Mayor Andre Harvey, trailblazer

And he has the personal scars to show for it

By TOM HOLMES Contributing Reporter

Andre Harvey, mayor of Bellwood, was asked by the Proviso Township Ministerial Alliance Network (PTMAN) to speak on the subject of trailblazing at their Feb. 11 virtual Zoom meeting.

He began with a summary of his professional career in Bellwood: 2017 - elected as first Black mayor;

2010 - first Black director of public safety;

1996 - first Black fire chief;

1988 - first Black firefighter.

As impressive as his resume may have been, it was what he said in the remainder of the 15 minutes allotted to him that deeply resonated with the mostly African American online audience.

“In the movie Roots,” he began, “Kunta Kinte took off his shirt and showed the scars on his back, so people would know how he got there. I want to tell everyone how I got here, so I’m going to take off my shirt and show my scars.

“Two trailblazers who came before me were my parents, who moved our family from the West Side of Chicago to Bellwood in 1969. We were the first Black family on our block.”

The U.S. Census records show that African Americans comprised 1.1% of the population of Bellwood back then. It’s now 70.5% Black. Harvey understated the impact the move had on him at 5 years old, calling the change, “a little different” and “eye opening.”

“Moving from the concrete jungle of the West Side, with its dirt lots

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