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 Secretary of State Jesse (left) and Congressman Bobby Rush (right) john others at Rahm Emanuel campaign celebration on February 24, 2015 Article and Photos by: Ms. CHEVETTE. M. CONLEY Writer / Photographer / Journalist The race for Mayor of Chicago has become historic. For the first time there is a run-off election. After the election on February 24, 2015 there was no clear winner. Incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel needed 50% of the vote but was short with only 42% of the vote. He has to face Cook County Commissioner “Chuy Garcia, who had 18% of the vote. Finishing 3rd was Alderman Bob Fioretti with 10%, millionaire Willie Wilson had 7% and William “Dock” Walls had 2% of the vote. “Chuy Garcia who was endorsed by many black ministers, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and Danny Davis. Chicago Teachers Union Karen Lewis had planned to run, but she was took herself out of the race because of a brain tumor. After his election Party with supporters rallying for his win in the run-off election, Mayor Rahm Emanuel was at the “CTA train stations meeting and greeting potential voters. Mayor Emmanuel has been endorsed by over 15 different labor unions including the Firefighter’ s Union, many black ministers and President Obama. But, what is the choice for Chicago Voters? There have been many rallys, private fundraiser parties for the both Candidates. A Private Party was held at McCoys Auto Parts on Pulaski Rd. on the westside of Chicago. 22nd Ward Ald. Ricardo Munoz helped organize the event. Garcia’s Campaign Director/ Finance record keeper and campaign manager were also on hand. In 1986″ Chuy Garcia was elected as the first Mexican Alderman of the 22nd ward of Little Village breaking racial barriers in politics in Chicago and looking to become the first Mexican Mayor of Chicago. He says his parents brought their first home on Pulaski rd. in Chicago. So, he has always been a part of Chicago building his base to help get him elected to Cook County Commissioner, now in a runoff for Mayor of Chicago. Rahm Emanuel the incumbent mayor is fighting to hold his position as the current Mayor of Chicago. He has been out and about talking with possible voters even going to their homes. There have been debates and forums where important questions where asked of each candidates about the budget system, police brutality, gun violence, jobs, and the Chicago school system. There’s also a run- off in several westside aldermanic wards, 24, 29th, and the 37th ward. Vetress Boyce and Michael Scott Jr. are in a run off for the 24th ward. Thursday March 26th 2015 at St. Agatha Catholic Church a forum was co-sponsored by the community Renewal Society, North Lawndale Employment Network, and Action Now. The candidates Boyce and Scott were asked to responded to the same panel questions and were asked to just say yes or no to some questions submitted by the panel. The audience was also given a chance to submit questions. They explained what changes they were going to make to enhance the Lawndale Community. Vetress Boyce wants to make sure people are aware of employment opportunities and she supports banning Red light cameras. She is also for Economic Development. Scott who is Area Manager for the Chicago Park District, wants to add playgrounds, and make a safe community by getting police more familiar with neighbors. He also would like to develop another Chamber of Commerce that’s minority, and work with individuals on the blocks that would establish a co – op, where they would take ownership on their block. Dwayne Truss was the moderator and did a great job. There was a second forum held at Mason School on Keeler. The forum went very well and the auditorium was filled with a large group of voters from Lawndale including some politicians, including Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele. In the end, things got a little heated when the candidates talked about integrity. Both candidates were swarmed by potential voters after the forum was over, for questions and photos. The race was on,” but now is at it’s end. Who will you vote for? What are the candidates capabilities? What is their knowledge of this large city and it’s current problems? How are they planning on fixing them? How comfortable are you with the candidates in what they can or will do for Chicago? But, most of all it’s your right to choose! So, exercise your right and get out and VOTE!! Tuesday, April 7th 2015. Good Luck to all of the CANDIDATES!! By Hazel Trice Edney
 Rev. Jonathan Weaver
 National Bankers Association President Michael Grant, U.S. Black Chambers Inc. President Ron Busby, and A.M.E. board member Rev. Jonathan Weaver
discuss a new plan for economic development through the Black Church.
When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, he and other protestors had won passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Therefore, his agenda had turned toward the next major issue – economic empowerment for Black people.
Therefore, on April 3, 1968, planning a march on behalf of oppressed sanitation workers, Dr. King told preachers at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tenn., “It’s all right to talk about long white robes over yonder, in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here!
“It’s all right to talk about streets flowing with milk and honey, but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can’t eat three square meals a day.
“It’s all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God’s preacher must talk about the new New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do.”
The next day, Dr. King was assassinated.
Nearly 47 years later, as America last month celebrated the King birthday holiday and is now celebrating Black History Month, a group of church leaders appears to be carrying out this Black economic empowerment goal in earnest. Invited to speak to a recent gathering of pastors and leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, National Bankers Association President Michael Grant cited the words of human rights champion Paul Robeson:
‘”We realize that our future lies chiefly in our own hands,'” Grant quoted. “‘We know that neither institution nor friends can make a race stand unless it has strength in its own foundation; that races like individuals must stand or fall by their own merit; that to fully succeed they must practice the virtues of self-reliance, self-respect, industry, perseverance, and economy.'”
Grant continued in his own words: “We played a major role in growing America from a small colonial outpost to the greatest industrial giant the world has ever known. We don’t have to argue about our ability to grow wealth. We have made everyone else rich, some filthy rich. Isn’t it time that we finally make our efforts productive for ourselves?”
Grant was keynote speaker during a special session on “Economic Development through the Black Church” during the A.M.E. Church’s 2nd District Mid-year Opening Plenary Session in Raleigh, N.C. late last year. His speech preceded a panel discussion that also included Marie Johns, former deputy administrator at the Small Business Administration; Ron Busby, president/CEO of the U. S. Black Chambers Inc. and Rev. Jonathan Weaver, senior pastor of Greater Mt. Nebo A.M.E. Church in Bowie, Md., and board member of the A.M.E. organization that deals with economic growth and development projects.
Following the forum, Weaver says A.M.E. pastors, led by Bishop William P. DeVeaux, are now poised to carry out a specific plan that they hope will spread to other denominations and ultimately catch fire in other denominations and the Black community throughout 2015.
“Clearly where we are at this point is to actualize and implement what we discussed in Raleigh,” said Weaver in an interview. “The whole thrust was how Black churches can help to empower Black businesses.”
The starting plan, in a nutshell, is for churches located in the A.M.E. Second District – North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and D.C. – to commit to the support of two Black-owned businesses. They are Thomas Morehead, president of a BMW dealership in Sterling, Va. and Donnell Thompson, co-founder/co-owner of RWDT Foods, Inc., a chain of restautrants based in N. Snellville, Ga.
AME church members buying from those two businesses will cause the churches to benefit from those sales; then identify other businesses in and around the states and “replicate this process”, Weaver described. After tracking the sales, initiated by the churches, the hope is that other church districts will get involved and that the movement will spread to other businesses and other churches.
“And we certainly hope and pray that this will become a much larger Black faith effort and we will reach out to the Baptist community, the Church of God and Christ and the list goes on,” Weaver said. “If we’re able to affect a significant change in terms of relationship with Black businesses, can you imagine if we’re able to boost their profit margin and therefore they are going to have to hire more people and therefore they will be reaching back to the faith community. More people will have jobs, they will have better jobs; therefore there will be less frustration, economically, in our community.”
So far, the congregations have been receptive to the idea, Weaver said. “Quite frankly, I’ve not met any resistance thus far.”
In his speech, Grant reminded the audience that a legacy of Black economic develop was at the core of the founding of the A.M.E. Church.
“I agree with that great A.M.E. historiographer, Dr. Dennis C. Dickerson, who said that the history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church – founded – by Bishop Richard Allen – reflects the black liberationist narrative of African – American history,” Grant said. “Nearly eight decades before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Allen, a free man, was already promoting Black economic development. So it is fitting that we come to his church today with an urgent message: The time for Americans of African descent to take our place at the round table of economic opportunity is now. With each passing day, the price of not having a well – thought out economic agenda for Black America continues to extract a toll and degrade our position in this country and throughout the diaspora.”
Grant, who last year received the U. S. Department of Commerce’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his Black business advocacy, ticked off statistics that undergird the need for an economic movement to support Black-owned businesses and Black-owned banks:
There are currently 1.9 million Black-owned businesses in America, but only about one in 20 have more than one employee and less than 2 percent have annual gross receipts of more than $1,000,000.
In terms of relative wealth, White America is 20 times richer than Black America, according to a recent Pew Report.
In the 1960’s, we had 60 Black-owned banks. Today, that number has dwindled to only 30. What is insane about this tragic loss is this: The bank is the only institution in our community that can leverage or multiply dollars 7, 8, 9 or 10 times. That means for every $1,000,000 dollars of invested capital in these banks, they are able to loan out 7, 8, 9 or $10 million for economic development, business growth and job creation.
Grant said African-Americans lost significant ground in business ownership after integration, largely because African-Americans were no longer forced to support each other.
“As long as we were forced to trade with each other and barter with each other, our businesses (small as they were) thrived. But in our minds, we were never quite good enough. We had internalized the lie about our lack of inherent worth,” he said. “When the doors of integration gave us the long – awaited pass to wine and dine with our former oppressors, we enthusiastically abandoned our own in search of an elusive White acceptance. We believed then – and many of us still do – that association would bring on assimilation.”
Dr. King concluded on April 3, 1968, the eve of his assassination: “We’ve got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh’s court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that’s the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.”
 Darren Tillis  Vetress Boyce  Ladarius Curtis  Mickey E. Johnson  Frank Bass  Roger L. Washington
In one of a series of political forums to help inform voters about candidates running for office, the Chicago Westside Branch NAACP held the 24th Ward Aldermanic forum at Carey Tercentenary A.M.E. Church located at 1448 S Homan Ave. The forum was held on Tuesday, January 20.  Dwayne Truss moderated the forum for the Chicago Westside Branch NAACP After the introduction of the two-member panel of Phyllis Logan, 1st Vice-president for the chicago Westside branch NAACP and Isaac Lewis, Jr., Publisher of the North Lawndale Community News, the five candidates were given a chance to make opening statements. The panel began asking prepared questions then all candidates were given the same amount of time to answer from one minute to a minute and thirty seconds.  County Commissioner, Robert Steele (center) speaking about his outreach and support from adjacent communities like Cicero, Oak Park and Forest Park for Obama Library Site.
 Paul Norrington (blue coat), speaking community resident who championed the idea of a possible Obama Presidential Library in North Lawndale with other community supporters.
……. In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In response to a feeling of being snubbed and the failure to be equally acknowledged or even mentioned in some cases by major media and the Mayor’s office in recent news coverage, the University of Illinois/North Lawndale Obama Presidential Lawndale site supporters held a press conference. It was held outside at the Southeast Corner of the proposed site bounding Roosevelt Rd on the South, Kildare on the East, 5th Avenue on the North and Kostner Avenue on the West. The land for the site is owned by the City of Chicago and does not have the challenge that the University of Chicago site has with gaining Chicago Park district and park advocates approval for acquisition of public-park owned property. The idea for the press conference came from Dwayne Truss, a supporter who lives in the Austin Community during a recent hearing on the proposed transfer of park land so that the city may convey land in the event the University of Chicago is the successful bidder for the Obama Presidential Library. “We pulled this together within 24 hours, and I believe it was successful,” stated Valerie Leonard, a UIC/North Lawndale Site advocate. Paul Norrington, the originator of the idea and catalyst for the passion that the North Lawndale site should be a choice for the Obama Presidential Library, shared his thoughts concerning the vision for the Obama Presidential Library site in North Lawndale. “But here, on this vacant lot, surrounded by light industry and the people who struggle to make ends meet, Barack’s Library would also be 5 minutes from the Hispanic community of Little Village, along with their concerns and the multi-ethnic suburbs with theirs. Here, in North Lawndale, the city and suburbs would benefit. Here, Black and Hispanic communities would benefit. Here, Barack can continue benefiting the wide demographics of America that he has always fought to benefit; not just one city or one group of people. North Lawndale, as a community, developed its own bid before seeking and forming a partnership with the University of Illinois. We are the only community-based bid remaining on the field. We have tapped into that power that lies dormant in many communities across this city and country. We offer a working example of The Power of Community,” stated Norrington. The committee also secured a financial pledge of $5 million dollars from the Steans Family Foundation (SFF), if the North Lawndale site is selected. SFF is a private family foundation that has been offering support and targeting its grantmaking efforts in the North Lawndale Community, since 1986. Leonard reminded the audience that Mayor Rahm Emanuel promised to support both bids. Darren Tillis, one of the founding members of the North Lawndale Obama Presidential Library Committee stated, “right now the North Lawndale Community’s 23 acre site is shovel ready, while the city seems divided around where the Library should go, we should make sure we secure the site here in Chicago.” The Obama’s have to select from two semi-finalists. Marcus Betts, provided updates and insights into the project from his experience being the spokesperson for the North Lawndale Presidential Library Committee. Mr. William Kyle shared his perspectives being a longtime resident. Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele, and 28th Ward Alderman Jason C Ervin showed support as elected officials; clarifying public processes for transfer of public land; made reports of regional support from elected officials from Western Suburbs and shared economic development plans. This site is further along than the southside site. We just need to push the button and go over here,”said Ald. Ervin. “ One concern that the Obama Foundation had with the UIC/North Lawndale site was that a change of leadership will be taking place at UIC with the The campus and University of Illinois expecting to have a new president, chancellor and board chairman within the next year. The incoming chancellor and president has reached out to the Obama Foundation and communicated his support for this bid,” said Marcus Betts. Raising supporter approval with cheers was a response by Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele, I’ve reached out to the President of the village of Cicero and gotten a letter of support from him for this Library…the Village of Forest Park and Oak Park are on board with what we are doing here and want to be a part of this project with us. Also Marcus Betts stated that the development with the community site and the academic site would have a 1.25 billion impact economic our community. Steele also mentioned that we’re not waiting for the site to be designated. We are working on the Roosevelt Rd. Renaisance. That’s a plan for Roosevelt Rd from Kostner to Western Ave to be developed. We are working on that plan with the University and the Urban Lands Institute and other parties. We look to have a lot of community development to begin in the next year.  Cherita Logan, District Director for Congressman Danny Davis speaking on his behalf and supporting the UIC/North Lawndale Obama Library site.
 Darren Tillis, founding member North Lawndale Obama Presidental Library committee speaking on behalf of the Committee to promote the Lawndale Library 23 acre site.
Dr. Dennis Deer of Deer Rehab services shared his perspectives as a longtime resident and successful business owner. Cherita Logan, the District Director for Congressman Danny K. Davis, reiterated the Congressman’s support for the project. There were nearly 100 people in attendance, and the crowd included youth who were as young as 11 to senior citizens who appeared to be in their 80’s. There were educators, business people, rank and file residents, students, representatives from organizations, etc. represented in the crowd. There were more men than women. Twenty-fourth Ward aldermanic candidates include Frank Bass, Roger Washington, Michael Scott, Jr. and Darren Tillis. News media included the North Lawndale Community News, Austin Weekly News, DNA Info, WGN-TV and WBBM-TV. |
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