Chicago Politics

This essay examines the late 1960s politicization of the gang-turned-militant Young Lords Organization (YLO) by highlighting moments in the group’s history that are characterized by dramatic struggles to claim space in order to mobilize activism against urban renewal in Chicago’s Lincoln Park. The YLO’s protests reveal the intensity of its members’ allegiance to their neighborhood, challenging assumptions that Puerto Rico was the definitive spatial frame of reference in the development of US Puerto Rican radicalism.

In recent years, undocumented youth have come out of the shadows to claim their rights in the United States. By sharing their stories, these youth gained a voice in the public debate. This article integrates insights from the literature on narratives and emotions to study how story- telling is employed within the undocumented youth movement in Chicago. I argue that un- documented youth strategically use storytelling for diverging purposes depending on the context, type of interaction, and audience involved. Based on ethnographic research, I show that storytelling allows them to incorporate new members, mobilize constituencies, and legitimize grievances. In each of these contexts, emotions play a key role in structuring the social transaction between storyteller and audience. Storytelling is thus a community-building, mobilizing, and claims-making practice in social movements. At a broader level, this case study demonstrates the power of storytelling as a political tool for marginalized populations.

This is my book review of Jan Doering, Us Versus Them, about two contested communities on the North Side of Chicago, Rogers Park, and Uptown.  As elsewhere it explores the question of whether or not the fear and rumors of crime pose a greater societal problem than the actual facts of crime.

This doctoral dissertation seeks to explain, from an organizational standpoint, the causes and mechanisms that have led to different types and levels of political mobilization of Mexican immigrant communities in Houston and Chicago. How and why is political mobilization of Mexican immigrants different in Chicago and Houston? To address this question, this research assesses the role of both local and transnational structures in the process of migrant political mobilization.

Data for this work was obtained from in-situ historical research, analysis of secondary sources, and more than 120 interviews that took place mostly in Houston and Chicago, between February and July 2002. Interviewees include leaders, activists, organizers, chairmen, and priests within a wide range of organizational backgrounds: community-based organizations, service providers, unions, church-based organizations, chambers of commerce, civic associations, and Mexican state federations. Immigration scholars, officials from the Mexican Consulate, city officials in both cities, and several local and state politicians were also interviewed.

    Main Findings

-  In addition to Chicanos and Mexican Americans, Mexican immigrants are already an active player in American politics, mostly in urban settings.

-  In terms of political behavior, Mexican immigrants are by no means a monolithic group within the United States. Mexicans living in Chicago show different levels of political mobilization, organization, and participation to those living in Houston.

-  Regarding the process of mobilization of Mexican immigrants, family and work are the driving forces of mobilization, the Virgin Mary (religion) and the Mexican flag are the most important symbols of identification, and legalization and workers rights are the principal fields where mobilization can take place.

-  A complete understanding of political mobilization of Mexican immigrants must focus simultaneously on the relations of Mexican immigrants with relevant political institutions and processes in their ‘home’ (in this case, Mexico) and ‘host’ societies (the United States).

-  In the local context, the role of unions, the Catholic Church, community-based organizations, the Hispanic media, and the structure of city politics results crucial to understand different levels of political mobilization of Mexican immigrants.

-  Within a context of globalization, the role of the state is by no means in decline; on the contrary, the role of the Mexican and American states becomes crucial to explain mobilization and political participation of Mexican immigrants in American politics.

-  The interaction between local and transnational politics explains different levels of empowerment of the Mexican immigrant community in American society. From a transnational perspective, the roles of the Mexican Consulate and the Catholic Church are essential components to understand this process. From a local perspective, the influence of different city regimes (Machine Politics vs. Free Enterprise Politics) on immigrant organizations is an essential component of the explanation.


About Órale!:

    Órale! is a Mexican expression that has at least five different meanings: a) Órale!: as in “come on!, hurry up!, let’s move!” b) Órale!: meaning that you are closing a good deal and you are really enthusiastic about it; c) Órale!: as “in stop bothering me!” or “knock it off!” d) Órale!: used as an expression when something goes really wrong, takes us by surprise, and is hard to believe -we really do not know what is going to happen next; and e) Órale!: used when two persons are arguing, and they both think their respective argument is the right one. Then one party says órale!, to conclude the discussion and meaning something like “we’ll see who is right!” Órale!, along with the expressions “Quihúbole!” (from ¡qué hubo!, ¡qué hay! what’s up!), “Ándale!” (hurry up!) and “Híjole!” ("Oh my God!" sort of…), represent the core of verbal Mexicanness that colorfully and vibrantly circulates mostly amongst Mexican-born population, here in the U.S. and certainly back there, in Mexico.

Professor Hirsch introduced me to urban history in a course at the University of New Orleans in the late 1970s.  This course was perhaps the most formative course I have ever had despite a long academic career.  I moved to Chicago in the early 1980s and ended up participating and completing the same degree in American Urban History that Arnie Hirsch completed.  This pioneering work demonstrated that political decision making by the Chicago "political machine" determined the patterns of housing and racial segregation in Chicago (and by inference in other cities).

In this course, students examine Chicago's socio-cultural and economic evolution from an industrial powerhouse and economic engine to a post-industrial, global city. Connections to globalized circuits of finance, trade, and immigration since the 1950s have shaped Chicago's more recent history, politics, and socioeconomic development. Students examine the city's transition from industrialization and manufacturing to a society based on leisure, tourism, and the consumption of goods, services, and information. The course further examines the contours of the new Chicago by analyzing the specific ways that race and ethnicity, cultural diversity, and identity politics shape the city's health and prosperity. Prerequisite(s): None. Co-requisite(s): None. 5 quarter hours.

The restructuring of citizenship has become a fundamental topic in the midst of contemporary debates surrounding the dynamics of immigrants. The research questions guiding this paper are: how are immigrant local dynamics reshaping citizenship? Why is the approach of immigrants and that of local governments towards citizenship so sharply contrasting? And, what are the consequences of these contrasts for immigrant incorporation? This paper presents a case study of the citizenship perspectives of Chicago's immigrants and of the city's government, contrasting the transnational approach emerged from below with a multicultural project posed from above. RESUMEN Entre los debates contemporáneos sobre las dinámicas de los migrantes, la reestructuración de la ciudadanía es un tema fundamental. Las preguntas que guían esta investigación son: ¿de qué forma están reestructurando a la ciudadanía las dinámicas locales de los inmigrantes? ¿Por qué las perspectivas sobre ciudadanía de los migrantes y de los gobiernos de acogida tienden a ser contrastantes? y ¿qué consecuencias tiene esto para la incorporación migrante? En este artículo se analizan las perspectivas ciudadanas de los migrantes y del gobierno local en Chicago, contrastando una propuesta transnacional surgida 'desde abajo' y un proyecto multicultural propuesto 'desde arriba'.

This essay explores the collaboration and plays that emerged from the partnership between Nuyorican poet and playwright Tato Laviera and the Batey Urbano youth group in Chicago's Paseo Boricua Community. Working with community members whose own personal histories have been affected by the events represented in the dramas, Laviera forms the basis for elaborating a depth hermeneutics. Furthermore, challenging traditional criticism that has confined Nuyorican literature within tropes of nostalgia, Laviera engages political discourse and experience through the transformative aesthetics of the Nuyorican writers. The plays document a 40-year period of the history of the Puerto Rican community in Chicago and a community's defiant reterritorialization through storytelling and history-making.

Course Description In this course, students examine Chicago's socio-cultural and economic evolution from an industrial powerhouse and economic engine to a post-industrial, global city. Connections to globalized circuits of finance, trade, and immigration since the 1950s have shaped Chicago's more recent history, politics, and socioeconomic development. Students examine the city's transition from industrialization and manufacturing to a society based on leisure, tourism, and the consumption of goods, services, and information. The course further examines the contours of the new Chicago by analyzing the specific ways that race and ethnicity, cultural diversity, and identity politics shape the city's health and prosperity. Pre-requisite(s): None. Co-requisite(s): None. 5 quarter hours. Prerequisite(s): NONE Co-requisite(s): NONE Instructional Materials: Required Textbooks: Office Hours: Monday evenings by phone; in person by appointment.

We demand the Chicago Transit Authority restore Green Line elevated rail service to Jackson Park over E. 63rd Street from Cottage Grove Avenue to Stony Island Avenue.

Sign the petition online: https://www.change.org/p/mayor-emanuel-and-the-chicago-transit-authority-restore-the-e-63rd-street-green-line/.

Find out more: https://63rdL.com/.

Join the discussion and use #63rdL:

Twitter: @63rdStL (https://twitter.com/63rdStL)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/63rdStL/

This article considers proponents' arguments for Pay for Success also known as Social Impact Bonds. Pay for Success allows banks to finance public services with potential profits tied to metrics. Pay for Success has received federal support through the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2016 and is predicted by 2020 to expand in the US to a trillion dollars. As school districts, cities, and states face debt and budget crises, Pay for Success has been advocated by philanthropists, corporate consulting firms, politicians, and investment banks on the grounds of improving accountability, cost savings, risk transfer, and market discipline. With its trailblazing history in neoliberal education, Chicago did an early experiment in Pay for Success. This article provides a conceptual analysis of the key underlying assumptions and ideologies of Pay for Success. It examines the claims of proponents and critics and sheds light on the financial and ideological motivations animating Pay for Success. The article contends that Pay for Success primarily financially benefits banks without providing the benefits that proponents promise. It concludes by

This bibliography accompanies the course, "Contemporary Chicago" taught at NLU this Spring and by me in the Summer of 2016.  I apologize that it jumps out of its original format in the "h's".  It is not like that in the original which can be sent to you directly if you wish.

This paper emphasizes the pedagogical contributions that drove the political awareness and action of Black and Brown youth in Chicago from 1966-1975. The critical education of the Communiversity on the Southside and the Chicago Young Lords Organization (ChYLO) on the Northside addressed deficiencies in educational institutions and aided urban youth in combating the post-industrial, socio-political, and economic challenges of Chicago communities. Through a critical analysis of interview and archival data of ChYLO and Communiversity, we highlight their significant contributions to the field of education. In this article, we frame these formations as the work of critical pedagogy. Our analysis of these youth/student organizations uncovers frameworks that contribute to the work of educators and youth via: 1) examination of educational topics rooted in community concerns, 2) the study of texts that promote critical understandings and analysis of unjust structures and systems at local, na...

... Neathery-Castro, Marla Jenkins, Debbie Bial, Virgilio Andrade, Adalberto Toro (y sus papás),Kay Achar, Melissa Angie Fátima, Abraham Zamora, Jetzy Atach, Alejandro Echegaray, Lotus Ming, Melba Pría, Ma. Luisa Hernández, Nancy Degnan, Matilde ...

Societies invested in the quantification of race are rarely, if ever, free of racial arithmetic, the practice of using statistics to legitimate and justify political decisions along categories of race and ethnicity. Despite this, scholars have tended to focus on the production rather than the use of ethnoracial statistics. This paper argues that the study of racial arithmetic—an understudied feature of contemporary politics—requires a relational approach. To illustrate the purchase of this approach, this paper presents an analysis of Chicago’s most recent bout of aldermanic redistricting. In this case, racial arithmetic rested on the ubiquitous juxtaposition of “Latino” and “Black” demographics, as captured in the 2010 census. By casting Black and Latino political power as a zero-sum game, this juxtaposition helped longstanding white overrepresentation on the City Council escape public scrutiny.

A new CPEG report, Restoring Chicago's Fiscal and Economic Health (Co-authored by Ron Baiman, Bill Barclay, Luis Diaz-Perez, Caitlyn Prosapio, June Zaccone), offers options for addressing Chicago's budget and pension crises and reversing increasing inequality, poverty and middle class decline. The report is a roadmap for overcoming 26 years of neoliberal policy under the Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emmanuel administrations.

This paper emphasizes the pedagogical contributions that drove the political awareness and action of Black and Brown youth in Chicago from 1966-1975. The critical education of the Communiversity on the South Side and the Chicago Young Lords Organization (ChYLO) on the Northside addressed deficiencies in educational institutions and aided urban youth in combating the post-industrial, socio-political, and economic challenges of Chicago communities. Through a critical analysis of interview and archival data of ChYLO and Communiversity, we highlight their significant contributions to the field of education. In this article, we frame these formations as the work of critical pedagogy. Our analysis of these youth/student organizations uncovers frameworks that contribute to the work of educators and youth via: 1) examination of educational topics rooted in community concerns; 2) the study of texts that promote critical understandings and analysis of unjust structures and systems at local, national, and global levels; and 3) pedagogical practices that account and adjust for the living and learning conditions of poor Black and Brown communities.

This report looks at all the activity of Chicago's 145 TIF districts in 2017.

We've done 75 public meetings across the city that we call "Illuminations."

Our web site is http://www.tifreports.com

If you read or access this report can you please let me know at tom@civiclab.us? We are a grassroots organization that is completely people-powered and knowing why you are interested in this information will help us keep our organization going. Thanks!