Back in 1968, I was a little kid in Logan Square. It was a nervous year in our neighborhood, starting with the west side riots after Martin Luther King's assassination.
The west side burned for days as all hell broke lose. No one knew how far it might go. We could smell the smoke and see it from our 3rd floor apartment, and occasionally see flames shooting high into the sky, visible above the trees on Kedzie Blvd. Much of the worst destruction happened in the area highlighted in orange at the bottom of the map.
Although over 40 years have passed, the west side has never fully recovered. That destruction sowed the seeds of further destruction, which continues today.
The riots' explosion of violence against police and firefighers set the stage for what would come next. When the protests and riots happened during the Democratic convention, my mother radiated fear. It was impossible to avoid feeling it. A threat that LSD might be put into the water supply caused more panic. That might sound wacky now, but in the context of that time, some people took it seriously.
The anti-Vietnam war protesters gathered, camped out in Lincoln Park, and marched, in defiance of the mayor's refusal to grant any of the permits they'd applied for. More protesters came. They were ordered to leave, and they refused. Clashes with police turned violent. Images of police beating protesters made the evening news, and the fear grew. "The whole world is watching," they chanted. And the world was watching that infamous moment in Chicago's history, captured so well in the film "Medium Cool."
The ghosts of 1968 still linger over City Hall and the Chicago Police Department, their invisible hands affecting official response for more than 40 years. No one wants to go there again.
Today the Occupy movement is spawning hundreds of protests across the country and around the world, and it shows no signs of letting up. In contrast to the sometimes violent police response in New York and Oakland, the Chicago Police Dept. has kept restraint in their response to protestors. The ghosts of 1968 and the whole world are watching now. No one knows what will happen next.
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Bob Simpson
Deborah Méndez Wilson
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Comments
R
They need to immediately get their heads around that.
A non trivial minority of the OWS group would love to see polarizing violence.
Since there are potential votes among the protesters, I'm surprised the city isn't more on top of things.
Use of force is a sign of weakness.
There's nothing easy about the situation here in Chicago. They're not being outright brutal, but they're doing their best to wear down the protesters by not allowing them to camp and forcing them to keep moving.
The minority in OWS who want violence concern me a lot. There's always at least one hothead who wants to be that match on the powderkeg if not restrained by others.
I agree that use of force is a sign of weakness - and of desperation. I hope it doesn't come to that.
This could get the mayor recalled for sure.
The giveaway is that these were the same cops who worked for Ron Dellums, who did a masterful job. They forgot all that Dellums taught them? I think not. The OPD did this on purpose for a political agenda of their own.
It is inevitable that violence will be on the rise. The goal is to make sure that the cops are the only ones going rogue and getting violent.
Ultimately, I think that laws and taxes are the way to reach the 1%. Large scale protests and related lobbying can influence lawmakers in ways that could make a difference.
I think that Oakland and NYC police tactics have left a bad taste in many people's mouths. I'm glad that Chicago is not following their example.
...and some clean water for these people, and heat sources, and ....
If city hall wants a real political nightmare just wait until some middle class (or even better rich) kid home for Christmas break dies from exposure.
Donegal - Yes, disruption tends to send the message more effectively, but there's a big difference between disruption and violence.
as long as we just keep on going...we must! great post
I remember the scare of LSD being put in the water...
Thanks for writing about this, sorry to take so long to get here : )
Friends of mine bought an old house in North Lawndale and have been doing a green gut rehab on the place. They're gotten to be friends with their new neighbors. At phases of the project when there was a lot of basic manual labor needed, they hired some out-of-work neighbors to help.
There are pockets of artists' live/work spaces and new affordable housing. I hope that a full revival of the west side can create integrated, mixed-income neighborhoods - healthier for the long term.
The history of some previous neighborhoods' revivals has been artists, "urban pioneers," then real estate speculators - usually white people with more money displacing black and Latino people with less money. I have friends living in Humboldt Park and Garfield Park who chose those locations to live in affordable, integrated neighborhoods, not to be agents of displacement. Some of them face hatred and suspicion from long-time residents who fear that their neighborhood will become another yuppie enclave and they'll be looking for a new place to live in a few years. Resentment is understandable.
I'm curious to see what the west side will look like 10 years from now. I think a lot will depend on whether the economy turns around soon and whether more living wage jobs can be created that will help support these neighborhoods. The lack of good jobs for average people has been a slow-motion disaster for much of the city.