This story was produced for In These Times’ August/September magazine edition. It is published digitally in partnership. Two days after a series of tornadoes ripped through Chicago’s South Side, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electricity, Naomi Davis and Suzanne Waddell met in the front yard of Emmett Till’s childhood home to assess the […]
Chicago
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Beyond The Main Stage: From Church Pews to Museum Halls, Black Spaces and Culture Shine at the DNC
CHICAGO — “Alls my life I has to fight!” Kendrick Lamar’s lyrics reverberated through the electric atmosphere of the United Center in Chicago as California Gov. Gavin Newsom proudly announced California’s 482 delegate votes for Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22. Georgia declared its votes to a bass-heavy Lil […]
Posted inMental Health
Morgan Farley’s Family Never Stopped Looking For Her. Now She’s Back Home.
Morgan Farley is home. For two months, her father, sister, and friends were relentless in their search. They took to the streets of Chicago, social media, and locator apps to find her. And earlier this month, Morgan safely returned to the home she shares with her father. “Morgan made it home a couple weeks ago. […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Extreme Weather
‘We Can’t Wait’: How Black Neighborhoods Are Preparing for the Summer Heat
After closing out May with four days of triple-digit temperatures and New Orleans’ first heat advisory of the season, the group of mainly Black elders welcomed the “dip” in temperature on June 1. Still, it swelled to 96 degrees that morning as roughly 35 people huddled in a community center in the city’s Upper Ninth […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Chicago Man’s Long-Delayed Exoneration Reveals Cracks in a System
Six days before Christmas, Darien Harris’ family showed up to court hoping he would be granted bail. They got more than they expected. He will walk out of a Chicago courthouse as a 30-year-old exonerated man after being incarcerated for 12 years. On Tuesday, prosecutors dropped all charges against Harris in the 2011 shooting of […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Pollution Is Driving Today’s Reverse Great Migration
This is the fourth installment of a yearlong Capital B series on the country’s current Black migration, the most significant movement of Black people in the U.S. in 50 years. It was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Environmental and Epistemic Justice Initiative at Wake Forest University. ENGLEWOOD, CHICAGO — Deborah Payne’s […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
‘We All Deserve Help’: Building Black-Latino Solidarity Amid Migrant ‘Crisis’
Although many Black Chicagoans say the influx has intensified their struggles, some residents and organizers are working toward racial unity.
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
In Chicago, Environmental Justice Was Birthed by a Black Woman. A New Podcast Tells Her Story.
Like many Black women throughout the history of social movements, Hazel Johnson’s contributions to bettering her community on the South Side of Chicago — and the rest of the country — are often forgotten. But in the 1970s and 1980s, when industrial polluters largely evaded consequences, the Altgeld Gardens public housing resident was one of […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
How Chicago’s Mayor-Elect Won Without a ‘Tough-on-Crime’ Message
Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson’s political rise comes at a time when the national conversation on how to deal with crime is chock-full of tropes and misconceptions about Black communities. The 47-year-old Democrat and former social studies teacher provides not only hope, some residents say, but a rigorous, multipronged strategy for grappling with the issue. Even […]
Posted inMoney, Partner Content, Wealth Gap
Lorraine Hansberry’s Family Says Chicago’s Racist Policies Seized Their Land. Now They’re Seeking Reparations.
Originally published by The 19th Your trusted source for contextualizing the news. Sign up for our daily newsletter. The 1959 Broadway debut of “A Raisin in the Sun” brought America inside a crowded Chicago apartment where the dreams of Black families went to die. And while Lorraine Hansberry was making history as the first Black […]