Village Free Press_022625 by The Village Free Press

‘You Can’t Get Blood Out of a Turnip’

Congressman Danny K. Davis sounds the alarm on Republican plans to cut essential programs like Medicaid and Medicare

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

On Feb. 25, the U.S. House adopted a budget plan that entails up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and nearly $900 billion in cuts—“nearly half of the $2 trillion in spending reductions that Republican leaders have promised their most conservative members that they will include in the legislation to offset the cost of the tax cuts,” the New York Times reported.

Republicans have instructed “the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid and Medicare, to come up with nearly $900 billion in cuts, roughly “half of the $2 trillion in spending reductions that Republican leaders have promised their most conservative members that they will include in the legislation to offset the cost of the tax cuts,” the New York Times reported.

“While some Republicans denied that they would slash programs for the poor, the amount of revenue they are calling to raise would all but certainly necessitate cuts to at least one of those programs,” the Times said.

On Feb. 26, Congressman Danny K. Davis spoke with The Village Free Press over the phone from Washington, D.C. The congressman sounded the alarm on what those drastic cuts to social programs might mean for Proviso Township.

Elected officials from across Proviso Township gathered on Feb. 23 for the official groundbreaking ceremony for the Hillside Senior Apartments.

Black Economic Boycotts of the Civil Rights Era Offer Lessons on How To Achieve a Just Society

Successful boycotts in the past demonstrate that major legislative reform requires mass disruption outside the electoral and legislative spheres

BY KEVIN YOUNG

The Conversation

Signed into law 60 years ago, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination in the U.S. based on “race, color, sex, religion, or national origin.”

Yet, as a historian who studies social movements and political change, I think the law’s most important lesson for today’s movements is not its content but rather how it was achieved.

As firsthand accounts from the era make clear, the movement won because it directly hurt the interests of white business owners. The 1955 Montgomery bus

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Elected officials from across Proviso Township were in Hillside on Feb. 23 to officially mark the groundbreaking for the Hillside Senior Apartments at 547 Taft Ave. in Hillside. In 2023, the village board approved the Planning and Zoning Board’s recommendation for constructing the 42-unit facility on the grounds of an unoccupied church.

The Village Free Press is published digitally and in print by John Wilk Communications LLC. The print edition is distributed across Proviso Township at no charge each week. © 2025 John Wilk Communication LLC

Hillside Mayor Joe Tamburino speaks during the Feb. 23 groundbreaking.

COURTESY SPEAKER WELCH

BOYCOTTS

Important tools

from page 1

boycott, the 1963 boycott of Birmingham businesses, and many lesser-known local boycotts inflicted major costs on local business owners and forced them to support integration.

The conventional narrative

A view common among scholars, activists, and the general public holds that the Civil Rights Movement succeeded because violent attacks against peaceful Black protesters mobilized white public opinion in the movement’s favor.

One of the most famous incidents occurred in Birmingham, Ala., in May 1963, when the city’s public safety commissioner, Eugene “Bull” Connor, turned fire hoses and dogs on Black demonstrators.

The conventional wisdom is that Connor’s actions outraged Northern whites, and in response, the Kennedy administration sent federal troops to Birmingham and a civil rights bill to Congress.

But this view misunderstands the source of the movement’s power.

For one thing, it overstates public sympathy for the Civil Rights Movement. Three months after the attacks against Black protesters in Birmingham, for instance, almost two-thirds of the public opposed the famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom of August 1963.

Moreover, the Kennedy administration predicted that civil rights legislation would hurt the Democrats electorally. “The President never had any illusions about the political advantages of equal rights,” wrote Kennedy aide Arthur Schlesinger in his memoir “A Thousand Days.” “But he saw no alternative” given the movement’s actions. So what were those actions?

Black organizers aimed to inflict maximal disruption on the white power structure, particularly economic elites. As Martin Luther King Jr. later recounted, “The political power structure listens to the economic power structure.”

By disrupting white businesses, often in a highly organized way, Black activists won social change.

A ‘devastatingly effective’ weapon

Economic boycotts in Southern cities such as Birmingham and Nashville, Tenn., played crucial roles during the civil rights era.

A 20-month boycott by Black shoppers of

downtown businesses in Greenwood, Mississippi, brought legal changes to the city’s hiring practices in 1964.

The most famous boycott occurred in 1955–56 in Montgomery, Alabama, where the nearly 13-month protest against segregated public transportation caused the city’s bus service to lose an estimated US$3,000 a day in fares.

Black people made up about 75% of public transportation riders. Instead of using city buses, they walked, formed car pools and used Black-owned taxi services. The boycott ended on Dec. 20, 1956, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Browder v. Gayle that segregation on buses was unconstitutional. By 1960, civil rights organizers widely embraced this “economic weapon to fight segregation,” reported the national magazine Business Week.

Participants during the 1968 March on Washington. History shows that in addition to protests and demonstrations, economic boycotts have been pivotal to advancing critical civil rights legislation. See

Three years later, Time magazine wrote that boycotts had proved “devastatingly effective” in pushing white business owners

and government officials to desegregate.

In Birmingham, for example, real estate tycoon Sidney Smyer led the elite push for integration. Smyer was a staunch racist, but he capitulated amid the boycott and related disruption.

“I’m still a segregationist,” he said in May 1963, but “I’m not a damn fool.”

During five weeks of boycotts, sit-ins and marches, Birmingham businesses had lost millions in sales.

Smyer and his fellow executives decided to cut their losses by integrating. They then dragged along the politicians, judges, school administrators and law enforcement officials.

That had been civil rights strategists’ plan from the start.

According to civil rights organizer Abraham Woods, they hoped that business owners hurt by the boycott in Birmingham would “pressure the city” to integrate.

Andrew Young, an adviser to King, later

said that “Bull Connor made the impact greater, but the dynamics would have taken effect without Bull Connor and the dogs. … When the demonstrations were so massive and the economic withdrawal program was so tight, literally, the town was paralyzed.”

Changing the law after Birmingham

The Birmingham victory inspired other Black people to rise up. Kennedy’s Department of Justice reported another 2,062 Black protests in 40 states by the end of 1963. It also led Kennedy – 28 months into his presidency – to propose a civil rights bill, in June 1963.

Even as he tried to dissuade Black leaders from marching on Washington, Kennedy admitted that the disruptive boycotts and

on page 4

BOYCOTTS

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protests “had made the executive branch act faster and were now forcing Congress to entertain legislation,” as Schlesinger reported in his book “A Thousand Days.”

Kennedy also feared the radicalization of Black consciousness after Birmingham. If the federal government didn’t deliver moderate reform, the “colored masses” might embrace “the mindless radicalism of the Negro militants,” as Schlesinger described the president’s logic.

Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963 meant the civil rights bill fell to his successor, Lyndon Johnson. After a heated battle in Congress, Johnson signed the bill into law on July 2, 1964.

By causing massive and sustained disruption to ruling-class interests, particularly businesses, Black organizers who were formally excluded from political power were able to force legal change.

The lesson is that major legislative reform requires mass disruption outside the electoral and legislative spheres. Without that disruption, it will be very difficult to win any law that negatively affects entrenched powerholders.The Conversation Kevin A. Young is an associate history professor at UMass Amherst. Originally published in 2024, this article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

A document showing Rosa

prints when she was booked in an Alabama jail after refusing to give up her bus seat.

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PUBLIC DOMAIN

Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

Parks’ finger

DANNY DAVIS

‘People will suffer’ from

page 1

On Trump’s and Musks’ plans for ‘reengineering government’

The whole idea that Trump and Musk came up with—reengineering government is what they’re calling it—is the most ridiculous, draconian, ill-fated, unbelievable disruption that our country has seen in modern times. It is unbelievable, quite frankly, that they would do this, and yet they are doing it, with the idea of seemingly letting the chips fall as they fall. Of course, they’re falling on the most vulnerable people in our society, but they’re also falling on everybody—even people who don’t think they’re in the pathway of vulnerability. For example, if their plan to cut Medicaid goes through [it will drastically impact] Illinois, where 56% of all the federal funding we get comes through Medicaid. Medicaid is not just a few poor people, it is [the healthcare system]. Just in my district alone, there are 23 hospitals. Some of those are disproprotionate share hospitals, meaning a disproportionate share of their patients’ bills get paid by either Medicare or Medicaid. Then consider all the nurses and people with disabilities. There is no way that this wouldn’t be a serious disruption—not only of the services but of the wider economy. If patients can’t go to the doctor then doctors can’t get paid. So one may think it’s only the patient affected but the doctor is also susceptible to the impact. This is all about trying to make sure that there is a big tax break, a tax cut for the wealthiest 1% of the people in this country— people who make over $740,000 a year. That certainly is not us. In my district, there are 246,000 people (102,000 children) on Medicaid, and many of them—all of them quite frankly—could lose their healthcare coverage if this becomes the budget. It’s hard to believe that they would be this heartless just to do one thing—to give a tax break to wealthiest in the country …

What power does the Democratic Party have right now in the face of these Republican assaults on government?

We say this and we mean it even though people think we mean something else, but the power is in the people. The Democrats are 215 individuals collectively working together but the power is in the people–even in those in Republican districts. All of us Democrats voted against the budget, every last one of us voted against it. Every Democrat in the House. So it takes some Republicans to join in and people are beginning to push back at their Republi-

can representatives. We think all of this combined is going to put us in a better position as we continue to negotiate and get this changed so it does not become the absolute plan for spending for the next year.

There’s movement and its good that people are raising their voices, pushing their representatives to have more impact and input and that’s what these people with public voices are doing but it also takes the other side.

According to a recent Politico report, “Democratic leaders “now face a dilemma: Do they hold firm, refrain from bailing Republicans out and allow an unpopular [government] shutdown? Or do they fold and risk the ire of liberal voters eager to see the party stand their ground against Trump and Musk?” Democrats have about two weeks to decide on this. What do you think the Democratic Party should do?

We hope that the Republicans will have changed their position on many of these issues by that time. So we don’t know what will

happen when we get to that point. But Democrats are not going to back off our principles. We’re not going to back off of knowing that we can’t leave these vulnerable people, our constituents, drifting and not knowing what they’re going to be able to do. We are prepared to fight to the finish. What the outcome will be, we can’t determine that right now. But we’re going to fight to the finish.

What roles can state lawmakers play in the situation happening in Washington, D.C.?

Everybody has to figure out a way to manage the affairs of their entity. Illinois is fortunate that our state legislature and governor have been doing a great job as far as I can determine. Gov. JB Pritzker has stated that he’s in the fight and Illinois is going to do the best it can do by its people. But it is going to get those resources from the federal government that we know should be forthcoming. We will fight to be treated fairly, with dignity and respect, and to get from the federal government what we’re due.

Can you help people understand the implications of the funding cuts that Republicans are proposing? What will happen if that money doesn’t come?

People will suffer, be sick, and not be able to get healthcare. People will die if they don’t get the care they need. Children will go hungry. People will be petrified. It will be very painful, so we’re trying to prevent as much of that pain from occuring as we can. But yes, it will be very disastrous. It will be terrible because you can’t get blood out of a turnip. You need the resources. This is the richest country in the world, the most sophisticated country in the world so there should be no reason we can’t feed our people and provide healthcare for them, that we can’t provide medicine for senior citizens. We can do this, we just have to make sure that this administration, even though they may be in the majority, understand that it has a responsibility to take care of the needs of the people and we’ll keep pushing them to the point where we hope that’s what they will do.

Congressman Danny K. Davis at a candidates’ forum in Austin several years ago. He’s raising the alarms about the devastation Republican funding cuts might have on residents in Illinois.

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENTCHANCERY DIVISION

WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A. Plaintiff, -v.-

BRENDA J. LEONARD, UNITED STATES OF AMERICADEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, CACH, LLC S/I/I TO PROVIDIAN NATIONAL, STEVE ANTHONY MURRAY, GREGORY L. MURRAY, MARVIN G. MURRAY, KENNETH L. MURRAY, KELVIN MURRAY, TRACY N. MURRAY BUTLER, LATOYA JENKINS, JOHN LYDON, AS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR ELLEN MURRAY (DECEASED)

Defendants 13 CH 020380 424 49TH AVENUE BELLWOOD, IL 60104

NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY

GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on June 23, 2015, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on March 27, 2025, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker, 1st Floor Suite 35R, Chicago, IL, 60606, sell at a public in-person sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 424 49TH AVENUE, BELLWOOD, IL 60104

Property Index No. 15-08-307-0140000

The real estate is improved with a residence.

Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court.

Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale.

Where a sale of real estate is made to satisfy a lien prior to that of the United States, the United States shall have one year from the date of sale within which to redeem, except that with respect to a lien arising under the internal revenue laws the period shall be 120 days or the period allowable for redemption under State law, whichever is longer, and in any case in which, under the provisions of section 505 of the Housing Act of 1950, as amended (12 U.S.C. 1701k), and subsection (d) of section 3720 of title 38 of the United States Code, the right to redeem does not arise, there shall be no right of redemption.

The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are

admonished to check the court file to verify all information.

If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1).

IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW.

You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales.

For information, examine the court file, CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL, 60527 (630) 794-9876 THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION

One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236SALE

You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100 BURR RIDGE IL, 60527 630-794-5300

E-Mail: pleadings@il.cslegal.com

Attorney File No. 14-13-19641

Attorney ARDC No. 00468002

Attorney Code. 21762

Case Number: 13 CH 020380

TJSC#: 45-460

NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Case # 13 CH 020380 I3261375

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENTCHANCERY DIVISION

U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE, SUCCESSOR IN INTEREST TO STATE STREET BANK AND TRUST COMPANY, AS TRUSTEE FOR GSMPS MORTGAGE LOAN TRUST 1999-1 Plaintiff, -v.-

JERRALD LEE KENNEDY AKA

JERRALD KENNEDY AKA

JERRALD L. KENNEDY, SCHULAR

E. KENNEDY AKA SCHULAR

KENNEDY, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NON-RECORD CLAIMANTS

Defendants 16 CH 11114

2341 SOUTH 16TH AVENUE

BROADVIEW, IL 60155

NOTICE OF SALE

PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY

GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on February 26, 2018, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on March 17, 2025, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker, 1st Floor Suite 35R, Chicago, IL, 60606, sell at a public in-person sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate:

Commonly known as 2341 SOUTH 16TH AVENUE, BROADVIEW, IL 60155

Property Index No. 15-22-209-0070000

The real estate is improved with a single family residence.

The judgment amount was $100,058.98.

Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale.

The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information.

If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1).

For information, contact The sales clerk, LOGS Legal Group LLP Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 2801 LAKESIDE DRIVE,

SUITE 207, Bannockburn, IL, 60015 (847) 291-1717 For information call between the hours of 1pm - 3pm.. Please refer to file number 18-089312. THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION

One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236SALE

You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

LOGS Legal Group LLP 2801 LAKESIDE DRIVE, SUITE 207 Bannockburn IL, 60015

847-291-1717

E-Mail: ILNotices@logs.com

Attorney File No. 18-089312

Attorney Code. 42168

Case Number: 16 CH 11114

TJSC#: 45-337

Case # 16 CH 11114 I3260550

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENTCHANCERY DIVISION

Citigroup Mortgage Loan Trust Inc. Assed-Backed Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2007-AMC2; U.S. Bank National Association, as Trustee Plaintiff vs. Michael Reed; City of Chicago;

Defendant 20 CH 3433

CALENDAR 58

NOTICE OF SALE

PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure entered in the above entitled cause

Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on March 18, 2025, at the hour 11:00 a.m., Intercounty’s office, 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, IL 60602, sell to the highest bidder for cash, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 15-16-200-075-0000.

Commonly known as 3101 Monroe Street, Bellwood, IL 60104. The real estate is: single family residence. If the subject mortgaged real estate is a unit of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by subsection (g-1) of Section 18.5 of the Condominium Property Act. Sale terms: At sale, the bidder must have 10% down by certified funds, balance within 24 hours, by certified funds. No refunds. The property will NOT be open for inspection. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information. For information call Sales Department at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Manley Deas Kochalski LLC, One East Wacker Drive, Suite 1250, Chicago, Illinois 60601. (614) 220-5611. 20-003431 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3260395