Happy New Year Everyone!

I am pleased to say that I have made it through another year and am looking forward to the blessings that the New Year will bring me. I want to encourage everyone to make this year better than the last. Some may say that is easier said than done, but it is possible. Perseverance, patience and the power within are the keys to success.

What about all of those New Year’s resolutions? Stick to them! Lose those ten pounds, make those extra dollars, buy that new car, etc.! There’s nothing left to do but to do it!
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Recently, I have reported on the stories of women who have been convicted of crimes. Women who are victims of violent crime also have stories that should be told.

Rape victims often experience trauma associated with this type of abuse that may be never ending. Finding and dealing with a normal intimate relationship, and maintaining relationships with others, including your own children, can become incredibly hard as a result of sexual assault.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Crime Victimization Survey, a sexual assault occurs on average once every two minutes in this country. African American women have a ten percent greater chance of being sexually assaulted than white women, according statistics compiled by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), a nationwide advocacy group for sexual assault victims.
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Rehab clock ticking

Deidre Brewster

You can sense warmth and happiness from former Cabrini-Green resident Deidre Brewster, a wife and mother of three, when you first meet her. This lends her an air of straightforwardness that probably makes it easier her to be such a helpful person in her former community.

Former Cabrini resident Deidre Brewster. Photo by Crystal Medina

Deidre Brewster is a relocated resident of Cabrini Green waiting for more low income housing to be built. She is also an activist. What motivated her to fight for the residents in the first place was that she was concerned that Chicago was turning into a city for the rich.
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I did not have a particular interest in politics until a job search in Chicago gave me a firsthand view of the way “the game” was played here. My experience may interest the readers of Residents’ Journal.

My first introduction to politics was long distance and began in 1952. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was campaigning to become the 34th President of the United States, and his commercials and jingles–“I like Ike!”–dominated the airwaves. Eisenhower served two terms as President of the United States. I watched the president and Vice President Richard M. Nixon on television during the Republican convention. It was one long hullabaloo, with drums banging, trumpets blasting and voices bellowing. I wasn’t into politics. I was just observing white people on TV giving themselves a Grand Old Party. Later, from afar, I saw the election of John F. Kennedy and his assassination. My meager interest in politics continued through President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration and through the end of his presidency in 1968.
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Altgeld Gardens residents won a $10.5 million dollar Class Action lawsuit settlement regarding environmental contamination with Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) this past summer.

But unlike most class action lawsuit winners, these residents won’t be receiving their money in the form of a check, according to the attorney who represented the residents in the case. Instead, CHA will keep the money and award the plaintiffs credit toward their rent, according to Cheryl Johnson, President of the People for Community Recovery (PCR) of Altgeld Gardens, and Kim Johnson, Assistant Press Secretary with CHA.
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From nearly every front, many Americans report that the economy was good during the nineties. Statistics indicate that unemployment was down, salaries went up and the stock market was booming. However, now studies are beginning to trickle in showing that for those already living at the extreme end of the economic income range, their situation actually worsened, leaving many Americans dangerously exposed when the economy stalled in the past couple years.

In late September, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 1.7 million people slid into poverty in the last decade. The report also showed that the Midwest was hit the hardest of any region due mostly to loss of manufacturing companies in the area.
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