ALiving Legend... Wisdom Speaks

By Alleceia M. Walker

On August 1, 2023, I had the pleasure of kickingoff Black Business Month interviewing none other than Chicago’s Living Legend, The Honorable Congressman Danny K Davis representing the 7th District of Illinois I have been fortunate to have met and conversed with so many amazing servant leaders but there are none like Congressman Davis, they broke the mold when they created him. Having the pleasure of chatting with him last year and immediately being put to work for his Prison Reform Panel during Congressional Black Caucus, when our team began discussing Legacy as a theme for this quarter’s issue, he was top of mind. We met in the community in which he serves and resides on the Westside of Chicago, of course we went down memory lane and there is never a time The Congressman does not pay homage to his roots of Little Rock, Arkansas and share his love of reading and passion for learning To listen to this 81-year-old and counting scholar share his Vision of Hope and desire to see the dream actualize through intergenerational approaches, I was in-spired to another dimension on my journey to make The IMPACT Difference within my sphere of influence and beyond From such humble beginnings, leaning on his faith and recalling the many lessons learned from his parents he continues to cultivate other young politicians and uplift our community within the City of Chicago and on Capitol Hill… I will allow you to listen in on our inspirational conversation and challenge you to do something since you will know more. Enjoy!

Walker: Congressman Davis, thank you so much for being willing to share your life’s journey with Lifestyle @ The Intersection, especially our next generation readers We appreciate and honor you as a pillar in our community Your legacy is legen-dary and having you share oral history and capt-uring this is priceless. Our magazine interns sub-mitted a few questions for you. The first question is - How did you discover your passion and your calling?

Congressman: Well, let me just say this, thank you very much. When you asked that question, I was thinking of Langston Hughes when he wrote his poem, Mother to Son. And she said, “Now, life for me ain't been no crystal stair.” And that’s kind of the way I sum it up. Life has been good, life been challenging, life has been honest, and life has been enjoyable I grew up in rural Arkansas at a time very different from what times are now My parents were sharecroppers, as were most African Americans who lived where we lived I learned to read at an early age and just started reading everything, including the Bible and I still re-member some of what we read I was fortunate that I had wonderful parents As a matter of fact, just this morning, as I heard about the looting that the young people have been doing downtown in the loop and we're getting ready to have some parenting seminars where we're just going to discuss the role of parenting in child de-velopment and what impact that might have.

I remember my first participation in any kind of advocacy. We didn't have a gym, and the spark to make that change started the fire. I managed to get through high school, and I enrolled in college on my sixteenth birthday insecure, thinking that everybody there had to know more than I did I got through college, and I came to Chicago after graduation I had two sisters who lived here, and it was a place to come As a matter of fact, my father borrowed $50 from a fella who had a store and let me have the $50 because I had come home from college and helped prepare his crop We went and did the cultivation and all and I helped him do that And then came to Chicago in July That's what you call layback time in an agricultural setting be- cause the crops have been cultivated, and now you just sit back and watch them produce That's why songwriters wrote songs like Summertime, you know, because there's not much to do during this period So, you just kind of sit back and sing, “oh, your daddy’s rich and your ma is good lookin’…. So hush, little baby, baby don't you cry.”

Walker: It seems like being a farmer, laid a foundation for understanding life and the process of life as well?

Congressman: Well, we learn a lot of things. We learn that work is a virtue. We used to say that my father was the hardest working guy we've ever encountered or ever did encounter. He always had something to do, but he also had great wisdom And he would give you all these little tips He'd say, “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise ” My brothers and I, we kind of as we became teenagers, tried to change the script and we'd say, “Well, dad, now they got another saying, early to bed and early to rise And the girls go out with the other guys ” He said, “Well, you boys, just do what I tell you and you, you'll be alright.” So, I got a job and went to work at the post office for a little more than a year. But I knew I was going to be a teacher and I knew that I would teach.

I had a wonderful student teaching experience and decided I'd go ahead and take a job in a place called North Lawndale, on the west side of Chicago. It was a special school for over aged under achievers, meaning they were teenage kids who had difficulty. Many of them had been incarcerated or in juvenile detention. They had girls who had maybe been pregnant the year before, and they didn't send them back to the same school I fell in love with the school, the community, and I decided that I would spend the rest of my time in the west area of the city working and doing whatever I was going to do Ultimately, I got involved in community activism - it was “The period of the movement” we called it African Americans had been fermenting I got a chance to meet Dr Martin Luther King when I marched in the marches from Soldier Field down to City Hall, I started attending the meetings. That's where I met Bob Lucas and people like Rush Meeks and all these people, you know, Fred Hampton As time went on, when Fred was assassinated, I sat in the funeral home with his body right up here on Roosevelt Road at the Rayner Funeral Home So, I became a part of what was happening in America So, I just worked, went to school, met people like Doctor Bobby Wright Bobby and I were class-mates in graduate school, met my wife, and as I was teaching, we were both teaching at the same school, and we ended up getting married 53 years ago. We've lived in the area, no place other than the West Side community and I'm sure this is the last place we will live. But life is good, life has been, and it still is.

Walker: I heard you mentioned working with the over age under achievers. I remember when I started teaching in the nineties here in Chicago, and one of the programs that I worked with was designing a solution-focused curriculum for our over age under achiever population. It's so funny that you were addressing the same problem then, and it's still a problem today

Congressman: When Neil Simeon, the Associate Superintendent for Vocational and Practical Arts developed this program concept, the Board of Education created several schools. I understand that this school design was part of his dissertation, and that's the same Simeon that Simeon High School is named Many of these individuals were not expected to make it, but I see them today and they are doing well One fella actually works with me and is a member of my staff that I taught when he was fifteen, sixteen years old The Board eventually took the position that the schools were too costly to operate That just propelled me into looking at the bigger picture, and I decided that I might could make use of what I was learning in a more public way. So, I left The Board and went to work with a community group, which ultimately led to my decision to run for public office. Eventually, I did and got elected and have now been in public office for a good period of time, having all kinds of experiences, even working with Street Wise as a member of their board and being a part of a lot of different things.

Chicago has had a large African American population that migrated from the South. The West Side, I always say, was the last big area where individuals escaping racism, escaping the agricultural way of life in the South, came to Chicago, and the last group came to the West Side because that was the last area that was opened. There were terms that got created, like plantation politics, straw bosses, and ward bosses. When people say certain things have not changed, I don't agree with that Things have changed a great That does not mean that there's any kind of utopia and it does not mean that there aren’t problems I often jokingly and not jokingly, say that problems have existed ever since Adam and Eve were in the garden, that there was some non-compliance with whatever the rules were supposed to be There are people who fall outside the law and that's one of the reasons that I got very involved in looking at criminal justice reform and looking at the whole question of, why is it that disproportionately so many individuals, especially African American males, and females find themselves out of compliance with societal expectations and therefore create a big criminal enterprise system.

Walker: You mentioned earlier about young people mobilizing and looting in the loop area, the need for parenting workshops and seminars, and then you just mentioned them finding themselves non-compliant. If we're looking at solutions, because we know what we're facing at this moment, where do we start?

Congressman: I think parenting is a big piece of social development and I've seen young people grow up in the worst of economic circumstances, but because of the parenting skills of their parents, they have done exceptionally well Then, of course, I've also seen people who are impact-ed, who have wonderful parents, but the environ-ment ends up having more influence on their being than what their parents attempt to do for and with them. We must change the environ-ment in a real way, just as we provide, and teach, and hope that children will be born into the best of the world, as opposed to the worst of the world. For example, we are hoping, and I say that with the right set of circumstances, we can make sure every child can experience early childhood education. That's kind of one of the goals of the next round of things and the politics of America will help to determine that I'm convinced that should the group that I've worked with the most be in control of the operation of the government, we will be able to accomplish that in another round of a Joe Biden administration and therefore, I want to see that happen I don't think there are any silver bullets but there is movement Change is tough, it’s not easy, it’s tough to bring about But if you have the right pieces, then the puzzle will fit and if you got the wrong pieces, there's no way that the puzzle is going to get it completed I think that's kind of what I've learned about politics, that politics ends up being what-ever it is that people want and whatever it is that they're willing to work to accomplish.

Walker: That's awesome and as a Community Activist myself, I am always encouraging constituents to hold their elected officials accountable. One more thing that I must ask, how does this all tie into economics?

Congressman: It comes back to what do I want? And what do I want to see? Not just for myself personally, but I'm a part of the world. What kind of world do I want to see? And I think that's why I ultimately decided that having a public life was what I wanted to do I have some ideas about the world I want to see a world that is more fair, more peaceful I want to see the gap kind of reduce between those at the top, those at the bottom I want to see every child grow and develop, to become, whatever their manhood, womanhood, good talent, ambition, and hard work will combine to make them That is, as Thomas Wolfe said, the promise of America. So that's what I want to see. I can remember Tennessee Arnie forward singing a song when I was a kid, “Peace in the valley. I'm so tired and so weary, but I must go along until the Lord comes and call, call me away. But there will be peace in the valley someday, the bear will be gentle, and the wolf will be tame, and the lion shall lay down by the lamb.” There are some things that I want to see and so, in a public way, you can work towards the creation of these things. You know, Dr. King says, “I may not get there but I do believe that we as a people will make it to the promised land ” And to me, that is the public peace and there are so many ways that you can go after it, you know, I have a certain amount of, I guess, spiritual leaning. I think of one song in particular that we sing at church sometimes it says, “A charge to keep I have, A God to glorify, A never-dying soul to save, And fit it for the sky. To serve the present age, My calling to fulfill: Oh, may it all my pow’rs engage To do my Master’s will!”

I am still trying to answer this question that a man raised to me in my youth, “Who am I?” Yes, who am I, I mean not worrying about what the public view of me has been, but worried about who do I say you know it's kind of like Jesus when he was talking to his disciples and stuff and say, “Who do you guys think I am?” “Well, you know, they say so and so and so and so says ” Well, you know I listen to WVON just like I read the Sun-Times but who do I say I am? I'm always searching to find and define myself It's not what The Austin weekly, or the Austin Voice, or the Lawndale Drum, or The Citizen say. Who do I say I am? How do I make the most effective use of myself to move towards helping and shaping this world that I have a vision of and a desire for it to be? And so that makes life interesting, that makes life meaningful, and that's the life I want to live.

Walker: Sir, that's the life that you are living and the life that inspires me and so many others. If you could share a nugget with our young people stepping into their new journey, what would you have them ponder.

Congressman: Well, I think if you give the best of yourself in the things that you do, the end comes out alright. You know, my mother had a tremendous impact on my being. She was such a gentle woman, and she gave us these little things and this one little poem, she’d say to us, “If you can't be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley But be the best little shrub on the side of the hill Be a bush if you can't be a tree If you can't be a highway, just be a trail If you can't be a sun, be a star For it isn't by size that you win or fail Be the best of whatever you are ” I think, um, that kind of sums it up It's a pleasure and it has been a pleasure

Walker: It is always a pleasure to sit at your feet of wisdom and listen to your stories. So, we thank you so much for your time. This will not be the last time.

Congressman: Sounds good to me!

By Irika Ford

At the age of two my father was sent upstate to prison in Hagerstown, Maryland for thirty years. Now at thirty-six years old, I have overcome the emotional and psychological effects of that experience. Although he did not serve the entire sentence it rocked the world of everyone con-nected to him. During my years of research about having a parent or parents that are incarcerated, I found that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) deems this to be one of the top ten Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). Despite the fact that it is listed as one of the top (ACE)s, it is not widely talked about in society. As an early childcare and primary education professional, I realized that due to my father’s incarceration a bond was never de-veloped between my father and I during those foundational years of development and because of that I grew up fearful and with an insecure attachment style which bled into every area of my life including intimate relationships. I am grateful that we are living in a day where mindfulness and emotional intell-igence is a “thing.” Back in the late 80’s & early 90’s it wasn’t. I encourage everyone who reads or buys my story to become a safe place for children and their inner child who has or is experiencing a parent or parents who are incarcerated. Being an author was never really some-thing I envisioned for myself, but it has been a catalysts in my healing journey. I am now a firm believer that the pain we experience while living this human experience can be turned into PURPOSE & POWER. You owe it to yourself to be GREAT!!!

Irika Ford is known as Sadie Masai, a DMV native who is an ambitious and passionate author on a mission to educate parents and guardians of Children of Incarcerated Parents (C.I.P). She focuses on the import-ance of supporting a child through their experience and how to provide a safe space emotionally and ment-ally for their well-being. With seven-teen-plus years of early child-care and primary education experience, Sadie Masai has created these safe spaces throughout her career and has witnessed the effects it has on a child’s development. Her goal is to bring awareness of this rampant plague across the entire world to improve the social, emotional, and mental stability of children who feel unseen and unheard while exper-iencing a parent or parents that are incarcerated! Sadie Masai's first book, My Concrete Village is based on her own experience as a child whose dad was incarcerated during the foundational years of develop-ment and how the support of her village helped her to overcome.

Website: www.msmasai.com