Last Friday on Hitting Left radio: 'The shame of Chicago'
Last Friday on Hitting Left radio: 'The shame of Chicago'
We delved into the fallout from a century or more of Chicago's racist housing segregation policies.
The Democratic Convention in Chicago is only weeks away. But it was a bad week for our city as we went on the air on Friday. Chitown was still reeling from 109 shootings the weekend before, which left at least 19 dead. One of those killed was an 8-year-old. At least two other children were injured.
On top of that, homeless people who had been living in one of Chicago's largest and most visible encampments are being moved out and relocated to a shelter so the area will be emptied before the Democratic National Convention in August, a city official said Friday.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Police Supt. Snelling vowed “consequences” for the shooters. I’m horrified to think about how those threats will play out in real-time. Let’s just say I was much more taken by the comment below, which was right on point and made for a perfect lead into Friday’s Hitting Left show.
"We are standing here today talking about a violent weekend because of generations of disinvestment and deep disenfranchisement in the exact communities where so much of the violence has taken place."
Friday’s show
My guests on Friday’s show were filmmakers Bruce Orenstein and Floyd Webb. Bruce’s 4-part series on PBS, “Shame of Chicago, Shame of the Nation” reveals the city’s long history of housing segregation as well as community resistance.
Floyd, who started the Blacklight Film Festival four decades ago, calls himself an “AARP-generation success story” for reinvigorating his career at age 70. Growing up in the Harold J. Ickes housing project at 23rd and State, he knows all too well this story of stolen wealth and community disinvestment on the part of the banks and government authorities.
It’s impossible to understand today’s racial wealth gap, community gun violence, and black population loss without coming to grips with historical and present racial segregation.
You can listen to the entire show here.
COMING UP FRIDAY, JULY 19TH ON HITTING LEFT WITH THE KLONSKY BROTHERS…
My Brooklynite brother Fred and I will be talking with progressive Democratic Marie Newman. Marie, who supported Bernie Sanders in his 2016 Democratic presidential primary in Illinois against Hillary Clinton, served as the U.S. Representative from Illinois's 3rd congressional district from 2021 to 2023 after defeating her Democratic Party machine rival Dan Lipinski.
We originally were going to talk about her recent Substack piece about the rotten Supreme Court rulings that, among other things, lets former Pres. Donald Trump off the hook for the crimes he committed during his time in the White House.
But events of the past month have so shaken up the political scene, especially within the Democratic Party, that our conversation Friday should be much more far-reaching and relevant.
TUNE IN TO HITTING LEFT, Friday, 7/19 on WLPN 105.5 FM in Chicago and streaming live across the universe at lumpenradio.com.
