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Me and My Hood

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Editor’s Note: The following article was written by a youth reporter who is a graduate of the Urban Youth International Journalism Program.

When the first day came that I had a chance to see the sun
My mom and dad were happy that my life had begun
When I was a shorty I used to get on my mom’s nerves
I used to like watching old folks sit on the porch and throw bread to the birds
In the summer I would leave the house as soon as I awoke
Listening to all the kids say, “It’s time to go to chokes”
At night time the Wells is what’s happening
If somebody says something wrong we about to get it cracking
Playing ball and going to parties is all I used to do
Nowadays people say that the Wells is through
Wherever we move it won’t be as good
As the days gone by and me and my hood

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Troubling Development Update

by  Assistant Editor

Dearborn Homes; New Crack City?
Dearborn Homes are becoming like New Jack City,” said Joyce Van Allen, a long time resident of the development, in an interview in January, 2006.

“More like New Crack City,” Louisa Samuel, a relocated resident from Robert Taylor, said as she was visiting Van Allen’s apartment from next door. The residents reported a decrease in violent crime and an increased police presence but complained about a sharp rise in the drug dealing taking place on the property.

“Last year, we had no protection down here,” Van Allen told RJ, “but this year the police presence has increased.”
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Positive People

by  Editorial Assistant

Carlos Estes

Carlos Estes was a resident of Ida B. Wells from the time that he was a toddler up until he was 18 years old. He attended Doolittle East and Doolittle West grammar schools and Wendell Philips High School. After high school, he studied at Olive Harvey Community College. He also took courses at the National Institute of Real Estate and the National Center for Housing Management.

Former Ida B. Wells resident Carlos Estes. Photo by Crystal Medina

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Stop The Violence

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There are a number of cases currently in the courts that involve Chicago police officers who are being accused of corrupt involvement with street gang members.

On Feb. 14, I went to court to see the arraignment of William M. Patterson. He was one of the officers caught in the federal sting that centered around the Robert Taylor Homes and the Ida B. Wells housing complexes last week. The court procedure was to determine if the case would go to trial. The judge said that the indictment would stand.

Patterson was charged with several counts of drug offenses, including conspiracy to possess and distribute narcotics. The arraignment of Patterson’s partner, Daryl L. Smith, called “Smitty,” was handled on a different day and time. According to the court testimony, federal investigators caught on videotape two teams of policemen robbing drug dealers. Read more »

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Ida B. Wells Reunion

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The Life Center Church of God in Christ, 5500 S. Indiana Ave., was the place to be Saturday, July 18. The Chicago Housing Authority Alumni Association’s Ida B. Wells/Darrow Homes chapter hosted a free Gospel Celebration featuring the Grammy Award-winning gospel singer Albertina Walker, international gospel recording artist Kim Stratton, the CHA Law & Order Band, the New Life Performance Company and the Crumble Sisters.

Pastor T.L. Barrett Jr., Sandra Hall, WMAQ-TV NBC 5 Station Relations Director Delores MeBain, Cecelia Peeler and CHA Alumni Association President Loisteen Woods-Walker co-chaired the event.

WHO ARE THE CHAAA?

The CHA Alumni Association was founded in 1984 by the late Bernadina C. Washington. The CHAAA is made up of former residents who give back to the community by awarding college scholarships to CHA youths.

For seven or eight years following the death of Ms. Washington, the CHAAA had been dormant. But the growing needs of the residents of public housing sparked the revitalization of the CHAAA in 1995.

According to MeBain, the event at Ida B. Wells was a public relations effort.

“The purpose for this event is to draw attention to the Alumni Association,” said MeBain.

The turnout was low but the people in attendance were having a glorious time. You could see and feel it. During the celebration, the co-chairpersons took turns speaking and introducing the guests.

SPIRITS SOAR

The first guests were was the Crumble Sisters, a gospel group consisting of a mother and three daughters. They sung “What if God is Unhappy with our Praise” a capella. The emotional expressions on their faces at the song’s crescendo really moved me. They were in perfect harmony and it sounded so smooth and clear that I began to meditate on the Lord.

Next came the dancers of the New Life Performance Company. Two young ladies dressed in ballerina apparel danced elegantly to an instrumental praise and worship song. Not a sound was made during the dance.

In between performances, people were invited to join the CHAAA and scholarship applications were given out.

“It’s good that people don’t forget where they came from,” said Woods-Walker.

Former Ida B. Wells resident MeBain talked about the old days when people used to be proud to live in the developments and how some tried to get in, like NBC 5 news anchorman Warner Saunders.

Up next were the CHA Law & Order Band, made up of men and women from the CHA Police Department. They threw down on the song, “I Believe.” I was in the center front row and could see and hear every word very clearly, which made me move with praise and adoration.

I tell you truly, with just a few in attendance, the whole concert was a sight to behold, especially when the one and only Albertina Walker started. She talked a little bit about how grateful she was to the CHAAA for having her and that she was glad just for the mere fact that the Lord had woke her up another day and blessed her over the years.

She briefly said a few words about the low turn-out: “If the doctors and lawyers that have come from Cabrini alone would acknowledge that fact, this place would be filled.” The room exploded with excitement and approval.

Walker then thanked the Lord for her voice and began to sing. When she sang, “Joy Cometh in the Morning,” I felt serene and at peace and began to cry. The words to that song describe the daily troubles that people go through and it moved me so much that I wanted to shout. Instead, I just rocked back and forth. She sang from the heart.

The next time I’m not going to fight the feeling. Hallelujah! I tell you, that 68-year-old woman has been blessed with a strong and powerful voice.

A GRACEFUL ENDING

After Walker’s beautiful songs, the ceremony upstairs ended and everyone was invited to attend the brunch prepared for us downstairs. There was plenty of good food and drink and people began talking and taking pictures. Shortly thereafter, LeClaire Courts resident Kim Stratton and her son arrived. She set up everything she needed, thanked the CHAAA for their invitation and began singing.

Stratton is a graceful Praise & Worship singer who is dramatic with her hands while singing. The sound of her voice as she was praising the Lord carried me away and for an instant and I felt as though our spirit was in tune with the Lord’s spirit. I began to silently praise and worship along with her. Oh I tell you, It was something else.

Some people left and didn’t get to hear Stratton but I thank the Lord that I was able to attend because I needed the uplift at that particular time. I left encouraged and feeling good. Keep up the good work, CHAAA!!!

For Your Information

At present, the CHAAA works out of four chapters: Ida B. Wells/Darrow Homes, Altgeld Gardens, Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor Homes. Last year, the CHAAA hosted an event at Navy Pier featuring Jackie Thompson and the Black Ensemble Theatre. That event raised $15,000, which supported five CHA youths. To find out how to apply for the scholarship and other information, call the CHAAA hotline at (312) 454-6176.

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Inner-City Truths: A Book Review

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While attempting to read “Our America” for the fourth time, it was getting to be a bother. I had taken the wrong approach. I took the writings personally. So this time I focused on exactly what the authors were talking about.

In general, “Our America” refers to the people who got caught up in the system. In general, the book brought about truths that are not unknown but not talked about beyond the places it describes.

Written by teenagers LeAlan Jones, who lives around the corner from the Ida B. Wells development, and Lloyd Newman, who lives in Wells, with the help of journalist David Isay, give a vivid description of how lives get damaged by institutionalized living.

The photographs depict a grim and dismal yet real life truth about living conditions. To see children playing in grocery carts and other abstract items is not uncommon. They play in mud, on dirty mattresses or where ever, and they play hard. That’s just not public housing children, that’s all children.

The most touching and sad part about the whole book is when Lloyd Newman’s mother’s death is described by his sister, Sophia. I attended Doolittle East School with Lynn. I didn’t know she had died. I cried when I read how tragic the circumstances were surrounding her death.

The death of Eric Morse, the five-year-old boy that was dropped 14 stories by two other little boys. LeAlan never knowing his father. Chilli, Llyod’s father, and other accounts of a dysfunctional society make this book interestingly readable. For teen-agers, Lloyd and LeAlan did a fantastic job in showing just how much America needs to embrace all of its children.

“Our America” reads, “Regardless of how you ignore the problems, they won’t go away and if you let them fester, sooner than you think they will be in your backyard.”

This book is a must read for all young America. It’s for readers who have never ventured into public housing but wonder what life is like.

It’s for readers who live in the developments but refuse to address the internal problems that have become a way of life. This book is a wake up call to do something because it’s all of our problem, it’s all of “Our America.”

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Wells on the Rise

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“We howl about discrimination exercised by other races. Unmindful, that we are guilty of the same thing. The spirit that keeps the Negro out of the colleges and places him by himself is the same (spirit)that makes a colored man run excursions with a separate car for our white friends. Provides separate seats for them when they visit our concerts, exhibitions, etc. Prompts the colored barber, hotel keeper and the like to refuse accommodations to their own color.”

That quote was given by Ida B. Wells when she was 24 years old in the late 1880s. It was true then and, to some degree, that truth still holds. That quote was also recited at the first Ida B. Wells Day on June 14, 1997, in the Madden Park Field House, 3800 S. Rhodes Ave.

Old and new faces marched through the community chanting, “What day is it? WELLS DAY.” They sang old marching tunes of the ‘60s, new tunes with a rap beat and asked people to come out and join us.

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4), state Rep. Lou Jones (D-Chicago), CHA Economic Development Director Ron Carter, Central Advisory Council President Artensa Randolph, Wells CADRE director Bernard Clark and Wells LAC President Sandra Young as well as CHA Police Department officers and staff members from Sustainable Communities were just a few who helped us celebrate Wells Day. Read more »

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A Short History of Ida B. Wells

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The Ida B. Wells development is one of the oldest housing developments in the U.S. In this first installment of a two-part series, we will find out just who was Ida B. Wells. The second part of this series, which will appear in the upcoming issue of Residents’ Journal, will be a history of the public housing development named after Ida B. Wells. Read more »

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