​Today in Bronzeville, about two hundred people gathered at the Chicago Police Department headquarters to stand up for Anjanette Young, a social worker whose house was raided by the CPD last year.

According to CBS Chicago, this raid follows a pattern by the Chicago Police. In 2017, a similar situation happened to Gilbert and Hester Mendez.  In a separate story, CBS Chicago reported that the officers barged into the Mendez’s home and began “shouting profanities, and pointing assault rifled and handguns at the couple and their sons” (sic).

Afterward, the family planned to file a federal lawsuit against the city, which cited: “trespassing, assault, battery, excessive force, false imprisonment, conducting an unlawful search of the Mendez family home, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.” Additionally, the warrant that police used to raid the Mendez home allegedly had a neighbor’s name on it, and even after Hester Mendez told them they had the wrong house, they still continued to search.
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This would be repeated with Anjanette Young two years later. 

It was never just about George Floyd

Chicago was on the national radar this weekend for massive Downtown protests. The first night of protests ended with over one thousand arrests, according to the Chicago Community Bond Fund. This is violent and genocidal, considering that Cook County jail was previously labelled a hotbed for the virus. Yet, the high arrest rate was only a portion of the city’s punitive response to protesters.

At approximately 8:40 PM, a citywide Amber Alert was sent out informing city residents that a curfew would be instituted from 9 PM to 6 AM. For protesters who were still on the streets, this meant they had twenty minutes to find refuge if they were to avoid being trapped Downtown.

This strange alert came after the city began putting up its bridges, impeding people’s ability to cross. These measures were a form of entrapment and intimidation against the protesters. They were also an example of the failures of Black leadership during times of crisis.

Working class Americans seem to be victimized thrice over by COVID-19. From states reopening prematurely to unsafe working conditions that have led essential workers to strike, the damage is almost tangible.

​How Preexisting Conditions heightened COVID-19’s impact on my mental health

Content Warning: The following article mentions and shows pictures of self-harm. It too talks about depression, sexual assault, trauma and suicidal ideations. Reader discretion is advised.

On April 16, 2020, President Donald Trump released a three phase plan on how we could re-open America amid the devastation of COVID-19, according to Politico. With many heavy populous areas, such as Chicago, having yet to hit their peak on deaths from the virus, there was understandable backlash to the president’s plan. Yet, some states still moved forward with the reopening.

As developers reimagine Woodlawn, South Side residents consider how these changes might impact their neighbors.

Black Chicago history is American history. This month, as we celebrate the accomplishments of Black figures, I want to highlight Robert Taylor Jr., the son of an esteemed Black architect and the first Black chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority.

​Yet, there is one part of Taylor’s legacy that was literally erased – the affordable housing project erected in his name. According to South Side Weekly, a nonprofit newspaper that highlights Chicago’s South Side, “[t]he twenty-eight Robert Taylor Homes made up the largest housing project in the U.S. at the time of their completion in 1962.”