I know we experienced a violent weekend recently in Chicago and continue to struggle toward solutions to the economic inequality that is the fuel for so many of our city and state problems. But I am real tired of "south and west sides of Chicago" being used pejoratively *THREAD*
W/o question the south and west sides have challenges. I represent and live on the south side, and spent many of my childhood memories come from the west side. We need more economic development, more retail options, investments in our schools (new funding formula will help) (2)
But slurring two major swaths of the greatest city in the world as monolithically decrepit is both factually wrong and deeply dehumanizing. (3)
Today/Yest: I saw two veterans playing chess in front of a coffee shop in Hyde Park. I saw a father (yes, some of "us" have those, even if I don't) teaching his son to hit a baseball in Washington Park. I saw two young lovers forehead-to-forehead whispering to each other...(4)
on the street where world famous soul singer Sam Cooke grew up in Bronzeville. I saw a group of teenagers riding their skateboards by Stephen Douglas' tomb on their way over the only suspension bridge in Chicago on their way to the beach. I saw joy in the Bud Billiken Parade. (5)
And what's important is that these slices of life are not stolen moments from what is otherwise a war zone like Hue or Fallujah. They are the rule, not the exception. Yes, there are blocks where that is not the case... but not nearly as many as you read about. (6)
Why is this vital to remember? B/c despite historic disinvestment, despite being populated by people of color who have had to overcome the scourge of institutional racism and in some cases poverty, we are in every way that counts... (7)
Just like anyone anywhere in the city, state or world, with the same hopes, dreams, and aspirations, hewing from the hard stone face of economic difficulty and personal and systemic challenges a dignified life, with the goal of creating a better life for those coming after us (8)
I say this because uplifting parts of the city and state that need a bit of help is easier if you are not viewing the entire population with a noxious mix of horror and pity, but rather economic and spiritual self interest: understanding that our economic fate is tethered,... (9)
and seeing working people as an emerging market with capacity to build and generate wealth and deserving of the dignity of good work and affordable school and health care, just like you... (10)
And knowing that allowing a person in our society, regardless of color or place, to go without the necessities of life, to wake with fear in the morning and sleep with it at night, in the richest country ever is a road to the spiritual death of great societies. (11)
And that is a collective responsibility to which we will all be held to account.
I should disclaim this by saying I'm speaking for myself and no one else. But I needed to get that off my chest. And I'm betting I'm not the only one. (END)
I should disclaim this by saying I'm speaking for myself and no one else. But I needed to get that off my chest. And I'm betting I'm not the only one. (END)
