A shout-out to Clinée Hedspeth, new head of Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events

A local author praises Hedspeth, who helped him when Hedspeth was a director at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center.

By Letters to the Editor

A man walks near the entrance of the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center. — The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center on the South Side. Clinée Hedspeth, the new commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, served as director of curatorial services there.

In the spring of 2018, Clinée Hedspeth, the city’s new cultural affairs and special events commissioner, was the curatorial services director at what’s now called the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center when she graciously responded to my queries to have master muralist William Walker’s final public work, the 24-foot-long “Paul Robeson Mural,” temporarily taken out of storage so a photographer and I could view its six panels in full.

The 1988 mural was removed from the walls of the Third Unitarian Church in Austin in 2004 and finally donated to the museum in 2017 with hopes that it could be publicly seen again. (I had only seen individual panels there under wraps.) The church donated the mural because, among other factors, it couldn’t afford the conservation costs, though the oil-on-Masonite work wasn’t too badly degraded.

The panels highlighted key scenes from the life, art and struggles of the internationally acclaimed entertainer and activist, including his anti-lynching crusades and confrontations against Klansmen and 1950s House Un-American Activities Committee inquisitors.

Ms. Hedspeth was generous with her time and help, engaged with the task as handlers moved the heavy panels out of storage and into the Roundhouse, and, as I remember, was captivated by the convoluted history of this little-known Chicago treasure. I wish her the best in her new position, with hopes she could help bring Bill Walker’s mural out of storage again and into the museum for wider public display.

Jeff W. Huebner, Humboldt Park; author, “Walls of Prophecy and Protest: William Walker and the Roots of a Revolutionary Public Art Movement”

Chicago’s Cultural Affairs department gets a new boss, just in time for summer events

Don’t be soft on crime

If there was an award for most intelligent, cogent letter to the editor of the year, Sharon Novickas’ March 20 comments (“Crime, but no punishment”) on the hardships facing citizens who play by the rules would be a strong contender for the grand prize.

Every point she makes is spot on. Those of us who believe in the core values of the Democratic Party must make it crystal-clear that we do not countenance criminal behavior in any of its manifestations. Otherwise, we will be playing into the hands of the radical right.

Samuel C. Small, Roseland

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Abusive cops overshadow good ones

With yet another multi-million dollar settlement for Chicago Police abuse, most cops get it. It’s still almost impossible to fire bad street officers. Instead, they get desk jobs and a fat pension. In the past two decades or so, paying out to people who so clearly were abused is right. Pity the thousands of ignored victims. Sadly, word of a great cop’s action so often is unheard while details of rotten behavior is quietly shared among neighbors endlessly.

Karen Kennedy, Winnetka (formerly of Chicago)