Chicago Goddamn!

What's going on?

Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today - Ya  by Marvin Gaye

This past couple of days, I read the following most disturbing, horrible, sad and tragic stories about Chicago:

Profiteering, racism behind closing of 61 Chicago schools


Chicago — The Rahm Emanuel administration and the Chicago Public Schools, along with politically connected corporate interests, are making a calculated move to turn the clock back for Black and Latino/a students to the bad old days of Jim Crow apartheid “separate but equal” schools.


The administration is trying to convince Chicago residents that a reckless campaign of privatization and mass shutdown of CPS schools will somehow help students and parents combat the alleged problem of “underutilization” and help schools perform better.

But this is really a direct attack on the Black and Latino/a communities and Black teachers. Karen Lewis, the popular leader of the Chicago Teachers Union, led a strike in September of last year against this racist corporate agenda. The strike attracted truly mass support across the United States.

The teachers bravely fought against the plan to close large numbers of schools in the city’s most oppressed neighborhoods, part of an agenda to move toward an apartheid system of anti-union, privatized charter schools. This two-tiered system allows rich, white northsiders to send their kids to lavish private schools.

Meanwhile, Black and Latino/a families would have to send their children to underperforming charters that steal tax dollars to line the pockets of corporations behind the push for privatization. source

1 killed, 11 wounded by gunfire since Friday


A shooting in the Logan Square neighborhood left one man dead and another wounded Friday night as at least a dozen people were shot between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

Just after 8 p.m., three people asked for directions from a 23-year-old man and a 44-year-old man walking,Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said.

Moments later, one of the three took out a gun and opened fire, striking the younger man in the chest, according to police.

The older man took off running and was shot in the hand as he tried to flee, Greer said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was treated and released. read more

Prosecutor: Teen killed grandfather in robbery, used money for tattoos

Bail was denied today for a 19-year-old man accused of fatally shooting his grandfather as the older man left his home for an early-morning dialysis appointment earlier this month.

William D. Strickland, of the 400 block of East 95th Street, shot his grandfather six times in the back and used money stolen in the attack to buy tattoos, gym shoes and other items, Assistant State's Attorney Amanda Pillsbury said at the bond hearing.  read more

I know this type of ish happens 24/7 in you pick the hood/you pick the city across USA -- but as Nina Simone sang Mississippi Goddamn two generations ago, now I sang Chicago Goddamn.

Philly's gotten me so upset

New York  made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Chicago Goddam

Can't you see it
Can't you feel it
It's all in the air
I can't stand the pressure much longer
Somebody say a prayer.

Did we win the civil rights battle only to lose our youth by self-inflected wounds? Speaking about the Civil Rights movement brings to mind the famous quote by Eric Hoffer:

“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”   The Temper of Our Time

For more on this topic read:

African-American Males Facing Serious Challenges

African-American people make up only 13 percent of the population in the United States. However, African-American males are leading the charge in several categories when it comes down to incarceration, homicide, school dropout rates, fatherless homes, drug addiction, sexually transmitted diseases, high unemployment, and poverty.

African-American youth fall victim to a multitude of problems and this message should serve as a serious wake up call for the entire African-American community... entire article