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Old 01-20-2012, 09:55 AM
 
11,289 posts, read 26,065,670 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis View Post
Ive lived in West Lakeview for the past 5 months. I have not been harrassed, called names or have been threatened in any way. I have encountered people getting nervouse because im black and theyve been taught that we want to rob or harm them. That doesnt offend me or anything like that. It just shows where they are in life and is a form of racial prejudice.

I have noticed some messy teatment in a few of the local restaurants that whites dont generally experience. Ive heard the bar scene can be pretty racist in Wrigleyville towards blacks. The Boystown section of Lakeview is suprisingly racist towards black gays. For a community that is so marginalised they have more issues with race gender and other superficial issues than any other segment or group.

You will not find KKK parades and people yelling racialist slurrs out in the open in Lakeview/Lincoln Park, but it is noticable that there are issues and racial prejudice much more than Ive seen in Hyde Park and Oak Park or othe more progressive areas in the metro.
Unfortunately, the issues in Boystown relate to a string of incidents 7-8 months ago over the course of about 4 weeks where a few dozen people were maced/attacked/beater/robbed/stabbed and there were some high profile videos of large groups of people fighting and screaming and blocking traffic (one was of one of the three stabbings on Halsted that took place within a few week of each other) that happened to almost all involve young black men. My BF had 6 people robbed on his street, Buckingham, within about 10 days. Many of those arrested or questioned by police were from the south and west sides of the city. For whatever reason the issues stopped in July and things went back to what would be "normal" for the neighborhood. It got to the point there were 3-4 cops posted at Halsted and Roscoe every night on ATV's who would just ride up and down the street nonstop.

It was quite heated though early this past summer. There were lots of meetings and people were extremely upset. That is where the sudden issues are coming from in regards to people being afraid of black people in the neighorhood. I'm gay and have been hanging out in Boystown for 10 years. I have multiple black friends, and they were more upset than the white people in regards to the issues. They'd been hanging out here for years and years with no problems at all, and suddenly they were surrounded by this mess.

Not saying it isn't racist, just explaining where a lot of the current mindsets are stemming.
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Old 01-20-2012, 09:56 AM
 
30 posts, read 45,425 times
Reputation: 42
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chi-town Native View Post
I totally agree - but let me ask how you would analyze the following situation, which seems to be only something that I see with the younger black male set.

And that would be the sitting in an aisle seat on the bus or train and having your legs completely swung out and blocking the aisle.

I don't think it's because I'm white I find that self-centered and obnoxious. And I've also had several occasions where a request to make room was received with looks of scorn and derision.

If I wasn't raised in Chicago in a fairly integrated environment (at least by Chicago standards), I might jump to the conclusion this was a "black thing," as opposed to a few knuckleheads.

My point being, don't paint with too broad a brush. One guy acting like a weenie doesn't mean the whole area is racist. I'd wager 95% odds the guy you described isn't from Chicago, and maybe has just watched too many episodes of the wire.
Oh I definitely do not think my neighborhood is full of racists. I grew up in the southwest suburbs, where adult and children a like called me the "N-word" to my face, along with every other racist slur you can think of. I know that I won't experience anything like that here, just like I didn't in college. However, I do think that there are a lot of people around me who will only interact with people that are different than them if they absolutely must, and that makes them do/say awkward things when forced to so. Everything about me screams "he is not a thug", just like most of the young couples with dog and strollers in tow in my neighborhood would never be confused for the rednecks I grew up around. If I am smart enough to know that, they gotta be too.
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Old 01-20-2012, 10:25 AM
 
Location: Nort Seid
5,288 posts, read 8,828,107 times
Reputation: 2459
Quote:
Originally Posted by jay sparty View Post
Oh I definitely do not think my neighborhood is full of racists. I grew up in the southwest suburbs, where adult and children a like called me the "N-word" to my face, along with every other racist slur you can think of. I know that I won't experience anything like that here, just like I didn't in college. However, I do think that there are a lot of people around me who will only interact with people that are different than them if they absolutely must, and that makes them do/say awkward things when forced to so. Everything about me screams "he is not a thug", just like most of the young couples with dog and strollers in tow in my neighborhood would never be confused for the rednecks I grew up around. If I am smart enough to know that, they gotta be too.
You'd sure hope so, right?

Well, as a former rez of your neighborhood (George & Damen from 97 - 02) who is now just a bit further away dead west, let me retroactively welcome you with warm arms.
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Old 01-20-2012, 10:29 AM
 
Location: Nort Seid
5,288 posts, read 8,828,107 times
Reputation: 2459
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicago60614 View Post
Unfortunately, the issues in Boystown relate to a string of incidents 7-8 months ago over the course of about 4 weeks where a few dozen people were maced/attacked/beater/robbed/stabbed and there were some high profile videos of large groups of people fighting and screaming and blocking traffic (one was of one of the three stabbings on Halsted that took place within a few week of each other) that happened to almost all involve young black men. My BF had 6 people robbed on his street, Buckingham, within about 10 days. Many of those arrested or questioned by police were from the south and west sides of the city. For whatever reason the issues stopped in July and things went back to what would be "normal" for the neighborhood. It got to the point there were 3-4 cops posted at Halsted and Roscoe every night on ATV's who would just ride up and down the street nonstop.

It was quite heated though early this past summer. There were lots of meetings and people were extremely upset. That is where the sudden issues are coming from in regards to people being afraid of black people in the neighorhood. I'm gay and have been hanging out in Boystown for 10 years. I have multiple black friends, and they were more upset than the white people in regards to the issues. They'd been hanging out here for years and years with no problems at all, and suddenly they were surrounded by this mess.

Not saying it isn't racist, just explaining where a lot of the current mindsets are stemming.
...and I think a lot of that friction and tension was due to the neighborhood having welcomed a runaway/homeless shelter for LGBT teens, right?

I'm really glad if they got that worked out, I've always been very proud of the fact I grew up in an area that had institutions/a culture which welcomed the LGBT community, teen runaways (Barry & Lincoln), battered women (Deborahs' Place shelter by St Alphonsus) and back in the 80s, refugees from the war in El Salvador (Wellington UCC church at Broadway).

It could of course be noted that for the last one, the USA was largely responsible for creating the conditions that led them to flee their homeland.
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Old 01-20-2012, 10:30 AM
 
Location: Nort Seid
5,288 posts, read 8,828,107 times
Reputation: 2459
Quote:
Originally Posted by jay sparty View Post
I grew up in the southwest suburbs, where adult and children a like called me the "N-word" to my face, along with every other racist slur you can think of.
Man, that's utterly depressing, sorry to hear it.
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Old 01-20-2012, 11:09 AM
 
30 posts, read 45,425 times
Reputation: 42
It's all good. The beauty of the situation with the name calling by children is that I learned quickly that racism is not inherent, but taught (by the adults in the community doing the same thing). For every bad situation, I had several good ones and would replace my childhood. Actually, the way people talk about other suburbs in the forum, maybe I would.
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Old 01-20-2012, 11:10 AM
 
30 posts, read 45,425 times
Reputation: 42
I meant never replace my childhood.
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Old 01-20-2012, 11:30 AM
 
Location: South Chicagoland
4,111 posts, read 9,015,671 times
Reputation: 2077
I wonder if anyone has ever been called a "cracker" at the Harold's Chicken Shack in southwest suburban Oak Forest.
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Old 01-20-2012, 11:51 AM
 
Location: South Chicagoland
4,111 posts, read 9,015,671 times
Reputation: 2077
Jay Sparty,

If these people are from the same place as you surrounded by the same environment as you, went to the same suburban schools as you and prabobly have a very similar economic background as you, what makes them "rednecks" and you... something better than a "redneck"?

And just for the record, I have absolutely posed a similar question to south suburban whites before..
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Old 01-20-2012, 11:59 AM
 
30 posts, read 45,425 times
Reputation: 42
Quote:
Originally Posted by urza216 View Post
Jay Sparty,

If these people are from the same place as you surrounded by the same environment as you, went to the same suburban schools as you and prabobly have a very similar economic background as you, what makes them "rednecks" and you... something better than a "redneck"?

And just for the record, I have absolutely posed a similar question to south suburban whites before..
Fair question. If there is any residue for how I was unfairly treated, it is that I used that term to described the perpetrators (and only to describe them). The short answer for why "I am better" is that I didn't treat any of the other children poorly because their skin color was different. That should count as being "better than" or "bigger than" don't you think? Couldn't I have done to them what they did to me, especially since I grew up in the same environment, similar economic environment?
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