Austin Weekly News 120722

New community tness space opens in Austin

The Public Outdoor Plaza space opened outside of old Emmet School, which will become the new Aspire Center in 2024

By IGOR STUDENKOV Staff Reporter

The Aspire Center, the workforce development and community center coming to the for mer Em met School building, 5500 W. Madison St., won’t open its doors until 2024. But in the meantime, resi dents can take advantage of an outdoor community space that officially opened on Dec. 3 in the southwest corner of the school’s for mer parking lot. The POPFit community plaza is the latest of the Public Outdoor Plaza (POP) spaces built on vacant city-owned lots thought a collaboration between the Westside Health Authority (WHA), Lamar Johnson Collaborative architecture firm and the Chicago Department of Planning and De-

e Austin Chamber of Commerce and the 15th District police depar tment held the 18th Annual Tree Lighting Holiday Parade and Winter Fest in Austin on Dec. 2. S ee more photos on page 3.

West Side incumbents face challengers in

All

By IGOR STUDENKOV Staff Reporter

All but one West Side incumbent alderman will face opponents in the Feb. 28, 2023 election, although it remains to be seen how many of

those challengers will be able to stay on the ballot.

According to the Chicago Board of Elections, Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), whose ward includes the

SHANEL ROMAIN/Sta

Tree Lighting

Top, Illinois Senate President Don Harmon poses in front of the lit Christmas tree w ith members of the Good Neighbor Campaign and state Rep. Camille Y. Lily. Le , police o cers and communit y members enjoy ing the day. Below, Laquesha Guider, right, waits in line with her children to take a photo with Santa.

PHOTOS BY SHANEL ROMAIN/Sta

ASPIRE CENTER

Transformation

from page 1

velopment.

The POPFit plaza features a youth soccer field, a running track and outdoor fitness equipment. WHA owns the Emmet School building, and it’s currently working with the Austin Coming To gether coalition and other Chicago nonprofits to tur n the building into the Aspire Center for Workplace Innovation, which will have a BMO Har ris bank branch and community spaces. The center will also of fer job training and social service programs

There are currently four POP plazas in the city, with seven more planned in the future. The first POP plaza opened last year at the southeast cor ner of Chicago and Lockwood avenues. Another one, POPGrove, opened in August in West Garfield Park.

The Aspire Center is part of the larger Aspire Initiative, which also includes 60 units of af fordable housing and a new health and fitness center in other par ts of Austin. WHA will move its existing workforce de velopment program into the building, and it will become a new home of ACT’s Austin Community Hub social services program. The Jane Addams Resource Corporation (JARC) will provide manufacturing jobs training.

A plaza wasn’t part of the original plans

for the Aspire Center During the Dec 3 grand opening for the fitness plaza, WHA CEO Mor ris Reed said that a fitness cour t was something recommended by the Good Neighbor Campaign. Vanessa Stokes, who heads WHA’s community development initiatives, said that the org anization embraced the idea because the space makes it easier for community members to exercise.

POPFit plaza features a running track wrapped around a soccer field and a fitness area. Stokes said that the outdoor fit ness equipment that was put up during the grand opening was a temporary placehold er The per manent outdoor exercise equipment should be installed by mid-December. She said that during colder months, the soccer field can also be tur ned into an iceskating rink, the only one on the West Side Stokes that the Aspire Center construc tion is expected to begin on March 23, with the goal of completing it within the next 12 to 18 months

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said during the grand opening ceremony that the plaza is an example of a project where the city listened to the community’s wishes, as opposed to “some elected official who is talking and talking about values and not doing [anything].”

Lightfoot also described the project as a way to change the narrative about the West Side by creating something powered by the community and uplifting, tur ning “community eyesores” into “community assets.”

Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), whose ward includes Emmet School, said the mayor “has given her heart and her soul not just in the 29th ward, but in the West Side and the South Side … I went from trying to get a trash can [during for mer mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration] to seeing the As pire Center come to life.”

DPD commissioner Maurice Cox de scribed the plaza as a symbol of the city’s commitment while the Aspire Center re mains under construction.

“We have to give folks a little sense of what was possible, because it takes a long time, as those folks will tell you, to pull off this transfor mation,” he said.

ACT Executive Director Dar nell Shields said that, as someone who grew up only a few blocks south of the Emmet site, he’s eager to see the building revitalized and pleased that the Aspire Center has community support

“We’re now the community that’s building,” he said. “We’re not the community that just trying to survive We’re moving forward.”

Marshawn Feltus, of Austin, is planning to open the Act Yoga studio storefront near the POPfit, at 5457 W. Madison St., early next year, and he plans to hold outdoor yoga classes at the plaza. He described it as a “much-needed” amenity

“Just having this park around here, based around health, it [fits] what I want to do,” Feltus said. “It’s good to have it in this space in my neighborhood — where I live, work and play.”

Editor’s note and full disclosure: Dar nell Shields sits on the board of Grow ing Community Media, the nonprofit that owns Austin Weekly Ne ws.

SHANEL ROMAIN/Sta

City o cials and community leaders, including Mayor Lori Lightfoot, attended the Dec. 1 ribbon-cutting for the new tness plaza outside of Emmet School in Austin.

SHANEL ROMAIN/Sta Kaliyah Clark, 9, plays on a push-up bar installed at the new tness plaza in Austin.

nor theast por tion of East Garfield Park, will run unopposed. Ald. Monique Scott (24th), who re presents a ward that mostly falls within Nor th Lawndale, is facing six challengers in her first election since she was appointed in June.

Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), whose ward includes West Garfield Park and par ts of Nor th Lawndale and Austin, will face three challengers. Ald. Chris Taliafer ro (29th) is facing three opponents And Ald. Emma Mitts (37th), the longest-serving incumbent of the five, is facing three

This will also be the first election where West Siders will vote for members of the police district councils, which were established in July 2021 as part of the broader effort to improve police oversight. Each council will have three members and all four police districts that are part of the West Side have at least five candidates running.

However, not all of the candidates may stay on the ballot. It isn’t unusual for incumbents to try to kick challengers of f the ballot by objecting to the validity of the nominating petition signatures, and there have been instances of challengers objecting to incumbents’ or other candidates’ petitions The objections can be filed by 5 p.m. on Dec 5, with the hearings expected to take place later that month.

In the 24th Ward, the field is dominated by familiar names. Four candidates previously applied to fill Michael Scott’s seat. Vetress Boyce, owner of Boyce Enter prise Beauty Supply; Edward Ward, coordinator of Sustainable Community Schools program for Chicago Public Schools; Lar ry Nelson, a staf fer for U.S. Re p. Danny Davis (D-7th); firefighter Drewone Goldsmith; and Creative Scott, owner of Creative Salon (no relation to the incumbent). Boyce, Nelson and Creative Scott previously ran for the seat, as did candidate Traci “Treasure” Johnson. The one new name on the ballot is Luther Woodruf f.

Nurse and community activist Beverly Miles, who ran for the 28th Ward in 2019 and challenged Gov. J.B. Pritzker in the 2022 Democratic Party primary, is running again, and so is Shawn Walker, who ran for the seat in 2007. This is the first race for the U.S. Navy veteran Timothy Gladney Taliafer ro ran for 11th Subcircuit judge earlier this year After he lost to

attor ney Aileen Bhandari, he announced that he would run for re-election. While several community activists considered running for the seat, only three candidates submitted petitions: Corey DooleyJohnson, a resource coordinator for Urban Initiatives at Faraday Elementary school; C.B. Johnson, head of Campaign for a Drugfree Westside; Re publican 29th Ward Committee person Walter Adamczyk.

While community activist Tara Stamps, who ran against Mitts in the last two elections, is staying out of this race, West Humboldt Park Community Coalition founder Howard Ray is running. Preschool teacher Jake Towers and resident Corey Denelle Braddock are also running.

Police Distric t Council races

The police district councils will act inter mediaries between the community and the police districts, holding monthly meetings to get resident input and help the police districts develop policing strategie

They will also be responsible for choosing members of the citywide Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability That commission will take over responsibility from the police board for developing a shor tlist of police superintendent candidates and nominating heads of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

Five candidates are running for council fo the 10th District, which includes the section of North Lawndale south of Roosevelt Road: Elianne Bahena, Leo Guzman, Simeon Henderson, Rosemarie Dominguez, Larry Lawrence and Kisha Smith.

The council for The 11th District, which includes all of West Garfield Park, the section of North Lawndale north of Roosevelt Road, the part of West Humboldt Park south of Division Street and most of East Garfield Park, also has five candidates: Tamiko Holt, Jocelyn Woodards, Brian J. Ramson, Alees Edwards and Martin Coffer.

The council for the 15th District, which encompasses the section of Austin south of Division Street, has seven candidates: Deondre Routes, Karen Winters, Oddis “O.J.” Johnson, Car melita P. Earls, Darius Newsome, Constance Melton and Elena X. Thompson.

The council for the 25th District, which includes Galewood and other parts of Austin not in the 15th District, have five candidates: Saul Arellano, Pericles “Per ry” Abbasi, Edg ard “Edek” Esparza, Jacob Arena, Saul Arellano, Angelica P. Green.

WEST SI DE LIVES

Michelle Collins, a real

West Sider who made a career of investing in others

By SHANEL ROMAIN Community Narrative Reporter

During a recent interview, Michelle Collins, a West Side nati ve, preacher’s kid and a banker, shared her passion for the community where she’s work ed and li ved for more than 30 years.

On her upbringing in Austin

I’m a real West Sider. My father founded our Rose of Sharon Community Church on the West Side The church is 67 years old now and located in Maywood. It’s been a jour ney and a labor of love for me and gave me great insight into the community, because you see real people in their everyday lives.

I star ted of f at Lucy Flowers Vocational High School, which used to be an all-girls school. My parents moved into Austin when I was younger because they felt it was a great community to live in and they wanted me to go to Austin High School, which was one of the top high schools in the city at the time I loved it there. I was

a cheerleader and that’s where I graduated from.

On how she got into banking

I ended up finding the love of my life career-wise, which is community development lending. I star ted out doing home mortgages, then moved into small business lending, renovation lending and nonprofit lending. I worked for one of the top community development banks in the country, Shore Bank, for almost 20 years. Then I worked for ABC Bank in Austin. I retired in March 2020, right before the pandemic. I was working for Wintrust, Chicago’s community development bank.

On the impor tance of community development lending

There’s lending and then community development lending. Sure, banks taught me the dif ference between the two. Sometimes you can just lend to people and you don’t know the impact or the change in the community There’s also financial literacy that helps people and businesses bor row responsibly.

A moment ‘that touches my hear t’

I was doing a loan with a mom in Austin and when she first met me she said, ‘My house is the ugliest house on the block.’ Austin, by the way, is very much like Oak Park, in that it has the Frank Lloyd Wright historical homes, it’s just a matter of which side of Austin Boulevard you’ re on. But the structures of the buildings are very similar It’s really about being able to maintain and keep them up

This house, in particular, needed painting and a new front door, windows, etc. I did the loan for her and, as part of my lending process, I would go back and see if she put the money into the property and how it looks And her son came outside and said, ‘We have the best house on the block now.’ That’s the kind of thing that touches my hear t. It’s wor th everything to help people in that way.

CONTAC T: michael@austinweeklynews.com

Several West Side businesses awarded city grants

Funds are par t of Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago Recover y Plan program

By AustinTalks Publishing Partner

Seve r al businesses and groups in Austin and West Garfield are among 61 neighborhood businesses and nonprofit org anizations awarded nearly $40 million in C ommunity Development Grants thi s p ast month.

T he gr ants are pa rt of the Chicago Re cove ry Plan, a citywide ef fort in Mayo r Lori E. Lightfoot’s administration to catalyze a sustainable economic recove ry from the COVID-19 pandemi c.

Using federal and local f unding sources, the C RP is making gr ants available for private investment projects b ased on c ommunity-driven priorities established through the 2022 city budg et process. Public f unding is i ntended to foster thriving and safe c ommunities, as well as suppo rt an equitable economic recove ry

Ranging from about $12,000 to $5 million, the gr ants will suppo rt wo rk p lac e improvements, new c onstruction, ener gy system enhancements, and other eligibl e c osts that suppo rt neighborhood vitality, economic development, c ommunity

wealth-building, public health and local p lanning goals

Funding will c ome city b ond f und s and proceeds from the De par tment of Planning and Development’s (DPD) Ta x Increment Financing and Neighborhood O ppor tunity Fund progr ams

Re presenting the third and final round of 2022 gr ant selections, these projects we re selected from more than 600 applications:

■ Cadenc e, 4848 W. Ma dison St., $4 million

■ Inherent L3C, 4647 W. Polk St., $96,525

■ Karoake on the Ave!/Sunshine Horizons, LLC, 5812 W. Chicago Ave., $250,000

■ Only By Faith Inc., 5700-5702 W. Chicago Ave., $62,535

■ The Community Theater/The Jose ph’s Place, 5912 W. Chicago Ave., $203,775

■ The MAAFA Center for Ar ts and Ac tivism (the “MAC”), 4241 W. Washington Blvd., $1.5 million

■ Verity Investments LLC – Series 10, 5050 W. Chicago Ave., $150,000

CONTAC T: austintalks.org@gmail.com

PROVIDED

Michelle Collins, an Austin native and current River Forest resident, specializes in community development lending.

Legendary West Side activist drops gems in Austin

Brenetta Howell Barrett, 90, spoke at the Austin Branch Library during a

By SHANEL ROMAIN Community Narrative Reporter

On Nov. 28, the roughly dozen candidates running for Chicago mayor each dropped off thousands of nomination petitions to the Chicago Board of Elections Downtown. In some cases, candidates turned in more than 40,000 signatures During a Dec. 1 lunch at the Austin Branch Library, 5615 W. Race Ave., legendary West Side activist Brenetta Howell Barrett wanted community members to understand the kind of organization that it takes to generate that many signatures.

“It takes a lot of effort to get to that point,” Barrett said. “So, organizing certainly [plays] a very important role …”

Barrett, 90, should know. She was a founding member and organizer of Protest at the Polls, a group of independent Black political activists dedicated to mobilizing voters on the West Side

“Protest at the polls was an effort to say, ‘Yes, we support marching and demonstrations, but we think there might be something else of importance that hasn’t been recognized so far,” she said.

“In addition to trying to get people to register to vote, we also thought about running people for public office from our own communities to see what it takes to become a candidate,”

Barrett added. “Who knows what the legal requirements are for if all you’ve ever done was vote and not looked beyond the vote.”

Barrett also gained prominence for her establishment of the Pathfinders Prevention Education Fund, an HIV/AIDS service agency designed to address issues of homophobia and a lack of resources.

In the 1960s, she fought for civic and economic rights through organizations such as the Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights and city entities like the Chicago Commission on Human Services under Chicago mayors Harold Washington and Eugene Sawyer.

In 2007, Barrett gifted the Chicago Public Library system with her papers — some 93 archival boxes of material that can be found at the Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature on the South Side

The gift, the legendary activist indicated, is part of what might be considered a personal motto of hers. To be successful, organizers must be lifelong learners and transparent, she said.

“Be the open book you’d like to read,” Barrett explained

CONTAC T: shanel@growingcommunitymedia.org

Brenetta Howell Barrett, 90, gives insight on what it means to organize to win at the Austin Librar y on ursday, Dec. 1

SHANEL ROMAIN/Sta

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Criminal behavior is becoming a normality

For years, we have been told by everyone who speaks about crime in the Black community that it has to do with poverty. I’ve always been hesitant to buy into that 100 percent, because I was raised in Cabrin with some of the poorest Black folks there were. And we did not have any of the kind of crime that we see today occur back then. Part of the reason, is tha folks had genuine morals. We were a community and there were standards and expectations that everyone had to live up to.

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve writ ten about how Shanquella Robinson was viciously set up and murdered, alle gedly by six of her so-called friends. As I’ve been following the tidbits of information that have been flowing out over the inter net, including watching a reporter go up to the front door of several of the individu als allegedly involved in the crime and subsequently ring their doorbell trying to get them to answer, I noticed that these were not individuals who came from some poverty-stricken ghetto neighborhoods. They lived in middle-class homes and had gone to college with Shanquella, and yet the lure of alleged criminal activity still per meated their world.

Why is there such a propensity for crime coming out of the diaspora of the black community? That is a question I need those who can analyze it to answer. Just this past week up in Milwaukee, a 10-year old boy

allegedly shot and killed his mother because she would not allow him to buy an expensive virtual reality headset. Report edly, the boy initially gave police one version of how he allegedly accidentally shot his mother and was placed with relatives. However, when the relatives began to suspect that the boy wasn’t telling the entire truth, they called the police to come get him. The boy changed his story and the police charged him as an adult. It is rare to charge a 10-year old as an adult, and the juvenile justice system is not prepared to deal with heinous crimes committed by children. The details of the case make it sound like it was premeditated, which is even scarier, especially when you consider that the security cameras all around the house were re portedly, mysteriously off that morning. And the boy the next day, while staying with relatives, allegedly used his mother’s account and ordered the headsets anyway

Chicago needs to have a day, then a couple of days, then a week, and then a month without a single heinous killing. I truly believe we are in a copycat mindset. CPD is understaffed and overwhelmed with the amount of crime going on. And the crime is at all dif ferent levels. There seems to be a general attitude of “why should I follow the law when others don’t?” flowing through this city

We need to retur n to an error where criminal behavior is the rarity and not the normality

e new Jim Crow

In her new book, The White Wall: How Big Finance Bankrupts Black America, New York Times finance

re por ter Emily Flitter shares the absurd experiences of Black banking professionals like Ricardo Peters, a JPMorgan Chase employee.

For instance, Peters was “assigned a three-letter identification code for use inside JPMorgan’s computer systems, and the code was APE.” When he asked a superior to change the code, which had invited teasing from his coworkers, his request was denied

MICHAEL ROMAIN

Flitter depicts white financial executives, thinking the coast is clear, raising their middle fingers after diversity meetings or calling initiatives putatively designed to attract more Black clients as “Urban Markets,” or outright denying financial services to Blacks who have the money and credit-worthiness for those services on the basis (completely unfounded) that those prospective Black clients are on welfare and haven’t worked hard enough for their money

Those sentiments are par for the course in white-dominated workspaces these days. Scholars like Jason Hackworth and Lawrence Bobo have outlined the formation of this white-collar racism. Hackworth, summarizing research by Bobo and his colleagues, writes that “Jim Crow racism disintegrated in the 1950s and 1960s because of the confluence of two major factors: the activism of the civil rights movement that punctured notions of biological inferiority and the erosion of the souther n agricultural economic system upon which Jim Crow was based

“These events did not, however, make racism disappear. Rather, it morphed to laissez-faire racism,” which is racism that “blames blacks themselves for the blackwhite gap in social economic standing and actively resists meaningful efforts to ameliorate America’s racist social conditions and institutions.”

While Jim Crow racism was premised on Black biological inferiority, laissez-faire racism is premised on notions of Black cultural inferiority, Hackworth writes in his 2019 book Manufacturing Decline: How Racism and the Conservative Movement Crush the American Rust Belt.

Hackworth adds that laissez-faire racism “provokes, and is provoked by, a sensibility that justifies, disregards, or individualizes

disparate impact … [it] does not acknowledge racial animus unless it is for mally stated in the most openly bigoted way. It animates and generates strenuous denials of racial intent in a range of policies that clearly impact black people more than white. As long as the language of Jim Crow racism is not used in policy documents or justifications, conservatives (and many white moderates) insist it cannot be racist.”

Hackworth argues that since the 1960s and 1970s, conservatives and neoliberals have deployed laissez-faire racism to become the dominant political force in America, replacing a New Deal emphasis on bank regulations, antimonopoly protections, labor laws and social welfare programs with an emphasis on what Hackworth calls “organized deprivation,” or an emphasis on austerity, limiting local autonomy, disembedding the market from political constraints, and punishing unruly people.

Organized deprivation, the author adds, is rooted in a white reaction to Black political progress, namely the success of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

In essence, without the power to enslave, segregate and plunder outright, the forces of white supremacy got savvier, deploying dog-whistle imagery and language that, like a double-edged sword, appealed to both the “racially anxious and the racially resentful.”

“Racially resentful white voters view pathology and danger as innate to black people or at least the result of poor individual choices” — a sensibility fueled by “the remnants of Jim Crow racism and by those who feel that the civil rights movement was an unjustified assault on their white privilege.” Meanwhile, racially anxious white voters “do not believe themselves to be resentful” but may be attracted to ideas like low taxes and small gover nment.

Laissez-faire racism creates proxies like Ronald Reagan’s welfare queen or the 1980s “super predators” that are powerful metaphors, arousing both anxiety and resentment, which fuel electoral success and policies premised on austerity for everyone but the non-wealthy, punishment for the poor, and tax cuts for the wealthy.

A pivotal year

The year 1968 was a tur ning point in the conservative campaign to leverage

laissez-faire racism for political gain. The presidential election that year included George Wallace, the openly whitesupremacist gover nor of Alabama; Richard Nixon, the for mer vice president and “law and order” candidate who was testing out the laissez-faire racism that would help his party capture the South and route Democratic Sen. George McGovern in the 1972 election; and Vice President Hubert Humphrey

The successes secured by the moder n civil rights movement resulted in Blacks securing elected offices, attending white schools and purchasing homes in white neighborhoods, which comprised, in the minds of many whites, “racial threat conditions.”

Similar to the Trump effect now, those white communities experiencing the greatest number of racial threat conditions were where Wallace’s open racism and Nixon’s dog-whistle “law and order” rhetoric were most successful, Hackworth argues And they were concentrated in the industrial Midwest, home to cities with growing Black populations like Detroit and Chicago — where conservatives could conjure themes of inner city decay, rampant criminology and urban pathology several decades before they would dominate coverage on Fox News and anchor Trump’s “Big Lie” of an election stolen by fraudulent inner-city voters.

Some of you may be old enough to remember the two or three years leading up to 1968, which were marked by racial disturbances across the country. Perhaps nowhere in the west suburbs were those disturbances more heated than in Maywood, where Blacks were moving next to whites at an increasing clip and voicing their growing frustrati on with racial prejudice.

Voting for Goldwater

The 1967 Ker ner Commissioner report, for instance, identified two disturbances that occurred in Maywood the summer of that pivotal year, which don’t seem to have included major disturbances at Proviso East High School in October — the site of boycotts by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and racial tensions that caused the school to close for at least three days. When the school reopened, students returned to police patrols

There are signs that laissez-faire racism was taking hold in the Chicago area even before the 1968 election. Barry Goldwater — the Arizona senator who was ahead of his time in advocating for laissez-faire racism before people knew what to call it and whom Martin Luther King said “articulates a philosophy which gives aid and comfort to the racists” — got substantially more votes than President Lyndon Johnson in both River Forest and Oak Park townships in

the 1964 presidential election. In Proviso Township, Goldwater nearly tied Johnson. The president beat the senator by less than 2,000 votes in Proviso Township in a year that Johnson won in a national landslide

In the 1968 election, Wallace got nearly 10% of the vote in Proviso Township while Nixon trounced Humphrey. Nixon also beat Humphrey handily in Oak Park and River Forest townships, even though Nixon only won by less than 1% nationally.

I’m not implying that everyone who voted Republican in the 1960s was racist, but we have to ask ourselves, as we face yet another period of white reaction after the election of a Black president, did racial sentiments play some factor in those elections and in what ways?

In the 1960s, Oak Park residents were afraid the village would go the way of nearby Austin, a place where whites, in droves, were rushing to get away from their Black neighbors. Was Goldwater’s over performance here in 1964 due, at least in part, to this racial dynamic? Was Nixon’s and Wallace’s over-perfor mance here in 1968 due, at least in part, to the unruly Democratic Convention in August or the rumors reported by Claude Walker in the Forest Park Review in 1967 about “every negro student [at East having] a switchblade knife”?

I agree with Hackworth that those electoral victories, in a period of extreme civil unrest and uncertainty, were won, in part, because conservatives were able to successfully pathologize and criminalize Blacks, particularly Black men. Hackworth calls this the conservative movement’s “strong bonding capital,” which unites whites and even some conservative nonwhites across the political spectrum — left to right — which is why it’s so enduring.

This white fusion politics was a deliberate and concerted strategy on the part of Nixon’s campaign. Just listen to a Nixon political insider talk candidly to journalist Dan Baum in 1994 about the War on Drugs:

“You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana, the blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt communities We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

They knew then and they know now.

CONTAC T: michael@oakpark.com

Class specifications are intended to present a descriptive list of the range of duties performed by employees in the class.

Specifications are not intended to reflect all duties performed within the job.

DEFINITION

To perform various network/system administration, computer support, and operational activities for the Village including computer system setup, configuration, and testing.

SUPERVISION RECEIVED AND EXERCISED

Reports directly to the Information Technology Services Director.

EXAMPLE OF DUTIES:

Essential and other important duties and responsibilities may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Essential duties and responsibilities

1. Ensure that best in class customer service is provided to both internal and external customers and also embrace, support, and promote the Village’s core values, beliefs and culture.

2. Configure, test, and deploy network systems, such as, firewalls, routers, switches, wireless equipment, network servers and storage arrays.

3. Configure, test, and deploy system servers, such as, file, print, Internet, e-mail, database, and application servers.

4. Configure, test, and monitor server and end-user systems for security, such as, user accounts, login scripts, file access privileges, and group policy management.

5. Configure, test, and deploy end-user systems, such as, workstations, laptops, mobile devices, printers, and software.

6. Test, configure, deploy, and support security systems, such as, facility access system, video & audio system.

7. Monitor and auditing of networks, systems, and user activities to ensure security and efficiency of systems. Create scripts and reports of detail activities for regular review.

8. Perform and participate in disaster recovery activities, such as, backup procedures, data recovery, and system recovery planning.

9. Assist end-users with computer problems or queries. Troubleshoot systems as needed and meet with users to analyze specific system needs.

10. Ensure the uniformity, reliability and security of system resources including network, hardware,

software and other forms of systems and data.

11. Prepare, create and update user/technical procedure documentations and provide computer training.

12. Assemble, test, and install network, telecommunication and data equipment and cabling.

13. Participate in research and recommendation of technology solutions.

Other important responsibilities and duties

1. Train users in the area of existing, new or modified computer systems and procedures.

2. Participate in the preparation of various activity reports.

3. Travel and support remote facilities and partner agencies.

4. Operate, administer and manage the Village and Public Safety computer systems, including E-911 center, in-vehicle computer systems.

5. Prepare clear and logical reports and program documentation of procedures, processes, and configurations.

6. Complete projects on a timely and efficient manner.

7. Communicate effectively both orally and in writing.

8. Establish and maintain effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of work.

9. Perform related duties and responsibilities as required.

QUALIFICATIONS

Knowledge of:

Principals and procedures of computer systems, such as, data communication, hierarchical structure, backups, testing and critical analysis.

Hardware and software configuration of. computers, servers and mobile devices, including computing environment of Windows Server and Desktop OS and applications, Unix/Linux OS, VMware, iOS/Android.

Network protocols, security, configuration and administration, including firewalls, routers, switches and wireless technology.

Cabling and wiring, including CAT5/6, fiber network, telephone, serial communication, termination, and punch-down.

Telecommunications theory and technology, including VoiP, serial communication, wireless protocols, PBX, analog, fax, voicemail and auto-attendant.

Principles and methods of computer programming, coding and testing, including power shell, command scripting, macros, and

VB scripts.

Modern office procedures, methods and computer equipment.

Technical writing, office productivity tools and database packages.

Ability to:

Maintain physical condition appropriate to the performance of assigned duties and responsibilities, which may include the following:

- Walking, standing or sitting for extended periods of time

- Operating assigned equipment

- Lift 50 pounds of equipment, supplies, and materials without assistance

- Working in and around computer equipped vehicles

Maintain effective audio-visual discrimination and perception needed for:

- Making observations

- Communicating with others

- Reading and writing

- Operating assigned equipment and vehicles

Maintain mental capacity allowing for effective interaction and communication with others.

Maintain reasonable and predictable attendance.

Work overtime as operations require.

Experience and Training Guidelines

Experience: Three years of network/system administration in the public or private sector, maintaining a minimum of 75 Client Workstation computers. AND

Training: Possession of a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with major coursework in computer science or a related field. Certifications in Microsoft Server Administration, Networking, Applications and Cisco Networking.

Possession of a valid Illinois Driver License is required at the time of appointment.

Vaccination against COVID-19 strongly preferred.

WORKING CONDITIONS

Work in a computer environment; sustained posture in a seated position for prolonged periods of time; continuous exposure to computer screens; work in and around computerized vehicles outdoor and garage facility; lifting heavy equipment, communication cabling and wiring into walls and ceilings.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

position of

Assistant in the Public Health Department. This position provides a variety of responsible administrative and analytical functions; records and monitors department budget and fiscal requirements of grant-funded programs; oversight of Accounts Payable process; prepares reports and serves as a resource for computerized office applications.

Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/jobs. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application.

PARKING ENFORCEMENT OFFICER

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Parking Enforcement Officer in the Police Department Field Services Division. This position will perform a variety of duties and responsibilities involved in the enforcement of Village parking regulations; and to provide general information and assistance to the public. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oak-park.us/. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application.

FINANCE COORDINATOR

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Finance Coordinator. The ideal candidate will perform a wide variety of responsible and complex administrative, secretarial and clerical duties for the Finance department; and will provide information and assistance to the public regarding department to which assigned. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/jobs.

Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application. This position is open until filled.

COMMUNITY HEALTH ADVISOR

The Village of Oak Park is seeking a qualified candidate for the position of Community Health Advisor. The professional in this position is responsible for a variety of tasks including; promoting a safe health care environment; including health education, outreach and promotion which includes disseminating information, making referrals, and counseling as well as managing caseloads, and performing a variety of tasks relative to assigned area of responsibility.

Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/jobs. First review of applications December 19, 2022.

HELP WANTED • NETWORK SPECIALIST

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENTCHANCERY DIVISION WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB NOT INDIVIDUALLY, BUT SOLELY AS TRUSTEE FOR RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE AGGREGATION TRUST Plaintiff, -v.-

MONICA MARKO, THE MARINA TOWERS CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION Defendants 2022 CH 03244 300 NORTH STATE STREET, UNIT 3426 CHICAGO, IL 60654

NOTICE OF SALE

PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on September 8, 2022, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on January 4, 2023, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker, 1st Floor Suite 35R, Chicago, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate:

Commonly known as 300 NORTH STATE STREET, UNIT 3426, CHICAGO, IL 60654

Property Index No. 17-09-410-0141503

The real estate is improved with a condo/townhouse.

Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court.

Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information.

If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4).

If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1).

IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW.

You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

Corporation conducts foreclosure sales.

For information, examine the court file, CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL, 60527 (630) 794-9876

THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION

One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236-SALE

You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100 BURR RIDGE IL, 60527 630-794-5300

E-Mail: pleadings@il.cslegal.com Attorney File No. 14-22-00135

Attorney ARDC No. 00468002

Attorney Code. 21762

Case Number: 2022 CH 03244

TJSC#: 42-3447

NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Case # 2022 CH 03244 I3207924

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENTCHANCERY DIVISION WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, NOT IN ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY BUT SOLELY AS OWNER TRUSTEE FOR CASCADE FUNDING MORTGAGE TRUST HB5 Plaintiff, -v.-

ALMETA LEVY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT Defendants 2022 CH 03088 932 N RIDGEWAY AVENUE CHICAGO, IL 60651

NOTICE OF SALE

PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on September 28, 2022, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on January 3, 2023, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker, 1st Floor Suite 35R, Chicago, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate:

Commonly known as 932 N RIDGEWAY AVENUE, CHICAGO, IL 60651

Property Index No. 16-02-321-0340000

The real estate is improved with a single family residence.

Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the resi-

dential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court.

Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale.

Where a sale of real estate is made to satisfy a lien prior to that of the United States, the United States shall have one year from the date of sale within which to redeem, except that with respect to a lien arising under the internal revenue laws the period shall be 120 days or the period allowable for redemption under State law, whichever is longer, and in any case in which, under the provisions of section 505 of the Housing Act of 1950, as amended (12 U.S.C. 1701k), and subsection (d) of section 3720 of title 38 of the United States Code, the right to redeem does not arise, there shall be no right of redemption.

The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information.

If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4).

If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1).

IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW.

You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales.

For information, examine the court file, CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL, 60527 (630) 794-9876

THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION

One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236-SALE

You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100 BURR RIDGE IL, 60527 630-794-5300

E-Mail: pleadings@il.cslegal.com Attorney File No. 14-20-03776 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 2022 CH 03088 TJSC#: 42-3669

NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. Case # 2022 CH 03088 I3207898

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENTCHANCERY DIVISION U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR STRUCTURED ASSET INVESTMENT LOAN TRUST MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2005HE1 Plaintiff, -v.-

RACHEL PINSON, MIDLAND FUNDING, LLC, CITY OF CHICAGO

Defendants 2021 CH 01109 1040 N LOREL AVE CHICAGO, IL 60651

NOTICE OF SALE

PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on October 11, 2022, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on January 13, 2023, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker, 1st Floor Suite 35R, Chicago, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 1040 N LOREL AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60651 Property Index No. 16-04-312-0240000

The real estate is improved with a single family residence. Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information. If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at

the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4).

If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1).

IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW.

You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales.

For information, examine the court file, CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL, 60527 (630) 794-9876

THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236-SALE

You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100 BURR RIDGE IL, 60527 630-794-5300

E-Mail: pleadings@il.cslegal.com Attorney File No. 14-20-04639 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762

Case Number: 2021 CH 01109 TJSC#: 42-3821

NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Case # 2021 CH 01109 I3208576

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENTCHANCERY DIVISION

THE HUNTINGTON NATIONAL BANK; Plaintiff, vs. ERIC WILLIAMS Defendants, 22 CH 1331

NOTICE OF SALE

PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY

GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at the hour of 11 a.m. in their office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, as set forth below, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 16-003-414-001-0000.

Commonly known as 1059 North Karlov Avenue, Chicago, IL 60651.

The mortgaged real estate is improved with a single family residence. If the subject mortgaged real estate is a unit of a common

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

interest community, the purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by subsection (g-1) of Section 18.5 of the Condominium Property Act. Sale terms: 10% down by certified funds, balance, by certified funds, within 24 hours. No refunds. The property will NOT be open for inspection.

For information call Sales Department at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Manley Deas Kochalski, LLC, One East Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60601. (614) 220-5611. 22-001753 F2 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3208244

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENTCHANCERY DIVISION JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION; Plaintiff, vs. ETHEL M. PITTS AKA ETHEL PITTS; FREDDIE PITTS AKA FREDDIE L. PITTS; UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NON RECORD CLAIMANTS; Defendants, 22 CH 6544

NOTICE OF SALE

PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Monday, January 9, 2023 at the hour of 11 a.m. in their office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, as set forth below, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 16-09-216-035-0000.

Commonly known as 538 North Leamington Ave., Chicago, IL 60644.

The mortgaged real estate is improved with a single family residence. If the subject mortgaged real estate is a unit of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by subsection (g-1) of Section 18.5 of the Condominium Property Act. Sale terms: 10% down by certified funds, balance, by certified funds, within 24 hours. No refunds. The property will NOT be open for inspection.

For information call Sales Department at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Manley Deas Kochalski, LLC, One East Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60601. (614) 220-5611. 22-007645 ADC F2

INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3208232

Irene Cara: ‘Black Girl Magic’ before the phrase was coined

where few Blacks resided, (Fame in 1980 and Flashdance in 1984), she had arrived before the full-blown glow up of Whitney, Janet, Mariah and then Beyoncé. She was to be the pathfinder, and the sacrificial Black woman, for that type of 1980s and 90s superstardom.

RHONDA SHERROD

Her perfor mance hit us like a meteorite. It was a rich portrayal of a Black girl we had never seen on screen. Girls of my generation remember Irene Cara from the movie, Sparkle. My friends and I were enchanted by her innocence and beauty, as well as the g rit, tenacity, and magnetism she displayed in that “come-up” performance—so much so that that one of my friends named her daughter Sparkle. Sparkle was pretty, with complex dimensions, so we saw ourselves in her. But we were even more captivated by Cara’s spirited rendering of Bertha Palmer—who married Simon Haley—and became the mother of author, Alex Haley. In Roots, his best-selling masterpiece, Alex Haley told the epic, groundbreaking story of tracing his genealogy back to his African ancestral village. This was astounding, because most Black people had no idea from which African country and village our families descended. All that history seemed irretrievably lost.

The residents of 22.5 million households who saw some part of Roots: The Second Generation, and witnessed Cara as Bertha, saw a breathtaking persona—smart, playful, willful, sweet, compelling, and deeply in love with her beau, Simon Haley, (as played by Dorian Harewood) and his obvious genius. Her Tennessee drawl in the mini series revealed her young, sentient love with seriousness, purpose, and power—a fullness rarely de picted in the myriad unidimensional Hollywood Black stereotypes. Then Simon enlisted in the war, to “fight for democracy” even though it did not extend to him or his people. The scene with the train picking up steam, pulling out of the station, and Bertha, crying, running alongside it until the platform ended and a guardrail restrained her, broke all of us. Her layered perfor mance, sensibilities structured just right, and the pathos she evoked, was a heartrending, but welcomed, relief from what we called the “honey chile” characterizations of Black women in one emotional gear, loud and wisecracking, devoid of the range of emotions that we knew Black women and girls routinely exhibited. Here was an exquisite performance that animated the intricacies we observed in ourselves, our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, cousins, and friends, all of whom lived, loved, lost and won.

Bertha and Simon were the people we had lear ned about in our families—smart, capable human beings trying to survive Jim Crow. They were heirs to their ingenious family members who had (like ours) survived the cruelty and trauma of a slave institution that made it possible for others to activate the brutal audacity necessary to “own” human beings and plunder the wealth made possible by their hard labor. Simon Alexander Haley ear ned a master’s degree at Cor nell and became a professor of agriculture and dean at Alabama A&M University, an HBCU, working against sometimes indif ferent, and often devastating, forces. So, when the vibrant Bertha became sick and died young, leaving behind small children and her beloved husband, it was painful to watch. Simon was on the

precipice of making a significant contribution, at a college set up to educate Black students hungry for knowledge, so her death felt like an assault. It was searing, it hit hard, and it inter mingled with the tough life and world we had come to understand that we had to navigate.

Those roles and others came before Cara inhabited the game-changing persona of Coco Her nandez in Fame, the movie that blasted her to worldwide stardom. In real life, Cara, who had been a dynamic child perfor mer on Broadway, Spanish language tv, and in shows like PBS’s The Electric Company, seemed to personify the buoyant deter mination that spirited Bertha. Rising at a time when it was still difficult for Blacks to grasp the financial rewards that matched their powerful impact on the culture, Cara’s tur n in Fame epitomized the talent and gut-wrenching labor, sweat, tears, tenacity, and mental toughness required to make it big as a Black performer. And she ascended as a highly disciplined singer, dancer, and actress dedicated to her craft. When Irene crossed the boundary into commercially viable pop music, a category

She was exploited in the industry, like so many Blacks whose moneymaking ability was plundered, who never ear ned what their talent commanded because of scurrilous, unscrupulous “managers, “agents,” and “Hollywood types.” But people like Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Nina Simone, came out of an era where they literally punched their way to the top. “We’re a winner,” sang Curtis Mayfield, and the fight to the top was reified, even though it had always been difficult to be a Black entertainer, no matter how gifted and electrifying.

So, when Cara burst through, dazzling and intoxicating, roaring, “Remember my name,” we thought we would see success because of the efforts of people like Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, and Marvin Gaye who had demanded creative independence and the right to really get paid. But the same avarice, exploitation, and demonization was still at play, resting on a strong foundation of racism, discrimination, and a g alling sense of entitlement to Black people’s intellectual property, chipping at the wealth and freedom that many of our creative geniuses deserve Still, Irene, came along when there was some expectation that some of that could be overcome—her light shone so bright—even though it is such a toxic brew to overcome By the early 80s, with Fame, Flashdance, an Academy Award and two Grammy awards for music under her belt, Cara had “arrived” while still in her twenties. Or so we thought. Then it all seemed to fade to dark, a savage twist for someone so promising

In fact, Cara was still performing, most notably in films like Sister, Sister and as Mrylie Evers in For Us, The Living, but, she did not star in big budget movies, nor did she take home the kind of income one would expect for someone of her stature. She ended up entangled in an eight year lawsuit against her record company, and won a $1.5 million jury award in 1993. It was a gutsy move that, no doubt, sparked anger in the ruthless enter tainment world, and she says she was “virtually blacklisted.” Cara said she began to hear rumors that she was a “diva,” “on drugs,” and “difficult” to work with. She told People magazine, “I went through my bitter, angry periods because these people took so much from me.”

Whatever vitality they took from Cara, I hope she always knew how much she inspired young Black girls. Online, after her death, so many performers, especially female, cited her all around talent and the grit she embodied as part of the inspiration for their own willingness to try.

Viola Davis was effusive with her love, and the ultimate all around entertainer, actress, dancer, director, producer, Debbie Allen, called Irene a “gifted and beautiful genius” and she exhorted everyone to “remember her name.” We will.

© Rhonda Sher rod

CONTAC T: michael@austinweeklynews.com