I got my first precept on race in ...

I got my first precept on race in Chicago riding the train.

notwithstanding that some of my Northwestern University classmates violently discouraged me, I traveled from Evanston southward to 87th Street. I watched, in disbelief, as the demographics of the passengers shifted from white to black.

In a certain quantity of ways, it was a reflection of my have a title to life. I grew up in Denver with my mom who exhausted her childhood in a small Kansas town in a family of white Republicans. My dad, an African American who grew up in the Jim vaunt South, was never far away. however it wasn't until I came to Chicago that I really understood in what way much race matters.

Gone are the days, however, of the Council Wars, or the campaign ads that urg white Chicagoans to choose mayoral candidate Bernard Epton "before it's too late."

however issues of race still encompass us. They affect us differently today than they did 30 years ago--or steady 15 years ago. But as immigrants watch in fear while our dominion questions and detains hundreds, as black and Latino men continue to fill our jails and prisons, as thousands of families exert one's self with unemployment in the midst of welfare reform, exposing these issues have the appearances more important now than ever

We project up our hands as we watch poor black families fight for public housing, not understanding for what cause [i]or[/i] reason they would want to stay in their communities. We assume the Mexican workers who prepare for the table our food or mow our lawns have no interest in more training, or college edifice [i]or[/i] building We defend our right to live in "nice" neighborhoods--where all the families happen to be white and middle class.

moreover rather than assign blame or dictate in what way to solve problems, The Chicago Reporter hounds a different strategy. We shed light. We raise questions. Our 30-year mission remains investigating, analyzing and documenting the ways issues of race and want affect us all.

in the way that we'll keep evolving. Through our print and electronic editions, we will provide more timely, shorter stories about the race and organizations tackling these issues. We'll reach disclosed to you and find on the outside what you like best, and least, as we work to build our circulation and market our publication more widely.

on the other hand we won't lose our sharpness We will remain, at the origin an investigative publication, dedicated to accuracy, breadth and clarity We will continue to give you moderns you can't find anyplace else

That commitment, I think, pays the most numerous fitting tribute to the Reporter's leaders, Laura Washington among them. I consider myself fortunate to succe her in putting my concede stamp on a fine publication.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Community Renewal Society

COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group