicates how each alderperson voted and the total count of votes for and against. Eventually, e-voting will be available for committee meetings and remote participation. Council member David Moore expressed concerns that the “silent” voting would make it more challenging for constituents to hold their elected officials accountable, but was appeased when he learned that members could request an oral vote. Mar. 25 The Cook County Health and Hospitals System Board of Directors has launched the Change Institute to develop new strategies to bridge gaps in treatment and prevention of diseases that lead to disproportionate deaths in communities of color— cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. At the system’s board meeting, Cook County Health CEO Israel Rocha, Jr. said the response to treat and cure COVID-19 inspired the creation of the institute in order to treat such diseases with the same effort and commitment as the health provider has treated the COVID pandemic. Mar. 29 Community members called for the preservation and adaptive reuse of two vacant buildings in Altgeld Gardens on the Far South Side during the Department of Planning and Development’s (DPD) Commission on Chicago Landmarks Program Committee meeting. Unlike regular Commission on Chicago Landmarks meetings, which are led by the City’s historic preservation staff, these occasional hearings give the public an opportunity to present ideas for landmarks. People for Community Recovery executive director Cheryl Johnson, an Altgeld Gardens resident, advocated for preserving a school building and the midcentury modern “Up-Top Shop,” a commercial building. The “Up-Top Shop” has a breezeway memorializing the names of neighbors who died due to violence or pollution-related illness. Johnson proposed turning the school building into a green technology center and museum named after her mother, Hazel Johnson, who is known as the “mother of the environmental justice movement” for her activism around the negative health effects caused by industrial waste. Of the fifteen sites discussed in the meeting, eight were on the South Side and mostly religious in nature and three on the West Side. The proposals headed to the historic preservation division for review. This information was collected in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org
MUSIC
Finding Chicago Bop in Today’s Hyperpop Tracing the affinities between two Chicago genres.
BY BOBBY VANECKO
I
feel like the best way to describe it would be nostalgic, but new-sounding at the same time. There are moments in some of the songs that may remind you of something you’ve felt, seen, or heard before. But the song as a whole feels like its own thing.” Andrew Goes to Hell, a songwriter, producer and vocalist from the southwest suburbs of Chicago, is describing hyperpop—the term commentators have used to describe the new vanguard of electronic music taking shape across Chicago and around the world. According to Billy Bugara, co-founder of online label deadAir, it’s “just contemporary future pop… It’s taking pop music to levels it hasn’t been, as far as experimentation, creativity and embodying the modern sentiment in general.” But this can take a dizzyingly broad range of forms: as Chicago Reader writer Leor Galil puts it, hyperpop is “a frustratingly imprecise umbrella term that refers to a growing pool of stylistically disparate pop experimentalists.” And if hyperpop’s sound is difficult to triangulate, then its origin is even harder to pin down. The mainstream stories that have popped up to explain this new genre typically attribute its founding to the Spotify playlist that coined the term in 2019, to the 2019 debut album from the band 100 gecs, or to the label and musical collective PC Music, which dates back to 2013. All of these groups share common sounds and production techniques, such as sped-up tempos, high-pitched vocals, blown-out synths, and other futuristic electronic flourishes—and much of it is popular in Chicago. But despite these connections to the city, one overlooked influence on—and predecessor to— today’s hyperpop music is Chicago bop,
ILLUSTRATION BY KEVIN MOORE JR.
a type of rap music that was pioneered in the city in the early 2010’s by artists like Kemo, Stunt Taylor, and Sicko Mobb, and producers like DJ Nate, Mudd Gang, and the late LeekeLeek. Nine years ago, in a Pitchfork article on Chicago’s bop scene, writer Meaghan Garvey described the genre as “buoyant, upbeat and heavily reliant on autotune rap-singing.” Today,
the description seems like it could double as an account of hyperpop. “I imagine history will flatten what Chicago rap sounded like in the first half of the 2010s into top-to-bottom doom and gloom,” Garvey wrote in an email to the Weekly, “but that wasn’t really the case. In all the early tapes from guys like Keef and Durk, there’d be these
moments of total exuberance, like ‘Save That Shit’ on Back from the Dead in 2012. That specific sound—which was sort of tinny and chintzy and to some people, probably really annoying—was popping up in tons of new Chicago songs I’d find while trawling Youtube, and I became a bit obsessed with organizing it into something coherent, because it was APRIL 7, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 5
MUSIC so awesome and because it fleshed out the narrative of what was happening in Chicago rap.” If drill emerged as sort of a bastard offshoot of Atlanta-style trap, Garvey says, then bop picked up where the upbeat, chipper, sound of Atlanta artists like Soulja Boy and Travis Porter left off. “Basically, it was party music.” The production on bop songs typically includes heavy bass, highpitched synthesizers, and other electronic sounds that complement the autotune, as on DJ Nate’s “Gucci Goggles,” Ballout’s “Lean,” and Stunt Taylor’s “Fefe on the Block.” Hyperpop includes many of the same characteristics, especially the autotune and synthesizers, which are blown out to maximum effect on tracks like Nigo Chanel’s “Barbie.” But as with many other genres which took root in Chicago—rock and roll, country, and house music, to name a few—the Black pioneers of bop are
PHOTO BY JAMES BAROZ
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often overlooked in the mainstream media’s hyperpop conversation, in favor of discussion around white artists like 100 gecs or PC Music’s A.G. Cook. While Sicko Mobb did sign a record deal with Polo Grounds/RCA in early 2014, the deal did not live up to the group’s potential, and they haven’t released music as a group since 2016. This is despite the fact that Sicko Mobb did more to create the Chicago bop sound than any other artist—especially through their output in 2013 and 2014. As Garvey writes: “To me, Sicko Mobb encapsulated everything I loved about the bop sound: it had these subconscious shiny pop impulses, but presented in this totally bizarro way that made it cool and interesting, with these giddy tempos and synth arpeggios and sugary melodies, on the more-is-more-is-more tip. I always thought of it like superflat art, i.e. the style of Takashi Murakami, bright and hyper-saturated with this flattened,
exaggerated anime style of action. To me, the Super Saiyan Volumes 1 and 2 tapes represent a fully realized parallel universe to hyperpop, though I’d reckon that since they aren’t on streaming, a good deal of these young hyperpop producers have no idea they exist. No shade. But those kids should go listen to “Own Lane" and see what's up.”
Andrew Goes to Hell, who grew up in the Southwest suburbs, became interested in music through his family. “My mom [played] house and RnB… and my Dad was listening to a lot of new wave at the time, along with all the other songs my older brother had on his iPod. I first started getting really deep into creating music when I first started DJing
All the same, hyperpop is created by a diverse range of artists—such as quinn, midwxst, Aaron Cartier, and angelus—and many are intentional about the diversity of the scene they’re developing, especially in Chicago. Though the national (and digital) conversation can gravitate towards white artists, the city’s hyperpop scene is driven by many Black and brown artists, and LGBTQIA+ artists in particular. (Many hyperpop musicians name the late PC Music affiliate SOPHIE as a defining influence—not just for her bubbly, kinetic approach to sound design, but for the way she used this palette to explore gender and trans identity). “When hyperpop was first conceptualized, I initially had an issue with it because it wasn’t racially inclusive and seemed to be the same popularized white artists in rotation,” Andrew Goes to Hell said, “but immediately after its inception, those popular artists took it upon themselves to ensure racial inclusivity.”
around sixth or seventh grade and started speeding songs up to a faster tempo and uploading sped up ‘remixes’ of songs on YouTube.” These fast-pitched remixes are sometimes known as “nightcore,” a genre that A.G. Cook and other hyperpop artists have cited as an influence on their music. Still, Andrew Goes to Hell describes himself as a “hyperpop-adjacent” artist. “I feel like some of my music could fit the criteria that meets hyperpop, but I don’t think all of it does,” he said. Even Fraxiom—an artist signed to Dog Show Records, a label run by 100 gecs co-founder Dylan Brady—thinks that there’s no one definition for hyperpop. “I feel like when everyone talks about hyperpop, they have this idea of what it means in their head, and they won’t tell anyone else and they just expect everyone to get it. Because some people mean it like PC Music, Hannah Diamond-type stuff, and some people mean it like cloud rap, and then like you’ve also got like Caroline Polachek, and then there’s full on drum and bass, and just everything is so varied when you talk about the word hyperpop.”
Chicago bop music—all of Sicko Mobb, Keyani’s “Bop Wit Me,” the late Edai’s “Clout Like Us,” the late Lil Jojo and Lil Mister’s “Episode,” the “Save That Shit” mode of Chief Keef and the “Mollygurl” mode of Lil Durk—is just forwardthinking pop music, as is the music coming out of Chicago’s modern hyperpop scene.
MUSIC
PHOTO BY JAMES BAROZ
“When I started making this type of music, before the hyperpop playlist was even around,” Fraxiom said, “I would just call it pop music, because what I interpreted all of this stuff as was like me formerly being an electronic artist, and now I want to make things that sound like my interpretation of the Top 40, but also I want to use that influence of like Brockhampton, Tyler, the Creator-type stuff ... doing storytelling, and it’s super raw sometimes, like absurd. [But] by the time I started making vocals in 2019, I was really about the heavily autotuned Dylan Brady, Drain Gang, Playboi Carti [sound]…. the more synthetic stuff.” In conversation with the Weekly, Andrew Goes to Hell also touched on a wide range of influences, including Chicago rappers like Sicko Mobb, Chief Keef, and Stunt Taylor, along with Chicago footwork and house artists like DJ Taye, DJ Slugo, DJ Deeon, DJ Funk, and DJ Trajic. For his part, Andrew Goes to Hell hears the influence of these Chicago genres within some hyperpop. “As time goes on, you’ll find that a lot more hyperpop music will have segmented elements of genres such as drill and
PHOTO BY JAMES BAROZ
alternative rock just in one song alone. It’s funny, because now there are new coined subgenres like ‘hyperdrill’—and it’s exciting to see genres cross and evolve, but [also] give recognition to the source material. I think on a local level, artists are making music with subconscious influences, like footwork or bop and drill, and are implementing them in this new way across different genres. And it really is a beautiful thing to see.” Both Fraxiom and Andrew Goes to Hell agree that Chicago has an important hyperpop scene—“Casper McFadden, Chase Alex, Bean Boy used to live here, Ivy Hollivana, Hazelboy, Cam Stacey, TYGKO, Mohawk Johnson, Endo,” Fraxiom lists— and one that is growing larger, even if it’s mostly taken place online over the past couple years. Andrew Goes to Hell said that “since the pandemic, a lot of places really shut down and venues are a lot more scarce now, but a few people like Reset Presents are slowly trying to bring more shows with similar bills that once catered to the hyperpop music genre. Pre-pandemic there were many DIY venues always popping up in the South Side and all over Chicago that
had diverse bills, but it is taking some time now.” Fraxiom said that Chicago’s music scene was what inspired them to move from rural Massachusetts to Chicago, where they attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before dropping out to focus on music. “The moment that made me realize that I needed to be in Chicago if I wanted to make music,” Fraxiom said, “was [when] I was one month into college and I was at this rave, Andrew Goes to Hell was also playing it … I ended up DJing shirtless smoking a joint at like three in the morning… Laura Les [from 100 gecs] was there, Casper McFadden played too. It was the best small show I have ever been to, and I was like, if this is how Chicago moves, I need to be at these like all the time.” Chicago is the perfect place for hyperpop to take hold, especially given the city’s innovative bop scene, and the city’s penchant for electronic music like house, juke, and footwork. Basically, Chicago bop music—all of Sicko Mobb, Keyani’s “Bop Wit Me,” the late Edai’s “Clout Like Us,” the late Lil Jojo and Lil Mister’s “Episode,” the “Save That Shit” mode of
Chief Keef and the “Mollygurl” mode of Lil Durk—is just forward-thinking pop music, as is the music coming out of Chicago’s modern hyperpop scene. Andrew Goes to Hell, too, sees something special in Chicago’s scene. “In a time where it seems like a lot of people are moving to other creative hub cities like New York or Los Angeles, it is worth so much to take in Chicago for how special it really is. And if we allow a diverse creative community to grow here, we can really share that with the world.” “I’ve been feeling really nostalgic lately about when I was little and started DJing, and how much I would daydream about moving closer to the city to make music,” he continued. “Whatever music I make in 2022, I really want to capture that feeling of how much I once loved, and still love this city.” ¬ Bobby Vanecko is a contributor to the Weekly. He last spoke with sociologist and professor Forrest Stuart about drill music in Chicago.
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IMMIGRATION
Noberto Freed After Will County Violates Illinois Way Forward Act Protests and calls for Norberto Navarro’s release by family and community groups put pressure on Will County officials.
BY ALMA CAMPOS n Wednesday, March 23, Norberto Navarro was released from the Will County Adult Detention Facility after being detained since January. Navarro was released because his detention was against state law. The Illinois Way Forward Act, which came into effect on January 1, prohibits local law enforcement from carrying out immigration operations, making arrests, facilitating transfers, and holding detainees. His attorney, Nicole Hallett, thinks this could not have happened without the support and protests of Navarro’s community. “The reason we thought he was going to be transferred back to ICE was because Will County made an agreement with ICE that they would do that. And so it seemed likely that that's what was going to happen. Will County did not expect such attention.” Navarro, thirty, testified that day as a witness in a trial about a fatal crash in Beecher, Illinois involving the death of a pregnant mother and her three children in 2017. Navarro called the police and tried to rescue the family.
O
Two years after the accident, Navarro, a U.S. permanent resident, was convicted for a drug charge in Texas, near El Paso. After he completed his forty-month sentence, he was transferred to a different detention facility in New Mexico, where
“We fought so that Illinois sanctuary laws that our immigrant communities advocated for are upheld,” — Ana Guajardo
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began deportation proceedings. Then the Illinois State’s Attorney ordered his transfer to the Will County Adult
Norberto with his mother, Aída.
Detention Facility as a material witness for the 2017 accident in Beecher. He was supposed to testify on March 22, but his testimony was postponed at the last minute. People protested outside just like they did on March 8. The next day he was released. “It’s the most amazing thing in the world to be back with my family,” said Navarro in a statement on Wednesday. “I’m so happy that I can hug them and talk to them. Right now, the most important thing is spending time with my family, and especially my daughter. I’m really thankful to Centro de Trabajadores Unidos and my community, for fighting not only for me but also for others in similar situations.” More than twenty Illinois elected officials also called on Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to enforce the Illinois Way Forward Act/TRUST Act on behalf of Navarro. “It is clear that Will County didn’t know anyone was watching,” said Sarah Southey, legal clinic coordinator at Centro de Trabajadores Unidos. “It definitely wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for the organizing that our community did.” Navarro is currently obtaining his U visa which grants citizenship to those who have suffered significant mental or physical abuse from a criminal activity. According to Navarro’s mother Aida
PHOTO BY SARAH SOUTHEY
Navarro and his attorneys who spoke to the Weekly, he suffered significant trauma after witnessing the children and mother suffer inside the car moments before their deaths. “The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office thought they could get away with harming someone in our community because he is an immigrant, but we fought so that Illinois sanctuary laws that our immigrant communities advocated for are upheld,” said Ana Guajardo, director of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, the organization behind Navarro’s release. In a previous interview with the Weekly, Hallett said this is the first time the Illinois Way Forward Act has been invoked in court to request someone’s release. “I hope that other counties and sheriff 's offices and State's Attorney's offices see this and think that if ever this kind of situation were to happen in their county, they’re going to have to comply with the law.” ¬ Alma Campos is the Weekly’s immigration editor. She last wrote about Norberto Navarro’s detention in violation of Illinois state ban.
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INMIGRACIÓN
Liberan a Norberto después de haber sido detenido ilegalmente en Will County Las protestas y los llamados de familiares y grupos comunitarios para que liberaran a Norberto Navarro presionaron a las autoridades del Condado de Will.
BY ALMA CAMPOS l miércoles, 23 de marzo, Norberto Navarro fue liberado del Centro de Detención para Adultos del Condado de Will después de haber estado detenido desde enero. Navarro quedó en libertad porque su detención violaba la ley estatal. La ley Illinois Way Forward Act, que entró en vigor el 1ro de enero, prohíbe a las autoridades locales llevar a cabo operativos de inmigración, realizar detenciones, facilitar traslados y retener detenidos. Su abogada, Nicole Hallett, cree que esto no hubiera ocurrido sin el apoyo y las protestas de la comunidad de Navarro. “La razón por la que pensamos que iba a ser transferido de nuevo a ICE fue porque el Condado de Will tuvo un acuerdo con ICE de que lo iban a transferir. Y por lo tanto parecía probable que eso fuera a suceder. El Condado de Will no esperaba tanta atención”. Navarro, de treinta años, testificó ese día por ser testigo en un juicio sobre un accidente mortal en Beecher, Illinois, en el que murieron una madre embarazada y sus tres hijos en 2017. Navarro llamó a la policía e intentó rescatar a la familia. Dos años después del accidente, Navarro, que es residente permanente, fue sentenciado por un cargo de drogas en Texas, cerca de El Paso. Tras cumplir su condena de cuarenta meses, fue trasladado a otro centro de detención en Nuevo México, donde el Servicio
E
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de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés) inició el proceso de deportación. Luego, el Fiscal del Estado de Illinois ordenó su traslado al Centro de Detención para Adultos del Condado de Will como testigo crítico del accidente de 2017 en Beecher. Estaba programado para dar su testimonio el 22 de marzo, pero la fecha fue retrasada a último minuto. La gente protestó afuera como lo hicieron el 8 de marzo. Al día siguiente Navarro fue dejado en libertad. “Es lo más increíble del mundo estar de vuelta con mi familia”, dijo Navarro en un comunicado el miércoles. “Estoy muy feliz de poder abrazarlos y hablar con ellos. Ahorita, lo más importante es pasar tiempo con mi familia, y especialmente con mi hija. Estoy muy agradecido con el Centro de Trabajadores Unidos y mi comunidad, por luchar no sólo por mí, sino también por otros en situaciones similares.” Más de veinte funcionarios electos de Illinois también le pidieron al Fiscal General de Illinois, Kwame Raoul, que hiciera cumplir la ley Illinois Way Forward Act/TRUST Act, a favor de Navarro. “Está claro que Will County no pensaba que alguien estuviera [poniendo atención]”, dijo Sarah Southey, coordinadora de la clínica legal del Centro de Trabajadores Unidos. “Definitivamente no hubiera ocurrido si
no fuera por la campaña de organización que hizo nuestra comunidad”. Actualmente, Navarro está tramitando su visa U, que concede la
NORBERTO CON SU MADRE, AÍDA
ciudadanía a quienes han sufrido abusos mentales o físicos significativos a causa de una actividad criminal. Según la madre de Navarro, Aida Navarro, y sus abogados que hablaron con el Weekly, él sufrió un trauma significativo después de presenciar el sufrimiento de los niños y la madre dentro del auto momentos antes de su muerte. “La Fiscalía del Estado del Condado de Will pensó que podía salirse con la suya dañando a alguien de nuestra comunidad porque es un inmigrante, pero nosotros luchamos para que se respeten las leyes de santuario de Illinois por las que abogaron nuestras comunidades de inmigrantes”,
dijo Ana Guajardo, directora del Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, la organización detrás de la defensa de Navarro. En una entrevista anterior con el
FOTO POR SARAH SOUTHEY
Weekly, Hallett dijo que esta es la primera vez que la ley Illinois Way Forward Act ha sido mencionada en la corte para pedir la liberación de alguien. “Espero que otros condados y alguaciles y fiscalías del estado vean esto, y piensen que si alguna vez este tipo de situación sucediera en su condado, que tendrán que cumplir con la ley”. ¬ Alma Campos es la editora de inmigración del Weekly. Su artículo anterior fue sobre la detención ilegal de Norberto Navarro.
POLICE
New Bodycam Images Show CPD Attack on Miracle Boyd
Bodycam footage apparently shows officer Jovanovich reaching for Miracle Boyd’s cell phone.
BODYCAM IMAGE OBTAINED FROM COPA.
Officer Nicholas Jovanovich now faces firing as a result of the 2020 incident, in which he knocked out the activist’s tooth and seized her cell phone.
BY JIM DALEY Content warning: Police violence
P
olice reports and bodycam images obtained by the Weekly and the Chicago Reader shed new light on a 2020 incident in which a Chicago police officer attacked activist Miracle Boyd at a Grant Park protest, knocking out her front tooth. The images, which were attached to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability’s (COPA) investigation of the incident, are stark. As another cop looks on, officer Nicholas Jovanovich, facing the camera, runs toward Boyd and swings his fist at her as she backs away. When the blow lands, her cell phone flies to the pavement and she stumbles away, bent double. Jovanovich has been with the
department since September 2005. Last May, COPA concluded its investigation of the incident and recommended he be fired for excessive force and other violations. Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown objected, suggesting he be suspended for a year instead. On March 17, the Sun-Times reported that Chicago Police Board member Nanette Doorley reviewed COPA’s investigation and agreed with the agency’s recommendation over Brown’s objection. The board will hold an evidentiary hearing to decide Jovanovich’s fate. Last spring, after COPA denied Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests for police bodycam footage and other materials related to the agency’s investigation of the attack, the Weekly
sued to get them. In December, COPA relented, releasing a heavily redacted video and nearly 100 still frames from bodycams to the Weekly. Until now, some of the only publicly available footage of the attack was a cellphone video filmed across the street and tweeted by youth activist group GoodKids MadCity, which Boyd is a member of. While the video COPA provided is almost entirely redacted, multiple still frames clearly show Jovanovich approaching Boyd, extending his arm, and striking her. An object that appears to be her cell phone is knocked to the ground. As Boyd turns away, Jovanovich appears to immediately pick up the phone. In addition to finding he used excessive force, COPA determined Jovanovich “seized [Boyd’s] phone
without justification” and failed to inventory it. COPA also found Jovanovich made “false, misleading, inaccurate, and/or incomplete statements” in the tacticalresponse report (TRR) he submitted about the incident. CPD officers must file a TRR whenever they use force against a civilian. Last week, the Reader obtained twenty-two TRRs Jovanovich filed over the course of his career, including the one about the 2020 incident. According to the Invisible Institute’s Citizens Police Data Project, that’s more use-of-force reports than ninety-six percent of Chicago cops. Eighteen of the people Jovanovich reported using force against were Black, and four were Latinx; four, including Boyd, were women; two, including APRIL 7, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 11
POLICE Boyd, were only eighteen years old at the time of the attacks. At least six required medical attention. In the report about the Grant Park incident, Jovanovich apparently conflated a confrontation between police and protesters that had occurred earlier in the day with the incident in which he struck Boyd. He checked boxes indicating Boyd was “armed with a weapon” he described as “cans [and] explosive devices” that she attacked police with. He also checked boxes indicating she committed “assault or battery” against him, and that he responded with an “open hand strike.” In the narrative of the incident involving Boyd, Jovanovich wrote that during the protest at the Columbus statue, he was struck in the head, chest, and shoulder with frozen drink cans, and that two explosive devices went off near his head and feet. He describes “maneuvering” his way out of the melee with fellow officers while unopened cans, rocks, and fireworks continued to rain down on them. Some protesters did throw fireworks and other objects at police officers near the Columbus statue. The police initially retreated before returning in force and indiscriminately attacking protesters and journalists alike with fists, batons, and chemical irritants, confiscating cell phones and bicycles, and making mass arrests. Jovanovich’s report says that “a short time later,” after he had regained his
BODYCAM IMAGE OBTAINED FROM COPA.
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composure and caught his breath, he first saw Boyd. Jovanovich wrote that he “observed an unknown subject who was moving towards the back of the arresting officers who could not see the highly agitated person swinging and flailing their arms with an unknown object in their right hand. [Boyd] was yelling profanities and walking quickly toward the back of the arresting officers. [Boyd] continued to walk toward the officers extending the unknown object with their right hand. The officers were unaware of [Boyd] approaching them from behind and [ Jovanovich] believing [Boyd] was going to batter the arresting officers or BODYCAM IMAGE OBTAINED FROM COPA. attempt to defeat the arrest [ Jovanovich] Officer Jovanovich (left) begins approaching Miracle Boyd. immediately approached [Boyd] and with an open left hand struck [her] right hand within “eight to twelve feet” to “get his wants Jovanovich to make amends and knocking the object from [her] hand. name and birthdate in order to attempt participate in a restorative-justice peace to locate him in CPD custody and assist circle with her, adding that he should be [Boyd] then fled the scene.” The report doesn’t mention that the him in obtaining legal services. She fired regardless. She said that she didn’t stopped following after the police took press charges against him because of her “object” was a cell phone. Boyd’s statement to COPA differs markedly from Jovanovich’s account. According to the statement, Boyd wasn’t among the group of protesters at the Columbus statue who threw objects and fireworks at police. She was on a sidewalk near the northeast corner of Columbus and Roosevelt, using her cell phone to livestream video of the police beating demonstrators and making arrests. The statement says Boyd observed a man being arrested and approached the man into an “area that was full of personal beliefs. police officers.” Boyd briefly met with superintendent Seconds later, Jovanovich walked Brown, who she said smiled and extended toward her “with haste,” and said his hand to her at a March 19 town “something like ‘piece of shit.’” hall on community safety in Garfield His hand “was raised with his fist Park that was also attended by Mayor balled up and he struck her in the face. Lori Lightfoot. [Boyd] said she was moving backward at “Brown went against COPA’s the time she was struck because the officer recommendation and instead believed was walking toward her aggressively. She officer Nicholas Jovanovich,” she told said she ‘flinched’ as he struck her. She was the Reader. “It felt like a slap in the face not sure whether it was [ Jovanovich’s] fist for him to shake my hand and show or her phone that knocked her tooth out. his teeth.” ¬ She said she felt pain and put her hands on her face and blood was rushing from Jim Daley is the news editor at the Chicago her mouth. She then heard the officer say, Reader and was previously an editor at the ‘give me that fucking phone.’” Weekly. He previously wrote about a 2009 Boyd fled, and later went to a hospital. incident in which officer Jovanovich attacked a Black teenager. Officer Nicholas Jovanovich strikes She never did get her phone back. She told the Reader she still Miracle Boyd at a July 17, 2020 protest.
¬ APRIL 7, 2022
In the report about the Grant Park incident, Jovanovich apparently conflated a confrontation between police and protesters that had occurred earlier in the day with the incident in which he struck Boyd.
LIT
Book Review: W-3 by Bette Howland
A memoir inspired by the University of Chicago’s psychiatric ward. BY SAGE BEHR Content Warning: Mentions of suicide and psychiatric conditions
B
ette Howland’s memoir W-3 has a unique origin story. It was originally published in 1974, launching a short literary career for Howland. After winning a MacArthur grant in 1983, the author disappeared from publishing for the rest of her life. Years after its initial publication, the editor of the Brooklyn-based magazine, A Public Space, picked up a copy of the memoir off a discount rack at a bookstore and was immediately struck by Howland’s prose as well as her unusual life. A Public Space reissued W-3— whose title refers to the University of Chicago’s psychiatric ward that inspired the memoir—in mid 2021, three and a half years after Howland’s death. The memoir begins in the days after Howland attempted suicide by swallowing a bottle of pills in her friend, lover, and lifelong correspondent Saul Bellow’s apartment. The attempt occurred while Howland, a single mother, was working as an editor and librarian and struggling to financially support her two children while continuing to write, and it led to an extended period in the University of Chicago Medicine psychiatric ward. Howland’s story, filled with inherent curiosities, is backed up by a complex and
masterful literary voice. Throughout W-3, Howland renders the intense realities of the psychiatric ward in precise and guarded prose that reveals her to be, above everything else, an observer. In the moments that she does reveal her interiority, Howland proves herself to be unafraid of the brutality of her own observations no matter where her gaze is directed. W-3 opens in the intensive care unit where Howland woke up from a coma after her suicide attempt, with no voice and “no ‘mood,’ that is to say, no surplus,” Howland writes. Howland describes her convalescence as continuing this way; cleaved from all self-governance and passive. But under the surface her sharp powers of judgment simmer, a fact that becomes extremely clear when she moves to W-3 and begins to describe the people that she meets in the ward. Howland structures the book in tight self-contained episodes that highlight various characters that live on the ward. The names of her peers are so numerous that it is easy to get confused, but the behaviors that Howland describes are hard to forget. Trudy lifts up her skirts to reveal a backside pocked with penicillin injections for gonorrhea. Basil speaks with such sincere emotion that he moves the listener—until his inability to stop talking becomes disturbing. Fran arrives
at the ward unresponsive and unwashed expresses disbelief at another patient’s and is brought back to vibrancy when outburst: “‘I’ve had intercourse with fortyshe is assigned a secretary role for three men…But I only had orgasms a patient meetings. few times…Just a few times! Almost Howland does not coddle the reader, never!’ And here the throat bulged, the nor does she spare the dignity of her big painted mouth crumpled bitterly; she fellow patients by softening her portraits. lowered her face and hung her head…I
“Howland’s writing demands the same recognition, even if, like her, it had to be lost before it could be found.” She describes meal time at the ward as “disgusting,” a battered woman’s bruises as “freakish,” and another patient on the ward as looking like “a fat baby.” In one memorable scene, Howland
was stunned. This was a textbook. Can it be that she only read it somewhere?” The behaviors of patients going through major mental health crises strike Howland as so obvious that they are
PROVIDED BY A PUBLIC PLACE PUBLISHING
APRIL 7, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 13
LIT occasionally unbearable to her. Yet even Ferrante’s embodied symbols that haunt as she watches, Howland understands women in patriarchal structures. Only that she belongs at W-3 as much as any Howland is not superimposing any new other patient. She is not “acting out” in lens onto the past—she is narrativizing the same way that she describes her peers her present. as doing, and as a highly educated woman, Also fascinating is Howland’s she acknowledges her socioeconomic unadorned description of hair privilege within the ward, but even so maintenance for Black women on the Howland is not disunited from her peers: ward: “Hair was always a problem, but for
“Howland acknowledges the dual reality of her perspective. She identifies with her peers, and yet she sees the ward from a vantage point that divests the behaviors of their disturbing reality.”
“Every time I observed some outburst, some dissident behavior on the ward,” Howland says, “I would feel the same urge, the same strong temptation…the same thought would pop into my head, with the force of novelty – the way ideas occur to a child’s mind: Hmm. Maybe I should try that too?” Howland acknowledges the dual reality of her perspective. She identifies with her peers, and yet she sees the ward from a vantage point that divests the behaviors of their disturbing reality. Howland's descriptions are cool, almost to the point of being cold—but the revulsion, humor, and absurdity that she brings to her analysis of the ward itself are where she reveals her tough mind. Of W-3, she writes, “the patients existed for the sake of the hospital, not the other way around…Once you understood this, it was simple, everything fell into place. Only it was the last thing that would ever occur to you.” In many ways, W-3 feels like a time capsule delivered with contemporary lucidity. In fact, it often feels strangely up-to-date with the lexicon and language norms of today, which have changed considerably since the time that W-3 was published. When Howland describes the specter of the “divorcée,” the identity in which she now lives, stalking her worth in society, it recalls Italian novelist Elena 14 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
¬ APRIL 7, 2022
black women it was a scourge.” Howland goes on to describe her Black peers desperately ironing their hair with the tools they could find on the ward: “By night the kitchen reeked of strong burning hair.” By paying attention, Howland is describing the racial hair politics of the time that still have relevance today. Howland’s purposely positioned gaze as an observer creates a sort of distance that contrasts with the physical and emotional closeness that she has with her peers on the ward, a racially diverse group that reflects the city of Chicago. For a white woman in the 1960s, it might have been an anomaly to feel that camaraderie with people of different backgrounds, but Howland was a Jewish woman living in Uptown, a much more diverse neighborhood than it is today. Most likely, this impression of distance was just as much a writing device as a lived experience. When the realities of the 60’s hit, however, they are deeply unnerving. Howland describes multiple instances of medical abuse that are devastating, as is the revelation that Howland was remanded to W-3 to avoid jail time for the crime of “attempted suicide.” For a book that so often looks outward, W-3 has moments of introspection that are as critical as the rest. It is, therefore, more surprising when Howland is tender
with herself and with others. When staff release Howland from the ward, she leaves behind Gerda, a suicidal woman who Howland describes as having “a sort of force field…that both pulled and repelled me.” Howland identifies with Gerda, which is why she rejects her. Gerda will not stop attempting suicide. Howland realizes what Gerda seems to already know: suicide is not what it promises to be. “There is nothing sacrosanct about suicide,” Howland writes. Years after her release, Howland returns once to the ward, and realizes that she has been transformed into a visitor. She’s no longer of W-3, even as she searches for Gerda and finds her recovering from yet another suicide attempt. “And I had thought that things had changed!” Howland exclaims. “Now I saw my error: the place was immutable. Things were always changing, things were always the same.” It feels strange to pick up a book by a nearly forgotten writer because of their association to one of the American greats and discover what almost disappeared.
Saul Bellow, a suicide attempt, the genius grant, an abandoned career— Howland’s writing offers even more than the captivating story behind it. In W-3, Howland’s unforgiving descriptions disallow the reader from moving unfeelingly through the psychiatric ward where she witnessed so much. In that hardness there is recognition, and in that recognition, compassion. Howland’s writing demands the same recognition, even if, like her, it had to be lost before it could be found.¬ Sage Behr is an actor, writer, and barista originally from Iowa City. She previously interviewed Evan Moore, the co-author of Game Misconduct.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
What’s Next for the Southeast Side?
PROVIDED BY OSCAR SANCHEZ
Hunger strikers reflect on their campaign’s success, but there is more work ahead in the fight for environmental justice.
BY MCKENZIE RICHMOND
M
ere days after the first anniversary of a monthlong hunger strike organized by community members of Chicago’s 10th Ward to protest General Iron’s relocation, the City of Chicago denied the operating permit for the scrap metal facility to operate in the area. Community organizers celebrated, but say this is not the end of their fight for environmental justice in the Southeast Side of Chicago and the city. According to one of the first residents to join the hunger strike, Breanna Bertacchi, the Southeast Side community is still slowly coming out of the shock phase of processing their victory after a “multi-year, high-stakes battle for which the majority of the time [they] felt ignored and underrepresented.”
Oscar Sanchez, who also joined the hunger strike with Bertacchi, said, “The anticipation and lack of hope we have with those in power made me believe and made us prepare to have an action at City Hall that same Friday, but instead, our Stop General Iron Campaign celebrated.” Had it been approved, the General Iron facility—now known as RMG/ Southside Recycling—would have joined close to 250 industrial sites in the Southeast Side, bringing with it a long history of citations and complaints. “We recognize that there are tangential battles in the city that are still needing to be addressed. MAT Asphalt in McKinley Park, among others,” Bertacchi said. “We are continuing to work with our environmental justice peers to address immediate needs. However, long-term sustained policy changes are required to shift this battle away from ongoing
‘emergencies’ that require so much labor and education on behalf of the communities impacted.” Some of the considered policies include a clean air ordinance, beta testing electric buses, as well as land remediation and various toxin removals, in order to overturn and regulate the environmental issues the 10th Ward has faced for decades. In 2013, Southeast Side residents reported petroleum coke, also known as “pet coke,” blowing through their neighborhood as a product of the large piles at nearby oil refineries. Reports were filed in 2015, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). More recently, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management proposed to repair a breakwater in Hammond, Indiana, which
will permanently impact four acres below the Ordinary High Water Mark of Lake Michigan, according to the proposal, potentially affecting water quality between Chicago and the HammondEast Chicago-Whiting area. Public commentary ends April 11. In May of last year, EPA administrator Michael Reagan sent a letter to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot urging the City of Chicago to delay the permitting process of a new General Iron facility in the Southeast Side to allow for an environmental justice study to take place in order to determine the impact that the new facility would have on the health of local residents. Later in the fall, the Chicago Department of Public Health announced that they had concluded a Health Impact Analysis (HIA) in partnership with the EPA, which conducted tests and gathered
APRIL 7, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 15
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING starting to finally have an actual ‘seat at the table,’ so to speak,” Stark said. “The City is the governing body that is supposed to represent residents and look out for their health and well-being, so environmental justice organizers are helping the City follow through with those responsibilities.” Despite their fragile relationship with the alderwoman, the goal moving forward is for environmental justice organizers to shift to a position of working with the City, instead of against it, in order to represent their community and create their vision of the Southeast Side neighborhood, he said. The City’s initiative to release the Climate Action Plan to begin addressing some of the community's environmental
PROVIDED BY OSCAR SANCHEZ
data to determine how General Iron’s operations could impact the community. According to Chuck Stark, another early participant in the hunger strike, a cumulative impact assessment used to make the final permit decision for Southside Recycling should be completed for every single industrial permit across the city, especially in environmental justice communities: “A push to make this standard practice is one of the big things that is already happening now.” Bertacchi, Stark and Sanchez began their hunger strike on February 4 of last year, joined by Yesenia Chavez four days later. They made the decision to drink certain liquids to mitigate the heightened effects of a hunger strike during a global pandemic. About twelve hunger strikers continued past the two-week mark, including Bertacchi, Sanchez and Stark who lasted twenty-nine days on strike, and Chavez who lasted twenty-five, they said. However, over the course of the movement, close to a hundred people participated through one-day solidarity strikes. The movement spread throughout environmental groups in the city and gained support from across the nation. Before the hunger strike, the coalition had been encouraged to take up space and voice their opposition against the metal scrapper as frequently as possible, with petitions, rallies, marches and protests. However, despite using all the outlets advertised by public officials as 16 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
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a means of being heard, they received no response from the City and had to shift to what felt “like a last resort to some extent,” Bertacchi said. While the campaign proved to be a success in influencing the denial of the permit, the community members of the 10th ward face detrimental impacts to their relationship with Alderwoman Susan Sadowski Garza. “Relationships with the alderwoman are very fractured,” Stark said. “She has spoken very negatively about those involved in the fight to stop the permit for Southside Recycling, and many involved in the campaign do not look to her as someone who represents their vision of the neighborhood.” Chavez shared that Garza’s actions throughout the campaign shocked the community members of her ward, as many of them, including Chavez’ family, had personal working relationships with Garza prior to the campaign. “To see in real time someone that you know has had conversations with my family members and has had connections with them, and has had impacts on the lives of my friends and their children… literally side with polluters that are obviously there for profit was a big reality check,” Chavez said. Garza’s office did not respond to the Weekly’s request for comment as of press time. Through community organizing and public actions, “Organizers are
PHOTO BY PATRICK HOUDEN
concerns shows promise. The Climate Action Plan invited residents to share their environmental and climate concerns, which were used to shape the content of the plan. The priorities include, but are not limited to, better air quality and reduced pollution, better access to affordable and reliable renewable energy, and the closure of fossil fuel power plants. The Biden Administration and the EPA announced a $1 billion investment to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, in order to “make significant progress in the clean-up and restoration of the Great Lakes’ most environmentally degraded sites, securing clean water and a better
environment for millions of Americans in the Great Lakes region.” The majority of the investment will be used to clean up and restore severely degraded sites, such as the Calumet River, an area of concern since 1987. Community members like Sanchez, “know there’s more to be done, but we demonstrated what the power of the people can do,” and are inspired to know “the Southeast Side gets to breathe.” ¬ Mckenzie Richmond is a current Northwestern Medill graduate student specializing in social justice and sports media and has journalism experience as a reporter and photographer. This is her first piece for the Weekly.
APRIL 7, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 17
POLICE
Data Highlights Leniency of Ex-Officer Van Dyke’s Murder Sentence
Judge Gaughan gave lower sentences for second-degree murder just five times out of fifty-five cases. BY MAYA DUKMASOVA, INJUSTICE WATCH
L
ast month, former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke walked out of Taylorville Correctional Center, some 200 miles south of Chicago, in the dead of night. He had served nearly half of the eighty-one-month second-degree murder sentence that Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan handed to him for the 2014 killing of teenager Laquan McDonald. The Illinois Department of Corrections released Van Dyke early because of a law granting day-for-day credit for good behavior to incarcerated people convicted of this type of felony. McDonald’s relatives and community organizers protested Van Dyke’s release and called for the federal government to bring new civil rights charges against him, though such charges have not been filed. McDonald’s grandmother, outraged at the length of the sentence, argued that “if the table was turned, my grandson would have never saw the light of day.” Van Dyke was responding to a 911 call about a person allegedly trying to break into trucks when he encountered McDonald in October 2014. Moments after stepping out of his squad car, he shot McDonald 16 times as the teen was walking away. The anger about Van Dyke walking out of prison—and renewed scrutiny over Gaughan’s sentencing decisions in the case—comes as the judge faces a retention election this fall. To stay on the bench, sixty percent of Cook County voters have to vote “yes” to give him another six-year term. Gaughan, a former public defender and Vietnam War veteran, has been a judge since 1991 and has a reputation for his strict temperament in court, according 18 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
¬ APRIL 7, 2022
to multiple attorneys who spoke with Injustice Watch. However, a look back at the judge’s sentencing record in second-degree murder cases bares out the criticism that Van Dyke’s sentence was lenient. An analysis of court data by Injustice Watch shows that Gaughan’s sentence for Van Dyke was unusually light for the judge and more lenient than the average sentences that other Cook County judges have given for second-degree murder convictions. The analysis was made possible by The Circuit, a courts data project led by Injustice Watch and the Better Government Association in partnership with civic tech consulting company DataMade. Using data from The Circuit, Injustice Watch examined Gaughan’s sentencing decisions in second-degree murder cases between 2000 and mid2018 and found that the judge’s average sentence for this conviction was fourteen years and three months—nearly twice as long as the sentence he gave to Van Dyke. Within the scope of The Circuit data, Gaughan imposed sentences for second-degree murder—punishable by four to twenty years in prison—fifty-five times. Van Dyke’s sentence of six years and nine months wasn’t just unusually short for Gaughan, who only gave less prison time for second-degree murder in five cases covered by The Circuit. It was uncharacteristically light for all Cook County judges combined. System-wide, the average sentence length for a seconddegree murder conviction is twelve years.
The office of the chief judge did not respond to a request for comment on these findings and told Injustice Watch that Gaughan does not give interviews. Van Dyke’s attorney, Dan Herbert, declined to comment, too. Joseph McMahon, the former Kane County state’s attorney who was the special prosecutor on the Van Dyke case, did not respond to a request for comment. Injustice Watch spoke with several experts familiar with Cook County judges’ sentencing practices. Defense attorneys and former prosecutors said the data findings aligned with what they’ve seen in the courtroom. Van Dyke’s sentence “is not a typical sentence at all—that’s a cop sentence,” said Julie Koehler, a supervisor in the
a defendant, a judge or a jury must find that the person is guilty of murder but that the defendant believed, unreasonably, that their life was in danger because of the circumstances surrounding the killing. These circumstances often include fights, domestic violence incidents, or altercations in which both people are using weapons. In Van Dyke’s case, the jury concluded that the officer unreasonably feared for his life. This led them to decide that he was guilty of seconddegree murder rather than first-degree murder, which is punishable by up to life in prison. The jury also found Van Dyke guilty of 16 counts of aggravated battery—a more serious offense than second-degree murder. However, in a
homicide task force of the Cook County public defender’s office who’s been trying cases for more than 25 years. “I’ve never gotten anything single digit on a seconddegree murder case.” Second-degree murder—known as “voluntary manslaughter” until 1987—is a peculiar charge in Illinois. To convict
highly controversial decision, Gaughan did not impose sentences for those sixteen counts. Prosecutors rarely bring seconddegree murder charges when they first indict defendants. An analysis of data in The Circuit shows that out of nearly 2,100 second-degree murder cases initiated in
The jury also found Van Dyke guilty of sixteen counts of aggravated battery, but in a highly controversial decision, Gaughan did not impose sentences for those sixteen counts.
PHOTO BY SEBASTIÁN HIDALGO
This photo captures the moment when crowds outside the Cook County Courthouse on California and 26th Street learned of Jason Van Dyke’s conviction in October 2018. A little over three years later, Van Dyke is free after serving half his sentence.
Cook County, only twenty-two percent had the charge filed at the beginning. Koehler said she’s never personally handled a case with it as a starting charge in all her years as a defense attorney. The office of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx did not respond to a request for comment. Aisha Cornelius Edwards, executive director of Cabrini Green Legal Aid, was a Cook County prosecutor between 2005 and 2013, when the office was led by Dick Devine and, later, Anita Alvarez. When initiating cases, “we were encouraged [by supervisors] to go for the highest possible charge we could get,” she said. “Back then, the idea was that everybody’s guilty anyway: The higher the charge, the higher the bond you’re gonna get,” Edwards said. “This made it more likely the person would stay in custody, which means you were more likely to get a plea quicker.” Most commonly, Koehler and Edwards said, second-degree murder convictions result from plea deals or the way that Van Dyke’s did—with juries or judges deciding that the evidence supports only a second-degree murder conviction. Edwards agreed that eighty-one months is an unusual prison term for this crime. But she argued that the real problem is that the typical defendant’s
sentence is so long—not that Van Dyke’s was so short. She observed that everyone involved in the case gave it a lot of care and attention, and that Gaughan saw Van Dyke “as a human being who made a mistake.” “But the vast majority of folks in the system, especially those that are poor, Black and brown don’t have that— where someone takes the time to look at them as a human being,” Edwards said. “So I’m not advocating for harsher sentences but for the same in-depth level of humanization to go into every single case.” ¬ This story is part of The Circuit, a datadriven collaboration to investigate and reveal how Cook County’s courts work. It was originally published online at Injustice Watch on March 17, 2022. Reprinted with permission. Maya Dukmasova is a senior reporter at Injustice Watch covering judges and the courts.
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POETRY
Our thoughts in exchange for yours.
T
he Exchange is the Weekly’s poetry corner, where a poem or piece of writing is presented with a prompt. Readers are welcome to respond to the prompt with original poems, and pieces may be featured in the next issue of the Weekly.
THIS WEEK'S PROMPT: “IF YOU COULD SPEAK TO A PAST VERSION OF YOURSELF, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?” THIS COULD BE A POEM OR A STREAM-OFCONSCIOUSNESS PIECE. SUBMISSIONS COULD BE NEW OR FORMERLY WRITTEN PIECES. Submissions can be sent to bit.ly/ssw-exchange or via email to chima.ikoro@southsideweekly.com.
RUBIK'S CUBE BY CLAIRE BERNSTEIN Us women, we hide ourselves well. We are expert hiders. We hide behind every curtain draped before us, because that’s what we have been taught to do. It all begins when the towel envelops us when we’re born, muffling our cries. We hide our voices, tears, dress sizes, pimples, bodily functions, bruises, nerves, sensations, ideas, opinions, thoughts, traumas, but mostly, we hide ourselves. I want to play hide and seek but erase the word hide from the game. I don’t want to know what the word even means, a jumble of thick foreign letters on my tongue. I want my fingernails to be dripping blood from tearing away at those curtains, and I don’t want the overbearing need to get a manicure to fix something broken on my body after it happens.
I want to name my daughter Seek. She’ll be an adventurer. I want to hold her hand as we learn to spell words like “powerful” and “unashamed”. Before I leave the house, I force my scattered pixels to retract into one character in order for me to I want her to fly feet first into a world where participate in this simulation. That is my morning routine. she won’t have to hear boys voices drowning out her beautiful songs. Does anyone else feel like three kids stacked on top of each other in a trench coat and a top hat, tryna I don’t want her to begin hearing the disguise themselves as one adult so they can sneak into a movie theater? catcalls telling her to hide. Does anyone else feel awkward? don’t know how to end conversations in a casual way when you run into someone you know in public? Because hiding is simply the act of I rather walk away too early; it makes me seem like I've got it figured out. waiting to be found. Does anyone else get reminders to remind you of the reminder that was sent as a courtesy to remind We don’t need to be found. you of a message you never saw but somehow opened? We’re already here. Did everyone grow in the same direction? Am I the only one who grew out instead of up? I am trying to understand Claire Bernstein writer and theater artist from Lakeview. You can find her which things are a part of the “neurodiverse package deal” and what is just normal human-stuff, but I'm on Instagram @clairebernstein! too afraid to ask because folks are too busy tryna prove how normal they are. And I can’t blame them because Note To Self BY CHIMA “NAIRA” IKORO
I’m doing the exact same thing.
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CALENDAR
ILLUSTRATION BY THUMY PHAN
BULLETIN Free Bikes!
Pilsen Food Pantry, 1850 S. Throop St., Saturday, April 9, 9:00am–12:00pm. Free. The Spring Movement Event aims to connect the community with upcycled movement equipment, balls, jump ropes, new helmets, yoga mats, and frisbees. Over a hundred children’s bikes will be given away by Working Bikes. First come, first serve. The child must be present to receive a bike. ( Jackie Serrato)
Water Debt Workshop
Online, Tuesday, April 12, 6:00pm. Free. bit.ly/waterdebtworkshop Are you behind on your Chicago water bills? To help residents affected by this crisis, the environmental and social justice group Blacks in Green is partnering with WBEZ and Elevate to host a free virtual workshop. It will give you the information and resources you need and provide a step-by-step breakdown of the water billing and collections process and more. Also learn how to get relief. Register online. ( Jackie Serrato)
Día de Los Niños Parade
Plaza Tenochtitlan, 18th St. & Blue Island Ave., Saturday, April 30, 11:30am. Free. facebook.com/ChicagoDiadelosNinos/ Celebrate the children in the community! The 22nd annual parade of Día de Los Niños is back at Plaza Tenochtitlan in Pilsen. The new route will go along Blue Island between 18th
and 21st streets and end at Benito Juarez High School’s soccer field. ( Jackie Serrato)
Free Dental Screenings
Pilsen Family Health Center, 1713 S. Ashland St., Saturday, April 30, 9:30am– 12:00pm. Free. Dental students at UI Health and the UIC College of Dentistry are offering free screenings every Wednesday, no appointment necessary. Call the clinic for more information at (312) 413-4179. ( Jackie Serrato)
Guided Tour of Historic Former Wabash YMCA
Former Wabash YMCA, 3763 S Wabash Ave, Saturday, April 9, 10:30am– 11:30am. Suggested donation $20. bit.ly/ FormerWabash Every other Saturday, the Renaissance Collaborative is leading tours of the former Wabash YMCA, an historic center of Black social life. Built in 1911, in the heart of the Black Belt, it was the only Y in the city that admitted Black people for many years. In 1915, the Association for the Study of Negro Life was founded here and went on to create a precursor to Black History Month. The tour uses archived newspaper articles and archival photos to tell the story of the building and the people who congregated there. (The link may say the event has ended, but if you click on ’View Details’ it will take you to the page where you can select a different date. (Adam Przybyl)
Adler Planetarium Free Days Adler Planetarium, 1300 S Lake Shore Dr, 4:00pm–10:00pm. Free. bit.ly/ AdlerFreeDays
The Adler reopened March 4 and is once again holding free days for Illinois residents on Wednesday evenings. Whether going on a date or taking your family, your ticket will let you watch a simulation of the Chicago night sky without light pollution, learn fun facts about the solar system, and examine old telescopes and sundials. You’ll have the option to pay to upgrade your ticket to include sky shows, half-hour movies in the dome theater about the moon and a mysterious ninth planet, among other topics. (Adam Przybyl)
EDUCATION LSC Elections
Virtual, Wednesday and Thursday, April 20-21, 6:00am–7:00pm. bit.ly/3NNrGW8 Polls to vote for your school’s LSC open at 6am! Parents, legal guardians, and temporary custodians of students enrolled in the school, as well as people who are at least 17 years old who live within the school’s attendance area or voting district, are eligible to vote in a school’s election for parent and community representatives. All students may vote for a student representative at their school. In order to vote, you must be present at the school and vote in person. For more information on voter eligibility and requirements, visit bit. ly/3J9XAbu. You can view candidates for each school at bit.ly/3DJgMMu.
Elementary school elections take place April 20, high school elections take place April 21. (Maddie Parrish)
FOOD & LAND Reuse-a-Palooza at The Plant
The Plant, 1400 W. 46th St., Sunday, April 24, 11:00am–3:00pm. Free. This event will provide opportunities to repair clothing and household items, safely dispose of tricky-to-recycle items, and donate books, bicycles, and more, all the while bringing attention to strategies to reduce waste. Participating organizations will include Community Glue, Working Bikes, Open Books, Tinyshop Grocer, and other wastereduction and repurposing enthusiasts, as well as Microsoft’s EcoPod in partnership with the Environmental Law and Policy Center for interactive presentations and discussion. Also in the works is a free film screening in partnership with One Earth Film Fest. Questions can be directed to (773) 357-7192 or info@bubblydynamics.com (Kevin Lilly, Bubbly Dynamics)
Spring Flower Show: Knock Knock Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park Ave., 10:00am–5:00pm. Free, reservations recommended. garfieldconservatory.org/visit/
Spring is here, and what better way to ring it in than to look at flower arrangements at the Garfield Park Conservatory. There are tulips, hydrangeas, daffodils, and more, along APRIL 7, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 21
CALENDAR with ’knock knock’ jokes and colorful artdoors. While you’re there, check out the cacti in the desert house and waterfalls in the fern room, which looks like a time capsule of when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. If you go on a Saturday morning, you may run into a master gardener who can answer questions and give tips about planting your spring garden! Reserve spot online to guarantee entry. (Adam Przybyl)
61St St. Farmers Market
Experimental Station, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Saturdays, 9:00am–12:00pm. Free to attend. experimentalstation.org/market As winter comes to an end, get a headstart on finding farm-fresh vegetables, seedlings, and other products from local farmers and creators. The 61st St. Farmers Market is continuing a monthly hybrid indoor-outdoor market at the Experimental Station. Vendors include Ellis Family Farms, Mick Klug Farm, Gorman Farm Fresh Produce, Faith’s Farm, Mint Creek Farm, Stamper Cheese, The Urban Canopy, and others. As ever, the market accepts LINK and Senior Farmers Market Coupons, and will match LINK purchases up to $25 per customer per market day, as long as funding holds out. Customers must wear masks while inside the building. The market will go fully outdoors starting on May 14. (Martha Bayne)
ARTS EXPOCHGO: South Side
Various, Various, Thursday, April 7-10. Free-$50 (three-day expo pass). expochicago.com Expo Chicago runs April 7-10, filling Navy Pier’s Festival Hall with international exhibitors of contemporary and modern art—but the Expo’s also highlighting a suite of South Side openings and events as well. Featured exhibits include the April 8 openings of Brandon Breaux’s "BIG WORDS" at Blanc Gallery in Bronzeville and Amin Gulgee’s "The Spider Speaketh in Tongues" at South Asia Institute in the 22 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
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South Loop. For more see expochicago. com. (Martha Bayne)
Rudy Lozano Exhibit
UIC’s Richard J. Daley Library, 801 S. Morgan St, Thursday, April 7, 7:00am– 9:00pm. Free. Chicago’s most well-known Chicano activist is the subject of a new exhibit at UIC’s Richard J. Daley Library, “A Search for Unity: Rudy Lozano and the Coalition Building in Chicago,” which runs until next fall. The exhibit is made up of papers, photographs, posters and other memories about Lozano, who was murdered in Little Village when he was 31, after losing a bid to become the city’s first Mexican-American alderman. Saturdays closed. Check the library’s COVID guidelines. ( Jackie Serrato)
Creative Ground @ Overton School
Overton School, 4927 S. Indiana, Saturday, April 9, 4:00pm–5:30pm. Free. creativegrounds.org Closed by CPS in 2013, the former Anthony Overton Elementary in Bronzeville was bought by a community development organization in 2015, and is slated to be reborn as an entrepreneurship center. In the meantime, though, Borderless Studio’s Creative Grounds initiative has for the past three years activated the school property as a site for art and creative exploration, encouraging new ways of thinking about urban design, education, and reuse. They host a spring community open house this weekend. Attendees are encouraged to bring ideas for collaborative projects, workshops, or programming for the coming summer. To learn more about the project see creativegrounds.org (Martha Bayne)
Latino Writers Initiative Virtual Meet Up Virtual, Tuesday, April 12, 5:45pm. Free. bit.ly/3J7Smx9
Join the National Museum of Mexican Art for their next Latino Writers Initiative Virtual Meet Up. These online
workshops help you practice your writing skills with writing prompts and fun exercises that are sure to inspire. Plus, you’ll be able to connect with other Latino writers from across the country and get feedback on your stories. Register at bit.ly/3NJFXmy. (Maddie Parrish)
some of the most legendary Black artists in the ’50s and ’60s: Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and Etta James, among them. The second floor is dedicated to Dixon, and the recording studio displays period artifacts. Tours are Thursday through Saturday afternoons. (312) 8081286 ( Jackie Serrato)
Claudia Rankine: Meanwhile
Young Chicago Authors Wordplay Open Mic
Online & The Rubenstein Forum, Friedman Hall, 1201 E. 60th St., Wednesday, April 13, 6:00pm–7:30pm. Free. bit.ly/3KgJcj9
Poet and playwright Claudia Rankine (Citizen, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, Just Us) gives two hybrid live-streamed and in-person talks this week as part of the Berlin Family Lecture Series at the University of Chicago. For the April 13 event she’ll be joined by artist and filmmaker Titus Kaphar; the April 14 event features a dramatic reading from text for the upcoming film Meanwhile, a collaboration with scholar Homi Bhaba and filmmaker Catherine Gund. Registration is required for both online and in-person events. (Martha Bayne)
Center Days: Open Arts
Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave., Saturday, April 23, 1:00pm–4:00pm. Free. bit.ly/3NNzJSI Join Hyde Park Art Center for their spring Center Day. The day will be packed with activities including open school studios with class demonstrations from teaching artists, art making activities inspired by our exhibitions, printed art swag takeaways, studio visits with their Creative Wing Resident Artists, Earth Day activities from the Gardeneers, a food truck, and more! (Maddie Parrish)
Chess Records Tours
Chess Records, 2120 S. Michigan Ave., 12:00pm–4:00pm. $20 donation. info@ bluesheaven.com Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven, the foundation that owns the building formerly known as Chess Records, is resuming tours of the place that saw
Instagram Live, Tuesdays, 6:00pm– 7:30pm. Free. instagram.com/ youngchicagoauthor One of the longest-running youth open mics, Worldplay, is back every Tuesday on Instagram Live. The virtual open mic is hosted by DJ Ca$hera and showcases music, spoken-word performances, and a featured artist. (Chima Ikoro)
Art and Race Matters: The Career of Robert Colescott
Chicago Cultural Center, Exhibit Hall, Fourth Floor, 78 E. Washington St., Free. bit.ly/3NOq12l A comprehensive retrospective exhibits the work of Robert Colescott, a Black twentieth-century artist and satirist who took aim at race, class, and gender in America, will be on display through May 29. ( Jim Daley)
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