May 5, 2022

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 9, Issue 16 Editor-in-Chief 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 Photo by TJ Olmos

IN CHICAGO Free gas and Ventra cards On April 27, City Council approved Chicago Moves, a giveaway of gas gift cards and Ventra cards for mass transit. Mayor Lori Lightfoot, perhaps responding to Willie Wilson’s recent gas giveaways ahead of next year’s mayoral election, spearheaded the program, which will give out about $12.5 million total, divided up into 50,000 gas cards and 100,000 Ventra cards. Those interested can apply online at bit.ly/383oh5l or at a public library, and will have to select between applying for a $150 gas card or a $50 Ventra card. To be eligible, applicants must make less than 100% of the Area Median Income, which is around $93,000 for a family of four. For those applying for a gas card, they must also provide proof of a vehicle city sticker and mailing information.

Driver debt relief The City unrolled a pilot program last month that forgives some vehicle tickets and late penalties for low-income drivers, including red light, speeding, and certain parking tickets. The Clear Path Relief program requires applicants to pay off all tickets from the last three years, minus late penalties, and in return will forgive all ticket debt from before three years and allow drivers to pay only half of any tickets they incur a year from enrolling. Applicants must either be currently enrolled in the Utility Billing Relief (UBR) program or be within three hundred percent of federal poverty guidelines—$40,000 for a single person, or around $83,000 for a household of four. Those who enroll will also not be assessed late penalties for future tickets until December 2023. Applicants need to have a valid email address and provide proof of income or UBR status. The City is also piloting a Fix-It Defense program that forgives one expired sticker or license plate per vehicle, with proof of renewed sticker or plate. More information about both programs can be found online at bit.ly/3LHfRz2 The Reader is safe For the Chicago Reader, the last fifteen years have been filled with uncertainty: ownership transitions, threats of closure, and reductions in staff and paper size.

Prospects for the city’s largest alt-weekly seemed good when in 2018, East Lake president Elzie Higginbottom (see story on page eight) and wealthy Crown family member and defense attorney Leonard Goodman agreed to take on the paper’s debts and begin a years-long transfer to nonprofit status, which would be financially viable for the Reader. That transition was supposed to take place at the end of 2021, but a few months earlier, Goodman—who had been writing columns for the paper as a somewhat unofficial stipulation of his co-ownership— wrote a column attacking COVID vaccines for children that was filled with a dozen falsehoods and misleading statements. When the Reader’s editors hired an independent fact-checker to issue a correction, Goodman went rogue—he began issuing illegal demands to the board and prevented the transition from taking place. Last month, with the paper just a few weeks from insolvency, the Reader union began a public pressure campaign, calling on Goodman to step down from his position and let the Reader transition to a nonprofit. The campaign culminated in a rally outside Goodman’s mansion in Lakeview. Less than a week later, Goodman announced he would step down after all, and the Reader’s future is more certain—and hopeful—than ever.

IN THIS ISSUE public meetings report

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level. documenters, india daniels, scott pemberton................................................5 a story of grace

Aya-Nikole Cook’s journey to build the Haji Healing Salon.

tebatso duba............................................6 tenant union demands change at washington park sro building

“Outsiders that don't live in this building have more rights then we do.” showtimeshanna.....................................8 undivided and unconquered

“The beauty of our approach is that these long-term relationships transcended just one warehouse location.”

jacqueline serrato................................10 ‘leave

me alone’: q&a with artist hailey

marie losselyong

“My paintings are portraits that highlight femininity and the duality of femininity and different strengths versus weaknesses within femininity.” reema saleh............................................13 learning to play with fire again

A day spent with Kari “nombreKARI” Thompson and Sam Johnson ahead of the public premiere of their short film. malik jackson..........................................16 ‘i said what i said’ Q&A with multimedia visual artist Jewel Ham about her recent exhibition. dierdre robinson...................................18 calendar

Bulletin and events. south side weekly staff........................21

4 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

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Public Meetings Report

ILLUSTRATION BY HOLLEY APPOLD

April 18 Local School Council (LSC) elections took place on April 20 and 21 but some schools were short on candidates. The typical LSC has seats for six Chicago Public Schools (CPS) parents, one to three students, two teachers, one non-teacher staff member, two community residents, and the school principal. Students serve one year, other members two years. At its monthly meeting the district-wide Local School Council (LSC) Advisory Board heard from Kishasha Williams-Ford, director of LSC relations, that 6,140 LSC candidates were running and ninety-six percent of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) locations had enough candidates for an election. Most of the eighteen schools without enough candidates are on the South and West sides. CPS plans to appoint members to those LSCs, but a few schools will operate without an LSC for the two-year term. Near the end of the meeting, attendees asked why some schools had no candidates and shared concerns about how principals might deter current or prospective LSC members who challenge their authority. Changes to the selective enrollment policy of CPS magnet schools are under study, reported CPS Policy Program Manager Ali Fendrick. There are twenty-eight elementary magnet schools and eleven high schools. Concerns have been that the system currently allots more seats to affluent, white, or Asian American students than other groups.

April 20 A survey of 1,500 Chicago families showed that a message such as, “parents like you are vaccinating their kids” was more effective than general statements about the safety or efficacy of vaccines for children, Chicago Board of Health member and pediatrician Matthew Davis reported at the board’s meeting. Jacqueline Tiema-Massie, director of the Chicago Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) immunization program, reported that the department has been expanding vaccine access and outreach, especially for children. Tiema-Massie, who assumed her role about a year ago, said she had been surprised to learn that the City’s immunization program was underfunded, receiving about $5.5 million annually before the pandemic. Through COVID supplemental funding, the program has received more than $80 million and added thirty fulltime employees, which more than doubled the program’s staff. Board member Davis calculated that CDPH’s COVID-19 vaccination outreach and incentives, such as gift cards and home visits, are costing an average of $1,000 per vaccination, which he said was not sustainable. Board member Steven Rothschild responded that he wasn’t comfortable with quantifying the cost on that basis in that way because the City needs to go that “last mile” to reach all possible residents, including those who face barriers to accessing health care. The CDPH call center has apparently increased vaccination rates among Black Chicagoans.

Unarmed security guards will be added to public transit facilities, as Chicago continues to grapple with safety concerns. At a meeting of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Transit Board, members approved two security contracts: $15.5 million for unarmed security to “patrol various CTA facilities” and $2.7 million for armed and unarmed security at administrative and warehouse locations. Chair Lester Barclay said that the CTA is working with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to deploy more officers and requested a CPD presentation on security strategies at the next CTA meeting. Initiatives to upgrade CTA infrastructure continue, including the Jackson Park to O’Hare Signals Project and the Red and Purple Line Modernization Program.

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level for the May 5 issue.

BY DOCUMENTERS, INDIA DANIELS, SCOTT PEMBERTON

There was recognition of Mayor Harold Washington’s Centennial birthday at the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners meeting. Under his term, the Park District gained seven new parks and five newly constructed field houses. An Earth Day celebration was held in his honor at Harold Washington Park in Hyde Park and other locations. A public commenter said a North Lawndale resident has tried to host events in Douglass park, but has been pushed out by other events. She asked for more transparency and for the profits that come from the music festivals to be put back into the park and community. Another public commenter said she is opposed to the closing of Douglass Park for the Summer Smash Festival because of the reduction in summer programming for local students and the inability to celebrate Mexican Independence and Juneteenth. Someone called the Park District racist and adamantly and passionately asked the Board why there is no investment in Black communities.

April 21 The most police misconduct complaints submitted to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) in the first quarter of 2022 have come from the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) 11th District (Harrison). The 11th District includes West Garfield Park and parts of East Garfield Park, Humboldt Park, and North Lawndale.

The 11th District has been in the top spot previously, since COPA began reporting the number of complaints by district in the third quarter of 2017. At its monthly meeting, the Chicago Police Board heard Ephraim Eaddy, first deputy chief administrator for COPA, report that COPA received a total of 1,133 complaints of CPD misconduct during the first three months of this year. Of those, 878 that alleged criminal activity or other actions not involving civilian contact were forwarded to CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs. Of the remaining 255 under COPA’s jurisdiction, twenty-six, or about ten percent, were for incidents in the 11th District.

April 27 CEO Pedro Martínez said at the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Board of Education meeting that he saw news about the budget cuts at Zapata Academy, but the information was not completely accurate as factors that affect the budget fluctuate and have since been changed. Juan Sanchez, an educator from Zapata, said the budget cuts are a choice and that CPS has the funds to restore Zapata’s full budget. The next speaker said Latinx and Central American students deserve the same consideration as white and rich students. She said the board is cutting a ton of money from Brighton Park specifically, and that it isn’t fair. The meeting translator had technical difficulties. 1st District State Representative Aaron Ortiz was in attendance to vouch for Southwest Side schools, saying that cuts perpetuate a cycle of violence these students cannot seem to escape. "I think when the dust settles, this budget will be much more equitable," CEO Martinez said. A CPS report said 64% of schools voted to reduce SRO presence in their schools. Schools that voted to completely remove SROs from their schools are not allowed to reinstate them. They will receive the same recurring funding from last year but can choose to allocate it elsewhere. President Del Valle said CPS is hiring 1,600 teachers on top of the 180 academic coaches that Martinez mentioned. Del Valle added there is a transitional period right now where some teachers may be moved to other schools to fit the needs of students, but said these shouldn’t be called layoffs.

This information was collected in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org MAY 5, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 5

HEALTH

A Story of Grace

Aya-Nikole Cook’s journey through health and service inspired the community-centric healing model of the Haji Salon in Bronzeville.

BY TEBATSO DUBA

T

he vision was so persistent.”

Aya-Nikole Cook, the director and founder of the Haji Healing Salon, has been an entrepreneur for many years and pursued multiple projects, but nothing has driven her as much as her vision for the community healing sanctuary now located in Bronzeville.

Hajji is an honorific title given to a person of Islamic faith that has completed the annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Hundreds of thousands of faithful Islamic people travel to Mecca each year to fulfill this divine duty. This journey, or Hajj, is a testament to their faith, devotion and love for God. While Cook is not Muslim, her dear friend who is of Islamic faith gave her that title out of respect for her spiritual devotion and love. She also sees herself as being a spiritual pilgrim or traveler through life.

Life is an unavoidable journey.

We learn every step of the way on our individual paths and form relationships with others who are on their own paths.

“Hajji Healing is like a beacon of light for all people” who are on life’s journey and seeking healing, said Cook. Haji Healing goes deeper than the more popularized self-care rhetoric like hydrating face masks. A path of healing and spirituality is not easy, but it is available to anyone with the courage and open heart to step on the journey. The good news is that there is a community of individuals or “travelers” on their own path who you can draw strength and support from.

Haji Healing compels us to not only see, but also experience and find joy in the fact that we learn and heal best with community. Most importantly, 6 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ MAY 5, 2022

through practice and people on your side, Haji Healing urges us to realize that we have more tools to live healthy and wholesome lives than we realize. A healthy and wholesome life is available to us within ourselves and right in our surrounding environment.

These lessons, that are “woven into the fabric of Haji Healing,” are fruits of wisdom that come from Cook’s own lived experiences and past teachers. “I learned that the purpose of community is having people who can bear witness to your journey, so our healing is not complete until it’s witnessed by our community.”

This rang true for her when she was diagnosed with fibroids, which are small tumors that develop in the uterus. After her surgery, as she faced the most arduous part of her healing process, an eight-week period during which two insistent dear friends offered to take care of her, despite Cook arguing otherwise.

Although she wouldn’t usually let others take care of her, Cook realized that she could let go with her friends and truly get the rest that her body and mind needed. “I could just release,” she said.

Most importantly, Cook learned that she “cannot heal alone.” After all, inspiration to walk the path you are on can take you a long way, but you can go so much further with support.

Cook’s health ordeal was not only eye opening and humbling—it was instrumental for her vision. In 2015, she was called to Chicago for a residency with Arts & Public Life Creative Business Incubator, an initiative of the University of Chicago. At the time, she aimed to create a healing space for women who were suffering with fibroid tumors.

The space featured healing practitioners Cook invited to teach about multiple healing modalities, plant-based nutrition and natural healing. She also invited doctors to speak about surgery so that the women who came had a broad spectrum of options and information for their healing. The space ran for about four

and healing sessions.

After ten months away, she had a strong feeling to return back to Chicago that couldn’t be denied. She moved back to Chicago with only a vision and faith that all would work out as it should.

This was no easy task. When Cook returned to Chicago, she thought she had

months and was so successful that people began asking for more than she offered.

So, her vision expanded.

Cook began to envision a space where all healing modalities could be practiced at the same time. During the last month of her residency, she created a wellness center that would run for thirty days using resources and support from her residency. But when her residency in Chicago ended, she moved back to Oakland with no intention of moving back to Chicago. “The mountains and oceans in Oakland were everything,” she said.

Of course, there is no place like home, and Cook, who is from South Shore, cares deeply for her roots in Chicago. While she was away, her vision of a healing sanctuary in her homeland kept nudging at her. Even though she did not know how she would manage such an enterprise or where the resources would come from, she kept on envisioning a healing sanctuary during her meditations

secured a guaranteed space in Washington Park, but when that agreement fell through, she began scouting for yoga spaces from friends, past instructors and old connections. Eventually, she found a pop-up space in Chatham. “It was not the vision yet but I was determined to make the most of it,” she said.

She primarily held yoga lessons, meditation sessions, and invited her personal acupuncturist for the acupuncture sessions. Cook’s time in this space only lasted a few months.

“The keyholder was unreliable, some mornings he was there and other times not,” she said. Out of frustration and pure determination, she took her few yoga students to her home for yoga classes. She created a “speakeasy” space in her house where not many people knew that she was hosting classes. Nonetheless, she was fully booked every Sunday and did this for a full year.

“My living room was for yoga and the dining room was used for acupuncture,”

A path of healing and spirituality is not easy, but it is available to anyone with the courage and open heart to step on the journey.

HEALTH she said. One fruitful year had passed when she got the call from the landlord of the space she had been using in Chatham, who offered the space to her again.

The timing was perfect. The small 1600-square-feet space in Chatham was suddenly filled with so much potential.

Cook enlisted the help of her father, a carpenter, as well as her own artistic skills to create a new healing sanctuary in the neighborhood. Two years later, as the pandemic started, she moved classes online while beginning to work on a space in Bronzeville, a community that she knew was experiencing revitalization led by many Black entrepreneurs. The space offered in Bronzeville was larger and felt perfect for her vision, and officially opened in 2021.

So, again, Cook continued in faith. “I go where I’m called,” she laughed.

One of the most important values for the Haji Healing enterprise is to maintain sustenance both for her students and the sanctuary itself. From the very beginning, Cook has emphasized the importance of remaining community supported. This way, the prices of classes and healing sessions could remain low, and the community bond is strengthened.

example, acupuncture usually requires multiple treatment sessions to be effective.

With lowered costs, members can come for treatments more frequently—some even weekly.

Clearly, along her journey, Cook has always had provision and other people to make the vision of Haji Healing a reality.

In her own words, Haji Healing is a “story of grace.”

“When you form relationships, then it becomes a community. That’s a whole other level of support and sustenance.

You can do anything with that.”

Cook is a wellness curator. Like a museum or an art curator, she leaned on her background as an artist to design the Haji Healing Sanctuary “artfully and with intention…to make everything beautiful.”

The healing begins as you walk into Haji Healing. You are met with a gorgeous and refreshing display of a plethora of lush and healthy plants of different sizes and species. There are large windows looking into the sanctuary, letting in ample sunlight. It feels like a mini breathtaking forest.

The walls are painted with a moderately dark blue hue which makes

The classes and healing sessions paid for rent, utilities and insurance. “It was simple math. I had no money and no loans so I planned for every single class and session to contribute to bills,” she said.

This also provided incentive to expand, so she invited practitioners of other healing modalities like Reiki Masters, Tarot Card readers and Body Workers.

Inviting several practitioners to share the space lowered costs, but most importantly, it made the services provided to the community more accessible. For

the space feel even more expansive and refreshing. As I stood marveling at the plants, Cook reminded me that when we “take care of life, life takes care of you.”

The wall to the left of the plants is filled with a wide range of products such as plant seeds, incense, and herbs.

Behind the plants is a beautiful display of body and facial products because “it’s just as important to be conscious of what you put on your body as what you put in it,” according to Cook.

My personal favorite portion of this half

“When you form relationships, then it becomes a community.

That’s a whole other level of support and sustenance. You can do anything with that.”

—Aya-Nikole Cook

ILLUSTRATION BY LUCAS MARTINEZ

of the sanctuary is the book shelf located behind the plants that is filled with a range of books concerning spiritual and bodily well-being.

In the other half of the sanctuary, separated by a large sliding barn door, is the space where most of the community healing occurs. On one side there is a beautiful arch-like structure used for acupuncture with vertical open gaps so it is not completely secluded. The open spaces of this arch allow for beams of sunlight to come through and shine beautifully onto the larger open space next to it. The larger open space is reserved for communal healing sessions like meditation, yoga, sound healing, dance, oracle reflexology, Nidra yoga (deep rest), festive events and monthly meetings with members.

Within the walls of this beautiful space, community takes shape through the communal practices. Imagine, for example, having an acupuncture treatment and just a few feet away there is a sound healing and meditation session with other community members at the same time.

This is important, according to Cook,

because when there are multiple healing practices occurring at the same time, “there’s a nexus of energy created when people heal together and simultaneously.”

Also, simply bringing a friend or family member to the sanctuary can be helpful for those who are unfamiliar with these practices.

Clearly, the birth of Haji Healing is a testament of vision, faith and courage.

It also represents the richness and infinite potential of Bronzeville and the South Side, which is rich with community and community members like Aya-Nikole Cook who build beakers of light and wellbeing. They remind us that we can lean on each other and that leading a healthy life, both internally and externally, is especially accessible to all through community. Tebatso Duba is a curious, dedicated, lifelong student and Lake Forest College graduate. Tebatso was born and raised in South Africa and is currently an aspiring lawyer and legal scholar. This is their first story for the Weekly.

MAY 5, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 7

HOUSING

Tenants Union Demands Change at Washington Park SRO Building

PROVIDED BY ELTU

Management has broken promises, violated housing laws, and ignored complaints for years. Now tenants are banding together to fight for their rights.

BY SHOWTIMESHANNA

F

ormerly known as the Washington Park YMCA, the building located at 5000 South Indiana Avenue acted as a community anchor that provided fitness facilities, afterschool programs, housing and resources to the residents of Washington Park and beyond.

Many amenities came to an abrupt end in 2003 when the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago announced the closing of the fifty-two-year-old YMCA due to the facility needing millions of dollars in repairs. In 2008, the re-imagined facility reopened its doors as the Washington Park SRO. On a bitter-cold Saturday morning in late January, residents of the singleroom-occupancy (SRO) building and supporters convened for a press conference to demand East Lake Management (ELM) follow the law—including housing City ordinances and building codes—improve living conditions, and recognize the East Lake Tenants Union (ELTU). Residents testified about their 8 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ MAY 5, 2022

experiences and called on tenants of East Lake Management properties citywide to join their call for better living conditions.

When it reopened, this sixty-threeunit building was, as stated by the Tribune, “a place to call home” meant to house formerly homeless and displaced public housing individuals. It had a vision of affordable, community-based living. In 2006, the City of Chicago invested $874,378 in low-income housing tax credits for East Lake Management, which was set to bring “$9.2 million in equity for the project,” the Sun-Times reported.

According to ninety-two-year-old resident Ms. Betty Jean, the amenities are “what really brought me over.”

Key to the Washington Park SRO redevelopment was a plan to incorporate mixed-use development that combined commercial and residential uses. A private gym would take up the fitness facilities once owned by the YMCA. Residents would be assured equal access,

while advocates championed the positive social benefits of integrating lowincome tenants with the mixed-income gym patrons.

So how did Washington Park SRO become the center of a tenants rights crisis? Noise became a nuisance.

The crossfit gym has been a consistent source of complaints brought on by many tenants. According to residents, the building’s redevelopment never included sound insulation adequate for a residential property with a commercial gym, nor were the residents included in the plan. “Their dropping weights and all of that is just too much, it wakes you out of a sound sleep,” said Darren Bratcher, a tenant since 2013.

Long-term residents who have lived in the building since it reopened recall being given a brochure and tour of the facility that promised a gym and swimming pool for residents. Everything was centered around the gym, explained John Owens. Ever since, social programs

originally included as part of the development have been picked off one by one. “There was a social worker, computer rooms were open, buses took you to the grocery store,” Owens reminisced.

Today, those amenities are only a memory. The promises were never kept and residents say the gym facilities have been intolerable, and noise is only the beginning. Despite receiving millions of federal dollars in subsidies, tenants say East Lake Management has neglected several City, state, and federal housing regulations and legal responsibilities to its residents: enforcing a “No guest” policy between 12:00am and 8:00am, barring tenants from having visitors overnight, and unlawfully placing certain visitors on a “ban” list, among others. Management also requires tenants to submit prior written approval to have an overnight guest.

Additionally, management requires front desk personnel to confiscate identification cards for guests to enter

HOUSING the building at any given time until they leave. These identification cards are in open view, spread out on the front desk clerk’s workspace with nothing to keep them from getting confiscated by others, according to tenants. Guests of residents have had their identification misplaced, lost, and taken home with employees.

These practices are a violation of federal and state housing regulations.

East Lake Management did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.

ELM properties situated in other areas across the Chicagoland area provide their residents with front entrance keycards and an intercom buzz system.

Tenants at 5000 S. Indiana do not have access to their building as other ELM properties do. In fact, they do not have open access to the front door and rear door entrances and exits of the building.

Residents are required to wait for building staff to allow entry, which could pose a fire hazard.

Aside from the noise, tenant Mettle Fitness, LLC, which runs the gym on the property, does not comply with handicap parking laws and utilizes the residential tenant parking lot. Despite the business operating in a RM-4 Zone (a residential zone), Mettle Fitness routinely instructs its clients to park in the spaces that are designated for the elderly and disabled residential tenants when the business is open from 5:00am to 8:00pm Mondays through Saturdays. Tenants say the gym is also active beyond their hours of operation. “Outsiders that never lived in this building, they have more rights than we do,” said Owens.

Mettle Fitness did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.

Per residents, ELM refuses to supply presence has transformed the building. information regarding full disclosure The tenant union is comprised of past of all building code violations and the and present East Lake tenants from updates associated with them. For various locations and hopes to improve example, ELM was violating the Illinois the quality of life in all 172 East Lakepeephole installation act by not installing managed buildings view devices on residents’ doors. Shortly ELM has assured its tenants that after being contacted by the Weekly, these problems are a work in progress, ELTU tweeted that ELM would install but residents haven’t noticed changes peep holes on Wednesday, May 4. being implemented. As one of the largest There are also no recycling services in development companies in Chicago’s the building, despite being touted in the subsidized housing, East Lake receives redevelopment plans’ “go green” initiative millions of dollars in federal and City in accordance with the City of Chicago funding every year. Residents assert that recycling ordinance, and the trash the underlying cause of their problems piles up. isn’t mismanagement—it’s corporate Washington Park tenants have greed. “There is no one here for us to

PROVIDED BY ELTU

found that ELM has continued to allow the security and condition of the building to break down while turning a deaf ear to complaints made by residents. In the process of documenting complaints and banding together, tenants have forged the East Lake Tenants Union (ELTU) whose

voice our concerns and problems, they only want our rent,” Owens said.

Tenants are making their struggle public. The ELTU is calling upon the mayor, elected officials, the Chicago Housing Authority, the Illinois Housing Development Authority, the federal

Department of Housing and Urban Development, and all East Lake tenants across the city to stand up to East Lake Management and hold them accountable for their negligence.

The mismanagement at 5000 S. Indiana is tied to the issues underlying the national housing shortage, the eviction wave, and the steady creep of gentrification—the crisis of tenants’ rights. Across the city and nation, tenants face worsening conditions, rising rents, mismanagement and harassment.

These kinds of problems force renters out of gentrifying neighborhoods like Bronzeville. Few institutions exist to protect tenants or represent tenant interests, but the power of self-organized tenants exercised through collective action could grant them the right to control their living conditions.

Many residents have grown used to the bitterness of broken promises.

According to tenants, local aldermen and City institutions have not been responsive either. For now, it seems, the tenants are on their own. Even without outside support, however, tenants have proven self-reliant and persistent, their resolve for justice only strengthening with time.

Increasingly, residents view the tenants union—not management—as the only source of positive change.

“I’m bonding together with the tenants union and see if we can get something done,” Bratcher said.

ShowtimeShanna is an entrepreneur, housing organizer, and internet vlogger who produces original multimedia content.

Follow @showtimeshanna on all platforms.

This is her first contribution to the Weekly.

MAY 5, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 9

LABOR

Undivided and Unconquered

Chicago Amazon employee and organizer, Ted Miin, on staying united, organizing wins, and the new Staten Island Amazon union.

BY JACQUELINE SERRATO

A

mazon is among Chicago’s biggest employers—and unlike many industries, its Chicago footprint grew rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, scouting new sites in Pullman, McKinley Park, Gage Park, West Humboldt Park, and other neighborhoods. By the same token, worker organizing at local Amazon sites took off in 2019, and as the corporation built new locations, new organizing efforts were born.

This is according to workers involved with Amazonians United, the workers’ committee that carried out a series of workplace actions in recent years and has secured several labor wins in Chicagoarea Amazon sites. In March 2020, employees at DCH1, the Little VillagePilsen warehouse, learned by robocall of the first confirmed cases of coronavirus.

As the Weekly reported at the time, Amazon lacked safety precautions: it did not require or provide masks, sanitizing or personal protective equipment, and did not have social distancing protocols.

With a list of demands, dozens of workers organized work stoppages on March 30 and April 3, as well as popular petitions that eventually granted them safety measures and paid time off at the height of COVID. Within a year of these actions, Amazon announced that it would shutter the facility at 2801 South Western Avenue—the base of the Chicago chapter of Amazonians United.

Some in the worker-led union believe that it was an attempt to break up their legally protected activity. But also, as Amazon admitted, this was their oldest delivery center in Chicago. Workers had noticed a variety of OSHA violations in the 50,000-square-foot warehouse, such as holes in the floor, old machinery, and other liabilities.

Amazon would relocate workers to 10 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

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other sites only if they took up the new graveyard shift—which they refer to as the “megacycle.” The ten-hour shift, from 1:20am to 11:50am, is a highly inconvenient schedule for parents of small children and people holding second jobs or going to school. Despite the constant employee turnover, many members of Amazonians United were dispersed to other Chicago delivery stations.

While their organizing was no longer concentrated in one place, organized workers say this move has allowed them to build power across the region. Right before Christmas—Amazon’s busiest season—workers staged walkouts from the Gage Park and Cicero facilities, accusing their supervisors of overworking and underpaying them. Their demand for fair and consistent pay across facilities resulted in $2 raises in January of this year.

The Weekly has since caught up with Amazon workers. Below is an interview with Amazon employee and organizer Ted Miin, in his own words.

Tell me about your organizing committee and how did you manage to organize people across locations?

We are a union, and union [means] workers that come together to address issues to make things better for ourselves.

So we’re definitely a union. I think one of the beauties of the sort of organizing that we’re doing [is that it] is based on our solidarity, our relationships with each other. And so just because our workplaces closed and we transferred to different locations, it didn’t mean that we didn’t have a relationship or a union anymore. It just meant that now we were spread out a little bit, and we had to figure out how to how to rebuild in some ways, because if you [had] twenty friends in one place,

and now you have ten friends in one place and ten friends in another, well, you need to figure out how you can communicate as a union of twenty people and not be divided by that.

But our relationships were largely unaffected. Other than folks that had to quit, but even then, some of our co-

“We [had] to stop working, we [had] to stop doing the thing that's hurting us. We had to disrupt the numbers, which is what they care about.”

workers that had to quit, we’re still in an organization with, we’re still coming to the same cookouts. Some of our coworkers that have to quit, it turns out, months or even a year or two later, end up back at Amazon because their situation changes. Maybe they went to work at Target or Walmart for a little bit. And maybe they had a second job that fell through and then they reapplied. I think the beauty of our approach is that these long-term relationships transcended just one warehouse location.

Can you tell me more about the recent actions at Amazon sites?

We had been transferred to these new warehouses over this eight month period, and it was pretty clear among

coworkers that it’s the same thing as everywhere else, and basically every job is overworked and underpaid. The main issues when we’re talking with each other at work in the break room are: First off, we’re underpaid, even compared to Target and Walmart in the same areas.

Amazon always tells us that they “remain competitive with compensation” and “we’re always assessing,” and we’re going to them [saying], “Hey, Target just raised their pay from $20 to $22 an hour, you’re still paying us at $15.80. I thought you said you’re being competitive. What’s the deal?” And then nothing, we’ll never hear back.

And on top of that, [we’re] understaffed.

So instead of having, for example, thirty workers to move all these packages, they might only have twenty-five or twentysix. And that makes a huge difference for how fast we have to move, literally how much weight and [how many] packages over the course of a ten-hour shift that each worker has to move. This increases the rate of injury. I think I saw a recent report that the injury rates at Amazon warehouses are two times more than other logistics warehouses, like UPS and FedEx, for example. So we were overworked, underpaid, and pissed off.

It was pretty easy for us to decide on our main demands. At DIL3, we wanted a $3 an hour raise just to match the pay that Amazon was already giving other coworkers and other stations, [but] not ours.

Also, to get us closer to what competitors like Target and Walmart were paying, as well as safe staffing and the option to rotate, so that we can [work in] different positions with the warehouse, and at least be a bit less worn down doing the same tasks day in and day out. So we did a petition to bring our co-workers together around the same demands and make sure

LABOR we could unite around the same issues.

Almost everyone on our shifts signed the petition.

We just went around and talked to everyone in the break room [or] outside in the parking lot. Nearly everyone signed it. We delivered it to management and we told them they had a week to respond…

I think like two weeks passed. Still nothing… And I think it was common sense for most of our co-workers: “we have to stop working, we have to stop doing the thing that’s hurting us.” We had to disrupt the numbers, which is what they care about. To make them take us seriously… we needed to walk out.

We coordinated with our coworkers at the other delivery station. We both walked out a few days before Christmas. And I think it was almost exactly a month after that Amazon announced the raise for us.

Actually, they said twenty-four delivery stations in the Chicago area, which they were probably afraid would also walk out because they saw us doing it… And so I think our coordinated walkouts won a raise for thousands of Amazon workers in the Chicago area… $2 an hour, depending on how much folks are making, might not seem like a lot. But for us, after taxes… that’s like $60-$70 per week more that we’re getting now than we were before we walked out. And I always joke with my co-workers, like, “that raise can save your relationship.” You know, that’s an extra date night once a week that you can do with your partner… That’s an extra bill, an extra couple bills paid that month.

It’s definitely still not enough. But let’s be honest, it was a really concrete and substantial improvement to our lives, having that extra money on our paychecks every week… So the same raise was given to the Cicero warehouse DLN2 that we won, and DI03 as well. My understanding is it includes other delivery stations in the Chicago area. We have friends and coworkers at DXH5 on the Southwest Side, DI07 on the North Side, they all got the same raise as well.

Have the interactions between workers

and supervisors changed in the last year and a half?

I think the environment has been a lot better. They’re bringing in food and snacks every week, they’re trying to do all the little things like, “okay, let’s keep these workers happy enough.” But of course, we know that a $3 snack is not the $3 an hour raise that we need, so we’re not fooled.

But it’s nice to get some of the small freebies on the side while we’re figuring out how we can get all that we deserve.

But yeah, there’s been a definite shift in the sort of dynamic—social dynamic,

we try what they’re doing? I just read about this news. What do you think about what’s going on in New York?”

Those are the types of things that come up a little bit more. For us at Amazonians United Chicagoland, specifically, we are definitely happy for our co-workers in Staten Island, especially to see another independent union succeed. I don’t think anyone expected that. I mean, outside of those that were doing it and were confident in it.

I think it’s also important to be honest, and talk about how the NLRB (National

nine months for us, just by organizing ourselves and taking direct action, to win the raise.

I think the timing for us as workers to organize ourselves—building our power in our workplaces, and taking action where we have power—works quicker to get changes. And that also kind of builds the culture among each other as co-workers, where we recognize that our power is in our own hands… I think we’d rather spend our time and energy building our union based on direct action and solidarity in our workplaces. And it’s already won raises and other concessions for thousands of workers in Chicago in a relatively short time. But we’re definitely happy for our co-workers in Staten Island, we hope they find a path to getting some material gains using their approach.

We’re excited to see what improvements they can win that way. Overall, I think it’s good that we can be having these conversations more and be having honest assessments of, like, what should we be doing as workers in the biggest company in the world when we’re in a pandemic?

Anything you want to share about what you’re planning ahead?

ILLUSTRATION BY MEG STUDER

power dynamic—in the warehouse for how we’re treated. And how we can kind of simply ask, for example, to switch to a different spot. Before that, that was unheard of, and now management will simply accommodate it.

Last month, workers in Staten Island, NY voted to form the first official union within Amazon in the U.S. How significant is this for workers who are in the rest of the country, or in Chicago?

I think it’s definitely encouraged more conversation about unionizing, what unionizing is. “Should we try that? You know, what are they doing? Like, should

Labor Relations Board) processes still work in favor of employers and bosses and their timelines, and not workers who can build our own power and our own workplaces. Take, for example: an election might take a year…. And then my understanding is the average amount of time after an election has been certified… the average amount of time for a contract to be negotiated and ratified is well over a year. So altogether, engaging in those legal processes, you’re talking about two years of time where you’re spending the time and energy to kind of seek that sort of legal approval. And compare, for example, when we were transferred to new facilities in April of last year, and we were walking out by December… It took

I think, generally, what we all are in agreement on is that we’re growing more and deeper within the facilities we’re already in. We’re definitely going to grow and build up our membership in other facilities in the Chicago area—especially now that we’re all at the same pay level, now that everyone’s gotten the raise that we want. [But] we’re all still lagging behind the Walmarts and Targets that are moving up to $20 to $24 an hour for warehouse work, while we’re still at $18 an hour. I think there’s definitely shared issues that all Chicago Amazon warehouse workers will be on the same page fighting for. So, you know, growing more deeply among coworkers. That region is definitely where we’re headed.

And maybe beyond as well.

Jacqueline Serrato is the editor-in-chief of the Weekly. She last wrote about workers organizing at El Ranchero.

MAY 5, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 11

ARTS

‘Leave Me Alone’: Q&A with Visual Artist Hailey Marie Losselyong

Visual artist Hailey Marie Losselyong paints women of color on bold murals, illustrations, and clothing designs.

PHOTO BY TJ OLMOS.

BY REEMA SALEH

H

ailey Marie Losselyong is a selftaught and multi-disciplinary visual artist based in Pilsen.

She works under the name HML Art & Design, creating bold murals, illustrations, and clothing designs with abstract female portraits.

Her latest installation, HML Home, is housed at Vault Gallerie in Pilsen until May 7. Turning a gallery space into an IKEA-style apartment, Losselyong furnished it with pieces from her past work⁠—wall art, furniture, and clothing⁠—to celebrate her creative evolution as an artist and what it means to create intentional accessible art.

While walking through it, you get the

impression of sneaking about a friend's apartment as they go to the bathroom for a moment. Immediately, you start nosing through a free-standing closet rack and poking through the brightlycolored stickers and prints on their desk.

The more you look around, the more you notice stylized, unbothered women, painted with colored lips and their eyes closed. Some have the slogan "Leave Me Alone" stenciled into their earrings or by their sides, as if saying, “Leave me alone.

Do no harm, but take no shit!”

You see it patterned on the backs of jackets, on the shoes tucked under the mirror, and in the framed images on the walls. It’s painted on the flower pots, on

the coffee table, and on the drink coasters.

When it's your turn in the bathroom, the women are there again, towering over you on the wall. What are they thinking about when they close their eyes?

South Side Weekly spoke with Losselyong about her creative process and the inspiration behind her Leave Me Alone art series, which was inspired by unsolicited interactions from men that women often face in public. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How do you describe yourself as an artist?

I say I'm a multi-disciplinary visual artist. I’ve focused mainly on painting in the past, so painting on pretty much anything, like canvas, walls, clothes— anything. I also like visual arts in general.

I like to take photos and do video content and things like that, too. But I think my artwork centers around portraits of people. My paintings are portraits that highlight femininity and the duality of femininity and different strengths versus weaknesses within femininity When did you first start doing visual art?

I didn't start painting my own original MAY 5, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 13

ARTS paintings until I went to college. In 2014, I went to school for business, but then I ended up taking a couple of Illustrator workshops. I was doing a little bit of painting to make some money on the side, just commissions of anything, really.

After a year or two of that, I fell into my own style.

How do you describe your art style?

I want it to be impactful when you see it.

I want people to recognize that it's mine, but also feel something. I like making things really big or bold, [though] now I'm focusing on a little bit more movement.

Just making you feel something when you look at it.

Where do you get inspiration from when you start a new project? What does your creative process look like?

It's collaborative in a way. People see what type of artwork that I make, but then we come together, and I see what their style is, what their vibe is, and we have a happy medium.

It's definitely very inspired by women and femininity. I like showing women and women of color. A lot of my bigger projects started by being able to put murals in spaces where they weren't before and put murals of women of color in spaces where they hadn't been seen before. I feel like that's just really important for me to help people that need to see themselves in artwork. I think it's really important that everybody feels represented, especially through art.

What inspired your Leave Me Alone artwork?

It started from street harassment. A few years back, I had some pants that I had drawn some girls on and I had also written "Leave Me Alone" small on the front. And I was like, I just want to see what happens. It was a summer night, and I had to wait for a couple of friends by myself, and I ended up being followed into a 7-Eleven by a group of people. Thankfully, nothing happened.

But it was just like, I can literally write it on me to leave me alone, that I'm not 14 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ MAY 5, 2022

asking for anybody's attention, and still, my boundaries are being crossed, and my safety is being questioned. I'm made to feel uncomfortable for no reason.

So after that, I started drawing it and writing it really big on a lot of my clothes.

And other girls were supporting that. I got a lot of questions from men, too. But most of them were just curious about what it meant, and when I explained it to them, they were like “Oh, that's not something that I've ever thought about.”

So it's like a little think piece. It's not like, “Don't talk to me or approach me.” [But] think about the way that you're going to approach me before you do it.

How long have you been working with this series?

I started that in the summer of 2017 or

HML HOME IS HOUSED AT VAULT GALLERIE IN PILSEN UNTIL MAY 7. PHOTO BY TJ OLMOS.

2018, and it's grown from there. From my experience, it [began with] literal street harassment. But like with the rest of my work, I really like to leave it open to interpretation for whoever is digesting it, because it can mean different things for different people. And I think [the message is], in general, for people: just respect one another. Think about your actions and the things that you're saying or the things that you're doing and how it might seem like a small action to you, but it can really affect other people.

on one thing, that's awesome, and you're probably a pro, but just the way that my personality is, I like to experiment and bounce around a little bit and figure new things out. I like to be challenged. It's just fun that way. I think I picked a freelance career in order to be able to dictate what type of projects I want to work on, and that's a really important part to me⁠—to be able to have room for creative growth.

What's so interesting about working in so many different mediums?

My favorite project has probably been working with the Mural Movement. The Mural Movement was run by Delilah Martinez. She's also the owner of Vault Gallerie, where I'm hosting the show at right now, but the Mural Movement was born in 2020, during protesting, when our neighborhood was all boarded up, so

I just really don't believe in having to do one singular thing. There are so many ways to express yourself creatively. Why only focus on one medium? And I give people their props when they do focus

What's been your favorite project to work on?

ARTS storefronts to make it seem like a little less of a war zone and bring us back to some sense of normalcy. And they were all in support of Black Lives Matter [and] Black and brown unity. Through the Mural Movement, almost 200 murals have been done, but it's allowed myself and other artists to just get an opportunity to paint big projects or even travel to work.

And for artists, having opportunities to be able to show your work is just as important. Not everybody can just find a big thirty-foot wall that somebody's going to allow them to paint on for the first time without [first] seeing their work, but we've been able to give different artists opportunities to showcase their talents, and then get bigger and better jobs after that. I think working with them has been cool, because most of the murals are going to Black or brown businesses or in Black or brown communities or small businesses that wouldn't normally be able to afford a large mural.

Why do you think it's important to use art for social justice?

It's just important for young people to see themselves in a positive light.

When we're doing these mural projects or projects in different communities, it always draws positive attention from the people that live in the area. They want to come and hang out and help

paint. There is no lack of need for art or attention in these areas. People clearly are embracing it and want it to happen. But there's not enough emphasis being put on beautifying spaces. I think how a space that you live in looks is important. It's important for your neighborhood to have colors and art and every neighborhood treated the same because people just want to see themselves represented in their own neighborhoods. Nobody wants more blank walls and boarded-up windows.

Why did you design your installation at Vault Gallerie in the way that you did?

It's definitely inspired by IKEA. So IKEA is one of my favorite places to visit.

It's like a Sunday trip type of thing. But I've always been curious about making art. I'm really supportive of affordable art.

I think that art can be an intimidating space for people to enter. I like being accessible in that way and having interest in furniture and design and exploring those avenues. I just love the idea of IKEA, like IKEA sets everything up for you. They show you exactly how it could be used, and people can just truly envision purchasing a product because they can envision it in their space and envision it in their home. I just think the home is such an important space, and it should really reflect you and your personality.

And also, there can be more items in your home that are functional but still have art on them. Any item can be considered art.

It doesn't have to be just canvas or framed pictures. There can be anything.

“I think how a space that you live in looks is important.

It's important for your neighborhood to have colors and art and every neighborhood treated the same because people just want to see themselves represented in their own neighborhoods.”

How long have you been working on the installation?

There's an accumulation of work over the last few years. I'd say about fifty percent of the paintings and things have been done within the last year, but all of the furniture and bigger pieces and walls and stuff were done within the last two weeks.

So I've been working on it for a little while in my brain, but physically, just the last few weeks.

How has Vault Gallerie been a source of support for you?

I've been working with Vault Gallerie since it started. Before we even had this location, we were back on a different side of Pilsen. I used to be a paint and sip instructor and candlemaking instructor with Delilah, we would do these classes together. Then she opened up the gallery and started giving more spaces to show work, and I was transitioning more and more into my freelance art career. She's been 100% a source of help in every single area. Honestly, she's given me space to show my work in the gallery and do this whole crazy installation. She doesn't really put any limitations on artists in her space, which is great. And then running the Mural Movement and stuff, she gives a lot of different artists the opportunity to show their work and sell their work and be seen. She's really important in the city.

What would you tell someone getting into art for the first time? What would you tell a younger version of yourself?

I would tell myself to experiment earlier.

Learn from more people. [That going] out of my way to really shadow people and interning for people can be a good thing.

Even if it's not exactly what you want to do, if it's in the ballpark, it's just good to watch somebody be a professional and learn the business side of things. Because if you want to be a full-time artist, it doesn't matter how great you paint, you’ve still got to figure out the business side.

But ultimately, just try whatever you want—try it, fail, and move on. Because there are plenty of projects where I feel like I haven't executed exactly the way that I wanted to, but you learn and you move on, and you do better the next time.

It's better than not doing it at all.

What are you most proud of with your work?

I think just the little community that it's created because there's so many different items out there in the world. Now whether it's bags or jackets or canvas or tattoos, it's just really cool to see people and friends in different states sending me or somebody with a tattoo of mine.

Are there new things to expect from you?

I feel like there are always new things to expect. I don't really plan too far ahead, and I go with the flow. But I'm definitely looking forward to doing more installations, more spaces, and doing more collaborative pieces and working with new people and companies. And just making everything bigger and better. Reema Saleh is a journalist and graduate student at University of Chicago studying public policy. She can be followed on Twitter at @reemasabrina. She last wrote about Blue Tin Production and their vision for a studio and community center in Chicago Lawn.

MAY 5, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 15

Learning to Play With Fire Again A day spent with Kari “nombreKARI” Thompson and Sam Johnson ahead of the public premiere of their short film Children Play With Fire.

BY MALIK JACKSON

W

hen I linked up with Kari “nombreKARI” Thompson and Sam Johnson for the first time, I walked away with private links to unreleased music and they walked away with book recommendations. But what we all walked away with was food for thought, because the conversation that their short film Children Play With Fire sparked was enough to set us on our own quest of self-exploration.

As a companion to his debut album of the same name, which was released in 2021, Kari Thompson enlisted the help of co-director Sam Johnson to create a short film for the body of work. The film has already won the Chicago Award in 2021 at the CineYouth Festival, and was screened at the Chicago International Film Festival last year.

But before we jumped into the film, we broke bread. With Subway sandwiches spilling out of our mouths, we discussed our upbringings in Chicago and how growing up in the city influenced our tastes, how it nurtured our understanding, and what it taught us about being in the world. For Sam, going to Jones College Prep in the wake of Jones alumni Chance the Rapper’s rise to fame pulled him into a culture of art that influenced him to this day. For Kari, growing up in Bronzeville, selling tickets for SaveMoney concerts, and finding brotherhood at King College Prep all brewed a melting pot of experiences both pure and mischievous that would inspire his artistry.

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¬ MAY 5, 2022

The task of bringing Children Play With Fire to life required the two of them to develop deeper understandings of each other and their circumstances.

For Sam, an Avondale native and DePaul film student at the time, this meant gaining more exposure to the elements of the South Side, including its culture and institutions. Kari brought him to Apostolic Faith Church on 39th Street, which would be his first experience at a majority-Black church. This gave him clarity to the challenge of the task.

“I needed that experience just to tell myself, ‘there are layers to this,’” Sam said. This realization influenced the way the two communicated the nuance of growing up Black on the South Side.

On its face, the film Children Play With Fire is a story about adolescence in Chicago. It investigates the relationship between childhood bliss and paranoia, mortality, and the loss of innocence. It follows a boy who journeys from playing with goldfish to playing spades, but what happens in between is, in Kari and Sam’s words, “up for interpretation.” The use of abstraction and surrealism in the film sends viewers in different directions, but the themes are clear, which creates the conditions for contemplation.

Kari has been reflecting on his youth since he started working on the album back in 2018. Reminiscing on his eighteenth birthday, he realized, “technically I’m an adult now, and it forced me to start thinking about what my childhood was

ARTS like. There were a lot of moments of bliss and delight that I experienced because I didn’t necessarily have to worry so much.”

But in the opening moments of the film, motion blurs, slow motion effects, street sounds, and orange tints set up an eerie, ambiguous atmosphere that remains present throughout the rest of the film.

In the film, a boy walks into a kickback—clearly underdressed and out of place—and drops a goldfish into a fishbowl in the middle of the room before the film springs into action. Immediately after, we see a group of people playing cards and the boy disappears. It’s nighttime, so when Kari (who appears in the short as an actor) asks an older kid sitting at the table if he can go grab a pack of Backwoods at the gas station, the air fills with hesitation and paranoia, because a solo mission like that could have dire consequences depending on where you are.

“The Black experience isn’t just about trauma,” Kari declared. He said this to qualify his art, noting that despite the prevalence of trauma and violence in

PHOTO BY JOSH JOHNSON

his subject matter, there were still plenty of moments of joy and positivity in his youth. As part of reflecting on joy, he said, “sometimes you don’t really acknowledge things for what they are until you’re removed.” So when we set out across the city to spend time in places dear to him and Sam, we shared space to reflect on the highlights.

For Kari, Oakwood Beach, Afrocentric murals along King Drive, and Mandrake Park are just a few of the spots that painted his childhood with vibrant colors. He reflected on the sixth grade, when he first heard Young Pappy, King Louie and Chance the Rapper, and thought about the subcultures their music created and how they influenced a generation.

“This is bigger than music,” he said. Working in social services, Kari has firsthand exposure to the everyday challenges low-income folks face across the city. The mission of his art is to help himself and others grow. “There is no finish line,” he said, meaning that the lifeblood of his art is derived from life,

PHOTO BY JOSH JOHNSON

and vice versa. His goals are to foster connection, build community, and have critical conversations. All of his work is a build on the lessons he’s learned before.

For Sam, we ventured to South Loop where he used to hang out after school, and Clark Park in Avondale.

Here, we walked through bike trails and stepped over old tires to get to a small skate park surrounded by trees. We drove around Logan Square, a gentrifying neighborhood, and Sam pondered how the area’s changed since he was a kid and what the implications of that will be in the future. We drove past his old house, which his family sold while he was young and he mentioned that driving past it was a regular and cathartic practice for him at one point.

We ended the night as we started the first night, by breaking bread. This time we had home-cooked rigatoni in the living room of one of Sam’s oldest friends. We all walked out with full stomachs, but the cherry on top was an architectural model that Sam’s friend offered up when he found out about my interests. After some seven hours of bouncing from Wicker, to Bronzeville, back up to Avondale, and

back south again, I felt worn out, like I’d just spent a day playing outside. In reality that’s exactly what we did. While exploring the elements of Children Play With Fire on screen, we ended up diving back into our youth in real life. Taking note of the struggles, we still made it a point to revisit the places, thoughts, and moments that made us smile.

In May, Kari and Sam plan to host the first public screening of Children Play With Fire, and it’ll also be one of the first times for people to convene around the film in person and react to it. “It’s an important piece and I’m just excited for people to see it. And I hope there’s other people that see it and resonate with it, that’s what it’s all about,” Sam notes.

To be working on a debut album and an accompanying short film at the same time is a remarkable feat in and of itself. “It’s crazy because we first started working on this in October of 2018,” Kari says, “that’s a testament to how much energy has been put into it.” Malik Jackson is a contributing writer at The Weekly. He last wrote How To Turn a School Into a Skate Park MAY 5, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 17

ARTS

‘i said what i said’

Q&A with multimedia visual artist Jewel Ham about her recent exhibition.

BY DIERDRE ROBINSON

I

n what was probably one of the most unforgettable moments from the Real Housewives of Atlanta (RHOA) reunion series, former series regular NeNe Leakes uttered the classic one-liner “I said what I said” during a heated exchange with fellow RHOA alum, Kandi Burruss.

With the use of only five fiery words, Leakes made clear the very essence of the phrase: that she understood the message she communicated, would not apologize for her words and there would be no further discussion about them.

But let’s forget about RHOA reunion squabbles for a moment because multimedia visual artist Jewel Ham has parlayed that same phrase into the catchy title of her latest solo exhibition in Chicago. Located at 6760 Stony Island Avenue, Ham’s exhibition, titled “i said what i said,” opened at Theaster Gates’ Stony Island Arts bank. Originally on view from March 10 through April 10, the show was extended due to popular demand through April 17.

The exhibition, organized by Anthony Gallery in collaboration with the Rebuild Foundation, is part of a yearlong partnership to amplify the work of emerging and established contemporary artists like Ham. The show “invited viewers on an emotional journey that contextualizes the need for an unapologetic expression to be part of our reparational demands.” It featured fourteen of Ham’s best-known pieces depicting images of female subjects.

Ham, who developed an interest in painting early in life, honed her craft at Howard University where she graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2020 with a BA degree in fine arts. She went on to appear in national and international exhibitions, such as in Senegal and Sweden, was featured in Essence Magazine as one 18 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ MAY 5, 2022

of “7 Contemporary Black Women Painters to Watch” and interned with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Spotify.

South Side Weekly sat down with the talented North Carolina-born artist a few days ahead of her show to discuss her background, process, and the road ahead.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How long have you been painting?

I’ve been painting seriously since about middle school or high school, but I could always draw. I was always someone who drew a lot during class; you know, one of those. Then I started getting more serious about my art. I wanted to paint so I tried acrylic painting. I went to the art store in middle school and my mom was like, “you can get five colors.” So, I learned a lot about color theory just from not having that many.

When did you become serious about really wanting to be a painter?

[It was] when I got to high school and finally decided that I wanted to go to Howard that I decided to pursue this seriously. No one was really doing art, especially not in North Carolina and I wanted to be the best. So, I was like, ‘let me do the oil paints.’ I needed to teach myself so I spent my entire senior year of high school just practicing and honing my craft.

When did you first realize that you wanted to be a visual artist? Did something or someone influence you in that way?

When I was in high school, I was not the

PHOTO BY DIERDRE ROBINSON

best behaved. My attitude was like, ‘I’m not going to school. I’m just going to do art.’ I didn’t know until I took one of those college placement tests at school and I got Howard University as a match. I didn’t really know anything about Howard. I knew about HBCUs because my parents are HBCU graduates. So, when I saw that Howard was an HBCU in a major city, I thought, ‘let’s go,’ and I kind of just had to make it happen.

something in all of us and it’s the reason we’ve been able to influence culture so much. We are culture. There would be none without us. Whether it’s food, music, or fashion, it’s all of us. So while that’s the case and we know it, they should know it by now, too. I feel like putting that in the forefront is incredibly important. I really want people to experience the work and the chaos that kind of comes with being Black and being a Black woman.

In your artist statement, your art is described as presenting chaotic imagery against commonplace backdrops that imagine how it looks to reclaim our time, space, and history. Can you talk a little bit about that?

When you look at some of your earlier paintings, do you think that they’ve changed at all?

Absolutely. For me, I use a lot of red. That is the base color whether it turns into pinks, purples, or oranges. Red is the core [of my art], and that’s because the level of creativity that we possess as Black folks is a bloodline that we all share. We’re able to share it because to be Black is to be frustrated even though not all of us are loud with the frustration. It’s not something like, “I’m pissed all the time!”

That’s not always the vibe, but so much of that frustration is the reason we’re able to do things so differently—because there’s a need to move differently. I think that’s

Yes and no. When you do a craft that other people see, it is always going to change because as people we change all the time. It’s like tweeting and deleting.

So much of what I was doing before is still informing what I do today. I was going through a lot emotionally and so I was always putting that into the work.

I thought that was the way work was supposed to be created. It’s “experiential,” but before I could even say that word or know the vocabulary behind what I was doing, that’s what I was interested in. I was putting my heart and soul into the work, even physically. Telling a story, in some capacity, was always important to me. In my state of North Carolina, they

ARTS had a Martin Luther King art award. You had to create work inspired by him and I remember when I first won it. I think I was in sixth grade. I drew a picture of him, Obama, and me. We were made completely of words. I drew all the words throughout the skin, and I shaded the skin on top of the words. Looking at different ways to tell a story visually is something that has always been with me, but I’m still learning and I’m still figuring out ways to go about it. I’m still interested in new things all the time. So, visually it’s changed, but the roots are always going to be there.

Are the images in your art based upon real-life people or situations? What’s the story behind the titles, such as “whew chile”?

First of all, I want it to be about Black womanhood as a general experience— first things first. We all know what phrases like “whew chile” imply. Those kinds of titles are really important to my work. I could go into it more and speak at length about what that means exactly, but I think it’s kind of pointless because the people who get it—it’s for them. It’s that kind of attitude that I wanted to bring into the work first. As Black women, we’ve got a lot of stuff on us. The Black woman, as we know, is the most revered but equally the most ignored.

Of all your pieces, do you have a favorite?

That’s the question of all questions. I would say that the favorite changes. I am forever partial to a work called, “did i stutter?” because I feel that was one of the first works where I was channeling the attitude that I really wanted to put into my work. I think the attitude that I’m putting forth lurks in all my paintings, but with that one, it just hit me, especially because it was a quick painting. I did it in a few days and that doesn’t always happen. Trust and believe that doesn’t always happen. I was so excited to put that painting together. In it, the faces are changed and re-adapted. I used two photos of Nina Simone, plus a photo of one of my friends. After collaging those images together, you kind of get the

feeling that it could be you or it could be me. That’s always what I want in my artwork. It’s not necessarily one person.

Even though it’s based on a reference, I try to change features so that it's no one and everyone. So I was really happy with that one, but I also love “try me better,” which is the main piece of the show. I’m still finding favorites and, hopefully, I can make my next work my favorite, too.

Are you ever featured in your paintings?

Yes and no. Some of them are blatantly like me. There’s a piece called “what’s tea?” in the solo show and I am one of the figures. However, I try to tweak my facial expressions. I’m also [in] a lot of the people that I wasn’t necessarily the reference for. I think you put yourself in your work inadvertently because that’s what you think faces look like: like the way you look. So, I am in a lot of pieces, but most of the time I don’t really mean to be.

How did you decide on the title of your show “i said what i said”?

It’s funny because if you knew me personally, you couldn’t imagine another title. When I paint, it’s an attitude. That is what I’m really creating. I’m painting attitude. It’s about energies. The attitude that I feel is most important is the attitude of “i said what i said.” That means even if it’s going through things that aren’t necessarily great—I still said it, I’m still doing it, and I’m still looking damn good whilst doing it. That’s big energy for me like the unapologetic queen NeNe Leakes. It’s that kind of attitude and that kind of energy. I love a powerhouse Black woman and I think before NeNe even put that quote on the map, we knew it. We’ve heard it in our community. We know what the attitude is.

familiar to me and a culture that we all kind of share. Whether that’s pop culture references, food or drink selections, certain outfit features, or accessories. I want people to feel like: that’s my friend, I’ve experienced that, or I remember when. So, even though each painting has a personal narrative, I don’t really like to go too in depth with what the story is because I want you to feel whatever it is for you.

Who are your biggest supporters?

My parents for sure: my mom and my dad.

They’re Team Jewel all the way. They’ve always come out to all the shows. They’ve never had any hesitation about me doing art. I really appreciate that because, who would have thought?

If you could give one piece of advice to an up-and-coming visual artist, what would it be?

I would say continue to do your craft.

Keep doing it and keep doing it nonstop. Continue to experiment with new things. And if anybody is telling you that you cannot, ignore it. By all means, ignore it all. If you really have the drive and the passion to have it, it will be yours. All you have to do is put in the practice behind

it. I think anybody saying that you can’t be an artist for a living or it’s not a career only speaks from fear. If you have the conviction and the work to back up your craft, no one can take that from you. So keep doing it and post about it. You never know who you’ll meet.

After your exhibition here in Chicago closes, what’s next?

I will be back in Chicago for a group show. I can’t say where and I can’t say with whom, but you’ll see me in the summer.

I’m still creating works. So we’ll see what happens.

If our readers want to find out more about you, purchase some of your artwork or just get in touch with you, where can they go to learn more?

They can follow me on Instagram @ whateverjewel, where they can see my works as they’re being made. They might even be able to snatch one early. And they can email me—I have an email button on my Instagram or at whateverjewel@ gmail.com—and we’ll chat.Dierdre Robinson is a writer and manager in Chicago. She last wrote about the South Suburb’s Underground Railroad.

What do you want the viewer to take away from experiencing “i said what i said?”

I want the viewer to always feel at home with my works. I like when people can see themselves in the work, even if it doesn’t necessarily look like them. I try to paint things that are familiar because they’re

PHOTO BY DIERDRE ROBINSON

MAY 5, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 19

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ILLUSTRATION BY THUMY PHAN

BULLETIN Rollerskating at Hamilton Park Hamilton Park Cultural Center, 513 W. 72nd St., 5:30pm–7:00pm. $10 Registration fee. chicagoparkdistrict.com

The Hamilton Park Cultural Center is hosting free skate sessions every Tuesday and Thursday. Bring your own gear.

There may be someone there to teach, but be prepared to be on your own. Must be eighteen years or older. Registration fee is $10. Sign-up in person or online at chicagoparkdistrict.com (Adam Przybyl)

Good Times, Kind People

National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St., Friday, May 6, 6:00pm– 10:00pm. $30. bit.ly/3McbwUv Join the National Museum of Mexican Art's youth initiative, Yollocalli Arts Reach, for a night of dinner, drinks, raffle prizes, music, and dancing. 100% of ticket and raffle sales, donations, and tips will support Yollocalli's youth programs based in Little Village. You must be 21+ to attend this event and have proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Buy tickets in advance at bit.ly/3EpdzBX.

The People's Square: What's Race Got to Do With It?

Quinn Chapel AME Church, 2401 S Wabash Ave, Wednesday, May 11, 6:00pm– 8:00pm. Free. tinyurl.com/PeoplesSquare2 The People’s Square is a free event series

by Chicago United for Equity that breaks down how politics and policy

influence our lives. Each month, we gather to learn about the history that led us here – and grassroots advocacy happening right now. This May, the people who fought to keep National Teachers Academy open join us to share how they worked together to prevent the school closure. RSVP: tinyurl.com/ PeoplesSquare2 (Ellie Mejía, Chicago United for Equity)

free screenings every Wednesday, no appointment necessary. They will take a short break after May 11 but will be back in June with a new date TBA. Call the clinic for more information at (312) 413-4179. ( Jackie Serrato)

South Side Critical Mass Bike Ride

City departments, including the CTA, are inviting the public to share their ideas for how to improve infrastructure for public buses. Those interested can go online to betterstreetsforbuses.com to watch a short video explaining the project, show which buses you want to prioritize, and register for a virtual public meeting. The remaining meetings are Thursday, May 12 at 7pm and Tuesday May 17 at 12:30pm. You can provide feedback, ask questions, or request assistance with registering or attending a public meeting by calling or texting (312) 772-5496. (Adam Przybyl)

Nichols Park, South End, 1300 E 55th St, Friday, May 6, 5:45pm–10:00pm. Free. bit.ly/CriticalMassBike Do you want to bike around Chicago, but are worried about being the only cyclist on busy streets? At the critical mass bike ride, you can join a large group of cyclists and bike for around fifteen to twenty miles at a moderate pace. The organizers of the event remind attendees that you come at your own risk and to bring water, a bike lock, a mask, and to wear a helmet. The group will meet at the south end of Nichols Park and ride at 6:15pm. The event takes place on the first Friday of the month throughout the year except winter. Next dates are May 6th and June 3rd. (Adam Przybyl)

Free Dental Screenings

Pilsen Family Health Center, 1713 S. Ashland St., Wednesday, May 11, 9:30am– 12:00pm. Free.

Dental students at UI Health and the UIC College of Dentistry are offering

Better Streets for Buses

Virtual, Thursday, May 12, 7:00pm. Free. betterstreetsforbuses.com

The South Side Book Fair

The Plant, 1400 W 46th St, Sunday, May 29, 1:00pm–4:00pm. Free to attend. bit. ly/3F8SiNa Come purchase books and other items from local vendors, learn about great organizations doing amazing work, enjoy some pizza and beer from Whiner Beer Co., and renew your Library Card!

Vendors will include Back of the Yards Library, Pilsen Community Books, Open Books, Liberation Library, Haymarket

Books, and more. Also on the program for the day is an optional hour-long tour of The Plant at 2pm, though you must register online beforehand. Meanwhile, Whiner will hold a complimentary tour of their brewery at 3pm, and their taproom will be open until 8pm. The Packingtown Museum will be open from 11am-3pm, and admission is free.

The event is family-friendly, however, to purchase an alcoholic beverage from the Taproom, you must be 21+. (Kevin Lilly, Bubbly Dynamics)

EDUCATION Assata's Daughters Spring Programming

Until June 19. Free. bit.ly/37mwoK8 Assata's Daughters' spring programming is for young Black folks of high school age in Chicago who want to build community with their peers, learn movement history and organizing strategy, and support their community, all while earning money. Priority is given to those who are ages thirteen to seventeen, girls/women, and gendernonbinary folks. Sign up at bit. ly/37mwoK8. (Maddie Parrish)

Summer 2022 Cantonese Community Language Class

Monday, June 6. Free. bit.ly/3vsQABR People Matter is looking for thirty community members of color who are interested in English and Cantonese classes from Bridgeport, Chinatown, MAY 5, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 21

CALENDAR McKinley Park, Armour Square, Pilsen, Douglas, and/or Bronzeville to join them for a free language class to learn Cantonese for six weeks from June 6-July 15. Apply by May 1st, 2022 at 11:59pm at bit.ly/3vsQABR. (Maddie Parrish)

American Writers Festival

Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St, Sunday May 15, 10:00am.

Free. bit.ly/38JL3PQ The American Writers Museum is organizing an inaugural writers festival that will feature over seventy-five contemporary authors, playwrights, and artists, who will do signings and speak on panels. Writers will discuss topics such as immigration, book censorship, racism and equality through themes in their literature. Participating authors will include Joy Harjo, Jacqueline Woodson, Andrea Betty, John Scalzi, as well as Chicago favorites Eve Ewing, Natalie Moore, and Evan Moore. Most of the festival will take place at the Chicago Cultural Center, but one stage of it will take place at the Writers Museum, which will also be hosting its five-year anniversary event. (Adam Przybyl)

Steelworkers Union Memorial Day Event

United Steelworkers Local 3212, 11731 S. Avenue O, Saturday, May 21, 1:00pm.

Learn about the 1937 Republic Steel Massacre at this commemoration organized by the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) under the theme, "Sacrifice and Birth of Unionism and the Labor Movement."

You can watch a ten-minute video online to learn about this history: vimeo. com/677375113. ( Jackie Serrato)

FOOD & LAND Request a Free Tree

City of Chicago, Thursday, May 5, bit.ly/ freetreerequest Trees can be planted on the City-owned 22 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ MAY 5, 2022

parkway in front of your house or the front yard facing the street. To make a service request, visit the City's 311 website and provide the address you want a tree planted at, how many trees you want planted, and whether a tree has been planted at this address recently. The Department of Streets and Sanitation, Bureau of Forestry oversees this service. ( Jackie Serrato)

61St St. Farmers Market

Experimental Station, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave., Every Saturday until October 29, 9:00am–2:00pm. Free to attend. experimentalstation.org/market With spring in full gear, come find farm-fresh vegetables, seedlings, and other products from local farmers and creators. The 61st St. Farmers Market will kick-off fully outdoor markets next Saturday, May 14 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 be every Saturday until October 29. (Martha Bayne)

ARTS Gómez-Peña’s Casa Museo

Jane Addams Hull House Museum, 800 S. Halsted St., Until May 29, 9:00am– 5:00pm. hullhousemuseum.org/reserveyour-visit Pioneering conceptual-performance Mexican artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña takes up residence in Jane Addams Hull House Museum. The exhibition layers one house museum on top of two others, located in San Francisco and Mexico City, highlighting the many affinities between the identities of Gómez-Peña. Following recent updates

to UIC’s guidelines of COVID-19, guest reservations are limited to a maximum of ten visitors per hour, and all visitors must wear masks. Tuesdays thru Fridays. ( Jackie Serrato)

Latinoamérica en Chicago Exhibition

Dragonfly Gallery and Creative Spaces, 2436 W. Madison St., Saturday May 7, until May 29, 6:00pm–9:00pm Free.

A showcase of seventeen Latinx artists expressing how they live their culture in Chicago. Artists include Rene H. Arceo, Carlos Barberena, Alma Dominguez, Jada Nave, Juan Hernández, and Reynaldo GuAracibo Rodriguez. ( Jackie Serrato)

Art and Race Matters: The Career of Robert Colescott

Chicago Cultural Center, Exhibit Hall, Fourth Floor, 78 E. Washington St., Through Sunday, May 29, 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)

Young Chicago Authors Wordplay Open Mic

Instagram Live, Every Tuesday, 6:00pm–7:30pm. Free. instagram.com/ youngchicagoauthors 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)

Chess Records Tours

Chess Records, 2120 S. Michigan Ave.,Thursday through Saturday afternoons, 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 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)

Rudy Lozano Exhibit

UIC's Richard J. Daley Library, 801 S. Morgan St, Ongoing. 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)

Unfolding Disability Futures' Community Dance Workshops

The Plant, 1400 W 46th St., Sunday, May 15, 3:30pm–5:00pm. Free.

Join the artists of Unfolding Disability Futures for free movement workshops hosted at The Plant! Led by choreographers and performance artists involved in the project, the workshops will explore creative movement practices related to the theme of “disability futures.” A second workshop will be held Sunday, May 15 from 3:30-5pm.

In alignment with the Chicago theaters COVID-19 guidelines, masks and ID with a vaccination/booster card or proof of a negative COVID-19 within the last 48 hours before the event test are required. (Kevin Lilly, Bubbly Dynamics)