11 minute read
Opinion
OUR VIEW
Ford’s straight talk
In a notably candid conversation last week at Forest Park’s village hall, state Rep. LaShawn Ford sat down with key village leaders to talk about a range of important issues. At the table were Mayor Rory Hoskins, Police Chief Ken Gross, Fire Chief Phil Chiappetta, Administrator Moses Amidei and four village commissioners.
We’ve long admired Ford as a sincere listener and able legislator. We’ve watched as his stature in Springfield has grown, his willingness to engage with the Republican minority has served him well, and his leadership in the Black Caucus has been rightly recognized.
Ford heard directly the concerns of village public safety leaders about persistent calls to the CTA terminals in town, which absorb costly resources of paramedics and police with no possible reimbursement. That conversation led to a followup meeting of the same group this week, after the Review’s print deadline, at the Blue Line terminus.
How to control rowdy funerals was another important local topic.
Most interesting to us though was Ford’s candor in a long conversation about the coming changes in state law as they relate to the end of the cash bail system on Jan. 1. This is a bold and necessary step in which Ford has played a key role.
The law, as passed and since amended, is still imperfect almost everyone would agree. More amendments are likely this fall. That’s good.
Chiappetta asked Ford why legislators acted so quickly and why there were not more discussions and negotiations with law enforcement before it was passed as part of the much broader state SAFE-T act.
Here’s where Ford was most direct and most correct.
Cash bail has been a linchpin of systemic racism in our criminal justice system forever. It plainly punishes people who are Black and Brown and poor. It plainly favors white people of means with the ability to hire solid lawyers and raise bail readily.
This is not a secret.
Ford’s explanation for why the Democrats in the legislature and Gov. J.B. Pritzker pushed this through is entirely accurate and illustrative of why criminal justice must be thoroughly reformed.
“If we didn’t pass something, we wouldn’t have gotten anything from law enforcement. We wouldn’t have gotten a serious conversation,” Ford told local leaders.
Dead on.
Now with cash bail as we have known it disappearing in 90 days, prosecutors and police are eager to talk. We hope they further fine-tune this law and bend it toward justice and safety.
None of this is easy as extreme voices in politics and media churn up lies and fears about what the current law will actually accomplish. The made-up “purge” and the fear-mongering on the loose right now are emblematic of the racism built into our law enforcement and our wider society.
That makes honest talk in Forest Park Village Hall all the more valuable and appreciated.
OPINION
Praise for homogeneity
Michael was observing Rosh Hashana a week ago Sunday, so Pastor Walter Mitty decided to head over to Humboldt Park by himself to check out the Puerto Rican festival going on there.
My word! He felt like he had been transported into another world, and it was just five miles from his home in Poplar Park. Being a white boy from Wisconsin, he not only couldn’t jump, he also felt like he had no rhythm, but the pandereta, guiro, cuarto and timbales in the salsa band made him sway to the sound in spite of himself.
And the food! Lechon asado, platanos maduros, tostenes and arroz y gandules. He had never tasted any of it before but decided to try all of it anyway. When in Rome … It was really good. He imagined these Puerto Ricans would enjoy bratwurst, German potato salad, Berliners and sauerkraut if they ever ventured north to Manitowoc.
He felt like a foreigner but not in a bad way. He did catch a few words he understood like “gracias” and “por favor,” but that didn’t matter. “I can enjoy the ‘music’ even if I don’t understand the lyrics,” he thought to himself.
And no one stared at him like he was an alien. As long as he was willing to enter their world and appreciate it, he felt welcome.
“Shana Tova,” said Pastor Walt when his friend and neighbor answered the next morning.
Mitty said, “Seriously, Michael. Almost everything was different. The smells. The salsa music. The language. I liked being part of it.”
Now it was Mitty’s turn. He felt good about Michael’s willingness to enter into his world for a couple hours, then said, “But you wouldn’t want to come every Sunday.”
The two neighbors pondered that for a minute or two until Michael broke the silence. “You remember when we were young, how integration and diversity was the dream we all had? What God was working for?” “Yeah.” “Well, have you heard that many Puerto Ricans are resisting white people coming into Logan Square and Humboldt Park?” “Sure. But isn’t it because they believe white folks are wealthier and when they gentrify the neighborhood, property values go up and the old residents can
TOM no longer afford to live in their own neighborhood?” HOLMES “Right,” Michael continued, “but isn’t it also a cultural thing? Like people feel comfort when their neighbors speak their heart language and eat the same foods three or four times a week, not just on an occasional trip to an ethnic neighborhood.” “So, you’re saying that homogeneity isn’t a dirty word. Like I was glad that Puerto Ricans had hung onto part of their soul culture even though I sometimes had to work hard to understand what they were saying.” “I guess that’s what I’m trying to get at,” said Michael. “You know how when we were kids we were taught that America is a melting pot where everyone assimilates, but now they talk about being a tossed salad where each ingredient remains distinct.” “Are you saying that the fact that Black kids sit at the same table in the school lunch room is not a sign that our society is falling apart?” Michael nodded, “I think so, Walt. “Like in class all the kids — white, Brown and Black — have to adapt to the school’s culture, but when they’re off the clock, they don’t want to work so hard.” “Hmm,” Mitty said, “maybe that’s one reason why Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week. If it really is a day of rest, we don’t mind if God makes us squirm sometimes, but we want the people sitting in the pews around us to be folks with whom we’re comfortable. “I just thought of Marcus Stromen,” he added. “You mean the Cubs pitcher?” “Yeah,” Mitty replied. “I guess he was born in New York, but he’s going to play for Team Puerto Rico next year in the World Baseball Classic because his mother is Puerto Rican, but he played for the U.S team in 2017. I wonder where he finds soul space?” “E pluribus unum,” said Michael. “How do you unite people who are different?
Honoring rst responders who gave their all
October’s the month we honor first responders. I got an early start honoring firemen this summer. I was on the Riverwalk when a Chicago fireboat named the “Fred A. Busse” cruised downriver. Busse had been the lifelong friend of my greatgrandfather, Fire Marshal James Horan.
We later boarded the fireboat at DuSable Harbor. When the “Busse” was built in 1937, it was the largest diesel-powered fireboat in the world. Previous fireboats had been steam-powered. Their tall profiles necessitated the raising of bridges, delaying their arrival at fires.
The sleek 90-foot-long “Busse” passed under bridges and could navigate in shallow water. It was named for the 39th mayor of Chicago, who held office from 1907 to 1911. During his tenure, Busse appointed his boyhood friend to head the fire department. “Big Jim” Horan was later killed in the 1910 Stockyard Fire, along with 20 of his men. Busse sobbed when he heard the news about his friend.
The “Busse” docked on the river and remained in service until 1981. On the morning of Jan. 16, 1967, a fire broke out at McCormick Place. Two thousand firemen responded to the blaze. They found that four of the seven fire hydrants serving the building were not operational. The firefighters were forced to draft water from Lake Michigan. The city’s three fireboats also responded to the fire, the “Busse” among them. The lake was frozen but the fireboats somehow made it to McCormick Place. The “Busse” had four water cannons that combined to spray 10,000 gallons a minute on the blaze. It took eight hours to control the fire, which completely destroyed the exhibition hall.
After taking the fireboat tour, we went for dinner at The Chicago Firehouse Restaurant, 1401 S. Michigan Avenue. I told the hostess about my “Big Jim” connection and she said she would notify the manager.
The restaurant’s general manager, Shannon Tauschman, showed us a document on her iPad. It was a Chicago Fire Department order, dated Dec. 31, 1906. The order organized four new engine companies, including Engine Company No. 104, at Fourteenth Street and Michigan Avenue. It was signed by James Horan, Fire Marshal and Chief of Brigade.
Tauschman explained how Horan had the firehouse built in 1905 on landfill from
the Great Chicago Fire. This new property also attracted many of the city’s movers and shakers to build mansions along Prairie Avenue. Among them was Marshall Field, who had built the world’s largest store. Field used Tiffany bricks to build his department store. Perhaps that’s why white, glazed Tiffany bricks were used in the construction of the firehouse. The building is also notable for being built with yellow JOHN Indiana limestone, when most firehouses were constructed with common red brick. RICE It remained an active firehouse until 1987 and was one of five firehouses used in the filming of the movie, “Backdraft.” As we left the restaurant, we spotted Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church across the street. My great-grandfather attended Mass at Old St. Mary’s every morning. It was Chicago’s first parish, founded in 1833. The original church was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire. The modern structure at 1500 S. Michigan is the church’s sixth incarnation. This October, we think of all the first responders who keep us safe. Some, like “Big Jim” and his fellow firefighters, paid the ultimate price. A ceremony was also held at Remembrance Park to honor Forest Park Police Officer Michael T. Caufield on the 40th anniversary of his fatal shooting. We honor our first responders and never forget those who have fallen.
A L OOK BA CK IN TIME Radio goes to the market
Located at 7236 Roosevelt Road, Forest Family Foods hosted a promotional radio recording at the grocery store in 1936. The live taping of “Missus Goes to Market,” was sponsored by Automatic Soap Flakes and, while there, they were planning on taping interviews of Forest Park housewives who were shopping that day. The grocery store served as a polling station in the 1930s for precinct 36. It changed hands over the decades, including becoming Cognato’s and later Tonando’s Food Market, which specialized in Italian goods, and later became Forest Park Market in the 1970s.
Jill Wagner
Photo: is photo circa 1948 features Forest Family Foods, 7236 Roosevelt Road, from the archives of the Forest Park Historical Society. Several display ads, including Chester eld, Camay, 7-up, Scott tissue, Philip Morris, Apple butter and Armour meats can be seen in the windows.
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