Blacks Must Control Their Own Community
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To The Unconquerable Host of Africans Who Are Laying Their Sacrifices Upon The Editorial Altar For Their Race Audited by
VOLUME LXXII NUMBER 36—SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2012
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PUBLISHED SINCE 1940
25 Cents and worth more
Stories that made the headlines in 2012 By Wendell Hutson As the year comes to an end the Chicago Crusader reflects upon the top stories that affected the Black community both good and bad. JANUARY Walmart Stores Inc. opened its first South Side store at 8301 S. Holland Road in the West Chatham neighborhood. This followed a West Side store that opened in 2006 and a Walmart Express also located in West Chatham that opened July 2011. The nation’s largest retailer now plans to open several more stores in Black communities including one in Englewood and Pullman. FEBRUARY The U.S. Postal Service honored the late John H. Johnson, founder of Ebony and Jet magazines, with a forever stamp. Johnson is the first Black Chicagoan to have a forever stamp named after him, according to Mark Reynolds, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service. MARCH While Corey Brooks said he would continue his quest to redevelop a shuttered South Side motel, he ended fasting after spending 94 days sleeping on top of its roof. Three months before Brooks, pastor of New Beginnings Church, 6625 S. King Drive, began his journey to raise $450,000, which was needed to purchase the motel’s (Super 8) land, so the church could then demolish the building that had become an eyesore for the community far too long, said Brooks, 34. APRIL The Rev. Addie Wyatt, 88, died at Advocate Trinity Hospital on the South Side after a long illness, according to Marilyn Cannon,
Rev. Wyatt’s administrative aide. And since moving to Chicago from Mississippi in 1930, Wyatt had lived on the South Side. MAY Oak Brook-based McDonald’s Corp. announced that on July 1 Don Thompson, former president, would become McDonald’s Corp.’s first Black chief executive officer. He replaced Jim Skinner, who retired. JUNE A new, 167,000 square foot community center opened on Chicago’s Far South Side, which could easily be described as a ‘Walmart’ type complex. That’s because the $47 million Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center at 1250 W. 119th St. in the West Pullman community offers so many programs, services and amenities that it rivals any community center or social service organization in the city. JULY In 2002, the former Cook County Hospital was renamed after a Black man, and in July the Cook County Criminal Courts Building was also renamed after a Black man. The county’s flagship hospital at 1900 W. Polk St. is named after the late John H. Stroger Jr., who was the former president of the Cook County Board. And retired Cook County Judge George N. Leighton, Illinois’ first Black Appellate Court justice, attended the ceremony for the official renaming of the Criminal Courts Building at 2650 S. California Ave. as “The Honorable George N. Leighton Criminal Courts Building.” Edward and Betty Gardner had a South Side street (87th and Dobson Avenue) renamed after them. The Gardners founded the former Soft Sheen Products Co. located in the Chatham community on the South Side for over 20 years, before it was sold in 1998 to L’Oreal. AUGUST One of Chicago’s most popular, Black newspaper columnists retired after (Continued on page 6)
THE CRUSADER NEWSPAPER GROUP made Christmas a little brighter for hospitalized children at La Rabida Children’s Hospital (inset) when they collected new toys and delivered them in time for St. Nick to distribute them. Dorothy R. Leavell, Publisher of the newspapers published in Chicago and Gary, and Michele Armand, Child Life Specialist at La Rabida, display some of the toys received from partygoers at the Crusader’s holiday party. (More photos on pages 10 and 11)