Businesses, white people must lead on racial progress

It was about 40 years ago, and the memory of the faces has faded, but the words have stayed on.

I was a young reporter for the Southtown Economist covering what was then a summer ritual of depressing regularity, a racial confrontation in Marquette Park on the Southwest Side.

Black demonstrators and their white supporters were marching into the park from the east, demanding open housing, better schools, access to a beautiful park and the right to live in a normally quiet neighborhood with neat homes and two-flats. Other white people massed along the route to let them know they weren’t wanted.

Yes, every imagined slur was in the air. I recall there was little violence, but the threat of it came from the counter-demonstrators. A line of police protected the marchers and took abuse from the white agitators.

As is common on the Southwest Side, church steeples were prominent in the surrounding blocks, and the marchers’ route took them past Holy Cross Hospital. I saw a priest threading his way through the crowd, and I asked him what he made of the confrontation. He practically ran away from me.

I approached a couple of shouting counter-demonstrators for their opinions. A semicircle formed around me, not in a hostile way, but out of eagerness. They wanted to talk to a white reporter from a local outlet they thought might be friendly. Even in those days, angry whites felt the downtown media were against them.

Their words had a stabbing pitch. “They” had forced them out of the old neighborhoods. “They” had ruined Sherman Park and made it unsafe. “They” had let the parishes to the east decline. “They” brought down the schools. “They” cost white residents when homes were sold at a loss.

With this group, there was no distinguishing content of character from color of skin. There could be no admission that not everyone had their privileges and access and that white disinvestment — by businesses, institutions and everyday people — was part of the problem.

I walked into the park. Along came a lone white man carrying an anti-racism sign. A crowd formed, tore the sign from him and knocked him to the ground. I was afraid he’d be beaten up, only there was a distraction in the distance and the attackers departed, but not before a rhythmic and racist chant for the man, who was Jewish.

When the mind unleashes the dogs of hate, the target could be anyone.

I’ve been thinking of those people a lot lately. If the white protesters are still with us, they’d be in their 60s or 70s now, maybe retired in the suburbs, Florida, Arizona or who knows.

I wonder what they’d think of themselves back then and how they’d react to the TV images of the riots and looting that took their greatest toll in Black neighborhoods. I’m afraid it would be more “theys” — there they go again, they can’t take care of what they have, etc.

Can white people do better in their reactions and sympathy? We could if we weren’t so quick to self-segregate in where we live, worship and work. The leadership to change, to avoid having the recent looting condemn areas to deeper poverty, has to come from the top of the power structure.

This Chicagoan wants to see businesses lead the way, and not by outsourcing their conscience with a check to a foundation or a downtown charity ball, where they don’t have to meet the people they say they want to help.

This has to involve on-the-ground efforts to bring training, jobs and investment opportunities where they are needed, with different industries and competitors pulling together for an all-purpose economic resource. One template could be the local health centers pioneered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, one in Pullman and another due in Morgan Park.

The banks have a responsibility here; an excellent WBEZ and City Bureau report documented how they bypass minority areas in Chicago while lavishing loans on white neighborhoods. They wrote the old racial covenants and profited from the real estate blockbusting that re-segregated some neighborhoods in the blink of an eye. They owe people.

Please, hold the politicians’ involvement to a bare minimum. They want control, credit and contributions.

This should be a private-sector commitment to results with urgency and without conceit. Its basis should be an understanding that we can’t afford racism and inequality anymore.

That old Marquette Park mob might not be much help here. Their racism stems from isolationism. A younger, bolder and more diverse generation, whether in a C-level executive suite or not, must answer the call to be better.