Young men and women in sharp military uniforms marched through the heart of Bronzeville on Veterans Day, twirling batons, blowing trumpets, and beating on drums and cymbals in perfect line formation, led by the shouted commands of their school drill sergeants.

The marchers were cadets of the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) from the Chicago Public Schools, parading through the community as they held their school banners all the way from 43rd Street and King Drive.

They marched to the Victory Monument at 35th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, marking the 84th annual Veterans Day Parade and Ceremony on November 11, 2010, a date that commemorates the end of World War I in 1918.

Marine Math & Science Academy, won first place for being the best marching band in this year's Veterans Day Parade on November 11, 2010. Photo by Mary C. Johns

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Drawing closer to the end of an era, only one occupied high-rise building remains at the former Cabrini-Green public housing complex, located on the North Side of the city.

This past September, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) closed the last of the two Cabrini mid-rises, known as the Cabrini Extensions, and relocated all the remaining families.

CHA has promised that the departing families can have an option to return once the property is redeveloped under their massive Transformation Plan.

Few people remained in this last standing Chicago Housing Authority Cabrini-Green building at 1230 N. Burling St., on November 5, 2010. Photo by Mary C. Johns

That same month, the 39 families living at the remaining 1230 N. Burling Street high-building—which, at its peak, held 134 families­­— had received their notices of CHA’s intention to close the high-rise as the end of Cabrini-Green draws closer.

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Editor’s Note: The following story was written by a student in the Urban Youth International Journalism Program in partnership with Imagine Englewood If, a youth services organization based in that South Side neighborhood:

When I first got to Washington DC after a 14-hour bus ride for the One Nation Working Together rally Oct. 2, I saw thousands of people walking toward the Washington Memorial.

Many organizations were there including SEIU and the group Action Now.

I have been working with Action Now for five years now. It is a group that helps people with taxes, protests against violence, cleans up neighborhoods and other community issues.

The march was sponsored by One Nation Working Together, a national group that pushes for “true hope and change,” including calling for immigration reform, lowering taxes and fighting violence in America.

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