CHICAGOREPORTER.COM INSIDE January/February
Founded in 1972, the Reporter is an investigative bimonthly that identifies, analyzes and reports on the social, eco- nomic and political issues of metropolitan Chicago with a focus on race and poverty. It is supported by grants from Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation, McCormick Foundation, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Challenge Fund for Journalism, Woods Fund of Chicago, The Chicago Community Trust, The Field Foundation of Illinois, One Economy Corporation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Chicago Tribune Foundation, The Fund for Investigative Journalism, and by subscriptions and individual contributions. 332 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 500 Chicago, Illinois 60604 (312) 427-4830 Fax: (312) 427-6130 [email protected] The Rev. Paul Sherry, executive director of the Community Renewal Society, Chicago Mayor Harold www.chicagoreporter.com Washington, Editor and Publisher Roy Larson, former Editor Lillian Calhoun and Founder John A. McDermott celebrate The Chicago Reporter’s 15th anniversary in 1987. Chicago Reporter file photo. FOUNDER John A. McDermott INTERIM PUBLISHER Laura S. Washington In perspective Departments INTERIM EDITOR Rui Kaneya Publisher’s Note ...... 3 6 Swallowed by the system PRESENTATION EDITOR Former chief public defender reflects on the From the archives...... 30 Christine Wachter clogged criminal courts. Parting Shot...... 36 REPORTERS Angela Caputo 8 Immigrants’ voice COVER ILLUSTRATION BY DENNIS NISHI María Inés Zamudio Gutiérrez brings Chicago to the forefront of WEB EDITOR the immigration debate. Melanie Coffee Celebrating 40 years BLOGGER/REPORTERS 11 Getting re-organized Megan Cottrell The Chicago Reporter is Yana Kunichoff Activist pushes to renew ‘prosperity’ to the celebrating its 40th anniversary Alden K. Loury average American worker. this year. The Reporter will be COPY EDITOR hosting several social events James Tehrani 14 Legal shelter and forums to commemorate PHOTOGRAPHY FELLOWS Housing lawyer takes up the mantle for the occasion. Make sure to Jonathan Gibby tenants’ rights. subscribe to our weekly e-blast Lucio Villa at www.chicagoreporter.com to INTERNS 18 Then and now ensure that you’re up-to-date on Erin Hale Safiya Merchant Our city has undergone many changes in all the ways we’re celebrating. Allison James Nicole NeSmith the past four decades. But how far have we EDITORS & PUBLISHERS EMERITI come in raising wages and cutting poverty? Kimbriell Kelly Alden K. Loury Got a news tip? Alysia Tate Publishers emeriti Laura S. Washington The Chicago Reporter brings 19 Remembering John McDermott Roy Larson injustice to the forefront in the THE REPORTER READERS BUREAU 20 A look at Larson’s legacy areas of criminal justice, labor, Hiranmayi Bhatt Terri Johnson 22 Back home again housing, health, immigration and Barbara Bolsen Keith Kelleher government. If you have a tip, Kristen Cox David Mussatt Matthew Nicol Turner-Lee 24 At the helm post-9/11 call (312) 427-4830 ext. 4040 Hendrickson Bob Yovovich 26 A 21st century Reporter or send an email to editor@ Bob Honesty chicagoreporter.com. ISSN 0300-6921. 28 A ‘muckraker’ bids adieu © 2013 Community Renewal Society.
2 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 PUBLISHER’S NOTE Reporter News Decades of dedication In 1972, veteran civil rights will launch shortly, ramp- the Reporter has covered a activist John McDermott ing up our capacity to report vast array of vital topics that imagined a monthly publica- through blogs, social media, intersect with race and pov- tion that would investigate video and more. erty: education, politics and and analyze racial issues. Mc- Fundamentally, it always government, legal affairs, Dermott and co-editor Lillian comes back to race. Mc- health care, corporate gover- Calhoun met to plot the first Dermott was hopeful about nance, the economy, commu- issue, Calhoun recalled years America’s most intractable nity violence, and more. later. “To save money, we de- challenge. So hopeful, I sus- The Reporter is much cided on a newsletter, printed pect, that he imagined that more than a publication. It in good, clean Helvetica,” she someday, there would be no is a community. Without said. “We chose extra-thin need for the Reporter. that community, we would paper for inexpensive post- He probably also never not thrive and survive to- age. Folded to letter size, it imagined that the nation’s day. Our deep gratitude goes could fit in a busy executive’s first black president would to the Community Renewal pocket or purse.” hail from Hyde Park, just Society. When McDermott That little newsletter be- Laura S. Washington, blocks away from McDer- asked CRS Executive Director came The Chicago Reporter. Interim Publisher mott’s own home. He could Don Benedict to help launch “The Reporter will try to Opinions expressed by the not have anticipated the vast a hard-hitting investigative be dispassionate, accurate and interim publisher are her own. reach and influence of the In- publication that would speak constructive in its approach,” ternet. Or the lasting scourge truth to power, Benedict nev- McDermott wrote in its July We welcome letters. Send them of 9/11. Or that the United er flinched. CRS has been the 1972 inaugural issue. It would to [email protected] States will turn minority Reporter’s home ever since. be aimed at the city’s influ- or 332 S. Michigan Ave., Suite majority in 2042, as the U.S. We are forever indebted entials and “seek to enlighten 500, Chicago, IL, 60604. Please Census Bureau projects. to the unstinting support of readers, not browbeat them.” include name, address and a day- In 40 years, Chicago and foundations, corporations, And, he added, “it will focus time phone number. Letters may the nation have grappled with individual donors, policy- on the terrain where black be edited for space and clarity. exponential change. Through makers, activists and our and white intersect.” it all, the Reporter has moni- readers. And we pay special The Reporter’s staff soon ers, editors and interns have tored and analyzed pivotal tribute to the Reporter’s realized that the challenges toiled at the Reporter, and questions of race and poverty heart and soul: its singularly of race and poverty are deeply the magazine has won dozens with integrity and excellence. talented staff who have toiled intertwined. Since 1972, black of national and local journal- Many of our core beats re- tirelessly, producing the fin- and white has turned to mul- ism awards. Now bimonthly, main. In this issue, our first- est journalism anywhere. tiple hues as Latinos, Asians, it reaches hundreds of thou- rate reporting staff chronicles In 2013, there are new Native Americans, Muslims, sands of readers, viewers and the history of four key areas: questions and complexities gays and lesbians, and myriad listeners through partner- criminal justice, immigration, to confront. Race still mat- other groups emerged on the ships with other media orga- labor and housing. ters. The Chicago Reporter will Reporter’s terrain. nizations and a robust Web But social justice knows no always be there to tell you More than 700 report- network. Our new website boundaries. During 40 years, how—and why. n
also a Chicago Sun-Times columnist and The Reporter has also received Reporter News political analyst for ABC 7-Chicago. a $5,000 grant from the Chicago Kimbriell Kelly, publisher of The Managing Editor Rui Kaneya has Community Trust’s Community Chicago Reporter, has left the publica- been named interim editor, and he News Matters initiative. The program tion after eight years to join the investi- will manage day-to-day operations. supports 14 projects reporting on gative team at The Washington Post. Kaneya, who came to the Reporter in issues affecting the city’s South and “I’m very sad to leave the Reporter, 1997 as a research assistant, was a West sides. The Reporter’s work will where I started at the ground floor as recipient of the Robert R. McCormick assess the effectiveness of the city’s a [McCormick Tribune] fellow and Tribune Minority Fellowship in Urban public housing programs. worked my way all the way up to the Journalism in 1998. As it continues its anniversary top. So it’s a little bittersweet,” she said. The Open Society Foundations in commemoration, the Reporter has Kelly began her new job at the New York City has approved a two- convened a 40th Anniversary Host Post’s D.C. office in mid-November. year, $300,000 grant to the Reporter, Committee, which will plan and sup- Laura S. Washington has returned one of the largest grants in the publica- port upcoming celebrations. Bill Kurtis, to the Reporter to serve as interim tion’s 40-year history. The grant will the longtime Chicago TV anchor, and publisher. Washington, a former editor support the Reporter’s Digital Plan. The Donna LaPietra, the civic leader and and publisher at the Reporter, will over- plan’s centerpiece is a newly config- executive producer of Kurtis Produc- see the publication and lead the search ured website that will be unveiled in tions, have graciously agreed to serve for Kelly’s replacement. Washington is early 2013. as the committee’s honorary co-chairs.
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 3 LOOKING BACK 40 years in perspective
4 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 o celebrate four decades of muckraking on issues of race and poverty, we kick off this 40th anniversary edition with a focus on four of The Chicago Reporter’s key beats— Tcriminal justice, immigration, labor and housing. The history behind each issue has had its own trajectory since the Reporter’s founding in 1972. To illustrate that, we sat down with prominent figures whose activism has made its mark in their respective fields and asked them to reflect on their experiences. We are confident these retrospective articles provide a unique insight into what it’s been like to work “in the trenches” of the nation’s toughest social justice issues. —Rui Kaneya, Interim Editor PHOTO BY DAVID SCHALLIOL
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 5 40 YEARS IN PERSPECTIVE Criminal Justice
Rita Fry joined the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender in 1980 and worked her way up to oversee the office as the chief public defender. She held the job from 1980 through 2003. Photo by Jonathan Gibby. Swallowed by the system Former chief public defender reflects on the clogged criminal courts
By Angela Caputo ents and keeping the courts moving— The bulk of the defendants are still often in equal parts. “It’s like you’re not represented by public defenders. Four ita Fry stumbled into Cook even thinking about it,” said Fry, who out of every five defendants convicted County’s criminal court the same handled scores of cases every year for on felony charges since 2000 were rep- Rway many young public defenders a dozen years before she was promoted resented by a public defender, the Re- have during the past half-century. to Cook County’s chief public defender. porter’s analysis of criminal records On her first day in court, she was “You’re busy doing one case at a time, from the Clerk of the Circuit Court of handed a legal pad, a copy of the crimi- five cases at a time.” Cook County shows. In 2007, 481 Cook nal code and given a nudge from a judge. During those years, growth in Cook County public defenders were tasked He said, “Come on counsel. Get on with County’s criminal justice system accel- with handling 251,135 cases, according to it,” Fry recalled. erated at a pace no one was prepared for. the survey of the public defender’s of- It was 1980, and the Cook County Expenditures for judicial, law enforce- fice compiled by the justice department criminal court was quickly becoming the ment and correctional activities grew by in conjunction with the Inter-University busiest in the nation. Fry was too busy more than 60 percent from 1969 to 1981, Consortium of Political and Social Re- learning the ropes at women’s court at according to a Chicago Reporter analysis search at the University of Michigan. 11th and State streets to be counting of U.S. Department of Justice data. And From day one, it was a challenge to caseloads or plotting out trends. during the 40 years since the Reporter give her clients the level of legal coun- All she knew was that the procession launched, per-capita spending on the sel she’d imagined providing back as a of cases thrown her way seemed unend- criminal justice system in Cook County law student at Northwestern University, ing, and that her job boiled down to two rose from $45 to $222 in today’s dollars, Fry recalled. She figured that out the things: getting the best deal for her cli- the analysis shows. moment a judge summoned Fry and her
6 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 first client to his bench. “I said, ‘Judge, I being coerced into false confessions, Fry Cook leads the nation haven’t had an opportunity to meet with said. “You know things aren’t right,” she my clients or anything.’ He said, ‘That’s said, “But is there proof? That was the More people have been exonerated in OK because they’re right behind you.’” problem.” Cook County than in any other juris- When Fry turned around, she saw Fry was on duty May 2, 1986, when diction in the country since 1989. 40 women sitting on benches waiting Aaron Patterson showed up in bond Number of exonerations for her. Most were there on prostitution court and testified that he’d been- tor charges. Her partner in the courtroom tured into confessing to murder. Years Cook County 83 had called in sick that day, so she had to later, former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon represent each of the women, some of Burge was alleged to be among several Dallas County 49 whom went by aliases like “Betty Davis” police officers who tortured Patterson L.A. County and “Jackie Kennedy.” by putting a typewriter bag over his 44 Fry’s first client knew the system head and beating him. better than she did. When she told the Patterson was dubbed one of the of those exonerated woman that she’d meet with her in a “Death Row 10,” a group of men who were convicted back room to interview her about the claimed they falsely confessed under 46% since the 1990s. charges, “She looked at me like, ‘What police torture. In 2000, Fry, along with are you talking about? I’m pleading. I’ve a handful of other criminal justice ex- Source: National Registry of Exonerations; got to go home. I’m tired,’” Fry recalled. perts, were appointed by Gov. George analyzed by The Chicago Reporter. The courthouse was quickly filling up Ryan to the Illinois Commission on with low-income people, Fry observed, as Capital Punishment to review the al- High price of justice she moved on from the women’s court to legations. In 2003, Ryan commuted the felony trial assignment, then to the mur- death sentences of 167, mostly African- Per-capita spending on the criminal der task force. As the 1980s and 1990s American men, including Patterson, who justice system in Cook County has dragged on, a growing number of people was pardoned the same year. grown five fold since 1969. were charged with drug-related crimes. The most recent wrongful conviction Lawmakers reacted to the trend by case was settled in 2012. In Cook County, Total Per capita In 2012 $ adopting new laws with harsher punish- more people have been exonerated—83 1969 $39 m $7 $45 ments. The war on drugs touched off a since 1989—than any other jurisdiction ripple effect throughout the criminal in the country, according to the National 2009 $1.1 b $205 $222 justice system. Arrests grew, and an un- Registry of Exonerations, which is main- Sources: U.S. Department of Justice, U. S. Department of precedented number of people—includ- tained by Northwestern University’s Commerce; analyzed by The Chicago Reporter. ing juveniles—were sent to adult courts. Center on Wrongful Convictions and the Jail and prison populations swelled. University of Michigan Law School. African Americans bore the brunt of While there is no evidence that any- Carrying a hefty load stiffer sentencing laws throughout the one was wrongly executed in Illinois, Fry Cook County ranks second out of 1990s. In 2002, the Reporter revealed isn’t convinced that it didn’t happen. “If the nation’s top three judicial circuits that black defendants were twice as you can wrongly incarcerate those peo- for its volume of cases but takes the likely to do jail time for drug crimes as ple, you can wrongly execute,” she said. lead when it comes to the average their white counterparts. Accountabil- Fry retired in 2003 but jumped back caseload of its public defenders. ity laws also widened the net and snared into the fray in 2009 when she was tapped defendants in long prison sentences for to serve on the Chicago Police Board, a Total Avg. acting as accomplices to carjackings, gun quasi-independent agency tasked with cases load crimes and homicides. rooting out abusive officers that recom- Law Office of the L.A. 353,812 472 And Reporter investigations revealed mended the firing of Burge in 1993. County Public Defender that thousands of minors have become Since 2009, the City of Chicago has felons during the past two decades. paid out more than $45 million to settle Law Office of the Cook 251,135 522 In the ’80s and ’90s, money for inves- allegations of police beatings, shoot- County Public Defender tigators, expert witnesses and forensic ings and false arrests, according to the The Legal Aid Society 234,606 430 work was always tight around the public Reporter’s 2012 story. Less than 1 per- (Brooklyn, N.Y.) defender’s office. The reality: Caseloads cent of the city’s officers accounted for grew at a faster clip than the budget. a quarter of those payouts, and only a Source: Inter-University Consortium of Political and Social When the use of DNA evidence handful of officers have been prosecuted Research at the University of Michigan; emerged, Fry began requesting tests in in the criminal courts, the story found. analyzed by The Chicago Reporter. some cases. In the 1980s, DNA lab work Meanwhile, the courts show no sign cost about $5,000 for each case. The of slowing down. Thousands of new public defender’s office paid but made criminal cases are opened in the Cook more than three times over. Drug crimes it clear that further use of DNA testing County courts each month. and thefts topped the list of convictions. was “not in the budget,” she said. Few other jurisdictions have produced Fry said the numbers should give In 1998, four years before Fry was the number of felons that Cook County people pause. sworn in as the chief public defender, has during the past decade. Since 2000, “It’s time for people to get informed,” a pattern of police torture, false 216,672 people have been convicted of a she said, “and to know that we can’t put confessions and wrongful convictions felony in the county, the Reporter analy- everyone in prison.” began to unfold in the federal courts. sis of court data shows. That’s enough There was “a buzz” that defendants were people to fill the seats of Soldier Field [email protected]
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 7 40 YEARS IN PERSPECTIVE Immigration
Ten-term U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez has been at the center of the national conversation on immigration reform since it ramped up in recent decades. Photo by Jonathan Gibby. Immigrants’ voice Gutiérrez brings Chicago to the forefront of the immigration debate
By Allison James American flags! This is our country, and both the local and national levels. this is where we will stay.” “As Latinos in the ’70s, there was During the following few months, never a sense that we needed to go out n the morning of March 10, 2006, about 5 million people participated in and help those who were undocumented a throng of marchers packed the similar “mega marches” nationwide. or even challenge ourselves to do bet- Ostreets of downtown Chicago. Chicago hosted two of the biggest mo- ter with that part of our community,” Estimated by police at more than 100,000 bilizations that contributed to the bill’s Gutiérrez recalled. people, the crowd was marching to defeat. During the course of Gutiérrez’s po- voice its opposition to proposed federal Such a large public response to the litical career, however, immigrant rights legislation, H.R. 4437. The measure, immigration issue is a recent phenom- have always been his focus, and he has known as the Sensenbrenner Bill, would enon, said Gutiérrez, who represents long served as the key spokesman for have turned undocumented immigrants the 4th District, which covers parts of immigration reform in Congress. into felons and criminalized those who Chicago and the western suburbs. In “Obviously, the voters of the 4th assisted them. 1972, when The Chicago Reporter was Congressional District are citizens, and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez greeted the launched, it would have been unimagi- [immigration] doesn’t impact them crowd at the Federal Plaza. “I have nev- nable, he said. But in a span of 40 years, directly, but they care about it,” said er been prouder to march, to show my the immigration issue has become high- Gutiérrez, a Chicago native of Puerto commitment to a cause, than I have been ly politicized and developed into one of Rican descent who has represented the today,” he told the marchers. “Raise those the most divisive hot-button issues at area since 1992.
8 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 Changes in population hint at what’s the community,” he said. “There weren’t More new Americans driving the issue’s rising prominence. millions of people marching in the Data from the U.S. Census Bureau streets before the 1986 law. There was More than 33 million people became show that, following the passage of the an economic need to get it done and a naturalized U.S. citizens during the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, spirit of bipartisanship in the Congress past 40 years. which eliminated racial quotas of admit- of the United States.” Naturalized tance, the nation’s foreign-born popula- The law spawned the creation of lo- tion grew from 9.6 million in 1970 to cal organizations, such as the Illinois 1970 220,798 nearly 40 million in 2010. Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee There are about 11.1 million un- Rights, which were designed to meet 2011 1,388,386 documented people living in the U.S., the increasing demands for immigration according to a 2012 report by the Pew paperwork. These organizations eventu- Hispanic Center. It’s a diverse popula- ally expanded their missions to include Enforcing the law tion. In 2010, the migrants from coun- integration services, like English classes During the past 40 years, immigration tries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and voter registration. officials have deported more than 4.6 made up more than 85 percent of the Since he became the first Latino to go million people. A record number of country’s foreign-born population. Chi- to Congress from the Midwest, Gutiér- deportations were carried out between cago mirrors this nationwide trend, with rez has offered similar services for im- 2008 and 2011. Mexicans becoming the largest single migrants. His was the first congressional foreign-born group in the city. office nationwide to sponsor citizenship Gutiérrez said the movement to de- workshops. It was during a time when Deportations mand equal rights now includes more immigration resources were growing in 393 k 392 k minority groups than during the days demand, but immigrants themselves 360 k 385 k of the Civil Rights Movement, but the were, in a political sense, increasingly same group of advocates are still coming seen as undesirable. to campaign for immigrants. The 1990s were a rough time to ad- “When we’re in Birmingham, Ala- vocate for immigrants in Congress, bama, responding to the anti-immigrant Gutiérrez recalled. “It was very xeno- legislation passed there, we’re at the phobic. The mentality was: ‘We don’t same church that Dr. Martin Luther King want anyone that isn’t already from here 17 k Jr. spoke from,” Gutiérrez said. “We’re to come here, regardless,’” he said. with many of the same combatants and And as a slew of anti-immigration 1970...... 2008 2009 2010 2011 fighters. Many of the same voices that bills were making their way through were raised then are organizing” for im- Congress, he found no ally in then-Pres- migrant rights. ident Bill Clinton, Gutiérrez said. Foreign-born on rise “I remember complaining about Despite a decrease in the population in hicago has a history of early im- Clinton and his acquiescence to these Chicago, the foreign-born population migrant activism. During the types of reforms that were happening rose between 1970 and 2010. C1970s, organizations such as almost simultaneously as the president Centro de Acción Social Autónomo were was running for re-election and didn’t Population Foreign born % formed in Chicago to help elect a Latino want to have to fight the Republicans in politician to Congress. But it wasn’t un- Congress,” he said. 1970 3,366,957 373,919 11% til the latter half of the 1980s that the The legislation that Gutiérrez op- 2011 2,707,123 570,543 21% immigration issue began to permeate posed—the Personal Responsibility and public discussions, Gutiérrez said. Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, The issue’s visibility coincided with and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Top 5 countries of origin, 2011 the increase of Latino representation in Immigrant Responsibility Act—were Mexico 259,657 politics during the Harold Washington passed in 1996. They restricted eligibili- Poland 43,859 era, when he served as an adviser to the ty for federally funded programs such as Chicago mayor, Gutiérrez said. Social Security, food stamps and Med- China, including Taiwan 30,100 Around that time, then-President icaid for undocumented immigrants, as Philippines 21,580 Ronald Reagan signed into law one of well as U.S.-born children of noncitizen the most comprehensive immigration parents. India 17,146 reform proposals in the country’s his- Immigrants also became subject to tory. The 1986 Immigration Reform and “expedited removal,” or on-the-spot de- Control Act granted amnesty to 2.7 mil- portation, without a hearing by an im- New native tongues lion undocumented immigrants who had migration judge or an appeal process. The sounds of Chicago shifted been continuously living in the United Criminal categories expanded so that dramatically during the past 40 years. States since 1982. petty crimes, such as shoplifting, were Gutiérrez pointed out that the po- classified as “aggravated felonies” that Spanish-speakers % of total pop litical environment back then is in stark could trigger deportation. 1970 247,343 7% contrast to the one surrounding today’s The number of deportations steadily Congress. increased during the latter half of the 2011 613,063 23% The 1986 law “happened almost in 1990s, more than doubling between Sources: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. the absence of a broad demand from 1996 and 1997 alone, according to data Census Bureau; analyzed by The Chicago Reporter.
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 9 40 YEARS IN PERSPECTIVE Immigration
Thousands of immigrants and their supporters marched in downtown Chicago on March 10, 2006, to protest H.R. 4437, also known as the Sensenbrenner Bill. Photo by David Schalliol
from the U.S. Department of Homeland With immigration perceived as a the fruits of their labor. Last year, Presi- Security. Then, by the turn of millen- matter of national security, the newly dent Obama adapted a policy of deferred nium, the momentum was shifting back created U.S. Department of Homeland action to give undocumented youths a the other way. Security took over duties previously pathway to a work permit. Gutiérrez and In 2001, Gutiérrez drafted the handled by the Immigration and Natu- other advocates praised the move. “When U.S. Employee, Family Unity, and ralization Service. The enforcement of I saw the first work permit, I have to tell Legalization Act that challenged many immigration laws became the utmost you, it brought a joy to me that I had not of the provisions of the 1996 legislation. priority, Gutiérrez said. “Now we had an felt in such a long time,” he said. He also advocated for an early version of immigration policy that was geared to- Gutiérrez is confident that the sup- the Development, Relief and Education ward enforcement and not helping peo- port for comprehensive immigration re- for Alien Minors Act, which proposed ple resolve their immigration problem, form will rapidly pick up steam. “We’re deferred action and a pathway to not keeping families together,” he said. going to have it because people in the citizenship for young undocumented In recent years, the enforcement-first street are going to demand it,” he said. students. He was hopeful, he recalled. approach to immigration still dominat- On the night of Nov. 6, Gutiérrez “The conversation about immigration ed. For example, more than 1 million de- joined a group of immigration advocates and immigration reform was beginning portations were carried out during the outside McCormick Place, the site of to bubble up,” he said. first term of President Barack Obama— the president’s election-night festivi- In early September, then-President the highest number in four years under ties. Some of them waited for the elec- George W. Bush and his Mexican coun- any president. tion results while holding signs that terpart, Vincente Fox, were in general This has pushed immigrant advocates read, “Americans Vote for Immigration agreement about expansion to the guest to take on new campaigns, including Reform Now.” worker program. large-scale marches, to build momen- “Today, you hear voices of those who On Sept. 11, 2001, everything changed. tum for immigration reform. Gutiérrez wish to defend our immigrant commu- A large rally that had been planned to himself has been arrested twice in front nity,” Gutiérrez said. “It’s very different support Gutiérrez’s legislation never of the White House during protests today than it was even in 1986.” materialized. His bill and other immi- against deportations. gration reform measures faded away. Slowly, advocates are beginning to see Contributing: María Inés Zamudio
10 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 40 YEARS IN PERSPECTIVE Labor
Labor organizer Kim Bobo has worked to amplify the voices of workers who have fewer workplace protections and are vulnerable to exploitation. Photo by Jonathan Gibby. Getting re-organized Activist pushes to renew ‘prosperity’ to the average American worker
By María Inés Zamudio activist, said the president’s stand was cades since is a fundamental shift in the a turning point. “Reagan, at the high- American order: The era of Big Labor est level of the nation, said it is OK to being supplanted by the era of efficiency n 1981, then-President Ronald Rea- permanently replace workers. It was just and profit—a shift that’s marked by a gan confronted nearly 13,000 strik- an opening of the flood gates in terms of steep decline in union membership and Iing members of the Professional Air replacing” workers, she said recently as the power of collective bargaining. Traffic Controller Organization in a way she reflected on the labor movement’s But unions have been fighting back. In that no other president had ever done. history during the 40 years since the recent years, they have worked to bring Unlike in the private sector, the The Chicago Reporter launched. the potent bloc of immigrant workers government “cannot close down the Back then, Bobo was working as into the fold and adapted new organiz- assembly line,” Reagan told reporters an organizer at Bread for the World, a ing strategies to resist tidal waves of on the first day of the strike. “It is for Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that anti-union initiatives. this reason that I must tell those who works to prevent world hunger. “I didn’t The numbers demonstrate their en- fail to report to work this morning they really understand how significant it was during influence: According to the U.S. are in violation of the law and, if they at the time,” she said. But she soon real- Bureau of Labor Statistics, the wages for don’t return to work within 48 hours, ized its implications as she began help- unionized workers in 2011 were about they have forfeited their jobs and will be ing striking coal miners in West Virginia 28.7 percent higher than nonunion- terminated.” in the late ’80s. ized workers. The median weekly wage Kim Bobo, a longtime Chicago labor What Bobo has witnessed in the de- of union members was $938, compared
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 11 40 YEARS IN PERSPECTIVE Labor
with $729 for nonunionized workers. One of the most glaring results is Fewer people, however, are sharing the widening gap between incomes of the spoils. Between 1973 and 2011, the the working class and top earners. The proportion of the nation’s labor force Economic Policy Institute found that, represented by unions declined by more between 1979 and 2007, annual earn- than half—from 26.7 percent to 13.1 ings for the top 1 percent of taxpayers percent, according a 2012 report by the nationwide grew by 156 percent, while Economic Policy Institute, a Washing- compensation for an average worker re- ton, D.C.-based nonpartisan economic mained relatively stagnant. research group. “By and large, workers shared the prosperity in the 1970s,” Bobo said. “But in the last decade workers have not shared the prosperity.” The big union decline For labor activists like Bobo, their The rate of union membership among work has been about reversing this those in the labor force has decreased trend—often by filling the void created by half between 1973 and 2011. by the lack of union representation. “Initially, I thought I would be working Union membership USA Illinois directly with labor unions, and we have 1973 27% NA done a lot of that,” she said. “But it be- came clear that we had to do more.” 1989 19% 21% So, in 1991, she created the Chicago 2011 13% 16% Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues, with a mission to engage the religious community on low-wage worker issues. Shipping jobs to China Eleven years later, the nonprofit—now During the past 10 years, 2.7 million renamed Interfaith Worker Justice— jobs have been outsourced to China. established the Arise Chicago worker Illinois is among the top five states center, where workers learn about their with the highest number of lost jobs. rights and how to organize themselves against “wage theft.” In subsequent Manufacturing jobs to China years, the group also helped start 27 oth- California 475,000 er worker centers across the country. But Bobo and her fellow labor activists Texas 239,600 are fighting dauntingly massive forces. New York 158,800 In recent decades, the acceleration of Illinois 113,700 the global economy has led companies to outsource millions of jobs overseas North Carolina 110,200 in search of cheap labor. During the past decade alone, the United States has lost Narrowing pay gap more than 2.1 million manufacturing Unionized workers typically earn more jobs, according to the Economic Policy than nonunionized ones, but the gap Institute report. A recent influx of millions of undoc- has narrowed in the past 30 years. This shift, in turn, has undercut do- umented workers has had as much of an mestic workers’ wages and working con- impact as the global economy. Initially, Median weekly salary ditions, as well as creating a strong dis- the unions’ reaction to this new popula- Union Nonunion Gap incentive to organize, Bobo said. tion was hostile—seeing them as an un- For unscrupulous employers, she said, wanted force that drove down wages. 1983 $388 $288 35% the condition is ripe for abuse. “Compa- But some labor leaders like Andy 2011 $938 $729 29% nies have become global, and there’s a Stern, who took the helm of the Service sense of no responsibility,” Bobo said. Employee International Union in 1996, Bobo cited a recent phenomenon: The recognized that labor abuse endured Wage inequality rising popularity of staffing agencies, by immigrant workers was essentially The gender gap for income inequality where companies can hire workers with- the same quandary faced by unionized narrowed during the past 30 years. out having to worry about paying for workers. So Stern, whom some observ- But women still only earned 82 cents medical insurance and other benefits. At ers call a “union maverick,” led the effort for every dollar men earned in 2011. some companies, these employees can in organizing undocumented workers— end up becoming permanent temporary even while others deemed it too risky. Median weekly salary workers, she said. The move was one of several new or- Men Women Gap “We’re seeing that kind of temporary ganizing approaches devised by a new 1980 $313 $201 55% work hours in huge numbers now—and crop of union leaders to reinvigorate the in a way that makes employers feel labor movement. Stern, in particular, 2011 $832 $684 22% like they don’t have responsibility for was instrumental in injecting a political Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic Policy workers,” she said. “We didn’t see that dimension into his union’s work, turning Institute; analyzed by The Chicago Reporter. kind before.” it into one of the most influential forc-
12 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 The Chicago Teachers Union went on strike for seven days following failed contract negotiations in September. It was the first teacher strike in Chicago in 25 years. Photo by Jonathan Gibby. es in the movement. By the time Stern sector. Last year, for the first time in U.S. public workers’ collective bargaining stepped down in 2010, his union had history, most union members worked in rights in his state—much in the same doubled in size to 1.9 million members. government jobs. “It has been a lot easi- way as in Wisconsin. But after vocal op- Yet anti-union initiatives continue. er to organize in the public sector,” Bobo position from unions, voters eventually In 2011, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said. “This is why this attack on public struck down the measure. proposed a bill that he said would help sector workers we’ve seen in the last And in September, Chicago took cen- close the state’s growing deficit. But year and a half is so significant.” ter stage in the national debate when the critics pointed out that the legislation In February 2011, more than 10,000 Chicago Teachers Union’s bitter dispute would also strip most state employees protesters flooded Wisconsin’s state with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago of any meaningful collective bargaining capitol in Madison and tried to block Public Schools officials triggered the rights. Walker countered, saying that Walker’s plan, but the governor perse- first teacher’s strike in 25 years. the state was facing a massive deficit, vered, and the Wisconsin Assembly ap- Bobo observed that, by and large, the and state workers needed to share the proved the measure in March 2011. strike was well received nationally. It’s a pain of necessary austerity measures. Unions fought back by launching a sign that bodes well for unions, she said. For labor leaders, Walker’s proposal recall election against Walker but lost “The strike was widely supported by was threatening the last bastion of union that battle by a narrow margin. community members, especially public power. According to the U.S. Bureau of Elsewhere in the country, however, school parents—those most hurt by the Labor Statistics, the public sector has a unions have had better results. strike,” she said. union membership rate of 37 percent— “Issue 2,” pitched by Ohio Gov. John five times higher than that in the private Kasich in 2010, would have restricted [email protected]
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 13 40 YEARS IN PERSPECTIVE Housing
Richard Wheelock got his start as a storefront legal-aid attorney but has risen to prominence as one of Chicago’s most influential housing attorneys. Photo by Lucio Villa. Legal shelter Housing lawyer takes up the mantle for tenants’ rights
By Angela Caputo tle or no income at all,” said Wheelock, the second-poorest community in the now 58. “You knew, if you lost the case, United States, according to an analysis they would be out on the streets.” of 1980 census data by Pierre DeVise, hen Richard Wheelock took In the decades since, Wheelock has a public administration professor at his first job out of law school, made a name for himself as a staunch Roosevelt University. The annual per- Whe became “the classic, advocate for the rights of public housing capita income for the estimated 12,000 storefront legal-aid attorney” who toiled residents. Along the way, he has played residents at Cabrini was $1,400. A de- out of a gritty office on the corner of a unique role in shaping city policies cade earlier, it was twice that. Milwaukee Avenue and Division Street. by holding city officials accountable on In Wheelock’s eyes, the Cabrini It was 1984. Wheelock was juggling plans—both big and small—for over- buildings were in deep distress. Main- between 40 and 50 cases at a time for hauling public housing. Wheelock and a tenance had been deferred dating back the Legal Assistance Foundation, he handful of his fellow attorneys were there to the 1970s. Burned-out units were estimated. He quickly learned how to to make sure they got the details right. boarded up and ignored. Lobbies and litigate a range of cases—from disabil- For Wheelock, the ’80s served as a stairwells were urine soaked and squal- ity benefits to car repossessions and critical learning period. Back then, a id. In the high-rises, the elevators were evictions. He was particularly drawn good number of Wheelock’s cases came routinely out of service. But the neglect to housing cases, though, because they out of the Cabrini-Green public housing was only part of the problem. could make or break his clients. development, about a mile up the road In 1984, during the week after Thanks- “Most of these families had very lit- from his office. At the time, Cabrini was giving, a 13-year-old boy took a stray
14 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 bullet to the stomach, and hundreds of in a state of profound confusion and dis- parents decided that sending their chil- array.” It didn’t improve much until 1995 dren to school was too risky. In then- when the CHA’s parent agency, the U.S. Segregation stands Mayor Harold Washington’s words, the Department of Housing and Urban De- The vast majority of the Chicago environment had grown “cancerous,” and velopment, sent in Schuldiner, then the Housing Authority’s occupied family the Chicago Housing Authority faced agency’s No. 2 administrator, to manage units are located in predominantly a growing number of lawsuits filed by the federal takeover. black or racially mixed communities. Wheelock and other attorneys. Wheelock was optimistic that the Occupied family housing, In 1999, the agency came up with CHA was committed to building better by race of community area its “Plan for Transformation” to rem- housing for his clients. But he wasn’t the edy the conditions by tearing down the only one who saw opportunity. The Chi- high-rises and replacing most of them cago Reporter found that developers were 15% Mixed with mixed-income communities. Dur- snapping up properties around Cabrini. 9% Asian 65% ing the past 13 years, however, rebuild- Between 2000 and 2005, there were $1 Black ing has been slow going, and thousands billion worth of residential property sales of tenants have moved from poor, ra- in Cabrini area alone, the Reporter story 8% White cially segregated public housing units to found. “We were hearing rumors that the equally segregated neighborhoods with CHA was meeting behind closed doors 3% Latino failing schools, violent crime and sub- with city officials and making new plans standard housing. for Cabrini,” Wheelock said. In 1996, “Are we better off?” Wheelock asked. then-Mayor Richard M. Daley unveiled Mixing it up “If we’re talking about the 25,000 fami- that plan, which called for tearing down Families living in new mixed-income lies living in public housing at the be- more public housing than Shuldiner had communities created by the CHA are ginning of the Plan for Transformation, previously supported. more likely to live in racially mixed it’s not clear. For families that did get Ultimately, Wheelock filed a federal areas than predominantly black ones. rehabbed housing? Yeah, it made all the lawsuit to halt the CHA’s demolition difference in the world.” plans, arguing that tenants’ rights were Occupied mixed-income units, violated. A federal judge agreed, and, by by race of community area abrini has gotten more than its the time the case was settled in 2000, fair share of attention during the the Cabrini residents he represented Cpast four decades largely because were guaranteed that at least 700 new it stood next door to the nation’s second- units would be replaced, and that their 29% Black 58% wealthiest community, the Gold Coast. return would be a priority. Mixed By the mid-1990s, it had become The Cabrini redevelopment was increasingly clear that public housing just one small part of the Plan for high-rises wouldn’t survive the turn of Transformation, which aimed to cut 13% White the century. the CHA’s housing stock by 18,532 units Wheelock began representing Cabri- to 24,773 units. Within a few years, ni tenants through a tenant leadership thousands of units would be torn down, council. They worked with then-CHA and the CHA, the city’s largest landlord, Senior success? Executive Director Joseph Shuldiner to would scatter thousands of families The senior housing that accounts for solicit developers who would remake a throughout Chicago. the bulk of the CHA’s portfolio today section of mid-rise buildings, includ- “Right or wrong, [the high-rises] is spread throughout the city. ing the one made famous by the sitcom, are coming down,” Wheelock’s former “Good Times.” colleague, attorney Bill Wilen, told the Occupied senior housing units, “Our focus was not to preserve the Chicago Sun-Times in the midst of the by race of community area status quo but to see that the units that widespread demolition under the Plan were demolished would be replaced,” for Transformation. “Now it’s a battle of Wheelock said. who gets to stay.” 32% At the time, “No one was wedded to 22% White Mixed staying in public housing,” he added. he number of families who stayed Shuldiner was hired after the fed- is smaller than was initially an- eral government took over the CHA be- Tticipated. Under a relocation 8% Latino 33% cause of financial mismanagement. But rights contract negotiated by Wheelock, Black 6% Asian the agency’s problems were deeply en- protections were extended to those who trenched. A decade earlier, federal audi- wanted to return once the new hous- tors found that the CHA had become “a ing was built. Others opted for a CHA Note: Percentages may not equal 100 because of rounding. vehicle for patronage,” and, according to voucher program that would help them Sources: Chicago Housing Authority, U.S. Census Bureau; a New York Times report, was “operating move into the private rental market. analyzed by The Chicago Reporter.
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 15 40 YEARS IN PERSPECTIVE Housing
Today, 37,783 families are using hundreds of families that had a right to ing developments left in predominantly vouchers in the private rental market, return to public housing but, as federal white neighborhoods or areas that are according to the CHA. In 2003, Pro- monitor Thomas P. Sullivan found, nev- growing in white population today: the fessor Paul Fischer of Lake Forest Col- er returned because they were lost in the Frances Cabrini Rowhouses and the lege tracked the families who received haste to clear the buildings and knock Julia H. Lathrop Homes on the North vouchers. He found that more than 80 them down. Side, and a section of the former Henry percent of them were living in areas that Advocates are critical of the CHA for Horner Homes known as the “super- are “overwhelmingly African American dragging its feet in rehabbing traditional block” on the Near West Side. More and disproportionately poor.” public housing in gentrifying neigh- than 70 percent of the 1,709 apartments Wheelock believes the lives of fami- borhoods that have attracted a growing in those developments are empty. lies who took vouchers are “incre- number of white residents and are close Wheelock, who is representing ten- mentally better” than they were in the to jobs and high-achieving schools. ants in a planning group that’s debating high-rises. One factor that “might wipe According to a Reporter analysis, the future of the Cabrini rowhouses, is out the marginal progress,” he added, is there are only three family public hous- pressing for the sites to be rehabbed and
16 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 The face of public housing has changed dramatically during the past two decades under the Chicago Housing Authority’s “Plan for Transformation.” Photos by David Schalliol. rented to working-poor families. Which has yet to finalize future plans for the transformation plan took off in 2000. way it’ll go, he said, depends on how the sites. But she added that, if the units are “Competing interests,” by city offi- CHA decides to answer this question: demolished, a federal court order would cials and developers, often “drown out” “Do we build new housing in neighbor- require that any replacements be located Wheelock’s clients living in the Cabrini hoods with resources? Or do we build a in “opportunity areas”—census tracts rowhouses, he said. Wheelock antici- fraction of the units we could in favor of where less than 20 percent of residents pates the CHA will unveil the next stag- mixed income and then ship the rest off live below the poverty level and subsi- es of the Plan for Transformation later to low-income segregated areas?” dized housing is minimal. this year. The CHA has rehabbed sites similar to Wheelock predicted that eliminating “We’re all waiting with bated breath,” Lathrop in other parts of the city. What’s any units from Lathrop or Cabrini will Wheelock said. If Chicago’s history is a different is that those buildings are in likely only put the CHA “much farther predictor, change will likely take time, he predominantly black neighborhoods. in the hole” in reaching the 25,000 re- added. “This is definitely a marathon.” Wendy Parks, director of communi- placement units that the agency was cations at the CHA, said that her agency funded by the HUD to create when the [email protected]
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 17 40 YEARS IN NUMBERS Then and now Chicago has undergone many changes in the past four decades. But how far have we come in raising wages and cutting poverty? Have we kept up with essential expenses? Who have been the winners and losers?
Population: 3,366,957 Population: 2,695,598 Racial breakdown* Racial breakdown
33% 66% 33% 32% Black White <1970 Black White 2% 6% Asian Other 29% Latino Median family income: Median family income: $57,560* $47,371 Median home value: vs. Median home value: $119,144* $260,800 Median rent: $607* Median rent: $783 Average price of bread: $1.14 Average price of bread: $1.42 Families living in poverty: 11% Families living in poverty: 18% Residents with at least a high Residents with at least a high school diploma: 2010> school diploma: 44% 80% Unemployment: 4% Unemployment: 12%
*Notes: The U.S. Census Bureau did not track the Latino population in 1970. Prices for 1970 have been adjusted for inflation. Amount shown is in 2010 dollars. Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement at the University of Illinois at Chicago; analyzed by The Chicago Reporter.
18 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 Founder John A. McDermott
The Chicago Reporter staff in May 1979. From left: Brenda Eatman, Steve Askin, Julie Lobbia, Richard Stromberg, Jeannette Harris, Tom Brune, Sharon McGowan, Al Lanier, John A. McDermott, Chris Benson, Helena Appleton and Larry Tell. Chicago Reporter file photo. Remembering John McDermott
ace,” John A. McDermott historic 1966 trip to Chicago, as well as McDermott mentored dozens of wrote, “touches everybody King’s meeting with then-Mayor Richard journalists. “John cared deeply for those ‘Rand everything. Racial peace J. Daley. He also marched with King in whose careers he nurtured. He never and progress are more than moral ideals Selma, Ala., and in Chicago. And McDer- ceased advising, guiding,” Scheier added. today. They are matters of profound self- mott helped create the Leadership Coun- After he left the Reporter, McDermott interest to every person and institution cil for Metropolitan Open Communities, found new ways to prod policymakers to in this community.” a Chicago-based fair housing group. action. He served as director of urban af- That philosophy, posed in the inau- McDermott served as editor and fairs at Illinois Bell Telephone Co. The gural editorial in The Chicago Reporter, publisher of the Reporter from 1972 longtime Hyde Park resident also found- was the mission of McDermott’s life to 1985. Chicago magazine once hailed ed and chaired the Committee on Decent and his most lasting legacy. In 1972, the McDermott the “Editor for the Public Unbiased Campaign Tactics, an election civil rights activist founded a publica- Conscience.” His publication became watchdog group. McDermott retired tion that he promised would go far be- the foremost, most trusted resource on from Illinois Bell in 1992 and established yond “mere muckraking.” The Reporter race and poverty in the city, winning a consulting firm focusing on corporate would be “dispassionate, accurate and more than 30 journalism awards under public policy and urban affairs. constructive in its approach” to the his tenure. He passed away in 1996 after a long “make or break” issue of race. “John was a man of immense dignity. battle with leukemia, leaving behind his McDermott dedicated his career to His exacting standards could be seen wife, Marie Therese, and three sons: fighting for racial progress. In 1960, the in the precision of his bearing, from John Jr., Michael and Matthew. Philadelphia native moved to Chicago to the meticulously trimmed goatee to And an award-winning news orga- serve as director of the Catholic Interra- the trademark bow tie,” wrote Ronni nization that continues McDermott’s cial Council of Chicago. There, he helped Scheier, who served as the Reporter’s original charge: To “tell it like it is.” organize the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s co-managing editor in the 1980s. —Laura S. Washington
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 19 Publisher Emeritus Roy Larson
Roy Larson took the job as publisher of The Chicago Reporter in the mid-1980s, after then-Mayor Harold Washington was sworn into office. Now retired, he is living in Naperville. Photo by Lucio Villa. A look at Larson’s legacy Former newspaperman was drawn to the Reporter by founder, friend
By Nicole NeSmith Northwestern University. Now retired, have to not be so focused on him but he is living in Naperville. how we had always reported, so we went about things the same way, which was to What was it like to be at the Reporter oy Larson was the publisher of during your time? just give the facts. The Chicago Reporter from 1985 What was your background with Rto 1994. Before his time at the I started there at kind of an interest- investigative reporting? Reporter, Larson was a United Methodist ing time. Some things are really fuzzy, like Church minister and religion editor who exactly did what story or when some- I was at the Chicago Sun-Times for 16 of the Chicago Sun-Times. Larson also thing occurred, but everything was full of years and got to know [Reporter found- served as publisher for the Reporter’s energy. Harold Washington had just be- er] John McDermott quite well, not only sister publication, Catalyst Chicago, as come the first black mayor, and that raised through investigative work but because well as the acting executive director for many questions and small debates about he was a Catholic man and I was the reli- the Community Renewal Society, the how the Reporter should report this. gion editor for quite a while. I spent a lot of time with the Catholic Church and got Reporter’s home since it was launched Why would it have been reported in 1972. After leaving the Reporter, he differently? to know John through those channels. I became executive director of the Garrett- remember I worked on an investigative Medill Center for Religion and the We thought that we might have to piece for about two years on the Cardinal News Media, a joint project of Garrett- be easier on a black mayor than a white Archbishop of Chicago and how he spent Evangelical Theological Seminary and mayor. But I think we all knew that for the money. I used John as a source—not the the Medill School of Journalism at sake of journalistic integrity, we would primary source though. Now that was a
20 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 ‘Investigative reporting is not easy stuff to do. Working with documents and working with sources makes a difficult but engaging work experience. I think it takes a lot to work at a place like that.’
story. Two years, and we just kept on go- ing with it. That’s what you have to do a lot in investigative journalism. I heard you made some big changes to the Reporter as the publisher. Very early on, we changed the design and made it a lot more readable. The logo before that was very different; it was a “C” with an equal sign. I think the rede- sign was important. It was a significant upgrade. We also did it to create the in- frastructure of the organization, which wasn’t very solid. I wanted a significant editorial board. Significant, meaning? It wasn’t very large and it wasn’t very diverse. We changed that. I think I cre- ated an atmosphere where the members felt free to express their reservations and opinions about a story and not just stay quiet about certain things and just only politely greet each other in the morning. I think it made the Reporter much more institutionalized. When I first came to the Reporter, there was a period after John left that the institution needed a lot of Publisher Roy Larson and Chicago Reporter founder John A. McDermott at the Reporter’s 20th work and the funding was down, and at anniversary celebration. Chicago Reporter file photo. one time we were down to only one re- porter, which needed to be changed. We tioned earlier, I knew John very well. And I utable places would refer students to us. got it back to four reporters. The funding think I did the first news story at the Sun- It provided for journalists to show great was mainly a result of there being the in- Times about the founding of the Reporter. potential. In my opinion, it was much bet- terim period. We got it on solid ground I think what I provided for the publication ter than working for a suburban paper or pretty quickly. was continuity. small-town paper. Was it an easy transition from being a What are some strong relationships What makes and made the Reporter reporter to a publisher? you remember from the Reporter? such a great place to work? I was a pastor with the United Method- Ann Grimes, who was the managing Investigative reporting is not easy stuff ist Church, so I had some administrative editor, and Kevin Blackistone, who’s now to do. Working with documents and work- experience. And when I came to the Re- a great sports journalist. Really great, ing with sources makes a difficult but en- porter, I was very involved in the stories. I strong reporters. gaging work experience. I think it takes a didn’t meddle, but I monitored everything lot to work at a place like that. What was your working relationship that was being done. like with your staff? What do you think about the Reporter Many of the publishers have been now? “homegrown,” but you were an out- It was very stimulating for me to work side hire. Do you think that provided a with such a young staff—a very bright I’m very happy with the way that the different perspective? young staff. The Reporter provided a very Reporter is using many different kinds of good experience for future journalists. media to get the word out, such as radio, Perhaps. But I was very familiar with The Reporter had a good reputation so television and others. I think it has ex- the Reporter. It was not a new relation- people at Medill [School of Journalism at panded its influence and is keeping pace ship. I had always followed it. As I men- Northwestern University] and other rep- with the times. n
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 21 Publisher Emerita Laura S. Washington
Interim publisher Laura S. Washington knew early on in her days at The Chicago Reporter that it was “a really special place that we were privi- leged to work at, and it would be unlike any other place you would ever work.” Photo by Lucio Villa. Back home again Washington comes back to her roots to help grow the Reporter’s future
By Nicole NeSmith What was the environment like when place like the Reporter. It’s such a rarified you first came to the Reporter? opportunity. You want to sink your teeth in it again and again. It was rowdy and a lot of fun. We n 1979, Laura S. Washington started Did you feel confident when you her career at The Chicago Reporter as were talking about this the other day at started at the Reporter? Ian intern. Then she propelled herself the staff meeting, about how we used to forward to every position the Reporter have a dart board in the bull pen and we No. Of course not [laughs]. I was ter- had to offer: reporter, assistant editor, would have dart games at the end of the rified. There’s a lot at stake with investi- co-managing editor, editor and, finally, day on Fridays, and the Jameson [whis- gative reporting. Accuracy is crucial. It’s publisher. After two stints over 17 years, key] would come out. There was a real hard to get credibility back. The story she moved on to other opportunities camaraderie and a real team effort. There that I’m thinking of is one where I quoted in 2002. But it’s as if she never really was a feeling that this was a really spe- somebody saying something pretty con- left. She accepted the position of cial place that we were privileged to work troversial, and he denied it. We didn’t re- interim publisher in October 2012 while at, and it would be unlike any other place cord stuff. I only had my notes to back me continuing her duties as a columnist for you would ever work. There was a lot of up, and [Reporter founder] John [McDer- the Chicago Sun-Times and as a political support and no competition. One of the mott] did stand by me. He had a relation- analyst for ABC 7-Chicago. reasons I came back is that there’s no ship with that guy and he got a lot of heat
22 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 but he stood by me. I thought that was important. It gave me a lot of confidence. ‘We have a black president but we don’t want Do you think that the Reporter to be complacent and think all of our problems shaped your personality? are solved, because all you have to do is read the I was painfully shy growing up and even when I came to the Reporter, I was Reporter every month and find out otherwise.’ not comfortable talking with people and asking them tough questions. But the beauty of the Reporter is that we proved cause the idea was that, in 20 or 25 years, more I did it, the more comfortable I got things that people suspected were true. we’re going to change the face of the city with it and the more I enjoyed the chase You know, a lot of people think that black so that people don’t need a watchdog; and the “get.” people are paranoid about racism, that we people would see the right way to do There were times, especially in my see racism behind every tree. In fact, there things and see the light. But race is an en- early years, where I was terrified to pick are many institutions and government de- demic part of our society and, sure, it may up the phone, even for a friendly source. cisions that have a racial impact. Our job be more covert than it used to be. People I think every young reporter goes through is to document these impacts, and I think don’t call each other N-words to their that, but you have to get over it. The Re- that story was a good example. face now, but many of the policies that porter gave me the opportunity to force you see in government and in the private What’s the proudest achievement of me to do things that scared me. I would your career at the Reporter? industry continue. But that doesn’t mean be on panels or on television or on the ra- you stop fighting. That means it’s even dio and I’d be shaking—like literally stand- There was a story about how much more important to be vigilant. We have a ing at the podium with my piece of paper money [former Mayor Richard M.] Daley black president, but we don’t want to be shaking. When you know you’ve got an had given to black churches for some complacent and think all of our problems institution like the Reporter backing you of their programs. We were making the are solved, because all you have to do is up that’s involved in justice and equity, it case that there was a tie in there because read the Reporter every month and find really helps you to overcome that. the leaders of those churches were out otherwise. supporters of the mayor. We took a lot of When you were editor and publisher, What do you hope to bring to the what changes did you institute? heat for that story. But we did it and we Reporter now? survived it. I felt that the Reporter had not been as Stability and keeping it strong and pre- Is it hard to see history repeat itself? hard-hitting as it had been at one time. Of paring it for the next era, which will be a course, the people who were here at the You can’t assume that you’re solving digital era. I want to make sure we begin time probably disagreed with that, but I any problems with any one story. I think to build the path for the next publisher felt that we needed to get back to our hard- that’s very frustrating. When John Mc- to continue the tradition of the next 40 hitting investigative roots, particularly in Dermott created this publication in 1972, years. I’d like to think like McDermott, taking on stories that others wouldn’t take I remember him saying he thought he was that we won’t need the Reporter in 40 on or were afraid of—like public housing, going to put himself out of business be- years, but I’m not going to count on it. n police services, the fire department, park district. When I came back on as editor and then publisher, the city had changed demographically. Latinos were on the scene in a way that they had never been before and they weren’t really being cov- ered by other media in the ’80s and ’90s, and we were the first to take that on. We created Latino beats; we put a real, inten- tional focus on Latino issues. What were some of the stories that stuck out as having a lot of impact? I worked on a story—somewhere in the ’80s—about the inequitable deploy- ment of police officers. Black and Latino districts were not getting their share. That was one of the stories that [then-Mayor] Harold Washington used [to campaign on]. It’s been an ongoing issue. The black and Latino aldermen are arguing that offi- cers should be assigned to their districts, but it’s a political hot potato because the mayor doesn’t want to take those officers away from other neighborhoods. No one wants to lose their cops, even if they have low crime rates. That was a story that was Laura S. Washington, then-editor and publisher, mingles with guests at The Chicago Reporter’s extremely controversial at the time. The 25th anniversary celebration in 1998. Chicago Reporter file photo.
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 23 Publisher Emerita Alysia Tate
Alysia Tate watched Barack Obama’s historic ascent from a small-time state lawmaker to president during her time with The Chicago Reporter. Photo by Jonathan Gibby. At the helm post-9/11 Former publisher reflects on Chicago’s turbulent politics
By Safiya Merchant and publisher, George Ryan was serving against [U.S. Rep.] Bobby Rush—a race as governor and later ended up going to that he lost big because he didn’t know jail. That was a pretty significant political how to campaign yet. But he was becom- lysia Tate began covering govern- event, I think, in the life of Chicago. Pub- ing a rising star, and we could see that he ment and politics for The Chicago lic corruption was a huge issue that the would have a very, very bright future. George Ryan case brought to light, and AReporter in 1998. Three years Anything that influenced coverage? later, after a brief stint as senior editor, we did some good reporting about how she became the editor and publisher. In many public officials had been convict- The huge national divides around im- 2008, she was named chief operating of- ed of corruption charges and what a big migration—those were big and became a ficer at Community Renewal Society, the problem that is in Illinois. There was a big part of our discussions about our cov- Reporter’s parent organization. Tate is lot of talk about who would be the next erage. Thoughts about whether we could now an independent consultant on com- mayor of Chicago. It became pretty clear have a black president, whether that could munications and public policy issues. Mayor Richard [M.] Daley wouldn’t stay actually happen for the country and Chi- there forever. Barack Obama was a young cago’s role in that. Because it wasn’t just Did historical events during your time state senator that I got to have breakfast about Obama; it was about a lot of people as publisher affect the magazine? with over here at [Hyde Park’s] Mellow who were part of his team in Chicago that Well, during the time I was the editor Yellow when he was running for Congress helped make that happen.
24 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 ‘It’s hard to feel like you’re making a difference because the issues we work on are so tough. So whenever anybody gets rewarded for that work or acknowledged for that work, it’s such a great moment.’
Did you write about that? I don’t know if we wrote directly about it. I think that we had those conversa- tions as a staff and we thought about how it would influence our coverage. But it definitely made us think differently about race, about how issues of race play out in politics and government—kind of changed how we framed things. It made us think about really who the black political lead- ership is in Chicago. There were all these people who we thought were the ones that would set the agenda in Chicago, and it was clear that was changing. So we talk- ed a lot about that and thought about how we think about our sourcing differently. Did 9/11 have an impact? It had a big impact on fundraising. As the editor and publisher, that was part of my job—the fundraising. And it was really, really tough raising money for that Alysia Tate celebrates the legacy of the The Chicago Reporter at a 25th anniversary event in year after 9/11. A lot of the foundations 1998. Chicago Reporter file photo. put a lot of funds into relief efforts and different projects, and we had another to do and growing to do if we wanted to How did you change the content? dip in the stock market so people didn’t stay in this industry. So, yeah, it led to a have as much money to give. So it was lot of conversations. We did want to keep doing the in- a hard time to learn that part of the job. depth projects, but that wasn’t all we did. You said you created the ‘backbone’ of It was the part I really knew the least the Reporter’s Web presence during It became more like thinking about a story about—fundraising and making sure we your tenure. What did that look like? as a package of stories. There might be a had money to operate. long-form investigation, there’d be some I remember us covering some of the Well, a few things. I think it involved bullet points summarizing key points, we growing Muslim population, particularly making sure that the website was ac- added a little box on the methodology, a in the suburbs, and some of the resis- cessible, solid, clear, easy to navigate, all best practices kind of thing. It became a tance they were facing. We did try to do those things. Anyway, our main concern few different elements. a lot more telling of that story and made was we wanted it to be as accessible as What was one of your favorite memo- that story very personal. So I know that possible, and it looked like more and more ries from being publisher? that was something that we hadn’t really people needed information electronically. talked about the same way before. It was This was really before Facebook was I always loved it when the staff would not on our radar screen to really cover even on the map. Or Twitter. People get awards for their work. When you work that community very much. weren’t tweeting it and Facebooking at the Reporter, you don’t get the money it all the time, but they were at least or the fame or the popularity that other How did technology fit in? emailing things and linking to things and journalists might get. While I was the editor and publisher, wanting to read more and more things You just kind of labor away on these the whole media industry was changing electronically. really, really hard issues, and it’s hard to before our eyes—really, really dramati- So we did that, and we put a lot of re- feel like things are changing. It’s hard to cally. This was the time when newspa- sources into that. Alongside that, we also feel like you’re making a difference be- pers just started losing readers in big, big, realized we have to actually make the cause the issues we work on are so tough. big numbers, and all of us, who had been print product more appealing. We have So whenever anybody gets rewarded for trained as basically newspaper reporters, to make the print product something that that work or acknowledged for that work, were learning that we had a lot of learning people want to pick up and look at. it’s such a great moment. n
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 25 Publisher Emeritus Alden K. Loury
Alden K. Loury led scores of investigations during his time as a reporter, editor and publisher of The Chicago Reporter. Photo by Lucio Villa. A 21st century Reporter Staying relevant during a challenging time in journalism wasn’t easy
By Safiya Merchant What are some ways in which your What are the differences between the childhood in Chicago affected you skill sets of a publisher and reporter? later as a journalist and publisher? lden K. Loury came to The Chicago Well, as a reporter and as an editor, Reporter as a staff reporter in Being in Auburn-Gresham and then you are kind of examining issues and A1999. He became senior editor my experience in LeClaire Courts, I think, thinking about what out of that is worthy in 2002 and spearheaded more than 50 gave me a real good grounded-ness about for public consumption. You’re thinking investigations before assuming the role Chicago. And I think it taught me a couple about story angles, you’re thinking about of editor and publisher six years later. of things. It showed me all of the issues data, you’re thinking about what those In 2009, he was a recepient of the Studs and the problems and the disparity that things tell you. Terkel Community Media Award for exists in Chicago. But it also showed me And as a publisher, you had to relate to excellence in covering Chicago’s diverse the strength and the motivation and the people; you had to be a salesman in the communities. In 2011, he returned to his resilience of people in these neighbor- sense of selling The Chicago Reporter as reporting roots as a senior investigator hoods, and I got a very different picture an editorial product or as a change agent, for the Better Government Association. of public housing from my years being if you will, in terms of its ability to affect Late last year, he made a comeback of in LeClaire than what, as I grew older, I policy. And you also had to find support- sorts when he began writing for the would come to hear and learn how people ers for the product and the operation so Reporter’s blog, Chicago Muckrakers. thought about public housing. that required knowing who the potential
26 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 ‘The world in which we were operating as journalists was changing around us. It required us to adapt and change to some degree as well. ... We had to do it for the sake of being relevant and staying in front of people, particularly online.’
supporters might be, cultivating those people, getting them familiar with you, and you getting familiar with them. Did historical events during your time as the publisher affect the magazine? Well, yeah, the economic crisis. That really presented some challenges. The major source of funding for the Reporter had been foundations. There were some foundations that told us they just couldn’t support us anymore. We lost a couple of big grants. And then what was happening with re- gard to the world of journalism impacted us as well—perhaps not as directly be- cause we were never reliant very much on advertising income, but the world in which we were operating as journalists was changing around us. It required us to adapt and change to some degree as well—even if not neces- sarily for financial reasons, we had to do it for the sake of being relevant and staying in front of people, particularly online. How did the business model of the Reporter change? Alden K. Loury makes the case for why investigating issues of race and poverty is still relevant at Since we had never been terribly reli- the Community Renewal Society’s 125th anniversary gala in 2008. Chicago Reporter file photo. ant on circulation [to generate income], we didn’t necessarily have a financial mo- also interested in growing our individual seem to prefer the print product. But for the tivator to change. But what we knew was donor base—with it being like 5 percent Reporter to really grow in the 21st century, that—at least what we believed is that— of the revenue that we were bringing in. the Reporter really has to put more of its the way the Reporter remained relevant With the media landscape changing and resources and emphasis online. was to have the Reporter to be in front of the advent of the enormous popularity of And so that led to the creation of the people. So we had to connect with other the Web, that was a place for us to grow. Chicago Muckrakers blog. That led to what media outlets in town that were able to We had enlisted the aid of pro bono will now be two redesigns of the website. reach far more people than we were in the consultants, some of them grad students, That led to offering the PDF edition of the sense of them picking up our work. some of them professionals. The thing Reporter online. That led to the Reporter We also had to focus on issues that that we heard was that the Reporter has a investing in social media, to the Reporter were of importance to the people we print product that is really being kept alive having a bimonthly event [its “Drop Par- thought would be providing us a good by a small, but very committed, group of ties”], to the Reporter negotiating with vo- deal of our financial support. But we were Reporter readers and supporters who calo.org to create a weekly radio show. n
The Chicago Reporter is blogging daily. www.chicagonow.com/chicago-muckrakers
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 27 Publisher Emerita Kimbriell Kelly
Kimbriell Kelly reflects on The Chicago Reporter’s past and her efforts to bring investigating race and poverty into the digital age. Kelly left the Reporter in November to join the investigative team of The Washington Post. Photo by Sonya Doctorian/The Washington Post. A ‘muckraker’ bids adieu Kelly helped implement a digital strategy, increase online presence
By Erin Hale What was the main focus of your time know what the answer might look like, as the editor and publisher? you know what the colors are supposed to line up and be the same, and all the boxes imbriell Kelly joined The Chicago The main focus of my time had been are supposed to line up accordingly, but Reporter in 2004 as a Robert R. on the digital plan. Fortunately or unfor- at some point, you look at it, and it looks KMcCormick Tribune Minority tunately, depending on how you look at like a mess, and you’re trying to figure out, Fellow in Urban Journalism. Her 2007 it, I became the publisher in a time when “How do I get this to work?“ journalism was changing dramatically, story on mortgage lending practices How do you see the photojournalism eventually led to multimillion-dollar and magazines were abandoning the print fellowship you created play into this? settlements between the State of format, and newspapers were closing Illinois and two of the country’s major their doors—which is something 10 or 20 It was part of the digital plan. The Me- lending forces: Countrywide Financial years ago I never would have imagined. dill [School of Journalism at Northwestern Corporation and Wells Fargo and I think the exciting part about that is University] came up with a list of recom- Company. During Kelly’s eight years at I got to be part of a group of people who mendations last year, and they said, “You the Reporter, she moved up the ladder try to figure out how you survive during need to have a photographer on staff.” But and became the editor and publisher in that time, and coming up with the digital we couldn’t afford to have a full-time pho- 2012. Kelly left in November to join The plan was part of that. It’s been very excit- tographer on staff… and so I was working Washington Post’s investigative team. ing. It’s kind of like a Rubik’s Cube. You with a bunch of people and I’m like, “How
28 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 ‘I was reading the first issue a few months ago, and it was interesting—eerily interesting—because the issues they were talking about back then are some of the same issues that we are writing about today.’ can we make this work?” I thought, “Wouldn’t it be a great idea to hire some students and give them the opportunity to work for this magazine and take great pictures around the city?” We get the benefit of having their ideas and having them share and be part of the team, but then we can give them a little extra money too and help them create a great portfolio—to help them get jobs down the road, whether here or someplace else. Do you think that the Reporter will stay a print publication in the next 10 years or go entirely digital? I think that’s too simplistic of a ques- tion. I think that supposes that something is black or white. I don’t think that the an- swer is that simple. I think the Reporter for the last 40 years has been a print publi- cation. I think the focus right now is the Reporter as a publication—not just as a print publication, but expanding on the strength of our print to include more digi- tal content. Going forward, we’re going to have the website, we’re going to have the blogs, we’re going to have multimedia journalism. And we have our e-blasts and we have our PDF copies. That’s five prod- ucts to mention right there, not to mention Kimbriell Kelly was the co-host of The Barber Shop Show, The Chicago Reporter’s weekly radio we have a radio show and all these other show on Vocalo.org, taped at Carter’s Barber Shop in North Lawndale. Photo by Brent Lewis. media partnerships. So we are a magazine that publishes on multiple platforms. learned, that they grew, that anything I think the process of tackling investiga- changed. All you can show is that some- tions is a lot different now. A lot of it is Do you think the Reporter has a high enough readership level? body visually saw the story. computer-generated data analysis, but a lot of it is probably shoe-leather reporting Compared to the Reporter in the ’70s, I think the better question is what de- do you think it still provides the same around the same issues. fines a successful magazine. Is success kind of service to Chicago? Did you expect your story about defined by how well-read or frequently discriminatory mortgage lending read a story is? Or is success defined by On the macro-level, yes, we do serve practices to blow up as big as it did? the impact of the stories? So if you have the same purpose, because the issue is a story that is hardly read by anybody but focusing on the big issues of race and pov- Not even close. You don’t expect that you have a major impact, or you have a erty of the day. The issue du jour. I think kind of thing. People, I think, underesti- story that’s read by 2 million people but on the micro-level, we obviously deal with mate us a lot. You know we have a great you have no impact, how would you de- different issues. Although I was reading reputation, but we’re not those million- fine the success? the first issue a few months ago, and it circulation magazines. So I think, to some I think it’s easy to get caught up in suc- was interesting—eerily interesting—be- regard, some people don’t expect us to cess as hits and clicks, and reach. Just be- cause the issues they were talking about have that kind of impact or reach. Then cause you get 2 million clicks, it doesn’t back then are some of the same issues when we do, they’re really excited about mean, one, that somebody read the story that we are writing about today. So may- it. But our work has been cited in law- thoroughly or, two, that somebody ab- be on a micro-level, we’re writing about suits—not just this one but other lawsuits sorbed or took away something from the the same issues, just maybe in a different and settlements and books and things like story—that they were educated, that they way: homicide rates, affordable housing. this for years—for 40 years. n
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 29 From the Archives
There was smoke, fire obert J. Quinn’s tenure as commissioner of the Chicago RFire Department spanned the Daley Machine era. Quinn took over the department in 1957, two years into Mayor Richard J. Daley’s first term. His subsequent 21 years in office made him a Chicago institution in his own right. Today, the city’s fire academy bears his name as a tribute. But the beginning and end of Quinn’s career were marked by crisis: In 1958, with a massive and deadly school fire at Our Lady of the Angels, and with a pair of Chicago Reporter stories that examined the On the map for fire department’s poor performance in the 1970s. education coverage In 1975, Vernon C. Thompson something about, ‘We don’t count It was just three paragraphs, but the found that Chicago’s fire death rates people who jump out of windows,’” conclusion of Sharon McGowan’s 1976 ranked worst among the country’s McGowan recalled. school funding investigation caused a largest 10 cities, despite the fact Quinn soon resigned. In the political stir in Illinois. that the department had been un- ensuing media flurry, the Chicago dercounting the deaths of low-in- Tribune wrote that the Reporter’s McGowan had discovered that $85.5 come, mostly black Chicagoans. story “capped” recent criticism million in federal funding earmarked to Three years later, a follow-up by of “Quinn’s 21-year reign as fire help Chicago’s 212,434 “poverty chil- Sharon McGowan found that the commissioner.” dren” in the 1974-75 school year had department had made little head- McGowan’s investigation led to been instead spent for general purposes way in cutting the city’s death rate. something else: A lead for her story throughout the public school district. The poor performance was hardly a on the city’s emergency services. At The fund, created by Title I of the federal surprise, given that the department the time, 10 of Chicago’s 36 ambu- Elementary and Secondary Education had cut its force by 615 firefighters lances did not have “telemetry”— Act of 1965, was intended to improve in the previous eight years. including basic supplies such as academic performance at schools with a By the time McGowan’s story medicine, bandages and intravenous high percentage of low-income students, was published in February 1978, equipment. Nine of them were sta- most of whom were black. Quinn was already under investiga- tioned in black and Latino wards. “I made a mistake in not realizing that tion by the Better Government As- “We got a tip from a paramedic it was the most important part of the sto- sociation for alleged shakedowns by who pointed out this discrepancy, ry. It would have been better in retrospect fire inspectors. And the U.S. Court and he also pointed out there was if I had led with that,” said McGowan, of Appeals had just ordered the de- a fire department booklet that lit- now the editor-in-chief of the Milwaukee partment to cease its discriminatory erally showed which firehouses Neighborhood News Service. hiring practices. had telemetry and which didn’t,” Still, her findings drew a flurry of me- “As a result of my story, other McGowan said. dia attention. “That put the Reporter on media outlets picked up the story Nine months later, all of the city’s the map for the board of education. We and asked for a response. I believe ambulances were fully equipped. that was a time when [Quinn] said got a lot of credibility for the beat after —Erin Hale the story,” said McGowan, who is also president of Complete Communication, a But McGowan’s story found that, dur- behind, while others still insisted that consulting firm. ing the 1974-75 school year, CPS spent improving the entire system was the best Two years earlier, a class-action 7.3 percent more on instruction at richer, way to help poor students. lawsuit based on claims similar to mostly white schools than in black, In December 1976, CPS Superinten- McGowan’s findings had been dismissed mostly poor schools. Average reading dent Joseph P. Hannon released a plan by the U.S. District Court for the North- and math scores were also lower at the for how to distribute the district’s $174 ern District of Illinois. The decision was city’s “poverty” schools. million in federal aid for 1977-78: Nearly based on the grounds that Chicago After the story was published, a $95 million for “poverty students” and Public Schools had instituted programs statewide political debate ensued. Some nearly $79 million for those with special to correct teacher-student ratios and argued that the fund should be used to education needs. funding disparities. target specific schools that were falling —Erin Hale
30 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 A park is a park? Not always
n the summer of 1975, Stephan Garnett eventually recovered from the Garnett was fresh out of college and attack and moved on to the City News Iin his first journalism job at The Bureau of Chicago. The story bounced Chicago Reporter. He was assigned to around the Reporter’s office until it investigate the Chicago Park District’s landed on the desk of Tom Brune, a cir- funding practices. culation manager-turned-reporter. He soon ran into an obstacle: The Brune, who later became the Re- district would release data on the num- porter’s managing editor, took Garnett’s ber of seesaws or soccer fields in the work—conversations with field house parks—but not how much money went directors and park employees, and pho- to each park. tographs documenting the discrepancy So he followed the advice of Reporter between facilities in white and minority founder John A. McDermott: Do some wards—and dug deeper. He got a major legwork and visit the hundreds of parks break when he discovered a directory of and play lots across the city. “I looked at park facilities published by the district. everything from the huge parks—Wash- “Essentially, they had pulled it togeth- ington, Lincoln, Douglas—to the tiniest er—located every park and all their fa- play lots,” he recalls today. cilities by ward, so that the alderman During one such visit to Marquette could take credit every time the park Park on the city’s Southwest Side, Gar- district did something,” Brune said. nett, who is black, was attacked and Brune headed for the computing cen- beaten severely enough to be hospital- ter at Northwestern University, where he evidence to prove what Garnett had seen: ized. Then his car was burned. worked to convert his handwritten code Parks in the city’s white wards enjoyed Garnett said the beating received sheets into punch cards using a special- more funding, and better facilities and more attention than it deserved. But, in ized keyboard—all to analyze his data. programs than those in minority wards. retrospect, he should have been more He had to be meticulous. One mis- Brune’s story prompted a three-year careful, he added. After all, Marquette placed comma or period would have federal investigation by the U.S. Depart- Park is in the same neighborhood where, aborted the entire process, and he would ment of Justice. In May 1983, after al- in 1966, a brick was thrown at the Rev. have to start over. In the end, he pro- most a year of negotiations, the park dis- Martin Luther King Jr. as he led a march duced 1,200 to 1,300 punch cards to trict agreed to upgrade park facilities and to fight for open housing. The neighbor- cover the city’s 570 parks. services in the city’s minority wards. hood was rife with racial tension. He eventually pieced together enough —Erin Hale
Charges of disorderly conduct—against the police In November, a fed- the existence of surveillance more they stay the same,” eral jury ordered the City of video. Abbate and at least said Cruz, author of a 1982 Chicago to pay $850,000 one fellow police officer story that examined the in damages to Karolina also allegedly threatened to code of silence. Obrycka, a bartender who falsely arrest Obrycka for “Rogue cops do bad was beaten in 2007 by cocaine possession, and a things, and the department off-duty Chicago police of- bribe was offered with the doesn’t do anything. They ficer Anthony Abbate. The promise that her medical just get a slap on the wrist, beating had been captured bills would be paid, provided and the city pays out a huge by surveillance video: Ab- she remained quiet. settlement. Thousands and bate pushed Obrycka to In 2009, Abbate was thousands of dollars a year,” the ground and repeatedly convicted of aggravated said Cruz, now an associ- punched and kicked her battery and sentenced to ate professor of sociology after she stopped him from probation. He was then fired and director of the Latino going behind the bar. cover up the beating. by the department. and Latin American Studies The video was sen- According to court As he reflected on the Minor program at Columbia. sational enough, but the documents, officers who case in November in his “But the question is that, if incident attracted media responded to the incident Columbia College office, these cops aren’t doing bad attention for the Chicago that night allegedly failed to Wilfredo Cruz said the story things, then why are they Police Department’s alleged report Abbate’s last name was all too familiar. “The doling out all this money?” attempt to downplay and and occupation, let alone more things change, the Continued on next page
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 31 From the Archives
POLICE Continued from page 31
Back in 1982, the tactics of the Chicago Police Department may have seemed harmless enough at first When South Shore’s glance. Police were conducting sweep- ing arrests, often after perceiving an increase in gang activity, and charg- ing disorderly conduct. The problem: grades went south Many of those arrested were not actu- ally committing crimes: They were just nn Grimes and Laura S. in the wrong place at the wrong time, Washington were no strangers to in a heavily populated area. Arrestees taking on a challenging project, would spend a night in jail because A but when TV producer Scott Craig asked they could not make bail. The next The Chicago Reporter to collaborate with day, their cases would be dismissed him on a full-scale investigation into because officers failed to show up to Chicago Public Schools, the duo found court. The department used these that it was trying from the get-go. sweeps as a form of gang control and The task: Find an “average” Chicago to “prevent serious crimes from hap- high school. Not the best, nor the worst, pening,” Cruz found. to paint a fair depiction of the city’s But others saw it as a form of public schools. Grimes and Washington harassment, as those arrested had found South Shore High School, a place to lose a day’s work and the charge with both inadequacies and progress— remained on their record. in test scores, vocational training and Cruz found that during the first other programs. six months of 1982, the number of When they rolled into South Shore, disorderly conduct arrests “jumped cameras and a production crew in tow, sharply” and mostly took place in then-Principal William Marshall was co- minority police districts. The increases operative but defensive. Though the re- porters’ decision to investigate the high also coincided with the arrival of school was motivated by a desire to be to investigate conditions at South Shore. Joseph McCarthy as the deputy police fair and balanced, many were suspicious. The task force, made up of adminis- superintendent. He was viewed as “I think that some people in the com- trators, teachers, politicians and parents, highly qualified and efficient by many, munity felt that we had unfairly singled found in its report a high rate of student and Gestapo-like by others. During them out,” Grimes said. failure, poor teacher morale, and drastic his earlier tenure as commander of The September 1984 story, which shortages of books and equipment. It the 13th District, disorderly conduct became the basis for a segment in also noted “insufficient science labora- arrests shot up 41.6 percent in the the CBS documentary, reported that, tories, lack of computers in mathematics span of one year, from 8,724 in 1980 while South Shore was an “average” and science classrooms, lack of physi- to 12,358 in 1981. school, it fell far short of the minimal cal science and earth-science laboratory As sweeps became more com- expectations. equipment, lack of class sets of diction- mon, it became precarious to stand on Though there was some resentment, aries and lack of texts appropriate for all a street corner, Cruz said. He saw it the story “spelled out” the systemic learning levels.” himself while living in Humboldt Park problems of Chicago’s public education, The task force called for spending in the ‘80s. Washington said. more than a half-million dollars to re- A few months after Cruz’s story “We showed that the inadequacies of store the institution and also recom- was published, the American Civil the public school system were endemic mended that teachers be given a key role Liberties Union filed a class-action and not just about the worst neighbor- in shaping instruction. lawsuit, seeking an injunction against hoods,” she said. But two years later, when Grimes and future arrests. “They only needed After the story, Grimes and Washing- the same production team returned to the leverage. They had been getting ton moved on: Grimes to other Reporter South Shore, not much had changed. The stories and Washington to serve as then- January 1987 article, “Return to South complaints for a long time, but when Mayor Harold Washington’s deputy Shore: High school struggles to make my article came up, they had some press secretary. the grade,” found that, though time and ammunition,” Cruz said. The documentary, was the Reporter’s money had brought some changes, many The city eventually agreed to stop first collaboration with a national out- of the acute problems remained. making disorderly conduct arrests. let, and its broadcast had an impact. There were physical changes at South “If you know anything about the At the time, Illinois legislators were Shore. A building was repainted, graffiti Reporter, it prides itself on being very championing education reform, Grimes was removed, and old carpeting, tile and well-documented,” Cruz said. “The said. lighting fixtures were replaced. statistics are there. This isn’t hokey- Prompted by the Reporter’s investi- Yet, South Shore was still a school pokey stuff.” gation, then-CPS Superintendent Ruth seeking a clear mission. —Nicole NeSmith Love appointed a 26-member task force —Nicole NeSmith
32 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | January/February 2013 A look at the other side of the track ts one-mile oval of green turf sits August 1994, leaving 17 people infected. beneath a clear blue sky, eliciting an “It wasn’t something you would ex- Ielegant appearance and experience. pect to find behind such a pristine race But the Arlington International Race- track,” Gordon said. course in Chicago’s Northwest suburbs Inspectors from the Illinois Depart- had a secret, and it wasn’t pretty. ment of Public Health found a slew of Danielle Gordon took an official tour violations. The Illinois Plumbing Code of Arlington’s pristine grounds on the required family living quarters to con- suspicion that something was awry. In- tain one lavatory and shower per unit. stead of spending the hour on the sanc- Four bathrooms existed in each of the tioned route, she changed course and three oldest buildings, which had more happened upon the backstretch. than 150 units, and more than 13 people Next to the horse stables and hidden were sharing one shower. from the crowds were 12-by-12 dormi- Arlington officials reasoned that tories made of concrete blocks. It was living elsewhere was an option. The damp, it was bleak and it was simply track workers countered that most of “stunning,” she said. the housing in Arlington Heights was Gordon’s March 1995 article surfaced unaffordable. the plight of about 1,500 workers and The five-month-long investigation their families who lived at the track but had its share of difficulties. One was “did not share in Arlington’s splendor.” the language barrier. Gordon doesn’t Gordon, who now works as digital speak Spanish, and a majority of the it “my business to raise this issue.” content manager at the Chicago Tri- backstretch workers were Latino immi- A bill was drafted by a governor’s bune, found that the living units offered grants—mostly from Mexico. She would task force on horse racing, led by Cul- little ventilation and basic needs like bring a translator to the track and hope lerton, to force all race tracks in the state telephone access and kitchen facilities. that someone would talk to her. to spend half of their Illinois Race Track Many residents were forced to do their “People were scared to talk and were Improvement Fund—a reserve fund cooking in the communal bathrooms. very afraid,” she said. Many were undoc- created to defray the costs of track im- Laundry was being washed in the rest- umented and feared losing their jobs, provements—on the backstretch. It was room sink. Because of these conditions, she added. signed into law as part of an amendment Gordon learned, a rare strain of dysen- After Gordon’s interview, state Sen. to the Illinois Horse Racing Act of 1975. tery broke out in two of the dorms in John Cullerton said that he would make —Nicole NeSmith
Legal lookout: Advocating for too-young ‘adults’ When Sarah Karp looks ty-nine percent of the 15- ture eliminated the law’s back on her 2000 investi- and 16-year-olds involved provision that automatically gation into Illinois’ juvenile in the 363 drug cases at the transferred teens who were transfer law, what she Cook County criminal court 15 or older to adult court on remembers is a series of between 1995 and 1999 drug charges. images: 15- and 16-year- were African American or Karp said her story il- olds walking into criminal Latino, Karp found. lustrated that being tried courtrooms at 26th Street In 2003, the Illinois Gen- as an adult and labeled a and California Avenue, eral Assembly responded. convicted felon has a last- where they were being tried The Legislature amended ing impact on teens’ lives. as adults. She couldn’t help the Illinois Juvenile Court One teen she profiled was but think they seemed com- Act of 1987, allowing teens 16-year-old T.J., who was pletely out of place. who would have been caught with cocaine in his “You’d just feel like, transferred to adult court to possession near his former ‘Now, that’s a baby at that ately affected by the state’s petition to remain in the ju- elementary school. age, and yet they’re in adult juvenile transfer law. venile system. The amend- “He really didn’t have jail,’” said Karp, who is now She reported that 15- and ment, however, excluded that much drugs on him deputy editor at Catalyst 16-year-olds were being teens who were charged when he was arrested, yet Chicago. tried as adults if they were with Class X felonies, which now ... his whole future was Karp’s story found that charged with selling drugs carry a penalty of at least six really going to be shaded by poor minority youth in within 1,000 feet of a school years of imprisonment. this arrest,” she said. Chicago were disproportion- or public housing site. Nine- In 2005, the Legisla- —Safiya Merchant
WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 33 From the Archives
Notorious nursing homes
ust before Jeff Kelly Lowenstein’s 2009 nursing home investigation Jhit the press, the story became all too real with the sudden death of an elderly African-American man named Bennie. Bennie Saxon, an 84-year-old with dementia, fell from a four-sto- ry window at Alden Wentworth Re- habilitation and Health Care Center in Greater Grand Crossing on the city’s South Side. Business practices at the facility, owned by Floyd Schlossberg, exem- plified what was wrong with Chica- go’s nursing homes. Nursing Home Compare, the federal data portal that Legacy revisited rates all Medicare- and Medicaid- Shortly after The Chicago Reporter certified nursing homes, gave the published its latest investigation into highest grades to two of Schloss- a series examining the state of nurs- mortgage lending practices in 2007, it berg’s homes with a majority-white ing homes in Illinois. It found that received a call from an unexpected place: population in 2009, Kelly Lowen- nursing-home residents faced the Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s stein found. But Schlossberg’s ma- threat of serious harm, sometimes office. jority-black homes, including Alden even death, when housed with men- Wentworth, received failing grades. tally ill felons. Madigan was interested in the Report- Schlossberg’s nursing homes The Reporter’s investigation and er’s data analysis that showed high-cost were symbols of a larger, systemic the Tribune’s findings were later loans were being steered disproportion- issue in Chicago: Seniors in major- used by state lawmakers to reform ately toward African-American and La- ity-black nursing homes were re- Illinois’ nursing home industry. tino applicants. She used the Reporter’s ceiving inferior care, compared with Starting in January 2013, all fa- findings to file lawsuits against two of the their majority-white counterparts. cilities are required to provide at country’s major lending forces: Coun- Kelly Lowenstein examined the least 3.4 hours a day of nursing and trywide Financial Corporation and Wells records of 15,724 nursing homes personal care to every resident who Fargo and Company. rated by Nursing Home Compare needs it. And any reported resident In 2011, the discriminatory lending and found that more than half of abuse or neglect must be relayed to case against Countrywide resulted in a all majority-black nursing homes the owner of the facility within 24 $355 million settlement. A year later, in Chicago received the worst pos- hours. Madigan struck a $175 million settlement sible rating, but only 11 percent of For Kelly Lowenstein, one of the with Wells Fargo. majority-white homes shared the most memorable aspects of his in- The Reporter’s series on high-cost same fate. vestigation is that it inspired the el- lending dates back to 2005. Kimbriell Statewide, only one majority- derly to protest for their own rights. Kelly, the author of the initial article, ana- black nursing home received the “To me, it was inspiring to see these lyzed 2003 federal mortgage data and best rating. Majority-white homes black seniors and just seniors in discovered that 48 percent of African also employed more registered nurs- general … sticking up for people like Americans were approved for loans in es than majority-black homes. them and people in the same situa- Chicago, while their white counterparts Shortly after the Reporter’s story tion,” he said. broke, the Chicago Tribune published succeeded 76 percent of the time. —Safiya Merchant After that initial investigation, the revelations rolled on. In 2007, Kelly disproportionately targeted for high-cost largest number of high-cost loans among reported that Chicago led the nation in loans that carried interest rates at least all Chicago-area lenders in 2006. the number of high-cost loans issued be- 3 percentage points higher than the U.S. Madigan said the Reporter’s in- tween 2005 and 2006. “Finding out that Department of the Treasury standard. vestigations were instrumental in her Chicago was No. 1 in the nation—that And African Americans with annual lawsuits against the two companies. was a key moment,” said Alden K. Loury, incomes greater than $100,000 had “People’s access to credit, and the terms who edited the story. a higher chance of receiving high-cost of their credit, should be determined on Once again, it confirmed that African- loans than white applicants making less an equal basis, not on the basis of the American and Latino homebuyers in than $35,000, the Reporter found. color of their skin,” Madigan said after Chicago were the hardest hit by high- Loury followed up with an investiga- the 2011 Countrywide settlement. cost loans. African Americans were tion showing that Countrywide issued the —Safiya Merchant
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