Newcity Chicago November 2020

NOVEMBER 2020 ILLUSTRATION BY ILLUSTRATION BY Andrea R. Coleman Nikko Washington A SPECIAL ISSUE: GUEST EDITED BY Scoop Jackson A ND Tara Betts

Graham Foundation Poured Architecture Sergio Prego on Miguel Fisac 2020 Graham Foundation Fellow For more information about the Graham Sergio Prego, inspired by the late Foundation’s programs visit our website, Spanish architect Miguel Fisac’s join our mailing list, and follow us on innovative architecture and construction social media. techniques, explores materiality and process across architecture and visual grahamfoundation.org art through a series of large-scale, @GrahamFoundation site-specific sculptures and drawings. Curated by Carlos Copertone, Patxi Eguíluz, and Iker Gil. Special Experience Prego’s work in a new film thanks to Fundación Miguel Fisac. Additional support provided by by Spirit of Space: Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), Madrid. Photo: Nathan Keay bit.ly/poured-architecture

BEST OF NOVEMBER 2020 CONTENTS   City/Life Arts & Culture BEST OF CHICAGO — NOVEMBER 2020 Newcity Best Example of Black Rage Defeating Art 3 Black Liberalism: The Summer of 2020 Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi bring their labor to the forefront 12 64 Culture/Nightlife Design The miles of Michael White's fash- Best Counter to the Systemic Racism of ion journey  Chicago’s Downtown and North Side 68 Nightlife (i.e. Best Way to Avoid the “White Girl Wasted” Syndrome)*: An Interview Dining & Drinking With Kenny Johnson Coffee, Hip Hop & Mental Health has a mission 22 70   Film An epic City So Real Food/Drink 72 Best… Ever: Hennessy and We Lit  An interview with Christen Carter 2  8 about the power of buttons 74 Goods/Services Music Best Sign of The Times: Black-Owned Johnny Iguana’s boogie-woogie Business Sign piano makes Chicago spectacular 76 36  Stage Voices/Activism Jenn Freeman|Po'Chop explores Black femininity and spirituality Best South Side Lois Lane: Natalie Moore 78 Tells the Stories Reviews 42 A taste of criticism; see much more at newcity.com Create/Community 80 Best Version of How White City Became Black Space: Notes on Jackson Park 48  History/Future Best of the Booming and Before Them Diasporic Generation: 2020-to-Infinity, For the Souls of Chi Folk 56

Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO LETTER FROM THE GUEST EDITORS C M We are looking at Chicago long after Jean Baptiste DuSable witnessed this land, long Y after the Great Migration fanned out from train stations to Chicago’s South and West CM Sides, and almost a century after Robert Johnson’s rendition of “Sweet Home Chicago” MY became a citywide anthem played on televised events to celebrate this city’s rich cultural CY and historic heritage, long after the 1919 Red Summer that set the uncomfortable stage CMY for the city’s racial divide and dynamics that, to this day, still exist. Newcity approached K us to co-edit a landmark Best of “Our” Chicago issue that isn’t just about declaring a Black “Who’s Who” listing that celebrates who’s the hottest, best, most popular and where you should spend your money.  We wanted to assemble a Best of Chicago issue that celebrates some of the people, places, creative landmarks, food and history threaded through the cloth of the entire city interwoven by a Black Chicago fabric. Imagine trying to pull that thread out of the city. You can’t. Everything that makes it robust, vibrant and memorable depends on that thread, but if you took it out, Chicago wouldn’t be that rich, vibrant weave. It would be a jumbled mess of material, sitting there. Accomplishing nothing. Instead, Chicago is a city that always feels like home, even with its segregation, its neighborhoods that unfold around CTA color-coordinated lines and roll through surrounding suburbs, and its yawning absence of Black communities in its mainstream media.  For this issue, we wanted to address that absence. We wanted not only to be more than a promotional moment and dodge the positioning of acting as a tastemaker. We wanted to talk about how the city is the residence and birthplace for so many places and people that never made the Newcity lists before, but also we wanted to use this space to talk about how Chicago ain’t Chicago without the places and people you only know if you know.  With that said, this is not a comprehensive, tell-all Best of Chicago guide to Black Chicago. It is only a beginning. We would’ve loved to do more. (And we will.) We would have loved to include more firsts, more surprises, more leaders. We wanted to include more of what’s on the West Side, more people who function in the shadows, more unsung heroes, more businesses shaping change. (And we will!) What we did cover represents the soul of this city, which led to amazing contributions from Black writers, photographers and artists across the city. There are names that you might expect, of 4 course, like Eve Ewing, Noname, Theaster Gates, Lena Waithe, Eric Williams of The Silver Room and Ayana Contreras. There are longer features by Isaac Perry, Bryan Crawford, Raymond Alexander, F. Philip Barash and Bayo Ojikutu, as well as Frank Tempone’s profile of author and radio journalist Natalie Y. Moore. There are lots of places to see and people to know better in this issue, but we also want to extend the affirmations with a “We See You” section. Whenever you tell someone “I see you,” it’s that head nod, that greeting that acknowledges you without a word, a quiet affirmation, a li’l bit of love.  As the city creeps through the ongoing pandemic, continued protests and the pending elections, we finally hear people who’ve never before acknowledged police brutality finally talking about #BlackLivesMatter, Black businesses, universal health care, and #DefundThePolice. We wanted to celebrate the activists, old and new, places and people who are connected to this concrete—working, thriving, and adding to the shimmer and snap of the bright bolt of cloth unfurled along Lake Michigan, stitching itself into that name expelled from DuSable’s lips so long ago, of the sweet home he discovered— Chicago.  Much Love,  Robert “Scoop” Jackson + Tara Betts

Bisa Butler OPENS NOV Portraits ADVANCE TICKETS REQUIRED Corporate Sponsor Major funding for Bisa Butler: Portraits is contributed by the Cavigga Family Trust. Additional support is provided by The Joyce Foundation and Darrel and Nickol Hackett. Bisa Butler, The Safety Patrol (detail), 2018. Cavigga Family Trust Fund © Bisa Butler

NOVEMBER 2020 For the first time in our history, we’re publishing two different covers of Newcity’s Best of Chicago, in reflection of the importance this issue signifies. If you’d like to get a copy of the other cover, please visit NewcityShop.com to order it, while supplies last. Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO ANDREA COLEMAN Heavily inspired by her suburban upbringing, animation and various mural artists, Coleman's work currently investigates the intuitive interconnectedness and multidimensional relationship of aura and narrative. Andrea R. Coleman, “Earlene,” 2020, digital print on canvas, 50in x 37in A SPECIAL ISSUE: GUEST EDITED BY Scoop Jackson A ND Tara Betts 6 NOVEMBER 2020 NIKKO WASHINGTON Raised and shaped by the landscape and culture of Hyde Park, Nikko Washington has been creating art since he can remember. His particular aesthetic has allowed him to excel both directly in his own individual works as well as in his role as the artistic director for Chicago hip-hop collective Savemoney. Nikko Washington, \"New Tomorrow,” 2020 A SPECIAL ISSUE: GUEST EDITED BY Scoop Jackson A ND Tara Betts

A Tale of Today Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi The Nickerson 40 East Erie A Tale of Today: Nate Jean Stark, Gary Metzner Presented by Mansion takes driehaus Young and Mika Horibuchi and Scott Johnson, and center stage museum.org is presented by Northern the Richard H. Driehaus Trust. Additional support is Annual Exhibition Fund. provided by Eugene and Now on view A Tale of Today: Nate Young Photograph by Steve Hall of and Mika Horibuchi is Hedrich Blessing, 2008. organized by The Richard H. Driehaus Museum.

Contributors SCOOP JACKSON (Writer and editor, RAYMOND ALEXANDER (Writer, Vol. 35, No. 1409 “Best of Chicago ”) is president of “Best Sign of The Times”) is a PUBLISHERS Brian & Jan Hieggelke Strong Island Media, a senior features Chicago-based writer whose work  has Associate Publisher Mike Hartnett EDITORIAL writer for ESPN, co-host of The Music appeared in XXL, King, the Final Call Editor Brian Hieggelke Managing Editor Jan Hieggelke Snobs podcast, and author of “The and True magazines. Art Editor Kerry Cardoza Design Editor Vasia Rigou Game Is Not A Game: The Power, Dining and Drinking Editor David Hammond Protest and Politics of American F. PHILIP BARASH (Writer, “Best Film Editor Ray Pride Lit Editor Tara Betts Sports.” (Haymarket Books) Version of How White City Became Music Editor Robert Rodi Stage Editor Sharon Hoyer Black Space”) An inveterate parks ART & DESIGN Senior Designers Fletcher Martin, TARA BETTS (Writer and editor, “Best nerd, F. Philip Barash writes about the Dan Streeting, Billy Werch Designer Stephanie Plenner of Chicago ”), Newcity Lit Editor, intersection of identity and place. He MARKETING Marketing Manager Todd Hieggelke is the author of “Break the Habit,\" “Arc served as the inaugural design editor OPERATIONS General Manager Jan Hieggelke & Hue” and the forthcoming \"Refuse to of Newcity.  Distribution Nick Bachmann, Adam Desantis, Preston Klik Disappear.\" She is editing other Retail price $10 per issue. In certain projects and writing new books in BRYAN CRAWFORD (Writer, “Best… locations, one copy is available on a complimentary basis. Subscriptions and Chicago.   Ever”) is a South Side/Englewood additional copies of current and back issues available at Newcityshop.com. native who has written in SLAM Copyright 2020, New City Communications, Inc. RASHAYLA MARIE BROWN magazine, HOOP magazine, NBC All Rights Reserved. Newcity assumes no responsibility to (Photographer, “Best of Chicago Chicago, Rolling Stone and XXL. He is return unsolicited editorial or graphic material. All rights in letters and Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO ”) has presented work at venues currently a TV news producer at WJTV unsolicited editorial or graphic material will be treated as unconditionally internationally such as La Becque, in Jackson, Mississippi. assigned for publication and copyright purposes and subject to comment La-Tour-de-Peilz; MCA, Chicago; editorially. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without written MOAD, San Francisco; Tate Modern, BAYO OJIKUTO (Writer, “Best of the permission from the publisher. London; and Turbine Hall, Booming and Before Them Diasporic Newcity is published by Newcity Communications, Inc. Johannesburg; among others. RMB Generation”) is a Chicago-born, 47 West Polk, Suite 100-223, Chicago, IL 60605 can be found on Instagram as Nigerian-American novelist, university Visit NewcityNetwork.com for rmbstudios, simultaneously developing lecturer, father and husband. His past advertising and editorial information. two film projects as a part of work includes “ th Street Black” and Subscribe at Newcityshop.com Northwestern University's PhD in “Free Burning.” Performance Studies. ISAAC PERRY (Writer, “Best Example DAVID W. JOHNSON (Photographer, of Black Rage Defeating Black “Best of Chicago ”) is an Liberalism”) is a Chicago-based writer internationally published photographer and creative director. He is the based in Chicago. Additionally, he co-founder of Darklight Studios, a founded his own non-profit, True multimedia studio that produces Chicago, to educate, energize and original content featuring BIPOC 8 expand the arts for Black and brown characters and stories. youth, sprinting toward new goals. FRANK TEMPONE (Writer, “Best CECIL B. MCDONALD JR. South Side Lois Lane”) is a teacher, (Photographer, “Best of Chicago essayist and literary critic in the ”) uses photography, video, and Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. text to explore the intersections of Visit him at franktempone.com or on masculinity, familial relations, and the Twitter @Tempone.  artistic and intellectual pursuits of Black culture. McDonald studied fashion, house music and dance club culture before receiving a MFA in Photography at Columbia College Chicago. His solo exhibition “Cuts and Beats” opens at the Hyde Park Art Center November , -March , .











































(Obviously there’s levels to Black suc- cupcakes, custom cookies, donuts and BEST PLACE TO FALL IN LOVE cess, but keeping it ‘hood, those folks are other desserts. Scrolling through the Lux- WITH ICE CREAM AGAIN the bar because let’s be honest, if you live ury Cake Company Instagram feed is in Englewood, K-Town, Over East or the enough to make anyone hungry, even if the Shawn Michelle’s North Pole, the people you see with the cakes look almost too good to eat. (Rebec- Homemade Ice Cream money to afford the “finer things,” ain’t the ca Holland) doctor or the lawyer who lives next door. 2150 S. Canalport Ice cream is cake’s perfect match. Shawn Or even on the block.) Michelle’s supreme, award-winning Home- So, the next time you crack open that BEST PLACE TO HAVE made Ice Cream goes above and beyond fifth of Henn, or pop that bottle of Moët in ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING to elevate the perception of the world-fa- your latest “Off-White” Louis gear that Vir- JERKED mous dessert. The level of innovation and gil cooked up, with that red Solo cup in attention to detail in his product makes it hand, just know you’re not making a con- feel like your first experience ever with ice scious decision… The Jerk Taco Man cream! (Stephanie Hart, owner, Brown It’s in our nature, Black man. And Black Sugar Bakery) woman. OOOUUU... Julius Thomas boasts on his in-store sig- nage that he will jerk whatever you got: “You bring it, I’ll jerk it.” For a hundred dol- BEST POPCORN lars, he offers that he will even jerk “an old car tire,” although we prefer the jerk crab legs. Get in line early; this is a popular Let’s Get Poppin’, Inc. Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO B EST G UI D E TO B L A C K-O W N E D place with no indoor or outdoor seating. Gourmet Popcorn and Pastries RESTAURANTS Be prepared to take your delicious jerked food home, if not traveling from the West Chicago has a style for everything: caramel Side, or eat al trunko. (David Hammond) and cheese popcorn mixed together is Toure Muhammad, Black 4001 W. Jackson known as Chicago-style popcorn. For Chicago Eats twenty-five years, south Western Avenue In the aftermath of the George Floyd pro- B E S T C O M F O R T F O O D has been the home of Let’s Get Poppin’ Gourmet Popcorn and Pastries. Barbara tests, a desire to support Black-owned and James Marsh have a passion for pop- businesses and restaurants swelled up. A Brian Jupiter, corn, Betty Boop and making people great place to start: Toure Muhammad’s Ina Mae and Frontier happy. The longtime staff of joyful women comprehensive blackchicagoeats.com. will tell you they have a ninety-five percent “Black Chicago Eats celebrates Black peo- He’s the man behind the deliciousness that success rate, and they pray for the other ple's contribution to Chicago's world-class is Frontier in West Town (think game, sea- five percent. With fourteen flavors, popped culinary arts scene,” says Muhammad. “We food and other delicacies) and the excep- and prepared fresh daily, you could miss put a spotlight on the eateries and the tional NOLA flavors at Ina Mae Tavern & the eight varieties of homemade cakes, the owners to help Chicagoans and visitors Packaged Goods, both culinary master- brownies, candy or cookies, but you will discover popular and new places to eat pieces inspired by down home. Originally find that they are the absolute best. (LD out.” Despite the challenges for restau- from New Orleans, he would learn closely Barnes) rants everywhere, Muhammad thinks held family secrets and recipes, spending 11758 S. Western 30 there’s more than one way forward. “I see his childhood alongside his grandmother restaurants continuing to provide excellent in her kitchen. He opened his first two BEST COLD BREW COFFEE takeout and delivery services. I also believe restaurants adding a generous dose of Gulf that more restaurants see the importance goodness to the city's ever-changing of digital marketing and will increase their restaurant scene. After putting his stakes Kyoto Black efforts to tell their story online.” (Michael into two of Chicago's predominantly white Workman) neighborhoods, his vision is to keep ex- Justin Doggett, founder of Kyoto Black, has panding, opening more locations citywide spent years perfecting his Kyoto-style cold BEST—AND PRETTIEST—CAKES and doing what he does best. Executive brew, a smooth, bold coffee that’s natural- chef Brian Jupiter believes that Southern ly sweet and barely acidic. With so many comfort food is a true art form. And he's working from home, business has explod- Luxury Cake Company making sure that we do, too. (Vasia Rigou) ed, so much so that Doggett moved from a shared kitchen to his own space on The cakes from Laura Mitchell’s Luxury Devon Avenue. Kyoto Black is available in- Cake Company are elaborate. A three-lay- store, for delivery and at some Chicago er cake of UNO cards, a vanilla cake that restaurants. (Rebecca Holland) looks like a bottle of Veuve on ice, endless 1445 W. Devon perfect sugar flowers and on and on.   Mitchell’s cakes are in high demand, and she’s the preferred wedding cake vendor for One North Kitchen & Bar. She makes both classic and custom cakes, as well as

CRAFTED CAREFULLY. ENJOY RESPONSIBLY. WOODFORD RESERVE DISTILLER’S SELECT KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKEY, 45.2% ALC. BY VOL. THE WOODFORD RESERVE DISTILLERY, VERSAILLES, KY. WOODFORD RESERVE IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK. © 2020

Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO BEST BITE OF SOCIAL food selections and five seasoning choic- it will go the only stage for local artists to IMPACT IN A PIE es. It’s a no-frills bib-and-hands-only affair perform poetry, jazz and other arts in the in a casual welcoming atmosphere perfect Kenwood-Bronzeville area. “We’re a staple Justice of the Pies  for unwinding and fixing a jerk and Cajun in the community,” Rich says. “There are flavor craving. (Yetta Starr) not that many African American-owned Having a taste of chef Maya-Camille businesses in Bronzeville that are like Broussard’s Chili Roasted Sweet Potato 641 E. 47th Some Like It Black.” (Rebecca Holland) and Goat Cheese quiche is a slice of heav- en, honoring her family’s culture and tra- BEST PLACE TO HAVE LIVER 810 E. 43rd ditions. She founded Justice of the Pies in & ONIONS IN HILLSIDE memory of her late father, a criminal de- BEST TRIPLE THREAT fense attorney who believed that “every- Priscilla’s Ultimate one deserves an opportunity to reform Soulfood Cafeteria Christopher LeMark, their lives” as well as to celebrate his pas- Founder of Coffee, Hip-Hop sion for pies. Broussard balances her busi- Priscilla’s Ultimate Soulfood Cafeteria lays ness model between social equity and en- out all the soul favorites. For those of us & Mental Health trepreneurial projects. Youth workshops who live in the western suburbs and who and food donations support her team and lived during the Eisenhower years, when What would happen if we normalized ther- community. Her artisanal cooking classes beef liver was common on family tables, apy? This is a question that Christopher have responded to the pandemic with vir- this is the place to go for everyone’s favor- LeMark, founder of Coffee, Hip-Hop & tual presentations. The company recently ite organ meat, appropriately served under Mental Health hopes to answer through provided Carrot Soufflé Pies for a James a generous mound of fried onions. (David its initiatives to tackle systemic racism, Beard Foundation event. To have one of Hammond) poverty and social injustice. Through food her delicious sweet and savory pies, quich- drives and pop-ups, LeMark is on a path es or tarts delivered, contact Broussard di- 4330 W. Roosevelt to feed 10,000-plus people in the city of rectly or pre-order for their Thanksgiving Chicago who have food insecurity. (Kia curbside pop-up, November 25, at the BEST BAR WE HOPE Smith) Hatchery. (Yetta Starr) SURVIVES AND WILL MISS IF IT DOESN’T BEST DEFINITION OF THE BEST WAY TO DRINK, “BLACK CHICAGO EXPERIENCE” R E M O T E LY Some Like It Black Creative Arts Bar Pier 31 1340 Beer Wine Spirits The bar and arts venue Some Like It Black There is nothing like summertime in Chi- has been a Chicago hub for Black culture cago and nothing like summer on the Lake. Sommelier Derrick Westbrook, who has for twenty years. But it could close its Hanging out on the Lake on the South Side landed spots on Wine Enthusiast maga- doors for good. “Our space is already small, was the inspiration that Will Smith used to zine’s “40 Under 40 Tastemakers” list for so with capacity restrictions, it’s hard to write “Summertime.” With a view of the his work at Elizabeth and 57th Street Vines, stay afloat,” says Kelli Rich, who four years skyline, Pier 31 is a brisk walk from the is co-owner of 1340 Beer Wine Spirits. ago moved Some Like it Black to its loca- sand of 31st Street Beach and has become From that base, he runs Zoom wine class- tion in Kenwood. If the bar does close, with the summer go-to spot since opening in 32 es and curates a wine club that “reflects the overall values of 1340, featuring wines that are sustainably produced with an em- phasis on BIPOC, female and LGBTQIA+ winemakers and winery owners.” (Rebec- ca Holland) It’s The Nod. The Nod, you understand, is a Black Chicago native, 1340 W. Madison like Taurus Flavors or Afro Sheen. Now, you can definitely also BEST SEAFOOD CRAB BOIL find The Nod doing its thing down in Natchez and in Memphis… RESTAURANT Hell, I found it in Cuba a few years back. But you know where I have yet to find it? Roscoe Village. The Nod, commonly shared Two Fish Crab Shack between passersby on any Black Chicago thoroughfare, speaks silently to kinship. It’s the bag. Okay, it's what's inside the bag: It’s cultural currency: a lovely pithy thing we brought with us from the seafood boil, the heat quotient, the the South, like blues and barbecue. And it reminds me that in this sauces and the perfect balanced season- city with no pity, I’m not alone. ings. Want some sides like corn, red pota- toes or delicious chicken Andouille sau- — Ayana Contreras sage? No problem—it all goes in the bag. music historian, host-producer, It’s an in-the-moment marinating melange. Located in the Grand Boulevard neighbor- Vocalo's “Reclaimed Soul” hood of Bronzeville, Two Fish offers six sea-

2012. Come for the food and While we live in the third- BEST FOOD JUSTICE BEST OF CHICAGO — NOVEMBER 2020 Newcity cocktails, stay for live music or DJ largest city in the nation, ORGANIZATION sets and the Lakefront breeze, re- Black Chicago is like a small 33 turn for the experience that is ev- town where everybody Urban Growers erything Black Chicago is about. knows just about everybody Collective (Chris Cason) else. We’re tied together by high schools and it’s where The organization co-founded by 3101 S. Lake Shore  we do Black Chicago stuff Laurel Sims and Erika Allen like hoop on the lakefront, (daughter of legendary Will Allen, BEST WINE SHOP THAT eat at Black-owned founder of Milwaukee-based DOESN’T TAKE ITSELF establishments like Batter Growing Power) grows more TOO SERIOUSLY & Berries and Virtue, shop than just food. There are youth at Black-owned stores like education programs, adult job Love Cork Screw the Silver Room, hang out training for Black and Latino men at the Chicago Football affected by gun violence, in part- Like many Chicago business suc- Classic, and of course, nership with Heartland Alliance, cesses, Chrishon Lampley, nego- most importantly, come and farmer incubation programs ciant and founder of the Love together around our love cultivate skills, community and Cork Screw wine label, is all of House music at the economic independence for res- about pivoting. “With the looting Chosen Few picnic. And it is idents in the city’s most vulnera- in Chicago, we lost eighty per- because of these things and ble neighborhoods. Eight farms, cent of our accounts, and even so many more that I am located primarily on the South Binny’s shut down for a while,” Black Chicago proud! Side, serve as nexuses for urban Lampley says. “But when people agriculture workshops and pro- started proclaiming themselves — Alan King grams. Four buses, converted allies, sales skyrocketed. From Attorney, DJ, into mobile produce markets, loss, great awareness came bring fresh food directly into about.” Out of about 111,000 ne- founding member, neighborhoods that have few, if gociants in the world, only sixty The Chosen Few any full-service grocery stores. are African American women. Since its founding three years “Being in this small percentage BEST ETHIOPIAN FOOD ago, Urban Growers Collective has been and will continue to be IN THE MIDWEST has demonstrated the power of challenging,” Lampley says. She local food production to heal hopes to keep educating people Demera body, soul and community. (Sha- about wine, getting rid of the stig- ron Hoyer) ma that wine is complicated or Since opening in 2007, Demera has be- elite, supporting small wineries come a Chicago institution. It’s widely BEST WINNING DURING and getting drinkers interested in thought of as one of the best Ethiopian COVID Midwest varietals. (Rebecca Hol- restaurants in Chicago, if not the Midwest land) and recommended by Michelin Guide. Chef Lamar Moore Over the past thirteen years, owner Tigist BEST “ON THE JAMES Reda, who grew up cooking with the Chicago chef Lamar Moore, for- BEARD-MICHELIN STAR women in her family in Ethiopia, has intro- merly of Currency Exchange WATCH LIST” duced countless Chicagoans to the flavors Café, saw the opening of his Vegas steak- RESTAURANT of her native country, as well as its tradi- house—Bugsy & Meyer’s—delayed by the tions. (Rebecca Holland) pandemic, but he still won “Vegas Chef Eleven Eleven Prizefight.” And although he’s spending a 4801 N. Broadway lot of time in Nevada now that his steak- Restaurateur Ahmed Braimah turned the house has finally opened, he admits, “My space previously occupied by Honey’s, heart and my roots are deeply embedded where he served as general manager, into in the city of Chicago.” He’s also heading a mix of casual lounge and upscale dining. Instagram webinars where Chicagoans If seclusion is what you’re looking for, there can stay connected to him and his food. are private dining rooms and an upstairs, (David Hammond) enclosed patio that’s eye-level with the El. The menu of inspirational modern Ameri- can cuisine, specialty cocktails from the creative mind of general manager Justin Frierson and select vino, are for any enthu- siast or sommelier in search of something different. (Chris Cason) 1111 W. Lake

Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO “G O L D C O A S T\"/ P H O T O: R A S H AY L A M A R I E B R O W N BEST REASON TO WAIT IN route to Chicago celebrity chef stardom, bert Ingraham’s “Hot Tamale Man!” (1909) LINE FOR BRUNCH then made a critical life choice to leave and Fred Rose's “Here Comes the Hot Ta- Chicago and head to Hawaii, citing under- male Man” (1926) support these claims. Sweet Maple Café standable exhaustion and a need to re- Perhaps the best musical evidence of its charge. We miss her. (David Hammond) origin comes from Delta bluesman Robert 34 Sure, people wait in line for brunch all over   Johnson who penned “Hot Tamales, the city, but Sweet Maple Café has drawn BEST STREET FOOD They’re Red Hot, Yes She’s Got Them For crowds since before many of those brunch- SURPRISINGLY INTRODUCED Sale.” The line comes from his song ers were born. Everything at this neighbor- BY A F R I C A N A M E R I C A N S  “They’re Red Hot” recorded in 1938, about hood institution is phenomenal, but special the same time he wrote “Sweet Home Chi- attention must be paid to their home fries, cago.” (David Witter) golden-brown, full of strings of blackened, The Chicago Tamale caramelized onions and served in portions Unlike the Mexican tamale, which is sur- BEST CHEF TO SERVE YOU that should be illegal. (Leigh Kunkel) rounded by masa and packed in a corn ALONG THE BANKS OF husk, the Chicago tamale is more like a THE MIGHTY CHICAGO 1339 W. Taylor BEST CHEF TO LEAVE large yellow cigar. Further modified by Cedric Harden CHICAGO IN 2020 Greek and other immigrants with food carts, these delicacies are sold throughout the city at hot dog stands. Street history River Roast offers one of the city’s best Mariya Russell indicates, though, that the Chicago tama- views up-and-down the Chicago River, le was inspired by African American mi- and many of those panoramic vistas can Mariya Russell of Kumiko/Kikko, after get- grants from the Southwest. Impressed by be enjoyed without even wasting a glance ting major press in the past year, and being the portable snack eaten by Mexican im- at Trump Tower. Offering tasty dishes to the first Black woman to receive a Miche- migrants who worked beside them, they nibble while the river goes by, Cedric Hard- lin star, was Newcity’s 2020 Big Heat cover made their own version using corn meal en, executive chef at River Roast, turns out subject. She told us then, “Now I can be mush, spices and ground meat. African warming roast chicken, fish and vegeta- an example for other young Black women Americans who arrived in Chicago sold bles. Chicago Gourmet’s site identifies to follow their dream.” She seemed en them on the South Side. Songs like Her- Harden as “the leading force behind the

culinary program at River Roast.” That force will be with you as you contemplate the rolling Chicago. (David Hammond) N. LaSalle BEST WAY TO DRINK COFFEE… N OT B L A C K B U T B L A C K-O W N E D Chicago French Press Snickerdoodle, Orange Creme, Lemon Brûlée, Piña Colada…. No, they’re not ice cream flavors. A cup of co ee is a daily ne- cessity, but by the time you mix sweeten- ers and cream for that perfect taste, you might have sugar overload. Kris Christian, founder of the Chicago French Press, is making sure you don’t compromise your health for a flavorful cup of co ee. Each bag is filled with organic co ee, blended with dried fruits, chocolate or nuts. As a successful young black woman, Christian also values empowering her community by donating ten percent of proceeds to local and national charities and nonprofits. (Sania Blu) Chicagofrenchpress.com THE BEST MAN TO TELL YOU WHAT WINE TO DRINK Brian Duncan Brian Duncan, one of the founders of Bin , Chicago’s legendary, now shuttered wine bar, was named Gourmet Wine Cellar Wine Director of the Year; Duncan has also been honored with four James Beard nom- inations. He’s heading Down to Earth Con- cepts, which specializes in interactive wine and food seminars as well as corporate team-building. (David Hammond) BEST DONUTS Old Fashioned Donuts  The storefront is, as the name implies, old-fashioned, at th and Michigan. The donuts are a bite of the past, without pre- servatives. They are the freshest you can get. You can watch Buritt Bullock and his donut machine that hails from the late s in the front window. Whether you arrive at the am opening or slide in in the afternoon before closing, the pastries are only hours, often minutes, old. Be flexible, though. They may sell out of your favorite, but all are delightful. Binge on a giant donut, a rite of passage for generations in the Roseland and Pullman neighborhoods. (LD Barnes) S. Michigan

Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO BEST SIGN OF priately join forces. In instances and at THE TIMES times I don’t work. My purpose was not 36 served. Fools looked right past me as if I BLACK-OWNED don’t exist. Or worse, they could care less ---> BUSINESS that I did. “Fuck what you say, fuck who “BEAUTY SUPPLY STORE\" SIGN you is.” I heard it all. It was in those mo- PHOTO: ments I felt the same pain as the owner RASHAYLA MARIE BROWN BY RAYMOND ALEXANDER that put me out front of their businesses. My purpose for existing, for being what I You all don’t know my struggle. What I am and why I was created, gone. I went have to withstand, what I’ve seen. I’m sup- from being an indicator to owners hoping posed to be the sign that says everything I’d be a shield. A Black STOP sign! A re- that needs to be said when it comes to minder to Black “steal” in our hour of cha- being Black… and owned… by someone… os that I’m one of them, that I represent a Black. The symbol of pride, the anti-typi- business that is one of them! I hear when cal. Positioned in windows and doors; the glass shatters. I see it coming. Then front, center, off to the side. Mostly South comes the fall. Concrete or wood or lino- and West Sides, up North not so much. leum or marble. Sometimes a welcome White segregation. Redlining. My colors mat. Most times I lay there face up, stepped clash with the city’s flag but I don’t need on, stomped on, trampled on before I’m run stars to shine. over. It’s mostly us, Tims, Air Force 1s, some Vans, mostly slides bypassing my meaning, I’m minding mine all of the time. Used not giving a fuck whose business they are as a show of community and solidarity. A destroying, just what’s inside; not giving a magnet for Black Chicagoans and liberal damn whose life’s worth they are ruining, others and suburbans who believe their just what they can get away with.  support will keep me alive. My difference: I was not invented for white people’s ap- Thing is, I get it. I get how in these times, peasement or for their approval. Never re- for businesses and establishments where duced to an acronym. Never marketed, I am not, get got. But why me? What did I never co-opted to a general public to sell ever do to not support us? To the point I a myth to white Chicago and adopted by was in some places utterly, and frankly, dis- the city’s white media as something to respectfully ignored. The police ignoring make them comfortable. Unlike BLM, who me and protecting those other brick-and- is my friend but a figment that will never mortars up and down Michigan Avenue, be believed by them, I remained exclusive on the Mag Mile, in high-end neighbor- to my own. My three words were never hoods and business districts where I am supposed to exist together in the same rarely seen, was expected. Community pri- sentence, let alone appear in sequence as oritizing is not new in this city. Nothing a greater sum than my parts. more than Chicago’s segregated past and present being what it is. But as I try to re- Then came this summer when I had to establish my purpose throughout the city, take on an entirely different meaning and I can’t help but wonder, question, chal- do things I was not put in existence to do. lenge, internalize: Why Me? My most recent job: To do what the police can’t when shit goes down, when protests Most times now I’m held up by staples. turn to riots, when rage and reform appro- Attached to ply or treated wood. Adjacent to beautiful artwork of images and mes- sages and names of people that business owners and artists feel speak louder than me. They all side-eye me, the messages. Like I didn’t do my job. To them, we’re not supposed to be sharing space, to them I was supposed to protect the business they are now canvassing. I stay quiet, let them sit in their feelings. Knowing that my truth is not to scream but to notify. For I am not a demand, I am an indicator. I exist in pride and principle, not protest. Maybe that’s what’s wrong with me. Maybe that’s where I failed. Not being loud enough, not de- manding something. The subtlety of who I am is not what is essential anymore. The message I speak has moved beyond me. Maybe the time has come for me to say and mean something more.



Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO BEST (AND ONLY) What makes Black Chicago BEST WAY TO BECOME B L A C K-O W N E D D ESIG N great to me? For starters, A DAPPER DUDE CENTER you’re always close to a hook-up! Grabbing food off Agriculture Custom Bourdeau Griffin the grill of someone set up to Clothiers Interiors and watch the Bud Billiken Parade whilst you’re walking \"We can style anyone, and we Architectural Supplies in it! The battle of Vincennes, have something for everyone,\" two of the city's powerhouse says Agriculture boutique owner Boasting a 46,000-square-foot basketball teams Simeon and and fashion designer Milton La- luxury interior design showroom, Morgan Park! Hyde Park trell. Along with business partner museum-grade fine art gallery Brewfest, Silver Room block Christopher Brackenridge, Latrell and upscale event venue, the party, Chosen Few picnic, opened Agriculture in the heart Bourdeau Griffin Design Center Black Scene at the Playpen… of Bronzeville in 2005. Both were is the only Black- and wom- Connecting tribes from out born and raised in the neighbor- an-owned design center in the West, South, North, and the hood to seamstress mothers and country. The pandemic “has burbs. With no violence. That came a long way since then. Be- forced everyone to stay at home.” side of Chicago gets no love! sides dressing prominent clients, says co-owner Frantzie Top it off with an ice cold including NBA players Luol Deng Bourdeau. “People are rediscov- beer at Frances on 75th! and DeMarre Carroll, and actor ering their homes. Not many peo- C. Malik Whitfield, they opened ple are going away on vacations, — Leon “The Destined a second shop downtown last so they are investing in their Legend” Rogers year. To bring out the individual homes making their living spac- style of each client, they offer es more comfortable. Lots of comedian, custom-made suits and shirts in basement, master bathroom and radio host, WGCI luxury fabrics and a slew of ac- kitchen renovations.” Despite the cessories—which now include challenges of merging the com- face masks. \"COVID hurt us plex tapestry of architectural de- badly,\" Latrell says, \"and we are signs, Bourdeau sees a stronger selling the masks to keep our embrace of minimalist styles. “I day-to-day operations going.\" A think designer lines will become GoFundMe page under \"Agricul- simpler and cleaner. And the ture Custom Clothiers\" was es- world of architecture will trend tablished to sustain their mission. toward the new modern.” (Mi- (Isa Giallorenzo) chael Workman) 8237 S. Princeton BEST WAY TO STAY SANE BEST PLACE TO BUY PANDEMIC BEST HISTORIC SHOE STORE DURING THE PANDEMIC READING MATERIALS Wesley Shoe Corral 38 Brandon Breaux, Reset Sunrise Nestled between a post office and one of Meditation Series Semicolon Bookstore the best-kept secrets in the city—Ascione and Gallery Bistro—is a shoe store that is so legendary “Access Is Key,\" “Facilitate a Safe Space,” it’s an insult to call it simply a shoe store. “Seeking Genuine Representation.\" Art- Semicolon, the city’s only bookstore Wesley’s Shoe Corral has been a staple on ist-designer Brandon Breaux, who has ex- owned by a Black woman, is thriving de- the South Side for generations. Located in perience in painting, sculpture, web, video, spite the pandemic and months of protests the Hyde Park Shopping Center, Wesley print and interactive projects—and let’s not over police brutality. Owner Danielle Mul- carries iconic brands ranging from Pikoli- forget he’s the one behind all three covers len says the pandemic means people have nos boots and loafers to Hoka running for Chance the Rapper’s mixtapes—takes more time on their hands to read, but also shoes. Their sit-and-fit OG method of shoe his practice one step further: Breaux cre- that Chicagoans are interested in support- investing harkens back to the day when ated a capsule collection with the Museum ing Black- and woman-owned businesses. purchasing footwear was an experience, of Contemporary Art—T-shirts, pencils, “It’s been important to pay more attention not the click of a button. (Bob Arthur III) notebooks, even wine tumblers—with one to businesses that were maybe ignored or 1506 E. 55th thing in mind: to promote accessibility and set aside before,” she says, adding that BEST WAY TO UNDERSTAND representation as well as the inner peace eighty to ninety percent of her customers CHICAGO’S SEGREGATION we all need during these challenging times. over recent months have been first-time To add to this mission, Breaux, vocal about visitors. (Rebecca Holland) mental health issues, invites you to Insta- 515 N. Halsted Tonika Lewis Johnson and the gram live every morning at 6am to join his Folded Map Project Reset Sunrise Meditation series. (Vasia Rigou) Visually connecting residents who live at instagram.com/bbreaux/ corresponding addresses on the North and

40th Anniversary Artwork by Molly Costello Need a change of scenery while working remote or eLearning? Let Hotel Lincoln be Support Your Local Feminist Bookstore your home away from home! Monday - Closed except for Curbside Pickup (1 to 5 p.m. behind the store) Receive 20% off our best rate by: Tuesday through Friday - Noon to 6 p.m. 1. Calling us at 312-254-4700 and ask for the Newcity rate. Saturday & Sunday - 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. 2. Book online at hotellincolnchicago.com. Enter dates of stay and or shop online at 5233 N. Clark, Chicago, IL 60640 code 128753 in the Corporate/Group Code box. WomenandChildrenFirst.com - 24/7 (773) 769-9299 Hotel Lincoln 1816 North Clark Street Chicago IL 60614 Hotellincolnchicago.com NOVEMBER IS THE DECEMBER NEW It’s not too early to shop for the holiday! 4736-38 N LINCOLN 773.293.2665 BOOKCELLARINC.COM

South Sides of Chicago, Tonika Lewis B EST B OOZE-TH EM ED B ATH Pull up to Levels and you're reminded of Johnson’s Folded Map Project dives into AND BODY CARE “the Circle” (It’s a West Side thing). Fresh- urban segregation in Chicago. “Essential- washed whips line Kedzie while storefront ly, I wanted to reveal the inequity, a way Danielle Martin, pimpin' commences. The social scene out- that would be visually captivating for peo- Soap Distiller side makes the business that's handled in- ple to understand how Chicago’s legacy of side all the more important. Three heads segregation has [affected] the neighbor- Danielle Martin wasn’t happy with the typ- in front of you? No problem. Walk over to hoods,” says the social justice artist and ical body product offerings at local natural Maxwell's to grab a bite to eat and return photographer. The project that started as foods stores in 2012. That’s when she de- and engage in colorful West Side dialogue a photographic series before it became a cided to make her own. Soap Distillery, a before getting your fade. (Chris Cason) short film earlier this year is bound to Black- and woman-owned company, 749 S. Kedzie change your perspective of the city’s makes soaps one-hundred percent from   neighborhoods, the people who inhabit scratch—but with a twist. Martin puts a BEST INVENTOR them, but most importantly, shed light into boozy spin on it. “The idea wasn't to smell the social, racial and institutional condi- drunk, but to make cocktail-themed soaps tions that segregate our city. (Vasia Rigou) with deliciously layered scents,” she says. Raquel Graham, NEKZ and Rye Whiskey, Fig Bitters, Long Island Iced Headlghtz and Face Maskz  BEST MEDICAL FACILITY Tea or Pumpkin IPA—whatever your go-to How does a woman from Brooklyn come is, there’s something for everyone. From soap bars and mineral salt soaks, to body to Chicago to become a VP at Johnson Premier Urgent Care and oils and scrubs, to beard and hair care, to Publishing Company, leveraging deals with Occupational Health Center candles, Soap Distillery will make you Procter & Gamble, Anheuser-Busch, Clo- Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO smell like a bar in the best way possible. rox, Chrysler and the NFL, executive-pro- Of all the Black-owned businesses and en- (Vasia Rigou) duce award shows for McDonald’s, start trepreneurs featured in this issue, Premier her own marketing company, produce over Urgent Care may be the one that not only B E S T P L A C E T O “L E V E L” U P a hundred videos for Honey-Can-Do Inter- serves the greatest need but may be the national, end up creating scarves, gloves most important. Premier Urgent Health and now face masks? For Raquel Graham, Care and Occupational Health Center in Levels Barber & Beauty Salon whose Roq Innovation was recognized as Kenwood-Oakland—not Hyde Park— one of Oprah’s favorite Black-owned busi- stands as the only medical center nesses, it’s all in her life’s work. in Chicago owned by Black doc- (Bob Arthur III) tors, all former trauma and emer- gency-room physicians, who are In my experience, Black BEST SCULPTURE-LIKE making a purposeful and con- BRAIDS scious effort to bring comprehen- sive and immediate health care Chicago’s defining to service the direct and specific characteristic that has made Shani Crowe, needs of the members in the it distinctive from all other Hair Braiding Artist community which surrounds it. (Scoop Jackson) places I have traveled has From Chicago’s South Side to 40 been the sense of community. representing the United States in BEST USE OF TELLING Like-minded enough to the 2018 Venice Architecture Bi- BLACK HISTORY understand each other, but ennale, to creating bound- THROUGH CLOTHES individuality is really ary-pushing celebrity hairstyles for the likes of Solange, to having Negrow League celebrated in a way I find her work extensively featured in unique. Art and Activism the world’s biggest magazines, Shani Crowe is not only celebrat- It was the great Maya Angelou tend to intersect here in a ing her roots and the culture of who once said, “You can’t really way that feels monumental Black hair through her artwork— know where you are going until and encourages those she has managed to elevate hair you know where you have been.” braiding to an art form. (Vasia The inspiration of Donte Har- around to become a part of Rigou) mon’s Negrow League lifestyle something bigger. From the brand begins with the path laid language to the cuisine to BEST GUY TO BE YOUR by the trailblazers of baseball’s the fashion to the etiquette RESTAURANT BUSINESS Negro League. Since growth is a and everything in between, GURU necessary part of evolution, the brand is meant to highlight and we learn how to survive. Kristopher Murray educate the contributions from the past, own the present, and continue laying the foundation for — Saba After working in the kitchens of the future. (Chris Cason) distinguished local institutions rap artist, singer, producer, like Peninsula Chicago and the founder, Pivot Gang

Four Seasons, Kristopher Murray earned BEST RECENT PAIRING OF BEST WEST SIDE PACKAGE BEST OF CHICAGO — NOVEMBER 2020 Newcity his administrative chops as executive di- PROGRAMS HELPING INNER DEAL FOR CATFISH AND rector and dean at Washburne Culinary In- CITY YOUTHS FISHNETS stitute. As Chicago’s regional manager for Bon Appetit Management, Murray con- BAM and WOW Hody’s rill and Hideout sults with restaurants about cost control, and Juguetes Toys/Arcade menu development, inventory and related BAM, an acronym for Becoming a Man, is issues. (David Hammond) a program that provides leadership train- and Lingerie ing, counseling, sports and recreation, field BEST PLACE TO HELP YOU trips and most of all, a sense of belonging O the corner of Roosevelt and Cicero, real DECORATE YOUR PLACE LIKE for young African American and inner-city brothas know how this parlay goes. Fun DON DRAPER’S males. BAM groups have been hosted by first, leave, walk one-hundred feet, order Barack Obama, who used them as an in- food, eat. Repeat. (Scoop Jackson) An Orange Moon Interior spiration for the My Brother’s Keeper ini- Furnishings and Design Center tiative, and many members of Chicago’s BEST GUY TO CATER professional sports teams have also par- YOUR BIG EVENT “Mad Men” may have ended five years ago, ticipated in the program. BAM has paired but our cultural obsession with all things in many Chicago Public Schools with Xavier Vance of Vance Events mid-century modern shows no signs of WOW, Working On Womanhood. WOW of- slowing down. At Humboldt Park's An Or- fers similar counseling services but is di- Xavier Vance heads up Vance Events, and ange Moon, husband-and-wife team Ty rected toward the issues a ecting young if you’re looking to have an event success- and Lynne McDaniel curate a collection of females. While not one organization, both fully catered, he’s the man to call during vintage mid-century modern furniture that groups are working together and are quick- this time when a) winter is a-coming and would make Don Draper swoon. From Her- ly expanding to CPS schools throughout b) we’re in the middle of a damn pandem- man Miller credenzas to classic Scandina- the city. (David Witter) ic. Vance Events can help, and if you’ve vian chairs, they supply the style; you sup- never had to plan and stage your own wed- ply the Scotch. (Leigh Kunkel) ding, family reunion or any other disas- ter-prone get-together, Xavier can deliver W. North a stellar dinner that goes way beyond rub- ber chicken (David Hammond) PHOTO: “This is a treat for anyone RASHAYLA who loves sports.” MARIE BROWN —Stephen A. Smith Where Jazz Lives in Chicago since 1947 “Jackson doesn’t avoid 41 the static, he steps into Bringing the top names in Jazz it, pushing even the most woke minds to dig deeper C into and think more honestly about issues of OCT. 29 – NOV. 1 Saxophonist Rajiv Halim Quintet M race, gender, and politics.” NOV. 5 – 8 Saxophonist John Wojciechowski Trio Y —Sarah Spain, ESPN NOV. 12 – 15 Saxophonist Eric Schneider Quartet CM NOV. 19 – 22 Trumpeter Corey Wilkes Quartet MY The Game Is Not a Game “I’ve long said that Scoop CY is an insightful, unapologetic Jackson is the Coltrane NOV. 26 – 29 Vocalist Dee Alexander Quartet CMY exposé of the intersection of of the sports page.” DEC. 3 – 6 TBD K sports, culture, and politics —Dave Zirin, the Nation DEC. 10 – 13 Saxophonist Rajiv Halim Quintet from veteran journalist Robert Scoop Jackson. DEC. 17 – 20 Saxophonist Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few DEC. 24 – 27 TBD DEC. 30 – JAN. 3 Saxophonist Sharel Cassity Quartet Jazz Showcase 806 South Plymouth Court Chicago, IL 312.360.0234 haymarketbooks.org Open Thursday – Sunday. Tickets can be purchased at jazzshowcase.com

Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO BEST SOUTH SIDE “The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and LOIS LANE Segregation.” A mix of personal essay, oral 42 history and race and housing history of NATALIE Chicago, “The South Side” is mandatory ---> reading for those who want to understand PORTRAIT OF YOUNG WOMAN, MOORE TELLS how politicians molded Chicago into one TAKEN IN WASHINGTON PARK of the most segregated cities in the coun- ON THE SOUTH SIDE / THE STORIES try. Moore is modest in considering wheth- PHOTO: DAVID W. JOHNSON er “The South Side” contributed to a BY FRANK TEMPONE heightened awareness of how American policy continues to adversely affect Blacks. They call her the South Side Lois Lane, Does she think things have gotten better though she’s more mild-mannered than the since 2016? “I do, but I wouldn’t be arro- character Margot Kidder played in 1978, the gant enough to lay it on the feat of my book. year Natalie Moore took her first steps on I think about the dialogue and the debate the planet. She comes from folks who lived that was in the last mayoral race from 2019, in Chicago before The Great Migration, and which was completely different from 2015,” ones who arrived during it. The first-gener- she says. “Everybody had to talk about ra- ation Chicagoans in Natalie Moore’s family cial equity and segregation and that just worked tirelessly, owned property and hadn’t been there before, so I’d like to think spoke their minds out of love for their com- my book contributed to that, but there were munities. They lived in Chatham, a solidly other journalists, other reporters, locally and middle-class neighborhood whose color nationally talking about segregation.” changed from all-white to all-Black in a mat- ter of decades. Chicago’s politicians creat- Last year Book Riot included “The South ed these spaces with faulty policies: first, Side” in a list of “Six Books to Remind Us ones that moved all of its Black citizens to Why Journalism is Important,” alongside spaces separate from white people and journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bern- then to spaces that isolated the impover- stein, Katharine Graham, Hunter S. Thomp- ished Black citizens from everyone. son and Paula Giddings. Natalie Moore jumped through sprin- Moore received the Studs Terkel Com- klers in the summer heat, chased jingling munity Media Award in 2010 for reporting ice cream trucks, and shared secrets with on Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods. her best friends at pajama parties during a “There are so many people who I admire, or joyful, vibrant childhood in Chatham. She was mentored by or edited by who have calls it her “middle-class Black cocoon,” her received that award,” she says. “And I think neighborhood in physical proximity to low- being acknowledged for being in that spir- er-class Black sections of the city, but miles it of giving voice to people in underserved away from her thoughts and experience. communities is a great honor.” Moore got closer in 1998, when she cov- Talk to Moore and you can see she’s a ered Chicago project housing as a student thinker, an intellectual, someone who at Northwestern University’s Medill School knows there’s power in the weight of of Journalism. Her methodology wasn’t words. Ask her a question and the seconds only to observe, research and report, but of silence before she responds are charac- to listen and learn from the people who teristic of a journalist devoted to substan- lived there. Moore used her powers for tial work and to listening. She writes like truth, justice, and to put human faces and this, too, the sentences clean, strong, with voices to those who the city worked to iso- a Nate Silver-level of statistical verification late and ignore. for those who can’t see that the problems in their city are real. “I think it’s important Today you would recognize Natalie to be honest,” she says, “be authentic, be Moore's voice immediately as reporter of factual—all the tenets of writing—be en- Race, Class and Communities for WBEZ, gaging,” she says.  Chicago’s NPR affiliate, where she’s worked since 2007. In 2016, St. Martin’s When you ask Moore about her place Press released her award-winning book, in the great tradition of Chicago voices, she’s demure; she deflects. It’s not about her. “You can’t really get caught up in that,” she says. “When I think about what kind of legacy I want to have, I hope that I’m looked at as someone who was brave and someone who tried to uncover some of the complicated and racialized history of our policies in this country and in this city, par- ticularly around housing. I just hope to keep being relevant.”



BEST LITERARY VOICE BEST EQUITY BEST HOLLYWOOD Eve L. Ewing MOVEMENT LEADER REPRESENTATIVE OF WHO “WE” ARE Olatunji Oboi Reed, Lena Waithe The Equiticity Racial Eve Louise Ewing. Author, poet, comic book scribe and social scientist. Born and Equity Movement raised up in the city of Chicago is the heart- Lena Waithe is a giant who changed the beat punctuating that vast range of her As the president and CEO of a movement conversation while modeling possibilities work. Ewing has done it all and is only just built on connecting humans of Chicago for what the modern Black woman can be getting started. (Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, through walking tours and bike rides, Ola- in Hollywood. Her work as a writer, pro- Pulitzer Prize-nominated author, assistant tunji Oboi Reed focuses on the importance ducer and actor are indelible. In the April professor, Princeton University) of spending time and getting to know one 2018 cover story on Waithe in Vanity Fair, another instead of board meetings and she said, \"Being born gay, Black and fe- BEST YOUNG ACTIVIST Zoom calls. “The socialization around mo- male is not a revolutionary act. Being ON THE RISE bility is more important than the infrastruc- proud to be a gay, Black female is.” She ture,” he says. Recognized by StreetWise has blessed us with more incredible sto- as one of Chicago’s Twenty Most Inspiring ries: since her work on “Master of None” Ja’Mal Greene Chicagoans of 2020, it’s clear that the im- and creating “The CHI,” Waithe co-pro- pact of Reed and The Equiticity Racial Eq- duced and wrote “Queen & Slim”” (2019) Black man. I’m proud of you. It takes cour- uity Movement is just beginning. (Ray- and is one of the producers behind Net- age and ingenuity to advocate for your mond Alexander) flix’s “40-Year Old Version” (2020). They community in the way that you have. As say we're all born with something inside that makes us uniquely ourselves and you evolve, remember to always find bal- B E S T “Q U E E N T O N E” S E T T E R  ance between your work and your person- when we embrace it we are giants. This Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO al wellness. Separate your personal financ- Noname makes Lena Waithe twenty feet tall. (Jes- es from the resources you develop for your sica Patrice Gillespie) community. Your independence and your The fact that she came after top MCs and character, will depend on it. Make sure celebrities in the game for their apathy in BEST FAILED ATTEMPT AT you've clearly identified your core values. this moment speaks to who she is, but BRINGING FURTHER AWARENESS Use them as a North Star to always guide above all else what she won’t stand for. TO KIDS LIVES MATTERING your path. Be God-led, principled and peo- Noname’s public response/non-response ple-centered. Be substantive in both to J.Cole became a thing over the summer. thought and action. Deal with what is while It elevated the female poet/bar-spitter/ Dreadhead Cowboy’s never giving up on what can be. Lay a solid book-club starter into a national spotlight Ride on the Dan Ryan foundation on which you build with inten- that even her appearance on SNL with tion. Nurture it. You will attract everything Chance in 2016 didn’t do. Now we can add If we are honest, there are better ways to that you need. (TJ Crawford, MSW, activist, “advocate” and “spokeswoman” and “re- make a statement when it comes to the author of forthcoming “Healing Communi- formist” to the extending titles that have lives of Black and brown kids and the gun ties From the Inside Out”) become necessary in fully understanding violence in Chicago that has affected their who Noname is becoming as an artist and lives. Adam Hollingsworth’s ill-advised BEST NEXT ISSA RAE more importantly as a Black woman. seven-and-a-half mile protest ride in Sep- (Scoop Jackson) tember up the Dan Ryan Expressway on horseback brought zero attention to his 44 Luvvie Ajayi Jones case and national attention to the fact that BEST “MORE THAN his horse came close to being euthanized. Lesson? You can’t put another living be- For years we’ve been saying that Luvvie A N AT H L E T E” M O M E N T Ajayi’s time is coming. The comedian, blog- ing’s life at stake when trying to reinforce ger (“Awesomely Luvvie”), podcaster BLM Mural in Evanston the importance of life itself. (Scoop Jack- (“Rants & Randomness”), New York Times son) best-selling author (“I’m Judging You,” Although vandalized in July, high school which Shonda Rhimes’ production com- students at Evanston Township painted a BEST LGBTQ SPACE pany Shondaland and ABC Studios pur- large Black Lives Matter mural in yellow chased the rights to in 2017), brand spe- on the street directly outside their school. cialist, digital strategist, activist is It took thirteen hours and the city’s approv- Brave Space Alliance Chicago’s “100% TB!” With her follow-up al to finish the mural. Some people feel that book “Professional Troublemaker,” Luv- Evanston is a progressive community, but Brave Space Alliance holds the honor of vie’s about to be the next Black girl magic the vandalization of the mural says other- being the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ “It” girl. Excuse me, “It” woman! She grown wise. Regardless, the basketball players space on Chicago’s South Side. BSA pro- AF. (Bob Arthur III) did a commendable thing in this country’s vides support groups for LGBTQIA+ Black racial and political climate. (Kia Smith) and brown people. The growing range of services includes mutual aid, which sprang into action as shelter-in-place descended upon 2020. In addition to support for sex workers, Brave Space also has plans to start a group for gender non-conforming people. They have partnered with Chi City Foods, a Black-led, trans-led farm on Chi- cago’s Southeast Side to regularly provide

free produce, and have provided job prepa- given to us. If we are the creators of Justice, Institutions around the world are reckon- ration sessions in the Chicago Public Li- then it can't be taken away. (Jessica Patrice braries. As their activities address shifting Gillespie) ing with the racial inequities in their past needs in the era of COVID- , you can check BSA’s Instagram for regular updates. and present. In our city, School of the Art (Tara Betts) Institute of Chicago leadership has been B EST A NTI-V IO LEN CE A N D A NTI-POV ERT Y A CTI V IST BEST AMPLIFIER OF OUR PAIN the target of campaigns from school stake- Aleta Clark holders, seeking concrete changes to dis- Known as “Englewood Barbie,” Aleta Clark mantle systemic racism. Black faculty is a violence-prevention activist who founded the “Hugs No Slugs” campaign to Kristiana Rae Colón and her members penned a cohesive, beautifully elevate nonviolence in underprivileged “Let Us Breathe” Collective communities. She is also the founder of written letter in July outlining their de- Club , where she and volunteers feed the homeless population, which she a ection- mands, partly in an attempt to repair the ately calls “the friends,” each evening from October through May. Recently recognized Poet, playwright and educator Kristiana harm done by Provost Martin Berger using by the Dwayne Wade Foundation, Clark continues to make a di erence in reducing Rae Colón’s art has always had political the n-word in a campus talk. “Art in- the violence many Chicagoans face, which she documents via Instagram. (Kia Smith) undertones. The murders of Trayvon Mar- stitutions commit racialized violence,” the BEST FAKE CHICAGO COP WE tin and Mike Brown thrust her into using faculty write. They are asking for no less SO WISH WASN’T FAKE her art in activism. She co-founded the than a full commitment “to an anti-racist, LaRoyce Hawkins (Chicago P.D.) #LetUsBreathe Collective in in re- abolitionist and decolonial ethics of care.” Week after week, season after season, sponse to the uprising in Ferguson, Mis- (Kerry Cardoza) the Harvey-born and Thornton-grad actor holds down the minority “Black souri, after Brown’s death. The campaign spot” for all the fictitious Black police o icers on NBC’s scripted take on CPD. started in reverence to Eric Garner’s last BEST RADIO BREAKTHROUGH But this season the inner struggle of right versus wrong, Black versus blue of words and was a way to amplify the stories Jonathan Hood O icer Kevin Atwater got real. A choice had to be made and the season finale of the oppressed through reimagining a It has taken entirely too long for Jonathan turned into a reenactment of something Hood to get an opportunity like this. For many Black Chicago police o icers world without police and prisons through the past twenty-five years, he’s been one probably have to go through. So close of the most talented people in Chicago to home that I had a real African-Amer- community uprising and investing in insti- radio. For the bulk of the past decade, ican cop tell me of Atwater’s situation, Hood has been plying his trade, mostly at “I feel his pain.” (Raymond Alexander) tutions that promote wellness. (Chris the national level. Hood, like a couple of his ESPN comrades, Je Dickerson and Cason) Sarah Spain, always seemed to get more love from the national-level decision-mak- BEST ORGANIZING EFFORT BY A BEST OF CHICAGO — NOVEMBER 2020 Newcity FACULTY THAT HAD HAD ENOUGH A Letter from the Black Faculty at SAIC thesilverroom.com 1506 E. 53rd st. Hyde Park, Chicago 45 BEST BLACK CHICAGO EQUIVALENT OF CNN ON THE INTERNET AwokeNet.com Justice is a big word that we are using more than ever as a human collective. But where do we find Justice? Start with an issue that gets you fired up. When you talk about it, your voice gets loud. AwokeNet.com is a resource hub fea- turing local and national social justice organizations that are doing the work. Roll up your sleeves. Go get Justice. Part of the awakening that's happening is that we're realizing that Justice isn't

ers at ESPN than the ones in their own toward his future. Though Polo G isn’t the medical care training to everyday people. hometown. It’s never made sense. Hood “greatest of all time” just yet, all signs point What do you do when someone is shot and was more than ready for the grind of lead- to him being on the right track, taking Chi- you’re waiting for the ambulance? How do ing a daily, Chicago-themed sports show… cago with him all the way to the top. (Jes- you help someone undergoing an asthma Ten years ago! Now he has a chance, sica McKinney, pop culture journalist, Vibe, attack? How do you calm people in the co-hosting the Kap & J.Hood Morning Complex) immediate area? These are some of the Show with morning radio vet David Kaplan, key questions that UMedics addresses and to make a real impact on the way that local BEST COMMUNITY offers proactive strategies to show how sports radio sounds. This is a victory for MEDIC TRAINING Black Chicagoans care deeply about pre- everyone who struggles at the nexus of serving Black life. (Tara Betts) hard work, talent and getting a break. Ujimaa Medics   Hood works on his craft like an undrafted player, but has the on-air creativity of a Top BEST TRUTH TELLER 10 pick. Now he gets to put his many note- A nurse by profession, Martine Caverl and Mikki Kendall  book ideas to work. Chicago sports fans friend Amika Tendaji co-founded UMedics will be better for it. (Laurence W. Holmes, (also known by Ujimaa, its Swahili name sports radio host, Laurence Holmes Show for “collective work”) to help save lives, In her “How To Love A City That Doesn’t 670 The Score) particularly in Black neighborhoods. In Love You Back” essay that appeared this Chicago, where the entire city is racially year in Chicago magazine, Mikki Kendall BEST NEW NEWS HOST profiled as under siege by constant gunfire, said to the city in a single sentence every- Caverl and Tendaji and other medical pro- thing that needed to be said when she Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO Brandis Friedman  fessionals began offering training in 2011 wrote: “You cannot present people with a to offer free and sliding-scale emergency slate of bad choices and feign shock when they don’t make good ones.” Facts. But She has the “news” voice. You know, if you know Kendall and her work, you the one that makes you pay attention know she came off softer than she usu- to your TV when it’s on and you kinda ally does when writing her truths. The aren’t watching. But it’s reporting skills There are some dope Black cities “Hood Feminism” author is the singular that launched Brandis Friedman from across the globe; whether you're Black voice this city needs to hear. Even the co-host desk on “Chicago Tonight” before the mayor’s. (Bob Arthur III) to solo hosting WTTW’s “Chicago To- international in places like Paris, night: Black Voices,” putting Friedman Africa, or you're local in urban BEST COMMUNITY EXPANDER on track to share a seat at the same hoods like Compton, or the Jamal Cole legendary table as the Cheryl Burtons, Bronx. But you haven't Diane Burnses and Robin Robinsons of Chicago’s news world. (Bob Arthur III) experienced a great Black city While we may be living in times of social until you stomp the concrete distancing, the truth is as dangerous as BEST NEXT “POP” STAR jungles of Black Chicago, We got the polarization, division and injustice Polo G heart and guts and we're loyal to that is an accepted norm. That’s why 46 our homies. It's the way Chi- people like Jamal Cole, founder of “My Town boys get down; when you Block, My Hood, My City” are more im- Ten years ago, Chicago rap was syn- portant than ever. Jamal has dedicated onymous with Kanye West, but a with us, we rocking with you, all himself to taking young folks from the young kid from the North is potential- the way. Growing up in the abandoned and disenfranchised South ly changing that. Last year, Polo G in- ‘hoods of Chicago, you had to Side of Chicago and exposed them to terrupted the status quo with his know that the dude you were people, places and experiences that breakout single “Pop Out,” an infec- would not have happened without him. tious anthem anchored in melodic riding shotgun with was gonna Jamal has opened their eyes to a world piano keys that reflected his humble ALWAYS cover your space that shut them out. He has expanded origins, that same vulnerability and because you never knew when their vision to see themselves beyond emotional storytelling that he dis- the limits of their neighborhoods and played when his first mainstream re- something was gonna pop off. As brushed the dust off their dreams so cord became the foundation of his a dude who roams these Chi that they will see the possibility and po- debut album “Die A Legend.” The streets, it feels GREAT to know tential within themselves. Beyond open- album peaked at Number 6 on the Bill- ing the doors of possibility to young board 200, catapulting Polo G from a that the homie you came to the people, Jamal also has the ability and household name to a rising national party with, was never gonna gift to bring individuals from around the star. Less than a year later, he returned leave without you! city and suburbs to the South Side, with “The GOAT,” a riveting follow-up something that may never have hap- that peaked at Number 2 on the Bill- pened without the invitation and prod- board 200. His lyrics, drenched in the — Carl West ding of Jamal and his organization. In a pain of his past, often highlight the day when injustice rules and the division city’s darker side, but he sprinkles in CEO, MG Media; of age and race may have regressed to inklings of hope as he makes strides chairman, Black United the 1950s, “My Block, My Hood, My City” Fund of Illinois

and its founder Jamal Cole are signs of BEST TWITTER TROLL MATCH B E S T E L E C T I O N A C C E S S O RY  BEST OF CHICAGO — NOVEMBER 2020 Newcity hope that remind us all that we can and BETWEEN A CHICAGOAN AND we must do better. (Rev. Michael L. Pfleger, HOLLYWOOD CELEB Moving In Silence “BVM” cap 47 activist, pastor, St. Sabina) Bryan Crawford Twenty-eight-year old Charles A. Cramer BEST FAMILY MEMBER TO GET v. Kirstie Alley explained the urgency of the three words US THROUGH THE PANDEMIC (“Black Votes Matter”) on his start-up com- There’s white privilege then there’s white pany’s baseball caps (via text): “I’m tryna “Auntie Lori” Lightfoot Hollywood privilege. When the Academy touch my ppl and help make change by of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences re- changing minds. We gotta stop with all this She is that family member who leased new rules of inclusion for films to backwards ass thinking that our votes will deal with us when our mama make the cut for consideration to be nom- don’t count. We gotta stop not voting in and daddy have had it with us.  inated for Best Picture, the actress global- our own communities, period. Think of She is not here to sugarcoat or make ly remembered as Sam Malone’s sloppy even the slightest positive change that we us feel any better about how much second, stated that “the new RULES to could be seeing right now if more of us of a mess we're in. qualify for ‘best picture’ are dictatorial an- took initiative to put the ppl that WE want She does not hear excuses about why ti-artist… Hollywood you are swinging so in power running our communities. We we can't get it together, either.  far left you are bumping into your own ass.” can’t just protest and riot… we have to vote She is tough love, all business and Which led Chicago cultural writer Bryan in ALL elections not just the one that’s ain't playing with us. Crawford to respond in a way that chal- once every 4 years. Then after that we Yet, she does it because she knows lenged her WHOLE ethos. They ended up gotta hold these mfn politicians AC- our potential.  being friends (as close as two total strang- COUNTABLE.” (Scoop Jackson) She will stand by us for as long as it ers can get on social media) in the end. But takes and muscle through the tough it took a writer from Chi to be Morpheus in BEST SUPPORT FOR stuff together. Hollywood’s matrix. (Scoop Jackson) NEWBORN BABIES She isn't perfect and she doesn't expect us to be, either. BEST “WORTH A THOUSAND Chicago Birthworks She will give us a joke and a smile WORDS” STORYTELLER after telling us to do better. As Black women face dramatic infant mor- She sees greatness in us. David McDuffie Photography tality rates, groups like Chicago Birthworks (Jessica Patrice Gillespie) offer doula services, which are one of the Black. Liberation. Power. Look closely at presences that can reduce the risks for ba- BEST BEAR BITE David McDuffie’s photos and try not to feel bies and their mothers. Toni Taylor and that. While there are no vibrant colors, the Tayo Mbande founded Chicago Birthworks Matt Forte  blacks and grays keep your attention on as a mother-daughter team with a larger the moment and time. The South Side na- team of doulas to support mothers prepar- Matt Forte and Brian Urlacher were Bears tive pulls inspiration from hip-hop, anthro- ing for birth and going through the birth teammates for five years: one a defensive pology and his travels to share reflections process. Chicago Birthworks offers ser- leader, the other a leader on offense. When of people, spaces and moments. Ask him vices such as lactation support, prenatal Hall of Fame linebacker Urlacher, who is about any particular photo and bask in the and postpartum care as well as placenta white, made a tone-deaf, borderline-racist history of the subject and the moments encapsulation. (Tara Betts) Instagram comment about the shooting of that led to the eventual snap. (Chris Cason) Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin as well BEST DOCUMENTARY as subsequent NBA protests, it was former BEST RADIO PRODUCER AND running back Forte, who is Black, who TRANS ACTIVIST “Unapologetic” quickly called out his old pal. Urlacher had posted stuff “void of empathy, compassion, Morgan Sherm Ashely O’Shay’s deep-dive documentary wisdom and coherence,’’ wrote Forte. “But into the shadiness and messiness of Chi- full of pride and ignorance!’’ Do people Born and raised on the South Side, Sherm cago politics as it deals with the police de- learn when the flaws in their philosophy found her passion for radio and media in partment is a story Black people in Chica- are exposed, when genuine-historic heart- high school. She says she became an ac- go have lived through and are a part of but break is revealed to them? Maybe, maybe tivist by advocating for herself and others, still haven’t confronted in a way her film not. But Forte took a stand. It’s now up to powered by her coming out as transgender presents. At the center: the murder of Urlacher to ponder his own stance. To at the age of thirty. Professionally and per- Rekia Boyd. On the outskirts: Chicago’s grow. To mature. Great teammates help sonally, her life shifted and she had to un- Black Lives movement and the ascension great teammates become men. They help learn her own isms and fight harder than of Lori Lightfoot to the fifth floor of City them become dignified. Credit Matt Forte ever to keep her head above water. She Hall. The storytellers, Bella and Janaé, will for trying. (Rick Telander, author, “The Col- also noticed many other Black and brown stick with you long after the movie is over. lege Football Problem;” columnist, Chica- trans, queer and disabled people fighting (Bob Arthur III) go Sun-Times) for themselves. “I use my voice online and in media while others run community orgs and organize protests,” she says. “If your Black Lives Matter doesn't include trans- gender, queer or disabled people, than Black lives don't matter to you.” (Kia Smith)

Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO BEST VERSION OF Jackson Park would become Black space? HOW WHITE CITY “I’m a romantic,” Elbert Phillips says. Phillips 48 BECAME BLACK SPACE curates DJ sets with precision, craft. In Chi- cago’s House music culture, he is known ---> NOTES ON for mixing the unexpected. “When I get to WALKING ICE CREAM MAN IN JACKSON PARK 57th Street, when I make that right turn, I LITTLE VILLAGE/PHOTO: might hear music. It’s sunny. I’m anticipat- DAVID W. JOHNSON BY F. P H I L I P B A R A S H ing that pleasant energy.” Phillips walks to the park, or cycles there. “Last week, there One bitter irony of real estate development, was an all-female lineup. These girls, some it is often said, is the convention of naming of them were into rare grooves. I heard places for what they aren’t. Every office some things I haven’t heard before; I heard park named for a creek is a concrete des- a punk rock song.” ert; every subdivision with a hill in its name is flat. Even among this inglorious compa- Black music. Black wellness. Black love. ny Jackson Park stands out for its perver- A Black walking group. A boat club with sity. President Andrew Jackson’s legacy— regattas led by a Black commodore. A defense of slavery, hostility to abolitionism, longstanding Pan-African Soccer Tourna- violent removal of indigenous tribes—is the ment, its diasporic players and coaches all exact opposite of the ideals that the park, Black. Black yogis and joggers. Black fam- once known as Lake Park, was designed ilies, picnicking in the sun. At night, Black to demonstrate. And yet it is also a smirk- men meet other Black men in a park ing, swaggering irony, for Jackson Park to- known for its Down Low appeal. day is no more a tribute to Jackson than a monumental middle finger.  James Baldwin rode “through dark, murmuring—and, at this hour, strangely Jackson Park’s six-hundred acres are a beautiful—Chicago, along the lake” after succession of episodes unfolding along a he left Elijah Muhammad’s house in Ken- North-South axis, along the Lake Michigan wood. “We returned to the discussion of shoreline. The topography subtly shifts, as the land. How were we—Negroes—to get does the mood. A lyrical pond near the Mu- this land?” As Confederate rebels mus- seum of Science and Industry, then mean- tered, Olmsted marked a rectangle of dering paths of the Japanese Garden. Manhattan for the country’s first public Patches of dense wilderness, then level soc- park, a proposal centered on a radical no- cer pitches. Lagoons filled with calm water, tion. Before he became America’s first then crowded beaches. Frederick Law Ol- parks designer, Olmsted journeyed msted, who designed Jackson Park in the through the South, recording encounters decade following the Civil War, was con- with a land and people that were alien, vinced by his travels across slave states that unimaginably brutal. He came to the the fate of democracy depended on wheth- South to write dispassionate dispatches er white people and Black people could for a newspaper; he returned an anti-slav- share physical and social space. Olmsted’s ery zealot. Central Park was an argument, landscapes intended to be, quite literally, made spatially, for common ownership and the common ground of the American ex- racial belonging. Olmsted scholar Garrett periment. An abolitionist idea; then—or, at Dash Nelson has written that Olmsted’s any rate, soon—a center dedicated to Amer- parks are important “not merely for what ica’s first Black president. they look like, but because of whom they belong to.” Yet in order to acquire the land Could Olmsted have predicted that, a that would become Central Park, a thriving century after he sited the White City there, African American cluster—Seneca Village, where homeownership rates exceeded fif- ty percent—was destroyed. Baldwin might have also asked about how this land, once gotten, is to be kept. But Jackson Park is more landfill than land, a miracle of landscape architecture and manure. In a swampy hinterland, well beyond Chicago city limits, Olmsted built a sturdy breakwater, shipped in 200,000 cubic feet of dirt, and topped it with a lay- er of fertile manure sourced from nearby stockyards. Jackson Park was to become the centerpiece of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. Its two-hundred build- C O N T I N U E D --->



ings, molded of horsehair and plaster, B E S T F U T U R E U P O N U S focusing on benevolence as a defense greeted throngs of visitors. Only one re- mechanism and a lifelong tool for survival? mains in Jackson Park, repurposed as the NLCP Peace Warriors Peace Warriors are born. (Scoop Jackson) Museum of Science and Industry. “As a Sunday ritual we walked to MSI,” Michelle What happens when kids are brought to- BEST ARTIST TO Boone recalls. From the southern edge of gether inside—now virtually—a West Side EXPLORE AMERICAN HISTORY Jackson Park, where her grandmother lived, high school (North Lawndale College AND ITS IMPACT ON Boone and her family walked nearly three Prep) and taught, through a training pro- CONTEMPORARY CULTURE miles, their lunches packed for a day at the gram, to adopt the nonviolent philosophies museum. “It was a safe space,” she says, and practices of Dr. King as a way of life? “and free.” When they are instilled with the power of Bernard Williams From the beginning of the Great Migra- peace through love while gaining an un- tion until Boone’s childhood, the share of derstanding that their circumstances do Bernard Williams—painter-sculptor-mural- Chicago’s Black residents grew from two not determine their destiny? What hap- ist—is a seriously accomplished artist. His percent to a third of the population. Most pens when an early childhood program is black-painted steel sculpture, “Letter to were confined to the Black Belt, a string of set up with multiple purposes, of ending Bessie Coleman,” uses tracery symbolism neighborhoods on the South Side. Exclud- the disease known as hopelessness while to honor the first African-American female ed from most of the city by housing cove- nants, new arrivals found overcrowded apartments and streets. Jackson Park’s open spaces offered the promise of relief BEST COMMUNITY LEADER but access to them proved hard-won. Newcity NOVEMBER 2020 — BEST OF CHICAGO Parks were sites of racial conflict until they were, as historian Brian McCammack puts Diane Latiker it, “conceded” by white residents and transformed into de facto segregated Black space. Like other families in the The final murder of September occurred conversation has grown into Kids Off The Black Belt, Boone’s made Jackson Park a at 11:32am. Dailon Russel, a seven- Block, Diane’s nonprofit aimed at touchstone of social life and kinship. At an- teen-year-old Black boy, was shot in Aus- providing “at-risk low-income youth nual family reunions three decades strong, tin. According to the police report, two positive alternatives to gangs, drugs, “patriarchs would grill all the meats, set up males walked up to Dailon and fired truancy, violence and the juvenile justice a boombox, a couple of coolers, and games bullets into his abdomen. Five -hundred- system.” for kids.” Her sister was married in the Jap- and-eighty-nine people were murdered Kids Off The Block takes a holistic anese Garden. Boone, who served as the in the first nine months of this year. approach to violence intervention. city’s cultural commissioner and now over- That’s ninety-seven more dead than all of According to the organization website, sees public programming at Navy Pier, still 2019. Twelve more than all of 2018. In the KOB focuses on three areas: social knows her way around the park’s tree- previous two years, eighty percent of health, social inclusion and art. They offer lined paths. “It’s a constant presence in my murder victims were Black, most of them poetry, music and art classes. They life,” she says. Black, most of them young. Six hundred provide summer jobs, counseling and On Wooded Island, a Burr Oak remains people were murdered in Chicago in soft skill training. Their services are free. from the White City. In his plan for Jackson 2003, most of them Black, most of them They have pulled thousands of Black 50 Park, Olmsted envisioned a mix of wild, for- young. The year before, 654. There’s a youth out of harm’s way. Latiker’s work ested areas interspersed with sunlit open staggering and numbing quality to has received awards and recognition spaces. Since 1990, Jackson Park has host- murder statistics in Chicago. For most from CNN, BET and The Goldin Institute ed the Chosen Few Old School Reunion people, violence is innate to Black life in among other publications and institu- Picnic, an event that is to House music Chicago, constant as the wind, unavoid- tions. She spoke before the U.S. House what the U.S. Open is to tennis, except that able as a winter chill. Judiciary Committee in 2019. The world at the Picnic, everyone is on the court. A Seventeen years ago, in her Roseland spent this past summer discussing and genre created by Chicago’s African Amer- living room, Diane Latiker decided to fight imagining alternatives to community ican DJs and producers, House music is in against this seemingly immovable natural aide, beyond policing, beyond politics as its full expression during a weekend in July force. She saw how gangs and guns usual. We have all considered the when crowds celebrate at no fewer than affected her neighborhood, particularly question: What if justice isn’t punitive? 120 beats per minute. There are tents, cool- the young. In other words, she saw the What if the answer to young Black death ers, kites. There is flirting, costumes, hugs. obvious reality we all do. Instead of isn’t more force? What if it’s more care? People dance in a clearing, surrounded by embracing the powerlessness we all feel, Maybe Diane Latiker has already northern white oak, smooth blue American Diane Latiker invited ten young Black kids provided the answer. Maybe, if Diane’s aster and pin oak, which Olmsted planted into her living room and started a vision was embraced by larger systems, for shade. A site of Black creativity, love, conversation about life off the streets. Dailon Russel would have lived a full life. and joy. In urbanist-speak, it's a \"heteroto- What were their hopes? What were the (Gabe Bump, author, “Everywhere You pia,\" a place that exists outside of pitfalls? Almost two decades later, that Don’t Belong”) white-dominated spatial imagination. “Downtown is not concerned with us,” Phil- lips, the DJ, says. Over the treeline, its tow- ers are barely visible in the distance.