January 18, 2017

Department of Justice releases report on CPD

2 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

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SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY The South Side Weekly is an independent nonprofit newsprint magazine written for and about neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago. We publish in-depth coverage of the arts and issues of public interest alongside oral histories, poetry, fiction, interviews, and artwork from local photographers and illustrators. The South Side Weekly is dedicated to supporting cultural and civic engagement on the South Side and to providing educational opportunities for developing journalists, writers, and artists.

Volume 4, Issue 15 Editor-in-Chief Jake Bittle Managing Editors Maha Ahmed, Christian Belanger Director of Staff Support Ellie Mejía Director of Writer Development Mari Cohen Deputy Editor Olivia Stovicek Senior Editors Emeline Posner, Julia Aizuss Education Editor Music Editor Stage & Screen Editor Visual Arts Editor

Hafsa Razi Austin Brown Nicole Bond Corinne Butta

Contributing Editors Maddie Anderson, Joe Andrews, Ariella Carmell, Jonathan Hogeback, Andrew Koski, Adia Robinson, Carrie Smith, Margaret Tazioli, Yunhan Wen, Kylie Zane Video Editor Lucia Ahrensdorf Radio Producer Maira Khwaja Web Editor Camila Cuesta Social Media Editors Emily Lipstein, Sam Stecklow Visuals Editor Ellen Hao Deputy Visuals Editor Jasmin Liang Layout Editors Baci Weiler, Sofia Wyetzner Staff Writers: Sara Cohen, Christopher Good, Rachel Kim, Michal Kranz, Anne Li, Zoe Makoul Fact Checkers: Eleanore Catolico, Sam Joyce, Rachel Kim, Adam Przybyl, Hafsa Razi, Carrie Smith, Tiffany Wang Staff Photographers: Juliet Eldred, Kiran Misra, Luke Sironski-White Staff Illustrators: Javier Suarez, Addie Barron, Jean Cochrane, Lexi Drexelius, Wei Yi Ow, Amber Sollenberger, Teddy Watler, Julie Wu, Zelda Galewsky, Seonhyung Kim Social Media Intern

Ross Robinson

Webmasters Alex Mueller, Sofia Wyetzner Publisher

Harry Backlund

The paper is produced by an all-volunteer editorial staff and seeks contributions from across the city. We distribute each Wednesday in the fall, winter, and spring. Over the summer we publish every other week.

Send submissions, story ideas, comments, or questions to editor@southsideweekly.com or mail to: South Side Weekly 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Chicago, IL 60637 For advertising inquiries, contact: (773) 234-5388 or advertising@southsideweekly.com

IN CHICAGO

A week’s worth of developing stories, odd events, and signs of the times, culled from the desks, inboxes, and wandering eyes of the editors

Bow Sus Coffee Gets Roasted Hopefully you weren’t looking to go to any Bow Truss coffee locations in the near future, because they’re closed—all of them. As the business found itself unable to pay both rent and employees last Thursday, the chain’s nine Chicago locations all closed their doors as workers realized their paychecks were bouncing. The target for the blame is unclear, but it’s a safe guess that it’s either Phil Tadros, founder of the roaster company and a source of endless controversy in the coffee roasting scene, or Marcus Lemonis, who was earlier reported to have paid several million dollars for majority share in Bow Truss. Tadros has said he only received around $100,000 as of January 12, while Lemonis has said that there was a complete lack of transparency around finances that kept him from going further with the deal. Whatever the truth of the matter is, we here at the Weekly probably can’t put it any better than Leor Galil, a coffee addict and staff writer for the Reader, who said to a Weekly reporter on Monday, “Dollop rules ’cause it’s got Verbal Kent, Bow Truss drools ’cause it can’t pay the rent.”

Arrigo Park “Brawl” Tensions ran high at a Sheridan Park Advisory Council meeting last week, when middleaged white men disagreed about whether or not lacrosse should be allowed at Little Italy’s Arrigo Park. Longtime Little Italy resident and Advisory Council Treasurer Joe Esposito started the ruckus when he took issue with someone blinking at him, swore, and told another resident that they could resolve things “outside,” according to a DNAinfo article on the incident. The 160-year-old park that started the feud is 6.4 acres, surrounded by trees and a walking path, and featuring a statue of The Great Colonizer (Christopher Columbus), a vestige from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Opponents of allowing “lax bros” to practice at the park are protesting because their cleat-clad feet could ruin the park’s grass. No word on whether or not Esposito and the resident resolved the issue outside, but the Chicago Park District has not formally offered a resolution to the dispute.

CHA Finances Face Further Scrutiny Last Friday, the bipartisan Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) released an updated version of its 2014 report, “A Fiscal Review of the Chicago Housing Authority.”

The new report highlighted improvements in the CHA’s finances since 2014, but maintained that the CHA’s financial priorities continue to underserve residents in need of housing assistance. The number of households on CHA waiting lists has outnumbered the number of households that actually receive assistance since 2008, despite an annual surplus averaging $90 million per year between 2004 and 2012, because the CHA has diverted federal funds earmarked for housing vouchers into non-cash outlays—funds not spent on any public housing services, which are deposited into the CHA’s accumulated reserves. The 2014 report cited the fact that the CHA has underutilized its voucher funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): the CHA issued an average of “13,534 fewer housing vouchers annually between 2008 and 2012 than what HUD had funded over that period.” In 2011 and 2012, the CHA chose to use these diverted funds to overpay its pension fund by $48.9 million of the $6.72 million required and reduce its outstanding bond debt from $224.5 million to $40.3 million. The report concludes that “while paying off debt early generates long-term savings, it also has opportunity costs, in that funds that could have been used to serve in-need households are diverted elsewhere,” especially considering that the CHA is already eight years behind on its Plan for Transformation—currently projected to end in 2018—to rebuild or renovate 25,000 units.

IN THIS ISSUE in the report

The Department of Justice releases a report on its investigation of the CPD. jake bittle, olivia stovicek, & kylie zane......................................4 a gross affront to justice

The report tells us what we already know. kylie zane..........................................5 opinion: still waiting

Corporations will go farther to hurt Black and poor people than they will to help them. nicole bond.......................................7 a choir for gwendolyn

A chorus of voices sang tribute to the beloved Chicago poet. neal jochmann..................................8 fashion spotlight: frock shop chicago

"We listen to what Chicago women want." taylor justin...................................10 being a good neighbor

"The needs are so great and the mountain is so high." lee edwards.....................................11 notes from the white rhino

Obama's Chicago farewell speech failed to inspire. ray salazar......................................12

OUR WEBSITE S ON SOUTHSIDEWEEKLY.COM SSW Radio soundcloud.com/south-side-weekly-radio Email Edition southsideweekly.com/email Support the Weekly southsideweekly.com/donate

Cover art by Ellen Hao. JANUARY 18, 2017 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 3

IN THE REPORT COMPILED BY JAKE BITTLE, OLIVIA STOVICEK, & KYLIE ZANE In December of 2015, after massive public outcry over the killing of Laquan McDonald, the U.S. Department of Justice initiated a probe into the Chicago Police Department. The thirteen-month investigation, for which the Department spent hundreds of days in Chicago, conducted hundreds of interviews, and reviewed tens of thousands of pages of documentation, resulted in the release last Friday of a 160-page report. The report concludes that CPD engages in the unconstitutional use of force and suffers from severely broken training and accountability systems. Below we have highlighted particularly jarring numbers, anecdotes, and conclusions from this report.

Number of officer-involved shooting investigations reviewed: over 170 Number of incidents of less-lethal force where related documents were reviewed: over 425 Ride-alongs with officers conducted: over 60 Community members spoken with: approximately 1000 Number of sworn CPD officers employed as of June 2016: approximately 12,000 Number of field training officers readily available to train new CPD officers: 60 to 75 CPD homicide clearance rate in 2016: 29% National homicide clearance rate for 2015 (most recent data fully available): 61.4% Phrase used to describe officer morale: “feel abandoned by the public and often by their own department” Report prediction about police reform: “not likely to be successful without a consent decree with independent monitoring” Rahm’s remark about police reform: “we’ve never, ever as a City measured up with the changes on a sustained basis to finally deal in whole cloth with that situation” Whether the City was able to identify how many people were shot by CPD over a given time period: they were not Report’s judgment on whether CPD should have a policy on foot pursuits: “it should.”

Report’s judgment on whether CPD’s Taser policy should address the use of Tasers on children: also “it should.”

Phrase used to describe some officers’ justification for firing a gun: “because others had done so” Phrase used to describe process of recognizing plainclothesmen as police officers when they jump out of cars: “can be difficult, especially at night” Action made by a sixteen-year-old girl that caused an officer to Tase her: flailing arms while being arrested Number of employees on CPD’s crisis intervention team in 2008: 9 Number of employees in late 2016: 3 Mechanisms CPD has to evaluate performance of crisis intervention officers: none Increase in Taser uses from 2009 to 2010: 200 to 900 Phrase used by a tactical unit officer to describe his colleagues’ approach to finding “offenders”: they “like to hunt” Actions taken by an officer against two boys on their bikes: pointed gun at boys; swore at boys; threatened to blow up boys’ houses Phrase used to describe use-of-force culture in CPD: “officers expect to use force and not be questioned about the need for or propriety of that use” Number of Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) staff members: 80 Number of civilian complaints CPD receives annually: 7,000 Number of complaints that are thrown out annually by IPRA and CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs due to lack of a signed affidavit (pursuant to the city’s contracts with police unions): 2,400 Average number of months before the accused officer in an investigation is interviewed: 4 Percent of closed complaints by IPRA and BIA combined, from January 2011 to March 2016, that were sustained: 1.4% Average time in years it takes the IPRA to complete the investigation of a sustained case: 2.5 Percent of sustained findings resolved with a “verbal reprimand” penalty: 24.8% Percent of sustained findings resulting in a “violation noted” or a “no discipline imposed” penalty: 28.4% Length of time in years after which “violation noted” penalties disappear from an officer’s record: 1 Amount that Chicago has paid out in police misconduct settlement cases since 2004: $500,000,000 Percent of misconduct cases settled in court for which the city also pursued disciplinary investigations: 50% Percentage of investigated settlement cases where the city recommended discipline: 4% Phrase used by report to characterize IPRA and BIA investigation process: “consistent patterns of egregious investigative deficiencies” To characterize discipline process: “inconsistent and unpredictable” To describe accounts given by accused officers during IPRA interviews: “apparently rehearsed” Question posed by an IPRA investigator to an officer who had not said that his shooting victim was holding a gun: “and uh could you tell me which hand let’s see yeah, which hand the [fleeing man] held the weapon in?”

Explanation given by an officer for how a recovered weapon ended up on the other side of a hedge from a shooting scene: “the gun went over the hedge”; the gun “just went over”; the victim “apparently threw it over” Length of interview with that officer and a second officer who was at the hedge scene: less than 15 minutes Things an investigator is required not to state on the record during an officer interview: who requests a pause in the recording, why the request was made, how long the pause was, anything that occurs during the pause Existing prohibitions against officers talking to each other after a police shooting and before investigators arrive: none Phrase used to describe the way IPRA treats attempts by officers to conceal misconduct: “ancillary and unexceptional” 4 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

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POLICING

Number of student witnesses interviewed in the non-sustained case of an 8-year-old girl who complained that a CPD officer swung her by her hair and choked her: 0 Ratio of sustained allegations by white complainants to sustained allegations by black complainants: 3.5 to 1 White complainants to Latinx complainants: 2 to 1 Portion of police shootings that Chicago found “unjustified” from 2010 to 2015: 2 out of 409 Number of investigators in CPD’s Civil Rights Unit, responsible for “investigating all hate crimes and hate incidents in Chicago”: 2 Length in days of the most frequent suspension given to police officers: 1 Length in days of the median suspension given to police officers: 3 Days an officer was suspended for shoving a baton into a victim’s side: 1 Phrase used by report to characterize IPRA’s mediation process: “what IPRA calls ‘mediation’ ” Percentage of all IPRA cases resolved through mediation: 65% Rate at which CPD uses force against black people compared to white people: 10 times as often Percent of CPD dash cams with audio capabilities that were tampered with or were not working as of January 2016: 80% Number of years ago that the police academy’s video on deadly force was made: 35 Proportion of CPD officers that “came close to properly articulating” CPD’s use of force policies: 1 in 6 Number of officers who were the subject of five or more complaints from 2010 to March of 2016: 1,627 Number of prior complaints of excessive force against an officer who took a twelve-year-old boy off his bicycle and pinned him against a fence: 10 Number of officers who were referred to CPD’s Behavioral Intervention System for domestic abuse from January 2010 to July of 2016 but never enrolled: 56 Least severe action deemed by some interviewed IPRA investigators to constitute domestic abuse: “a punch in the face” Ratio of clinicians available to address physical and mental health concerns of CPD department personnel: 1 for every 4,000 Percent of CPD officers with multiple complaints filed against them who were not identified by the CPD’s electronic early intervention system: 90% Most recent year that the CPD published an annual report: 2010 Phrases used in the report to describe the procedures or behavior of CPD, IPRA, or BIA: “constitutionally impermissible,” “consistent patterns of egregious investigative deficiencies,” “working in a constant state of triage,” “highly troubling” Conclusion (of course): “CPD engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional use of force” GLOSSARY CPD: Chicago Police Department IPRA: Independent Police Review Authority, the city agency charged with investigating some complaints of police misconduct BIA: CPD's Bureau of Internal Affairs, responsible for investigating the remaining police complaints Homicide Clearance Rate: the rate of murders solved by police Sustained Complaint: a complaint sustained by sufficient evidence to warrant disciplinary action

A Gross Affront to Justice

The DOJ’s report describes, once again, the host of deep-seated structural problems within the CPD

BY KYLIE ZANE

L

ast Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released the results of its probe into the Chicago Police Department. It found CPD’s excessive use of force in violation of the Fourth Amendment and has taken steps toward establishing a consent decree with the department. This means the CPD will continue operating (though unconstitutionally) while working with the DOJ on a list of recommendations over the coming years. The report found that the lack of strong investigative agencies to discipline CPD officers—as well as poor training overall and a lack of direction, supervision, and support for its officers—

has led to a pattern or practice of excessive and unconstitutional use of force within the department. In short, CPD officers can do whatever they want with almost no fear of repercussion. The conclusions reached by the DOJ can be grouped into two recommendations: first, that stronger penalties need to be put in place to deter police misconduct and unconstitutional use of force, and second, that further resources need to be provided for police when it comes to accountability, training, supervision, officer wellness, data collection and transparency, and community policing.

For those who are rightfully wary of the

CPD to begin with, the idea of granting further resources to the department is a hard pill to swallow.

Though the report is ultimately a project of reform, much of its content reveals the immense damages suffered by Chicagoans at the hands of the CPD— content so disturbing that it could be used as effectively to advocate for police abolition as for reform. The report identifies four forms of violence the CPD perpetuates with particular clarity: domestic abuse, violence against children—particularly students in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), civil rights violations, and racism.

To understand the pattern of domestic abuse prevalent in the CPD, it is necessary to first understand the “mediation” that is practiced by the departments responsible for disciplining errant officers. Usually, “mediation” denotes the practice of putting a person accused of a crime into conversation with the victim in an attempt to achieve reconciliation. But for the CPD, mediation is really a plea bargain system: the accused officer pleads guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for more lenient punishment.

And while it’s true that mediation is never advised in domestic abuse cases in the first place (it is rightfully seen as questionable to JANUARY 18, 2017 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 5

POLICING

ask a survivor of abuse to sit down with the accused to come to a settlement), the gross affront to justice that is CPD’s mediation is even more odious, effectively acting as a way for officers to get away with domestic abuse with no repercussions.

From 2013 to 2015, roughly fifty percent of the cases settled through mediation by the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA), the primary agency responsible for investigating CPD officer misconduct, were for allegations of domestic abuse. The report contains stories of an officer who broke his girlfriend’s nose and through mediation received only a five-day suspension. Another officer verbally and physically assaulted his wife in public and, after investigation, received no punishment at all. In a case settled through mediation, an officer who attacked her brother and verbally abused her mother before stealing her Social Security check and her credit card information was allowed to plead guilty only to “scratching her brother’s face and neck” and received a two-day suspension. That the punishments for serious cases of domestic abuse are so light is not only shocking, but in the words of the DOJ report, “it is unclear why the City believes that an officer found to have engaged in some of these offenses should remain on the police force at all.”

The pattern of excessive use of force against children highlights two disturbing trends. First is the willingness of officers to use excessive force (including Tasers, attack dogs, and verbal and physical abuse) to harm children as young as twelve years old.

Second is the tendency of officers stationed in CPS schools to use excessive force on students. This trend is particularly disturbing considering that CPS primarily serves black and Latinx children from relatively poor households; excessive force in this context takes on connotations of racist and classist oppression, making CPS the place where many students are first introduced to racist forms of violence.

Civil rights violations perpetrated by the CPD include filing false assault charges against civilians and a practice referred to as “guns for freedom,” in which officers detain civilians for minor infractions, promising release only if the civilian in question brings them a gun. Similarly, Chicagoans recounted being picked up by CPD officers and questioned; if they failed to provide answers, they were dropped off in rival gang territory and told: “Better get to running.”

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The report also uncovered the use of racially discriminatory language and racist language and imagery on public social media forums, causing Mayor Rahm Emanuel to release a recent statement saying racist Facebook rants by police officers will not be tolerated, according to DNAinfo. Additionally, there is significant racial disparity in the likelihood that civilian complaints are “sustained” (found to have sufficient proof ). The DOJ found that complaints by white Chicagoans are three and a half times more likely to be sustained

approach to reform that simply rests on the “a few bad seeds” response (i.e., fire some fall guys and then go back to business as usual).

One result of the structural analysis performed by the DOJ is the shocking image it presents of the cops themselves, who come off as pathetic victims of a broken system. The report paints a picture of relatively young people who spend eight months at the dilapidated police academy attending unengaging and outdated lecture and PowerPoint classes. One particularly egregious example: the video the academy

In short, CPD officers can do whatever they want with almost no fear of repercussion.

than those filed by black Chicagoans, and two times more likely than those filed by Latinx Chicagoans.

Altogether, it’s not a wild stretch to say that the CPD takes on many aspects of a terrorist organization able to abuse Chicagoans with impunity (well, nearimpunity: IPRA did impose disciplinary action in one percent of the 30,000 complaint cases it received in the five years investigated by the DOJ). While reading through the report, the question, “What are the police for?” comes to mind often, and it is difficult to come up with a satisfying answer.

The DOJ’s recommendations ultimately operate within the realm of reform: their framework takes a larger view of the problem, showing that many areas of the police department are lacking in resources that would help them be more effective. This is dangerous because, on one hand, it distracts from the fact that there are demonstrably bad cops within the department who display racist and excessively violent behavior— foreclosing discussions centered on more rigorous screening procedures for would-be cops. But on the other hand, this structural approach rightly prevents a more limited

uses to teach when use of force is appropriate is thirty-five years old and contains tactics that are neither legal nor reflective of CPD's existing policies on use of force. The teaching is ineffectual, and soon-to-be cops come out of it knowing little more than they came in with. They are then given a gun, and before they are assigned a field training officer (FTO) to help them develop necessary realworld skills, are sent to neighborhoods with the highest crime levels in a poorly conceived attempt by the CPD to increase police visibility. Undoubtedly they build unhealthy coping habits, develop false bravado, and experience stress knowing that they are being used by the CPD to signal latent force (while also failing to develop a connection to the neighborhood they are placed in). It sends a bad message to the neighborhood— that they are being surveilled—and the wrong message to cops: you are not here to build community relations, but to keep “dangerous” neighborhoods in check.

According to the report, when new cops do finally get assigned an FTO, the officer often tells them “to ‘throw out’ what they learned at the academy because the FTOs will show them how to ‘be the police.’”

The supervisors of Chicago’s twenty-two police districts are often bogged down in administrative work, and their rotations are such that they are rarely with the same cops twice, making it difficult to build strong relationships or provide mentorship to young officers.

But it should be noted that this focus of the report does much to gloss over the individuals within the CPD who are racist, sexist, and corrupt, as well as the failure of the police department to screen out these people. The empathy for the police that exists within the report thus renders its solutions somewhat suspect, suggesting that rectifying an admittedly stunning lack of resources—whether by fixing funding shortfalls or providing better training— would also, somehow, cure certain officers of their tendencies toward prejudice and graft.

The lack of healthy mentoring relationships and emphasis on community policing is exacerbated further by the culture of masculine bullying within CPD, which stands on three pillars: the department’s code of silence, the lack of ability to discuss mental health crises among officers, and the high esteem in which tactical teams are held.

The phrase “code of silence” refers to the tendency of the CPD to close ranks against civilians and would-be investigators, choosing to ignore, falsify, or cover up evidence and lie in testimony rather than admit wrongdoing and accept fair penalties.

It has been discussed at length recently: Mayor Emanuel has acknowledged its existence multiple times, and lawyers for the City have mentioned it in federal court.

As for mental health, the report states that more CPD officers die from suicide than in the line of duty, but the DOJ reports that it is still considered a sign of weakness to try to seek medical help. A result of this stigma is that alcohol and substance abuse, as well as domestic abuse, are more pervasive in the CPD than in the general population.

Lastly, while important mentorship positions are undermined or seen as “a path to nowhere,” the report relates that violent specialized units such as saturation, gang, and tactical teams are held in high esteem. These teams, whose members wear plainclothes and drive unmarked cars, often receive the most complaints by Chicagoans because of their use of intimidation and coercion in the neighborhoods they operate in. In such conditions, which reward violent behavior and overlook community-oriented

FOOD

policing, it is hard to see how anyone could become a “good cop” (though the DOJ report insists such good cops exist).

To any Chicagoan, it is perhaps surprising that the report presents such a beleaguered image of the CPD—we know that compared with other civil servants, police officers receive a large piece of the city funding and resource pie. What is apparent, however, is that these resources are going toward military-grade gear, Tasers that no one knows how to use because they haven’t been trained how to use them, and expansions of the police force superficially aimed at combatting increased violence.

The reform the report advocates for involves increasing resources for improving police training, building up community policing models, streamlining data collection and online resources, increasing transparency, and expanding civilian investigation departments that hold police accountable for their actions.

While the DOJ’s recommendations might be promising, if the CPD is to change, the flow of money and resources needs to change, and the department needs to stop hiring officers that it can’t afford to train. If there is one shortcoming in the recommendations made by the DOJ, it is that the report is not explicit enough in its aims, and fails to tie its reforms to the CPD’s operating budget. Perhaps most disappointing are the toothless recommendations on community policing, especially considering that the report makes it clear that a department with a record as abhorrent as the CPD would have to radically rethink what it means to be a police department if it were ever going to regain the public trust.

It is incumbent upon Chicagoans to pay close attention to the CPD’s reform attempts and put public pressure on them to make more than nominal changes.

This means, for example, holding Mayor Emanuel accountable for his statements regarding officers’ racist posts on social media sites, continuing to denounce the CPD’s use of unconstitutional lethal force, and advocating for grassroots organizing around policing that groups like Black Lives Matter, BYP100, We Charge Genocide, Assata’s Daughters, and others have been doing for years. After all, it was the actions of these groups, in the wake of the murder of Laquan McDonald, that prompted the DOJ probe in the first place. ¬

OPINIONS & EDITORIALS

Still Waiting

Reactions to a South Side Weekly piece on food access further underscore the crisis faced by South Shore

BY NICOLE BOND Nicole Bond, a writer and performance poet, was interviewed by Chloe Hadavas for a story on food access in South Shore ("What Happened to Mariano's?", 11/30/16). The article explored the food desert that remains in SOuth Shore after plans for a Mariano's in the ill-fated Lakeside development were scrapped. She later joined Hadavas on WBEZ's The Barbershop Show to discuss the article, but came away from the interview with reservations. Bond, who has since joined the Weekly as Stage & Screen Editor, expands on those reservations, and the continued fight for food access in South Shore, in this editorial.

I

n full disclosure, my Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award winning poem “Crossing the Desert” was published in the South Side Weekly 2016 Lit Issue.

As a result, writer Chloe Hadavas reached out to me when collecting data for her well-researched story, “What Happened to Mariano’s” in the November 30 Food Access Issue. In additional disclosure, I am more of a writer than a speaker, so I need to take to print to speak on the chat that Chloe and I had on Richard Steele’s Barber Shop Show on WBEZ this past December—regarding her story and my contribution to it.

Just knowing the Barbershop Show reached out to Chloe and me to discuss her article felt like a substantial step toward bringing more awareness to the inaccessibility of major grocery stores in South Shore. This is the core of Chloe’s piece. The covert reason why major grocery stores are inaccessible is the core of my poem, which Chloe quoted in her story.

However, both Chloe and I left the taping feeling like that was not the discussion. I won’t speak further for Chloe, but I believe the dialogue bypassed the subtle nuances of why the former Dominick’s location at 71st and Jeffery has been abandoned since the chain left Chicago three years ago, as well as the nuances of how likely it is the space will remain abandoned until the predominately Black neighborhood becomes more gentrified.

Chloe’s story clearly detailed the false

start at building a Mariano’s on a parcel of land not too far from the old Dominick’s location. Her research uncovered how developers flat-out scrapped the plans because they deemed the location and surrounding neighborhoods undesirable.

That is a social justice issue, a point that was not driven home effectively on Steele’s show.

The show took a detour when producer Ayanna Contreras joined in to speak about, even promote, the various options in and near South Shore that she frequents for fresh fruits and vegetables. This was likely fueled by our off-air talk about how far away from South Shore you have to go to get an apple. My feeling: Contreras, who disclosed off-air having an apple in her bag, simply grew weary of continued mentions of an apple (the dichotomy between the apple and the serpent—as vibrantly depicted in my poem’s final stanza—is the central theme of why the neighborhood does not have a grocery store). Although Contreras mentioned places Chloe writes about in her piece, Chloe used the locations to illustrate how they do not logistically match the walk score (a measure of how walkable a neighborhood is) of the abandoned Dominick’s nor do they fulfill the need of a full-service grocery chain. The conversation went further off the rails when Walgreens was introduced as a grocery shopping option. Last time I checked, Walgreens is primarily a pharmacy and in no way should anyone be forced to settle for buying food at a pharmacy.

There was a sound bite from the neighborhood alderwoman, Leslie Hairston, from a previous Barber Shop Show, about a meeting she intended to have last summer that she hoped would be enough. Nope.

Not enough—still no grocery store. And there was mention of Karriem’s Fresh Market, coming soon to fill some of the old Dominick’s space. Nope, still hasn’t happened yet. And if or when it ever does, it will be a fruit and vegetable market and not a full-service grocery store.

Furthermore, it most likely will not happen any time soon because food access in South Shore, is a social justice issue, more

in need of activism than in need of fiscally glamorous business dealings—and in final full disclosure, Karriem Beyah (of Karriem’s Fresh Market) regards himself as a pure businessman, not an activist, according to the May 26, 2009 Time Magazine story, “Can America’s Food Deserts Bloom?”

by Steven Gray. Paralleling Chloe’s story, Gray’s story addresses the crisis of food deserts and the other crises food deserts bring (the point that my poem was written to illustrate), as well as how major grocery chains have systematically abandoned largely Black and Latino communities.

None of these points were given the serious platform I had hoped they would get when we were invited to the show.

In a subsequent Barber Shop Show featuring Dr. Jinfuza Wright, her husband Fred Carter, and their son Akeem Carter of the Healthy Food Hub (also mentioned in Chloe’s piece), a sound bite of me from the previous show, where I spoke in frustration about us not actually discussing the problem, was used to open the conversation about their Healthy Food Hub. Respectfully, I commend them and others (like Top Box, for another example) for their efforts to bring new innovative ways to fill the gap left by major grocers abandoning Black and less affluent neighborhoods. Nevertheless, a neighborhood—every neighborhood— should have the presence of a full-service grocery store. It’s not a complicated concept.

It is racism and classism that only certain neighborhoods do not have one and that decision makers unabashedly proclaim their unwillingness to build one.

Here’s a bizarre, conspiracy-theorist, poet-brained thought: What if the entire Dominick’s chain decided to leave Chicago solely to close that one Link-card-shopping, float-a-check-‘til-payday-bouncing, loosecigarettes-in-front-of-selling, garbagein-the-parking-lot-throwing, randomdrive-by-shooting, 71st Street location?

Corporations will go farther out of their way to hurt Black and poor people than they will to help them. But I’m only a poet, what do I know? JANUARY 18, 2017 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 7

LIT

A Choir for Gwendolyn

Poets and friends read inspired works and reminisce at "Revise the Psalm" release party

BY NEAL JOCHMANN

O

NEAL JOCHMANN

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n January 7, a chorus of voices sang tribute to the beloved Chicagoan poet, Gwendolyn Brooks. Their hushed Logan Center audience heard selections from the new anthology Revise The Psalm, a collection of works celebrating Brooks’s life, published by Curbside Splendor this month to commemorate Brooks’s one-hundredth birthday.

In co-editor Quraysh Ali Lansana’s introduction, he puts forward the proposition that voice comes from what an artist has internalized. If this is true, Revise the Psalm is a book by writers who have internalized the work and philosophy of Gwendolyn Brooks. Lansana’s introduction also suggests their works in celebration of Brooks are essentially “covers” of her work.

In the book, no single one of the ninetyone contributing “cover artists” is given an extended solo. Instead, the voices—some as established as Rita Dove, others more contemporary, like CM Burroughs—occur and recede, giving the reader the impression that all artists are present simultaneously over the course of the book. It is inclusive, much like the woman it celebrates.

The event’s first reader was the multiple award-winning Angela Jackson, a native South Sider and lifetime admirer of Gwendolyn Brooks’s work. One of the poems she read, entitled “The UnMother,” is found in Part One of Revise the Psalm, a section devoted, in Lansana’s words, to motherhood. Every section in the anthology is collected around a theme

from Gwendolyn Brooks’s work: Part Three concerns heartbreak, for example. As Jackson read her poem, she savored each word as she encountered it, as if she were steadily composing the poem as she spoke it. After Jackson finished, the crowd sighed in unison with pleasure and admiration.

One of the first poems in the book, “The UnMother” is an homage to Brooks’s 1963 poem “the mother,” and echoes the cadence of its inspiration.

That 1963 poem also serves as the writing prompt for the first poem in Revise the Psalm, “Child-free.” Written by Joan Wiese Johannes, the poem was composed using poet Terrance Hayes’s “Golden Shovel” technique. As explained by CM Burroughs, who read Johannes’s poem, a Golden Shovel is created by taking the words from an existing line of poetry and using each word as the end-word in the line of a new poem. As she read and relished Johannes’s work, Burroughs’s heart was full; her voice slightly wavered and her eyes welled up. Contributors to Revise the Psalm are justifiably proud of their company.

Part Three of the anthology contains Burroughs’s original work, “To Be In Love,” whose catching line structure evokes the repeated coming-apart and coming-together that leads to the “golden hurt” of love. This section also includes work

by Elise Paschen, the second poet to read at the January 7 release party. The eighth part of the anthology comprises personal “memories and impressions” of Gwendolyn

Brooks, written by contributors whose work appears earlier in the book. Here Paschen references a note given to her by Brooks before the birth of her first child. At the Logan Center, she brought out the note, to some of the night’s loudest applause: “It’s Almost time for the BABY! =Blessings on you ALL!!! Love, Gwen Brooks.”.

Revise the Psalm is full of dear memories of Brooks’s care and enthusiasm; they provide much of the book’s emotional impact by bringing Brooks to life. Lansana’s story about meeting Brooks in 1993 and attending her last writing workshop at Chicago State University in 1997 paints a vivid picture of Brooks the teacher. In Part Seven Lansana even shares photocopied manuscripts with Brooks’s praise written in large cursive across the page. Reciprocating Brooks’s goodwill, many contributors to Revise the Psalm call her a close friend.

Before reading her work, Angela Jackson told a personal anecdote, not present in the book, about Brooks’s overflowing generosity as the judge of a contest for South Side youth writers. For that contest, Jackson said, Brooks paid for all prizes out of her own pocket: “That was the kind of person she was.”

The excellent Khari B., introduced

by Lansana as “the stalwart,” gave the last performance of the night. Pacing across the length of the stage, he performed “A Depraved Indifference 2 Human Life,” a harrowing and heartfelt contribution to the politically themed fifth part of Revise

the Psalm. Vast in scope, the piece compares police gun violence to the greatest atrocities in human history. The performance brought the words on the page to vivid, explosive life; the audience was so captured it scarcely breathed. Gwendolyn Brooks counted Khari B. among her favorite poets— though she undoubtedly had many—and it was thrilling to hear him describe his impression of the young Brooks as an “It Girl” who led not only by artistic example but by her lifestyle as well. Revise the Psalm leaves a staggering impression of the breadth of Brooks’s influence —the famous photograph taken by Roy Lewis is only one of the beautiful reproductions in an “Artwork” section of the book that illustrates the influence Brooks had on the visual arts. This influence is seen from the very beginning of the anthology— the crisp woodcut portrait on the cover is a reproduction of a 2001 work by Dirk Hagner.

What’s next for Revise the Psalm? A review in The New York Times, as Lansana announced just before readings began.

The Times’s review will be momentous, since anthologies are rarely given a review.

Reacting to this news, the audience clapped and rejoiced like proud parents. During her life, Gwendolyn Brooks sang the merit of the literary voices living in Chicago; now, in a resounding chorus, those voices are singing back. ¬

JANUARY 18, 2017 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 9

FASHION

FASHION SPOTLIGHT

Frock Shop Chicago

A Pilsen-based store offers designer rentals for affordable prices

BY TAYLOR JUSTIN

This is the first in a monthly series spotlighting South Side clothing stores and businesses.

I

t’s just two weeks into January, but your social calendar is already filled up with events: you have five weddings to attend this year, a big charity event in November, the occasional restaurant opening that you can’t miss and the company holiday party.

In the age of Instagram, repeating a dress is not an option, and buying one for every single occasion is certainly not economical, so what do you do? Well, maybe you can visit the Frock Shop Chicago, located in Pilsen.

The formal rental showroom, founded and opened by entrepreneur Jennifer Burrell, provides outfits for all occasions available for rent at cost-efficient prices.

The business started right out of her own closet—literally.

“I was cleaning out my closet a few years ago and I still had my prom dress, my wedding dress and some little cocktail dresses,” says Burrell. “They were all in really good condition, and I had only worn them one time. It dawned on me, like [if ] men rent tuxedos for all these fancy events, then women should be able to rent dresses.” And not just any dresses: “glamorous, sexy, bold” dresses, as The Frock Shop’s mission states.

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TAYLOR JUSTIN

Frock Shop Chicago makes the process of renting easy—shoppers from all over the city can visit frockshop.com to search for their perfect occasion style. However, locals have the luxury of visiting the Pilsen showroom, and can work one-on-one with a specialist for a personal shopping experience. The rental fees for designer dresses start at $40; dresses can be rented for either four, seven, or ten business days and are delivered when and where you want them. Frock Shop also provides free returns, repairs, and dress cleaning—the process of renting and returning the dresses is much, much easier than that of picking them out.

The South Side shop has a wide selection that Burrell curates with Chicagoans in mind. “We listen to what Chicago women want,” she says. “We keep in tune with the local events and trends that take place.”

The shop’s selection focuses on quality occasion-based apparel that can withstand wear over and over again. The inventory is an assortment of sparkling, statement, and elegant pieces from recognizable, high-end designers like Jovani gowns and BCBG cocktail dresses.

These quality dresses cater to the needs of Frock Shop’s biggest clients: the women who shop for big, city-wide events like proms, holiday parties, and black tie events.

¬ JANUARY 18, 2017

Burrell looks to the runway and red carpet for larger trends, but also seeks out the advice of her young employees, who work as stylists at the shop, for trends specific to this year’s prom season.

“The girls told me [to present] white, champagne, royal blue and burgundy, which was really popular last year,” said Burrell.

“We will also see the two-piece silhouette again, just differently… this time a flowyer cropped top with a slimmer bottom.”

A similar color palette with a little more metallic, lace, and subtle gold neutrals, like champagne, will carry into the holiday event and black tie offering at the shop as well. There will even be colorful additions like florals and combinations of orange and pink. In terms of silhouette, an off-theshoulder and always classic mermaid cut will remain available in the inventory in the coming months.

This year, Burrell has continued plans to expand and redefine the Frock Shop’s services: starting this month, she will be adding a rental consignment aspect to the business. She receives calls almost every day from women looking to resell their formal dresses. Keeping the low cost of her selection in mind, she has found a way for renters and dress-sellers to benefit from the consignment. “Frock Shop keeps

consigned dresses and each time it rents a dress out, the consigner receives half of the rental price. Rentals for those dresses start at $125.” Burrell also plans to narrow down her assortment of dresses, offering more sizes in the shop’s “best-rented” styles, while continuing to build out the store’s prom niche, rotate trendier seasonal items such as jumpsuits, and expand bridal occasion offerings.

As a resident of the Bronzeville neighborhood, and someone who got her career started with a black-owned business on the South Side, Burrell values the importance of keeping her business within the community: “If you are a good business in the South Side community, it will come back to you,” she says. Her goal is to move into a larger space by the end of the year while still remaining south of Roosevelt Road. Visit the shop in Pilsen or search their online boutique at frockshopchicago.com Taylor Justin is the founder of The Haute Seeker, a Chicago-based cultural lifestyle blog.

She currently lives in Pilsen and enjoys gallery openings, thrift shopping, and exploring South Side eateries with friends.

POLITICS

Being a Good Neighbor

West Side group leverages the community’s resources to lift up those who need help most

BY LEE EDWARDS

I

f you can pay a kid ten dollars an hour to shovel snow, you could help keep him out of the drug business.

That might sound simple, but it’s one of the core ideas that’s driving the Good Neighbor Campaign, a group of community organizations, churches, and West Side residents who hope to empower their neighbors and transform their community.

The Good Neighbor Campaign (GNC) aims to forge mutually beneficial relationships among Austin residents, creating a safer, more vibrant community, according to Quiwana Bell, chief operating officer of the Westside Health Authority (WHA), and one of the campaign’s primary organizers. The first-year goal of the campaign is to connect at least 1,000 residents to one another by identifying those willing to volunteer or pay their neighbors for goods and services, employ local youth to complete tasks throughout the community, and partner with clergy leaders to “adopt” blocks.

WHA took the initial steps toward launching the GNC last summer by surveying Austin residents about what they wanted to transform in their community, eventually collecting over 500 responses.

“Residents talked about the need to feel connected to the neighbors that are on their block, the institutions within the community, and [the] political process,” said Bell.

By talking to residents, WHA found that among youth who participate in drug sales, some earn as few as forty dollars per week. In a bid to replace drug-related income with legal wages, GNC searches within the community to find people who can pay a comparable hourly wage for household tasks like snow removal. Already, eight snow removers have been hired to clean up blocks

in Austin and Oak Park for a payment of ten dollars per hour. (Young people ages 12 to 24 interested in becoming snow removers should call (773) 378-5034.)

At the campaign’s announcement in October, Lafrance Lucas, 19, an antiviolence advocate and GNC partner, spoke about the hardships Austin youth face.

“I know it sounds crazy, but we’re out here rain, snow, sleet, because [the gun violence] doesn’t stop. If it’s snow time people are getting killed, if it’s fall someone’s still getting killed, if it’s hot someone is still getting killed,” Lucas said to the crowd gathered at shuttered Emmet Elementary School, 5500 W. Madison St. “The main thing is to get everyone out the way from the shootings and try to make everyone successful.”

Two years ago, he was a homeless teen living on the West Side. Today, Lucas credits his WHA mentors for giving him an opportunity to find a job and showing him how the community can work together to lift up its most vulnerable members.

Through GNC, Lucas has assisted other young people in finding jobs at the HandiFoil of America factory in Wheeling, IL, where he works.

As part of GNC, Bell and former president and founder of the WHA, Jacqueline Reed, hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for over one hundred people.

Reed said this campaign is unique in its commitment to crossing divisions in the neighborhood and its focus on resident input.

“The needs are so great and the mountain is so high,” she said. “We have many people with gifts within the neighborhood but they don’t have an opportunity to give them. The Good Neighbor Campaign gives people the

LEE EDWARDS

opportunity to give their gifts.”

As of this month, seven Austin churches have committed to adopting a block through the GNC’s program, according to Bell. She hopes to get one hundred of Austin’s 400plus churches to participate. Churches will hold meetings to connect with the residents and learn the needs and assets of each block, then find out how parishioners can help. The Good Neighbor Campaign meets on the second Tuesday every month at 6 pm at 5437 W. Division St. To learn more about the Good Neighbors Campaign, call the Westside Health Authority at (773)378-1878 or text “goodneighbor” to 94253 to be added to their text-alert list.

This story was produced in collaboration with City Bureau, a Chicago-based journalism lab.

JANUARY 18, 2017 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 11

COLUMN

Notes from the White Rhino Obama’s Chicago farewell speech failed to inspire

Ray Salazar

I

t was January 10. I turned off the Obama Farewell speech at its conclusion in my hometown, feeling dejected and uninspired.

As an Obama supporter, I expected insights and inspiration to deal with the next four—and hopefully not eight—years. But the Obama farewell speech came off not as the call to action he promised but a history lecture without a reasonable, unifying message from a person with privileged opportunities.

Obama’s speeches—since his first big one in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention—have consistently been solid, with stories and sentence structures that appeal to our emotions of hope and grit and unabashed optimism. This time, even his use of parallelism was weak.

The long summary of American history in Obama's speech sounded like that boring lecture we have to sit through in a classroom.

Unlike his past speeches, the old idealized mention of Atticus Finch and George Washington made Obama sound worn out. And let’s face it—he probably is. But this was his last speech as president. We expected much more.

If he had the gusto to humorously celebrate his presidency by dropping the mic at a White House Correspondents Dinner or ridiculing Trump’s personal attacks of him on a late-night show, his message should have been more inspiring.

The speech began Obama-esque. He mentioned his “conversations with [us], the American people—in living rooms and schools; at farms and on factory floors; at diners and on distant outposts.” He said these “are what have kept [him] honest, kept [him] inspired, and kept [him] going.”

But, ironically, his lengthy references to our history of over two centuries took away the impact of his accomplishments: reversing the recession, rebooting the auto industry, unleashing the longest stretch of job creation.

He mentioned opening up a new chapter with Cuban people, and followed with shutting down Iran’s nuclear weapons and taking down Bin Laden.

But all of this—like the 240 years of history—seems so distant, so detached from the immediate uncertain reality we’re facing with a Trump presidency.

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¬ JANUARY 18, 2017

In Obama’s litany of success, under these circumstances, securing health insurance (which many fear will be taken away) and gaining marriage equality seemed anti-climactic.

He mentioned how the “economy is growing again; wages, incomes, home values, and retirement accounts are rising again; poverty is falling again.”

And so many Chicagoans probably thought about the gun violence that is also rising. But Obama didn’t mention this immediate concern of so many in the audience at all.

His first call to action seemed to be “[creating] opportunity for all people.” But he never explained how. In uncertain times with undocumented youth fearing deportation because the government— through Obama’s Executive Order—has their personal information, we’re left unsettled, not moved.

He did challenge us when he said, “It’s become safer to retreat into our own bubbles.” But his mention of race as a social factor, climate change as a reality and believing in the American way of innovation seemed more a directive for Trump than a call to action for us.

But the most jolting part came about two-thirds into his speech where he spoke directly to us and said, “If you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the Internet, try to talk with one in real life.”

Yeah, I’m not going to do that. I’ll exchange opposing views with people I know and respect. But I’m not going up to strangers to talk politics, and I do not want strangers coming up to me.

Obama said, “If something needs fixing, lace up your shoes and do some organizing.”

Yeah, that’s what I try to do every day as a teacher. I organize students to learn, to think for themselves, to write. Give me something new, Obama, because I’ve been doing this for over twenty years and I’m not going anywhere.

He said, “If you’re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself. Show up.

Dive in.”

No, I’m not running for office. It’s not what moves me to work or to be. Let’s be realistic: not just anyone can run for office, especially in Chicago.

Obama’s challenges came off as brusque pokes on a shoulder.

They skeptically questioned our involvement without knowing what we’ve done.

I am sad to see Obama leave office. But on that night, I didn’t feel inspired by our president’s message.

I’ll continue to do what I’ve done to make my community, and, by consequence, hopefully, our country better.

I hoped President Obama would give me a new reason to do what I do and not lose faith in our American way. He didn’t.

The speech came off as individualistic. In this way, the Obama farewell followed American tradition.

His message was more political than inspirational. These days, I’ve had enough with politics.

So I’ll wake up for work tomorrow and continue what I’ve learned to do to find meaning with my American life: look for change in small ways by positively contributing to the lives of people affected by my work and actions.

Two days away from a Trump presidency, that’s all I can do to keep up my hope in America.

ILLUSTRATION BY JAVIER SUAREZ

EVENTS

BULLETIN Farewell, Obama Harper Theatre, 5238 S. Harper Ave. Thursday, January 19, 6pm–9pm. $10. Buy tickets online at bit.ly/FarewellObamaScreening.

(773) 966-5091. blackownedchicago.com Farewell, Obama, presented by Black Owned Chicago, is a documentary project highlighting the stories of those who knew Obama before and during his presidency.

Come celebrate our president one last time through stories, snacks, and discussion.

(Bridget Newsham)

Free Spirit Media Screening: Short Films by Chicago Youth Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. Saturday, January 21, 2pm–4:30pm. Free.

RSVP online at bit.ly/freespiritmedia.

(773) 509-5330. wttw.com At this screening and discussion of two youth-produced documentaries from Free Spirit Media, follow the story of a mother and daughter after their eviction from public housing in Nia & Kim, and join six Chicago teens on their journey to South Africa for a “Peace Exchange” leadership program in Ubuntu: The Peace Exchange.

(Hafsa Razi)

Heritage Series: Latina Rebels Center for Identity and Inclusion, 5710 S. Woodlawn Ave. Monday, January 23, 6pm–7:30pm. Free. (773) 702-5710. omsa.uchicago.edu Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez’s “Latina Rebels” intends to be just as subversive as its name suggests. Rodriguez, the founder of the online community and platform, will present a keynote titled “Woke Brown Girls,” that will include a conversation on postcolonial Latina experiences and unjust expectations. ( Jonathan Hogeback)

The Challenges and Rewards of Foster Parenting Frederick Douglass Branch Library, 3353 W. 13th St. Thursday, January 26, 6:30pm7:30pm. Free. (312) 673-2755.

Children in the foster care system struggle with the traumas of abuse or neglect,

often coupled with the pain of parental separation. This presentation will provide information to adults considering foster parenting about the special needs of foster children and the logistics and legal requirements. (Hafsa Razi)

Born Out of Struggle: Book Talk on the New Dyett School The Seminary Co-op Bookstore, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave. Sunday, January 29, 3pm– 4:30pm. Free. (773) 752-4381. semcoop.com David Omotoso Stovall’s book, Born Out of Struggle: Critical Race Theory, School Creation, and the Politics of Interruption, recounts lessons learned developing a Chicago neighborhood high school, and the benefits reaped from dropping the conceptual for hands-on community engagement in social justice. Head to the Co-op to join Stovall and writer Bill Ayers in discussion about the book. ( Jonathan Hogeback)

VISUAL ARTS White Seam Zhou B Art Gallery, 1029 W. 35th St. Opening reception Friday, January 20, 7pm10pm. Through Friday, February 10. Free.

(773) 523-0200. zhoubartcenter.com Polish designer Agnieszka Kulon brings a multimedia exhibition to the Zhou B Art Center, focusing on her “fascination with the color white.” The exhibit is conveyed through fashion design, video montage, and a set of collaborative projects with fellow Chicago artists in the fields of sculptural painting, video, and sound design. (Austin Brown)

Hecho en CaSa National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th Street. Tuesday–Sunday, 10am– 5pm. Through May 7. (312) 738-1503. nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org Francisco Toledo has spent much of his life founding and developing artistic and cultural institutions in his native Oaxaca.

This retrospective of his work not only celebrates his legacy as a champion of literacy and expression but also showcases his symbolic, politically conscious paintings. ( Jake Bittle) JANUARY 18, 2017 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 13

EVENTS

MUSIC

Riot Grrrls Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave. Through Sunday, June 18.

Tuesday, 10am–8pm; Wednesday–Sunday, 10am–5pm. $12 adults, $7 students; free Tuesdays. (312) 280-2660. mcachicago.org As one would expect judging by the name “Riot Grrrls,” this exhibit is a refreshingly direct challenge to the sexism that has long permeated the art world. This stunning collection features a series of abstract works by eight prolific, pioneering female painters including Mary Heilmann and Charline von Heyl, as well as works from the generation of female artists that followed.

(Bridget Newsham)

Spencer Rogers: Modern Abstractions S. Rog Gallery, 739 S. Clark St., 2nd floor.

Through March 10. Open Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 10am–5pm, and by appointment. Free. (312) 884-1457. sroggallery.com It takes a painter’s imagination to curate an exhibition as dazzling as “Modern Abstractions,” comprised of mind-blowing macro photographs selected for interesting detail and exploded in vibrant, dripping acrylic paint. 125 copies will be made of each of these images, which will be on sale to all attendees. Snacks also provided. (Neal Jochmann)

Onward! Movements, Activists, Politics, and Politicians Uri-Eichen Gallery, 2101 S. Halsted St. Through Friday, February 3 by appointment only. Free. (312) 852-7717. uri-eichen.com Photographer Michael Gaylord James’s exhibit spans fifty-four years of politics, from the Berkeley Free Speech Movement to Black Lives Matter, from JFK in Mexico to Obama at Chicago State. He hopes to show that there’s reason for hope in the long march toward progress. ( Joseph S. Pete)

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606 Records DJ Night Punch House, 1227 W. 18th St. Friday, January 20, 9pm. (312) 526-3851. punchhousechicago.com DJs from independent, new-and-used record store 606 Records in Pilsen will spin the night away with soul, hip-hop, world music, disco, and reggae selections. With this many danceable genres, maybe even the Punch House crowd will start moving.

(Kylie Zane)

City of Caterpillar Reggies Rock Club, 2105 S. State St. Saturday, January 21. Doors at 9pm. $15 or $20 dos. 17+. (312) 949-0121. reggieslive.com It’s hard not to like City of Caterpillar.

Their fusion of post-rock and hardcore will appeal to fans on both sides of the spectrum, and they have some seriously satisfying buildups and breakdowns. Also on the bill: Planes Mistaken for Stars, with recently released album Prey, and 90s-influenced punk rockers All Eyes West.

(Kylie Zane)

Vinyl Strings & Elisa Latrice The Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park Ave. Monday, January 23. Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm. $5. (312) 801-2100. promontorychicago.com The Promontory’s Monday series The Corner is known in the neighborhood for its collaborative and intimate feels. Elisa Latrice promises R&B and blues vibes paired with killer moves, and here’s hoping violinist Vinyl Strings will perform her cover of Twista’s “Overnight Celebrity.”

(Kylie Zane)

STAGE & SCREEN

Acclaimed filmmaker Cristina Ibarra’s Las Marthas explores a one-of-a-kind pageant in the border town of Laredo, Texas, which has a month-long celebration of George Washington’s birthday along with its Mexican twin city, Nuevo Laredo. The Independent Lens documentary follows two debutantes as they prepare for an elite, invitation-only ball. ( Joseph S. Pete).

Under the Sun Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. January 19, 7pm (100 min). Free. (773) 7028596. filmstudiescenter.uchicago.edu The North Korean government invited Russian director Vitaly Mansky to document the story of a girl joining a youth group, and he filmed much more: the scrupulous orchestration of the documentary’s narrative, including the government’s selection of actors and control over the dialogue. Removed from a Museum of Modern Art film festival due to fears of reprisal, Under the Sun juxtaposes the intended image and reality of North Korean life. (Elaine Chen)

Reading Fluxus Film Stony Island Arts Bank, 6760 Stony Island Ave. Friday, January 20, 4pm–6:30pm. Free.

(312) 857-5561. rebuild-foundation.org Fluxus was a radical, experimental art movement in the 1960s that prized concrete poetry, where typography and presentation express more than words. The Arts Bank will screen word-based films from the period in conjunction with UofC Special Collections’ “Concrete Poetry, Concrete Book” exhibit. There's also a hands-on workshop preceding and a panel discussion following the screening. ( Joseph S. Pete)

The Anti-Inauguration: An Emergency Cabaret

Moving Images, Making Cities: Las Marthas

High Concept Labs at Mana Contemporary Chicago, 2233 S. Throop St. Friday, January 20. 7:30pm. $10. highconceptlaboratories.org

Stony Island Arts Bank, 6760 Stony Island Ave. Wednesday, January 18, 7pm. Free.

(312) 857-5561. rebuild-foundation.org

Celebrate the inauguration by learning how to survive the incoming administration. The cabaret-style show includes survival tips,

¬ JANUARY 18, 2017

a reinterpretation of the national anthem, emergency maneuvers, protestors’ legal rights, comedy, and more. The bar will be stocked, as always. (Kylie Zane)

Sonata for 4 Feet Beverly Art Center, 2407 W. 111th St. Friday, January 20, 7pm; Saturday, January 21, 11am, 7pm; Sunday, January 22, 11am. $20, $12 with student ID. (773) 445-3838. beverlyartcenter.org You’ve heard of finger puppets, now get introduced to foot puppets. The puppeteercontortionists at Teatro dei Piedi, or the theatre of feet, will make you laugh and cry with puppets made of their hands, knees, and yes, feet. This family-friendly event is part of the ongoing Chicago Puppet Festival. (Kylie Zane)

The Queen + Lipstick City Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. Friday, January 20, 7pm. Free. (773) 7028596. filmstudiescenter.uchicago.edu The Queen, an almost disappeared legend of queer counterculture film, chronicles the flourishing NYC drag community of the sixties. Lipstick City, a contemporary experimental documentary, follows the stories of Chicago’s leading drag queens of color. Paired together, the two investigate both various queer subcultures and the means of exploring and preserving subculture. (Elaine Chen)

The Inheritance Reading eta Creative Arts, 7558 S. South Chicago Ave., Friday, January 21, 3pm and 7pm. Free.

(773) 752-3955. etacreativearts.org Author-playwright Monica Patton and composer Bobby Daye join forces to bring you The Inheritance, the musical tale of an estranged family reunited in the wake of its matriarch’s death. This latest installment in the eta Magic Box Series may explore the psychological costs of familial relationships, but with free admission, attending won’t cost you a thing. (Michael Wasney)

THE PUBLIC NEWSROOM JANUARY SCHEDULE Thursday, January 19 4pm–8pm: Public Newsroom is open 6pm: Workshop on Storytelling led by Linda Lutton, WBEZ education reporter Thursday, January 26 4pm–8pm: Public Newsroom is open CITYBUREAU.ORG/PUBLICNEWSROOM THE EXPERIMENTAL STATION 6100 S. BLACKSTONE AVE

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JANUARY 18, 2017 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 15