Tuesday was the anniversary of the 1969 assassination of Fred Hampton, the 21-year-old leader of the Chicago Black Panther Party. Fifty-four years ago, when I first saw the next morning’s Washington Post headline, I was instantly convinced that the Chicago police had done it, that they were lying about it and that they would getContinue reading “Immediately. Forever. In the Middle of the Night.”
Category Archives: chicago history
The Wrongness of Being Black
Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash Over glasses of wine at a summery party, a bright, friendly woman asked about my memoir, White Wife/Blue Baby. She knew I’d married across the color line — the phrase “white wife” doesn’t leave much room for doubt. But she was unfamiliar with the phrase I’d used in the title’s other half. I toldContinue reading “The Wrongness of Being Black”
White Wife/Blue Baby
I’m using the title White Wife/Blue Baby for my forthcoming memoir. When the phrase first hit me, my psychological hair stood on end. I married across the color line in ‘68, and our daughter was born not getting enough oxygen, two facts with ambulance sirens attached to them. When I first referred to my titleContinue reading “White Wife/Blue Baby”
Today April 4 MLK’s Anniversary
Today April 4 MLK’s Anniversary Fifty-five years ago today I found out that Martin Luther King had been shot when I heard someone snickering and snorting. A man was walking by the hospital room of the friend I’d come to visit. We could hear the crackle of the transistor radio the guy was listening to,Continue reading “Today April 4 MLK’s Anniversary”
The Wind’s Fault
Photo by Khamkéo Vilaysing on Unsplash Learning the Palmer Method took everything I had. No matter how slowly I went, no matter how carefully I concentrated on the fat, gorgeous script on the blackboard, my capital letters came out squashed like bread packed in the bottom of a grocery bag. And wrapping your mouth aroundContinue reading “The Wind’s Fault”
Coming to a Bookstore near You!
The good news – the stomp-and-yell good news — is that my memoir, White Wife/Blue Baby, has been accepted for publication. When will it come out, everyone asks. It’s too early to know. But it’s in the queue at All Things That Matter Press. (https://allthingsthatmatterpress.com/) When I got the ATTM email message stating, “We wantContinue reading “Coming to a Bookstore near You!”
White Girl Mistakes: The Gun
The doorbell finally rang. I’d been waiting, hurt, while my entirely Midwestern baked chicken and Idaho potatoes dinner cooled in the kitchen. I was going to definitely tell Emmon how I felt. But when I swung the door open, he came in hurriedly with hunched shoulders and without meeting my eyes. Sitting on the edgeContinue reading “White Girl Mistakes: The Gun”
Buffalo
On a Saturday in May in Buffalo, ten people died trying to buy groceries. Survivors told us how it happened: Blacks hunted down in the aisles and blasted with what was essentially a weapon of war, a young guy with curly brown hair carrying out his grisly mission. As Ta-Nehisi Coates has told us, LatinateContinue reading “Buffalo”
White Girl Mistakes #5
We arrived in DC as fugitives from the law. Emmon had jumped bail after cops staked out our apartment and arrested him for unpaid parking tickets. Tsunamis happened often in Black Chicago; there was no point in counting on things not being swept away. So when we rolled up to his old friend Vernon’s new,Continue reading “White Girl Mistakes #5”
White Girl Mistakes #4
Our Saturday newspaper was folded to the real estate section, and I was wearing my trusty Keds. In the sixties, a lot of Chicago apartment leases ended October 1, so September was like a city-wide game of musical chairs, with the best places going to the quickest, most organized players. The bright morning skiesContinue reading “White Girl Mistakes #4”
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