Government leaders hold rallies for unity

by Suzanne Hanney

Dr. Stephanie Johnson-Brown was calm in the wake of May 30-31 weekend violence that followed the death of George Floyd and hit all of roughly 30 stores at Grand Boulevard Plaza.

“She said that while she was sad for the destruction, she realizes that material things can be rebuilt, but the lives taken by police violence and the killing of unarmed black people triggered the violence overall,” state Rep. Sonya Harper (D-Chicago) said of Johnson-Brown, of the Plano Optometrics Center at 5401 S. Wentworth Ave. “Of course, she’s never seen anything like it. It was heartbreaking, the damage they sustained. Some stores were vacant but every single one was hit. It’s what a lot of our shopping centers look like when I go further south and further west. Not one shopping center has not been hit.

“But you could just tell by the way she was speaking – so calm – that something had warmed her heart during this experience,” Harper said. “And one thing that was hopeful and encouraging was that the very next day, there were young people at her door helping her to clean up.”

Harper brought 20 members of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus to Grand Boulevard Plaza June 2 to discuss recommendations and emergency demands on behalf of communities in Chicago that are most in need of resources and healing. She was compiling a list of organizations for a day of action and looking to the future, “using this as a time to not just deploy them where they need them to clean up from the riots and looting but to connect and engage them permanently in ways they can be involved in community issues.” Harper called for more coordination between state, local and federal government.

U.S. Reps. Danny K. Davis and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, both Chicago Democrats, made intergovernmental and interracial relations personal in a West Side rally June 5 in the wake of Latino-on-Black violence that followed the death of George Floyd, peaceful demonstrations, and then looting across the city.

“The people, united, will never be defeated,” Davis said, flanked by more than 20 African American and Latino officials from the Chicago City Council and Illinois General Assembly. Davis said that because of the violence, they were seeking new funding for summer jobs and training programs this summer for teens and young adults.

“Can you imagine what $20 million would do for young people in Cook County? Our ask is not going to be little because these are big problems.”

“I’m in full accord with the mass gatherings, the peaceful demonstrations,” Davis said. “I abhor and disagree with violence, looting and pillaging. I have some understanding with the feeling of helplessness and homelessness, being unemployed, not having a job, not knowing what is going to happen next week…no real hope for the future.”

“We come together because Black Lives Matter, solidarity matters, especially now, given the national crisis the murder we saw has caused,” Garcia said. “We are at a crossroads. We must find common ground. Unity is essential if we are to progress as a nation.”

Garcia said afterward that earlier in the week, he had reached out to Davis, who had already planned a West Side gathering of officials because of interracial violence Sunday night, May 31 on Cermak Road – the boundary between the mostly black 24th ward and the mostly Latino 22nd ward. A car with four black women and a child driving through Little Village was struck with a baseball bat three times at Kedzie Avenue and Cermak Road, for example, according to Block Club Chicago.

“My constituents said, ‘Why can’t we ride down 22nd Street?’ The city belongs to the citizens of Chicago, not just one neighborhood. We’re intertwined, Black and Brown living side by side,” said Ald. Emma Mitts (37th ward).

State Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago) said he had supported the DREAM Act for immigrant youth and helped immigrants get the right to drive, despite pushback from his own African American community. “It’s hard to support when I see people not respecting my people. Stop attacking Black people.”

Gangs in both Little Village and North Lawndale have come to the realization that violence between them is mutually destructive, so the community needs the same message, Garcia said. “It’s urgent that we have an understanding, that we work with local churches, schools, have a conversation and not let people be misled,” Garcia said.

Ald. Michael D. Rodriguez, (22nd ward), who cited his 20 years in violence prevention with Ceasefire and other groups, said that investment in mentorship and jobs works – and that Los Angeles was spending $150 million for such programs. “Our community has open arms for everyone, but…a few bad apples targeted our Black and Brown brothers and sisters. It’s not going to happen again.”

People in the community are now writing “Black Lives Matter” on doorways, Rodriguez said. “It’s three steps forward, one step back.”

“We are 66 percent of the city of Chicago,” Ald. Michael Scott (24th ward) said of the city’s minority population. “We need to bring back 66 percent of the pie because we desperately need it.”

“We are 20 and 12,” Ald. Jason Ervin (28th ward), chairman of the Chicago City Council Black Caucus, said of the 32 respective Black and Latino numbers in the 50-member City Council. “Divided we can’t do anything, but together we can control the legislation, demand and deliver. We have the numbers to make it happen. Do we have the courage?”

Assistant Majority Leader Elizabeth Hernandez, a Democrat whose state House district includes Little Village and Cicero, where two bystanders were fatally shot after looting at a nearby liquor store, said it was necessary to see elected officials come together at the rally. “The pain is deep to see our community unravel the way it did. There is so much work to be done in Springfield. We have to come together so those dollars reach our community fairly and with justice.”

There is precedent for this work, Hernandez said. State Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch (D-Westchester), an African American, was the primary sponsor of the Illinois TRUST Act, which prohibits law enforcement from stopping anyone solely on the basis of immigration status.