Places You Couldnt go in Chicagoland If You Were Black,Back in the day (Park Forest: movies, school)

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by urza216

Are you sure it wasn't a white guy who was calling you n***a because he was hoping you'd call him n*gga back?

I'm sure because he was telling me to go back to the south side. Little did he know I lived two blocks from him.

The other time was by a drag queen in boys town referring to me as that black n from the club as I was walking around her.

[It'sAutomatic]

Originally Posted by chirack

Not really. Whites go to and through bad areas all the time. What happens is that any stranger in those areas is much more likely to get robbed and imho whites often have much more fear about an area than it deserves. Englewood maybe extremely dangerous but I can think of other areas that are less dangerous.

I have to explain this to people. I've biked recreationally through bad black neighborhoods many times, though I try to stick to main streets and avoid being around too late. Even I was kind of surprised at how little of a sh1t anyone gives. You're lucky to get more than brief eye contact from anyone. Once in a while people say hi, and I've been shouted at in a non-threatening manner a handful of times. If I see a group of young men hanging around outside somewhere I turn if I can, but still they might stare at me but no one's ever messed with me.

[ChicagoMeO]

Whomever hates racism, I wish to put in my vote that NO ONE should use the word Nigg*** or Nig**a or any such variation. This goes for white people, black people, comedians, etc. It is nasty, period. No excuse.

Jamie Foxx ought to be ashamed of himself for promoting the use of it proudly in his movie.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by nightlysparrow

Ironic, and perhaps fitting, but now it's "Places You Can't Go In Chicagoland If You Are White."

That's ridiculous.

Have you ever heard of anyone being killed, or even harassed, for being white in any neighborhood in Chicago? If you have, it's probably because it was a huge news event. Why was it a huge news event? Because it's extremely rare.

I'm white, and the most I've ever gotten in any majority black or Latino area in Chicagoland is a sideways sort of "whoa, he looks out of place here" glance that anyone who is different in any area gets. Even that is very rare.

Sure, there are areas I wouldn't walk through alone at night, but I wouldn't do that if I were any other color, either. If anything, I'd probably be more scared in those areas if I were a Black or Latino male, since that's who tends to get shot.

Originally Posted by nightlysparrow

There are many of these. All eyes go to a white person appearing in Englewood, for example.

Uh, yeah, that's because you stand out, because you're different. Most white people don't go there, so if you do, you're a curiosity. That doesn't mean you're going to get arrested or threatened. All eyes go to you as a white (or black, for that matter) person in most parts of Asia, too, but that doesn't mean you can't go there or that you're in danger if you do.

This is not even remotely the same as being systematically harassed and threatened for going into a neighborhood. Please don't try to equate these.

[Warsie]

Originally Posted by Midwest Revival

I always hear from older people"Oh Man..Back in the day if you went in that neighborhood they'd jump you". Some places I always hear are Cicero,Marquette Park,Maywood,and Bridgeport. Was racism ever that big in Chicago?

Beverly, Mount Greenwood in case of jumping. Beverly: some dude in his 70s i think talked to me how in the 1950s he got picked on as the only black kid in beverly (well one of a few). Other parts: barbers who...service my hair mentions in 1980s Longwood kids being dicks; but dunno if it's due to racism or just children being dicks. Mount Greenwood still technically; lol this girl in my HS said when a black family moved into Mount Greenwood they got their grass salted or a cross burnt on their front yard or something (rumors, rumors, likely just grass harassments).

My grandmother mentioned the Denny's close to 95th/cicero (not chicago technically) used to not serve black people. Weird, then again she remembers that era. Doubt anyone in that Denny's knows of that now lolz

[Warsie]

Originally Posted by nightlysparrow

Ironic, and perhaps fitting, but now it's "Places You Can't Go In Chicagoland If You Are White."

There are many of these. All eyes go to a white person appearing in Englewood, for example.

nope. i see white people on the 63 bus and others don't bat an eye

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

Whomever hates racism, I wish to put in my vote that NO ONE should use the word Nigg*** or Nig**a or any such variation. This goes for white people, black people, comedians, etc. It is nasty, period.

I saw two White guys fighting up on Clark and they where calling each other that.

I would agree. I don't like the word. I don't use it! You can't help but to acknowledge that it has a different meaning based upon context of who's using it.

[ChicagoMeO]

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

I would agree. I don't like the word. I don't use it! You can't help but to acknowledge that it has a different meaning based upon context of who's using it.

I respect you for how you hate that too ... and i hear how people excuse themselves and justify it, however, i believe in leading by example. I think it puts people down, even if black people say it, its a put down back to times when things were bad during Jim Crow times. Back in the day, that was a very bad word, no beauty in it. People have risen above that, and have died in the fight to bring respect to people. I think it disses those people who gave their lives to bring us out of Jim Crow.

Saying the n-word and being proud of it is like taking a filthy dirty pig in the mud and putting a lace dress on the pig, no matter how much you pretty up that pig, its still a filthy pig, imo.

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

Whomever hates racism, I wish to put in my vote that NO ONE should use the word Nigg*** or Nig**a or any such variation. This goes for white people, black people, comedians, etc. It is nasty, period. No excuse.

Jamie Foxx ought to be ashamed of himself for promoting the use of it proudly in his movie.

Did you see that movie? Most of the people using that word in the movie were White. Are you trying to say that white southerners in 1858 didn't use the n-word liberally?

Don't blame Foxx for what white people did in 1858... or would you prefer that we whitewash any story set during that time, and pretend the n-word was never used?

[coldwine]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

Blacks could go to Barrington and Kenilworth to work or pass through, same with Bridgeport, Cicero and Marquette Park.

The people of wealthy suburbs had the dough to use subtle, "respectable" ways to keep Blacks at army's length, means unavailable to working class Whites who are villified for their racism. Kind of like the difference between the White Citizens' Council and the KKK.

Hell, I remember when Blacks and working class whites were cold shouldered at Marshall Fields. Not everyone in Chicago liked to "meet under the clock".

Very, very true.

I remember my grandpa having a hard time getting service for wearing his work uniform there And I'm hardly old. Yet.