Sun-Times: Aldermanic privilege steeped in power, politics — and prejudice, critics contend

Believe it or not the long-term practice here in Chicago of "aldermanic privilege" is being subjected to a federal civil rights complaint:

Aldermanic prerogative, the unwritten rule that gives local aldermen final control over zoning and development issues in their own ward, is the ultimate source of power for Chicago’s 50 City Council members.

It’s what makes them the lords of their 55,000-constituent fiefdoms and brings a steady stream of campaign donors to help them get re-elected.

It’s also the means by which aldermen illegally perpetuate the city’s segregated housing patterns, argues a federal civil rights complaint filed Thursday on behalf of nine affordable housing and neighborhood organizations that want to curb the practice.

The complaint, filed by lawyers for the Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, contends aldermanic prerogative has been used for decades to block affordable housing in the city’s white neighborhoods.

But it was racially-tinged community opposition to a pair of apartment developments proposed in recent years for the Northwest Side that prompted the legal action.

The practice of aldermanic prerogative, also known as aldermanic privilege, gives aldermen veto power over zoning, land use, sale of city land and public financing for projects in their wards.

Read the whole thing! 

Marynook 1962: "Decision at 83rd Street"

[VIDEO] 56 years ago Hugh Hill produced this documentary for CBS Chicago (or WBBM-TV) looking at racial integration in Marynook. On the other hand, what is seen here is an anatomy of "white flight". It's mentioned that realtors are "block busting" they're attempting to stir fears in white homeowners that Blacks are coming to buy homes on their blocks. Of course as we know in the 50+ years most of the south side is mostly Black today.

I can consider the many communities of the south side that since the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, or even 1980s experienced white flight. We can talk about Englewood, Woodlawn, Chatham, South Shore, Roseland, or Auburn Gresham. All of those communities experienced this "white flight".

I also want to note the example of Pill Hill - remember this was a neighborhood that at one point had a high prevalance of doctors working at a nearby hospital. I would recommend this book The South Side: The Racial Transformation of an American Neighborhood to see another angle to white flight. I had checked this book out of the library over a decade ago. The author contacted me years ago to clarify some points I made on another blog.

Historical mural unveiled at Burnside Scholastic Academy on Thursday, June 5

Burnside Scholastic Academy is unveiling a mural which recounts protests which led to Burnside becoming an integrated school, and opened the doors for the rest of the Chicago Public Schools system.


The public is welcome to join the school at 9:30am to unveil the mural. Burnside is located at 650 E. 91st place (near 91st & St. Lawrence, behind Tuley Park).

Tony Burroughs, a student at Burnside during the movement, was instrumental in getting the mural established, and work with youth to tell the story.

Carolyn Elaine is the artist who, along the school's art teacher, helped the youth create this mural. Ms. Elaine developed the concept and details.

There is also a surprise for former students who participated in the protest.


Please see the  Facebook event page with more details.

We will try to post an update, with more information when available.

Full Disclosure: My daughter is a student of Burnside, and Worlee's child is an alum.

EDIT: Here is the official press release (please excuse the editing -- some problems on our end):

*PRESSRELEASE*

Contact:
Tony Burroughs


Email:Tony@TonyBurroughs.com
Burnside Principal Kelly Thigpen: 773/535-3300

*Burnside Sit-In Mosaic Tile Mural*
*Dedication -- **June 5, 2014***
*Burnside****Scholastic****Academy**, **650 East 91^st Place***

*Project*

A ribbon cutting for a 300 sq ft beautiful broken tile art mosaic mural will be held at Burnside Scholastic Academy on Thursday June 5, 2014 at 9:45am. The mural is dedicated to the historic 1962 sit-in at Burnside. Renowned muralist Carolyn Elaine (www.studioelainemosaic.com <http://www.studioelainemosaic.com/>), designed the mosaic with Burnside students and art teacher Sarah Didricksen. Elaine has designed mosaic murals for many buildings and public art in Chicago. Internationally known genealogist Tony Burroughs (www.TonyBurroughs.com <http://www.tonyburroughs.com/>) conducted workshops with students on Black History and Civil Rights in preparation of the mural design. Burroughs was one of the sit-in students and his mother was one of the organizers.

*Background*

May 17^th marked the 60^th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. The movement to desegregate schools in Chicago began on January 2, 1962 with a sit-in at Burnside Elementary School. It was organized by PTA mothers and was the spark that ignited the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago. Three of the PTA mothers, in their 80s, and four of the sit-in students, in their 60s, plan to be in attendance at the dedication.

The Burnside Sit-In inspired ministers, Civil Rights workers from the NAACP, Urban League and Freedom Riders to support the protest. Momentum grew and inspired mothers at other schools to protest. This lead to The Woodlawn Organization (TWO) and the Coordinating Council for Community Organizations (CCCO) to protest Willis Wagons, temporary mobile classrooms built to relieve overcrowded schools in African American communities. This was led by a young Reverend Arthur Brazier.

CCCO, CORE and the Chicago Friends of SNCC organized a city-wide school boycott the next year on October 22, 1963. Approximately 250,000 students stayed home. It was the largest school boycott in the country. Dr. Martin Luther King said the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago was the most organized movement in the north. King came to Chicago in 1965 to support the fight for education and returned in 1966 to fight for housing and jobs.

Burnside Academy pivotal in School De-Segregation

The Burnside Scolastic Academy's Parent Advisory Council shared this article yesterday which highlighted Burnside's pivotal role in the civil rights struggle.

We are including the whole thing,as the Suntimes is installing a paywall which may deprive some readers of access.The link of the article is here.  they also have "online extras" here.

Tony Burroughs, outside of the Burnside School 650 E. 91st Place, where 50 years ago the first demonstration against Chicago Public Schools system of segregated and unequal education took place. Friday, January 13, 2012.
Brian Jackson~Sun-Times





It was a pivotal moment for Chicago’s racially separate and unequal Chicago Public Schools system.

But for then 12-year-old Tony Burroughs, the three-week sit-in by African-American parents and students at Burnside Elementary School — 50 years ago this month — was life-changing.

“Historians tend to look at the big picture,” says Burroughs, now 63 and a noted genealogist and author.

“You don’t hear a lot about the small sparks to the fire that ignited the Civil Rights movement. This spark ignited protests against the ‘Willis Wagons’ [portable classrooms] and eventually led to the 1963 citywide boycott of the Chicago Public Schools where 250,000 students stayed home,” he says of the incident that began on Jan. 2, 1962.

Spearheaded by the Burnside Parent Teacher Association — primarily its president Alma Coggs, member Zenia Gray, and Burroughs’ mother, Mary Ellen Burroughs — it fueled the school desegregation movement of the ’60s.

And the protests that followed, according to Chicago Urban League papers the University of Illinois Chicago Library holds in its Special Collections, in turn “focused the city’s attention on racial segregation and inequality, created a new militancy among many Chicagoans, and set the stage for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s decision to move his wing of the national civil rights movement to Chicago in 1966.”

READ THE WHOLE THING!

Anyone have any thoughts or memories?