Vendor A. Allen on DuSable

by A. Allen

When we hear the phrase “Black Lives Matter,” it is good and acceptable, considering the overwhelming devastation of white police officers afflicting pain, suffering and even death upon Black and Brown people.

Blacks have suffered so many things for so many years. Yes, “Black Lives Matter” and have always mattered.

I feel proud and honored to write about the founder of Chicago, Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable. He is regarded as the first permanent, non-indigenous settler of what later became Chicago and is recognized as the founder of Chicago; yes, before the famous Chicago hot dog or the Chicago-style deep dish pizza and, yes, even before the 1920s gangster, Al Capone.

He was a Black pioneer trader from St. Marc, Santo Domingo, now known as Haiti. It feels good to know that Blacks have contributed to positive discoveries and cases, such as George Washington Carver and uses for the peanut, Daniel Hale Williams and heart surgery, or even Madam C. J. Walker (the first Black millionaire) and hair products, Garrett Morgan and the three-position traffic light, and many more contributions to better living as we know it.

I said all of this not to undermine or negate the accomplishments of others but to celebrate the accomplishments of Blacks during this Black History Month 2021. I’m grateful for the StreetWise platform giving us vendors a chance to express our opinion. And I would like to thank our customers for reading and supporting magazine sales.