Brief roundups will appear here, too, simply for ICYMI purposes. Otherwise, this column\u2019s format will be unchanged. Except this week\u2019s epigraph, obviously, but that\u2019ll be a one-time thing. If I were to epigraph this week\u2019s book, it would be from the chapter \u2018Sweet Home Chicago,\u2019 and read: <\/p>
\u201cI see the deliberateness of segregation\u2026Communities should be uplifted without conceding to whiteness as superior, and investment should never cease in black communities.\u201d <\/p>
My own work does not supersede the joy and necessity of celebrating others\u2019 work! Now, on to this week\u2019s book!<\/p>
What I\u2019ve Been Reading Lately: <\/strong><\/p> It is an unfortunate fact that the city I love so much\u2014the city my brother and I both have described as \u201ca place to finally breathe easy\u201d after growing up in Bible Belt, Tennessee\u2014is one of the most segregated cities in the US. This was somewhat obfuscated to me in undergrad at Loyola. Rogers Park is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the US, after all. Whiteness, though, makes it easy to not notice things. I try to be a good North Sider: explore the city as much as possible, consume Block Club <\/em>and Curious City<\/em> content about neighborhoods not near mine, be a since-childhood White Sox fan. Still, I was very excited to sit down and read some real scholarship on neighborhoods I\u2019m largely only passed through. Sure enough, The South Side<\/em> by Natalie Y. Moore made me want to get on a Green Line train. <\/p> Moore\u2019s exploration of the \u201cdeliberate, ugly, and harmful\u201d segregation in Chicago is both nuanced and direct. There\u2019s a lot to talk about, but in the interest of brevity (LOL this week is not a week for brevity)<\/em>, I\u2019m going to rant about schools. White people: send your kids to public school. Christ on a cracker, you people who flee to the suburbs the second you have kids with the only reason being \u201cschools\u201d are some of the lowest cowards. Yes, I acknowledge that everyone has to make the right decision for their children, but neighborhoods and communities are only what the people who live there make them. As Moore lays out in the chapter \u201cSeparate But Still Unequal,\u201d Chicago\u2019s attempts to integrate public schools were and are laughable, and the biggest reason for its failure was white cowardice (Moore is, uh, more polite than I am on the subject). To this day, white people balk at sending their kids to a CPS school with less than 50% white students, the exception maybe being Lane Tech. You know what improves schools, besides government funding? Community involvement. PTAs. Teachers feeling that their value is appreciated. Local businesses giving a shit. It takes buy-in from everyone to make communities work, and one race statistically views the city as place to summer fling with rather than put a ring on. One of the ways I know<\/em> we can do better, Chicago, is by not being so knee-jerk afraid of bygone boogeymen \u201cthose<\/em> neighborhoods\u201d or \u201cpublic<\/em> school.\u201d Let\u2019s all try to be better neighbors. <\/p> One last note: Moore lays out early on that she is going to emphasize race over class in this exploration of Chicago\u2019s ills, a decision I think is worthwhile for this book. Personally, I think \u201crace or class\u201d is a false choice. I\u2019m a socialist, I\u2019m married to a Black woman and father to a Black son, both realities of inequality have to be part of the equation if we\u2019re ever going to get anywhere in the country. THAT SAID, Moore is right to emphasize race over class here. Lots of white socialists are quick to dismiss race for the sake of *mumbles something about solidarity*, and I think white socialists need to familiarize themselves with Black and Latine history more. The entire story of both American continents is racial caste systems and bottomless greed, and true equity cannot be achieved if damages caused by white supremacy are not made whole. <\/p> LINKS!<\/strong><\/p> Something to listen to while you peruse the rest of the links? This Radical Books and Activists<\/em> episode featuring Cynthia Pelayo is really great. I especially loved the talk about ritual and mediation as a practice over all-gas-no-brakes hard work. I also deeply identified with Misael Juarez waking up at 3 a.m., drinking a beer, and looking at the moon while reflecting on writing. Make mine a Pepsi-and-cherry-limeade-THC-syrup and I\u2019m right there with you, dude. <\/p>![\"book:](\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/cfe86bc0-9cdc-4a91-ad57-ca23181f73ac_3024x4032.jpeg\")
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