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AUSTIN WEEKLY news ■ Austin church gives out scholarships to deserving students, PAGE 8
Vol. 32 No. 34
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August 22, 2018
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austinweeklynews.com
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As the A th spirit pi it movedd Aretha, page 10
Galewood bakery sued for racial bias Plant was target of protests by Oak Park, Chicago activists last year By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
A West Side man has filed a class action lawsuit against a company he claims engaged in a complicated scheme to avoid hiring African Americans at two of its bakeries, including one it once owned in the Galewood neighborhood. Anthony Stewart claims that Aryzta, LLC, which owned Cloverhill Bakery, 2035 N. Narragansett Ave., before selling the factory to Hostess in February, deliberately avoided hiring black laborers at its Galewood and Cicero plants. Activists from the West Side and Oak Park converged on Cloverhill last year to protest against what they claimed were Aryzta’s many labor violations. The plant makes inexpensive packaged products like honey buns and glazed donuts. According to the lawsuit, filed Aug. 6, Aryzta entered “into a conspiracy with two staffing agencies, Labor Network and Metro Staffing, in order to redirect laborers seeking work assignments from the Aryzta plants to the two staffing agencies and utilize the staffing agencies to segregate out African American laborers and to provide Aryzta with its preferred laborers, Hispanic laborers.” The lawsuit also alleges that Aryzta tried to See LAWSUIT on page 6
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
All smiles
A group of dancers walk along the route on Saturday, during Congressman Danny Davis’ annual Back 2 School parade on Central Avenue in Austin.
Homicides down in Austin
Alderman credits police work and community By BLAIR PADDOCK AustinTalks
Once it was a hot spot for gun violence and drug trafficking, but now Hubbard Park is teeming with drum circles, barbecues and community bonding. What’s happening at Hubbard Park is
happening elsewhere in Austin – which has seen a drop in homicides so far this year compared to 2017. As of Aug. 16, there have been 42 homicides, according to the Chicago Sun-Times homicide database. That’s compared to 49 homicides from Jan. 1 through Aug. 1, 2017, according to the city of Chicago’s data portal. “In the 29th Ward, we’ve seen a huge decrease in the murders halfway through,” said Ald. Chris Taliaferro, who was a sergeant for the Chicago Police Department before being elected to the city council in
2015. “I attribute those successes to hard police work, but more importantly, also our communities getting involved.” Taliaferro attributed the growing bond between officers and community members as a force driving down the violence. There has been higher attendance at CAPS meetings and more people working alongside police to solve crimes. Community members are not only working with police representatives, they are
Austin Chamber of Commerce on the move... 773.854.5848 • www.austinchicagochamber.com
See HOMICIDES DOWN on page 5