Let Down By "The Chi"

Let Down By "The Chi"

As an African-American, Chicagoan, a person from "The Hood", and a writer, I was truly excited when I heard that there was going to be a series on Showtime that was going to be filmed here and show the world the real Chicago as seen from the standpoint of Blacks. I patiently waited for the premiere date and when it got here I parked myself in front of the television and watched.  Then................okay, it was okay. As a writer myself, I would've done things differently but hey, it's just the first episode. I'll see, the character background and storylines will pick up. It will be a hit; entertaining and elevating, giving the world a glimpse of what it's like to live a day in my shoes. That was weeks ago...........

Okay, it's Sunday again and frankly, I'm looking to find something; anything else that might be on. Unfortunately, I've been let down again by a show that is supposed to tell the world of the Chicago experience. A couple of shootings, a block party and some gang members hitting the freights. Basically, a show that could've been named; "The Philly, The ATL, The Saint Lou......You know what I am saying, whatever slick nickname inner-city residents give their city. There is nothing Chicago exclusive about the "The Chi". Nothing that tells the story of Blacks living in the most segregated major city in the nation; the most surveilled city in the country. I was expecting a show that highlights the plight of the Black Chicagoan in this millennium. A show that tells the story of Black Chicago, not just what the media gives the world, but the real story. What I received is another story about an inner-city incident that could've happened anywhere in the country.

It is impossible to have a show called the Chi and give a real account from the standpoint of one character or one group of characters residing in the same area. I grew up on 35th and King Drive, therefore my Chi is totally different than the Chi of a person raised on Francisco and Filmore. His Chi is different from the one belonging to the Chicagoan brought up on Damen and Montrose. All Chicago; but all different views of the same reality.

Please don't continue to be content with lazy writing, basic backstories, and stereotypical incidents. Leave that to the people behind Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, Chicago Med., etc. Please don't go the route of so many shows before you. Take the time to go deeper into the lives of the characters. Color their backstories with interactions with other people across this great city. I would like to see events that happen within their lives that include people that live in: Bronzeville, Chatham, Back of The Yards, Pilsen, Jefferson Park. Include the city and live up to the name that you have chosen.

You have a great opportunity to show the world, The Chi. The most Beautiful City in the World and the problems we, as residents of this city, encounter every day. Don't continue to stifle your characters because as of now "The Chi" is coming off as just another show about inner city life. I implore you, don't take the easy road, give the world us, the real us. The real Chi.

Serial Murder, Society and the “Throwaway,” People

As a true crime author I analyze, research and write about crime. By virtue of the title, I should be able to write about any type of crime and gain recognition, right? However, due to America’s infatuation with murder, most of my books and publishing center around, what we in Illinois regard as class X felons. I mean, I could probably write about Leroy the crackhead or dimebag Dave or the time Lil Jessie got caught with one rock, but who cares about that? No, our society has a love affair with the darkest crime of them all, the taking of another person’s life.

For every crime written about, research is done. In my book “The Darker Side of Evil,” I speak of society’s “throw away,” people. Throwaway people are the drug addicts, street walkers and homeless people that we see but don’t see every day. Most of us have at least one of these people in our family. The person we hope won’t show up to family gatherings; or if they do, you are prepared for them to stink or to beg, or both. The person in the family that no one knows where they are most of the time, that is until we get a call from another family member or law enforcement notifying the next of kin of the person’s untimely demise.

The city of Chicago is no stranger to the serial murderer. The Roseland area of Chicago has been experiencing the effects of living among a serial killer for the better part of 20 years now. In the late 90’s into 2000’s, Geoffrey T. Griffin took the lives of 7-8 women from the area. More recently, Michael Johnson, a 6 foot 4 220 lb. 27 year old was arrested and stands accused of murdering at least 4 women. In both cases it is highly suspected that these men have committed many more murders than what’s known.

As in most serial murders, the targets of each of these killers were street walkers. Had the media provided adequate coverage of these crimes, lives that were lost may have been saved? However, if we as a community exhibit a lackadaisical attitude toward the victims of these heinous crimes, so will the media. One reason the media provides minimal coverage, if any, in reference to these crimes is our disinterested attitudes concerning the victims. Feeding off of the standpoint of society and the community, the murderer themselves take on the mindset that they are doing the world a favor by ridding the community of these individuals. These women are daughters, sisters, many of them mothers. But most of all they are human beings. Regardless of what kind of lifestyle they have chosen for themselves. They have a right to live just as you and I have.

The Prey

As communities, real communities we have to claim our own, no matter of their current plight. These murderers only exist and operate because we allow them to. It is our failure to watch out for the members of our neighborhoods. We are not to look down upon, but look across at the faces that make up our neighborhoods and when a member is no longer being seen in his or her normal areas, inquire about their wellbeing. Don’t get in their business, but take a moment to ask a known associate of theirs about their friend. History has shown that if we don’t claim our own, there is something waiting in the darkness that will.

America's Real Casualties of War

In Chicago, a rally denouncing the war on drugs was held outside the James R. Thompson Center in the loop. The purpose of the rally was to call for an end to the war on drugs 40 years to the day after it was declared by then-President Richard Nixon. Kathleen Kane-Willis, the director of Roosevelt University’s Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy, kicked off the rally by citing recent statistics indicating Illinois has a greater percentage for putting more African Americans behind bars for drug crimes than whites than any other state in the nation. Illinois continues to treat a medical and social issue as a criminal one which is obvious when the arrest/conviction rates are examined.

These factors directly relate to the dismal economic condition in Black communities. The current unemployment rate in Chicago is 9.4%, just a touch over the 9.1% nationwide. Yet the unemployment rate among Blacks is a staggering 21.4% the highest in the nation! How is this possible from a people that only comprise 36% of the city's population and 12% of the state? What's not taken into account is that Illinois incarcerates Blacks on a 8 to 1 ratio to whites for drug related offenses, therefore Blacks, upon release are labeled as unemployable and rendered economically impotent. Even if employers are willing to give an ex-offender an opportunity, often times their insurance carrier won't be willing to. Rural areas of Illinois where prisons are built, count inmates as their residents thereby securing additional federal funding as Black communities lose funding due to the absence of the incarcerated.

The war on drugs has been publicly regarded as a failure, not true, it is a success for its creators. These are three objectives that the war was designed to accomplish and has accomplished:
the mass incarceration of Blacks
re-establishment of a class system
legalized discrimination of ex-offenders

Nothing said publicly nor privately can be said to disprove the intentional damage that the war on drugs has caused. Law enforcement was given a license to target a race and society applauded their efforts. For over 4 decades, Chicago Police Department officers can be seen stopping African -Americans, most of them visibly harmless, (by age or physical condition) posing no threat to the community but being searched simply because they LOOK like drug users or peddlers. Statistics remind us that no race is any more inclined to use or sell drugs than any other. Only recently have eyes been opened to these atrocities, now that they have, a change must be made.

What has to happen is a full repeal of war on drugs sentencing and overhaul of the judicial system. A system designed to defame the character of African-Americans and an attempt to broadcast to the world an image of a truly worthless people. There are more people incarcerated now for drug offenses than there were for ALL offenses before the war on drugs was declared. Funds spent on housing inmates MUST be used to implement real rehabilitation programs. Programs that truly prepare ex-offenders for re-entry into society as well as programs that assist ex-offenders in creating their own economic recovery through entrepreneurship. Currently Illinois spends $100 to $300 daily per person to keep an individual incarcerated. Time & time again programs designed to benefit ex-offenders have been proven to only be a fraction of incarceration expenses.

If a change does not come, that will be proof positive of what is already suspected. The judicial system and the war on drugs is a farce, a facade to disguise its true purpose. The gradual dissemination of a people, the dismantling of the black family and the strategic destruction of a race by the removal of its male species. If change is not initiated, African Americans will be history's all time leaders in the casualties of war department.
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