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NEWS & LETTERS, May 2002
West Side meleeChicago—On April 16, at
Roosevelt and Ashland near the ABLA public housing project, a small insurrection
took place. Why? Why would 500 people rally around two suspects of questionable
character who might be drug dealers? The group, young and old, men and women,
attacked the police who came to arrest the two. What would prompt such anger in
people who probably had not much in common with the alleged perpetrators? The African-American community
views the police with suspicion and distrust. There are good reasons for it. We
only have to remember all the beatings they have endured. One or two caught on
tape show the world the racism of the police, but countless others go
undocumented. Intense rage embitters the individuals it happens to, and is
retold to their family and friends. Would the same arrest be made
in affluent suburban neighborhoods in the manner they tried to make it in the
public housing complex? Attorneys would be there before the squad car door
closed. A different situation awaits the two African Americans once they get to
the local lockup. The rage began long ago when
the slave owner took the whip to the African and jerked him away from his home
to do the white owner's bidding and hasn't changed all that much. There are only
so many times they can sic the dogs on you and only so many times the water
hoses can be used to drown out the cries of inhuman treatment. The fighting
spirit emerges from so much adversity. It was this that spurred on the 500 when
they decided, No more! No more! —Mike M. |
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