2021 has been an epic year and undoubtedly will be remembered. Daily living is challenging as we live with fear and anxiety. Crime is at an all-time high, and no matter who we are, what we do, or what neighborhood, we look over our shoulders as we shop, dine, and move around. The city must, by all means, get control of the crime, or we quake. Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a new crime effort with the federal government. She said, “None of us will rest until we bring peace to our city.” Lori’s statement is true. Yet, it is personal and may cost her the fifth floor. People of all stripes are disgusted.
The city is beautiful as voted and determined by professional travel polls. But then there is the crime. The city is creating new economies like cannabis with casinos on the way. Crime increases as it has spread throughout Chicagoland. North Michigan Avenue, the famed Magnificent Mile, is now a crime zone. The Bentley auto dealership was robbed on the Gold Coast. The robbers are daring, bold, and fearless as they engage in organized worldwide theft that disregards all boundaries. Cannabis shops introduced the legalization of weed, and there might be a correlation with street crime moving upward as yesterday’s dope industry was established.
And now we look at casinos. Who wins and what locations the politicians will determine with little public input. Neighborhoods will change, and the complexion of the city will be different. People will travel to the town by the lake to gamble and find entertainment.
What cannot happen with these new industries is to conduct local business as usual. Black and brown citizens have to be included from the investment side to marketing to the auto dealerships in the entire city. Money will be made, but it must be constructive for healthy development as we reach world-class status beyond shopping and festivals. Will Chicago become a mini Las Vegas, or will we create something different in an urban environment? It is all to be seen and will be Lightfoot’s legacy to Chicago. The casinos will transform Chicago.
And then there is The Barack Obama Presidential Center, as it intersects three communities, Hyde Park, Woodlawn, and South Shore. Surely it will be a curiosity tourist attraction as it becomes a stimulus to the city’s South Side. But will the people from Woodlawn be displaced?
Will Smollett Take Away Kim Foxx?
We have watched too much news about the silly trial of actor Jesse Smollett. The media is so starved for celebrity we take a dumbfounded crime and blow it up to national news when it should have been dismissed.
Chicago is not Smollett’s kind of town. He should have paid the fine, $10,000, and just moved back to California to live a fruitful life. Instead, he creates a hate crime fable precisely what we don’t need. And because of his misdemeanors, Black woman Kim Foxx may lose the vote for his stupidity. Dan Webb, the legal master, has analyzed the case, the deed, and the mishandling and mishaps in a report that does not fare well for Foxx as it discerns her professional integrity. And what are the effects on Smollett’s career? Does he get another role, or does he land in a jail cell or provide community service?
Chicago’s Changing Media…
Chicago’s news media is in a state of change and transition. The Chicago Tribune has become what John Kass labels a “corporate paper.” We are losing the local Chicago community news and receiving more wire news and national news. The seasoned reporters who knew the history of Chicago, the politics of Chicago, and had the interest of Chicago at heart now have blogs. I miss them as I read the paper, which bore their bylines. And before long, we will see the merger of the Chicago Sun-Times and radio WBEZ, making them the largest non-for-profit news organization in the country as a media experiment sponsored by foundations. At least Chicago remains a two-paper town. But what about the smaller outlets remains to be seen. Hopefully, the foundations will remember them as they consider financing media entities and keeping the news diversified with viewpoints and opinions. The alternative paper, the READER, also changes its legal status to a non-for-profit weekly. It’s a new status. Newspapers at large are in jeopardy, and I predict that the lifeline for all is no more than five years.
And the Black press and Latin press hold on utilizing new and old models to extend and expand the news that is too much overlooked with negative bias from the mainstream. We produce new platforms that hopefully will sustain the “niche” mediums vital to the city’s media health as the majors dominate. Print media has suffered under the new media of social media and the wondrous internet, but in some way must survive because we differ.
Covid Public Enemy…
Our common enemy is COVID and its outbreaks. As soon as we think it has stabilized, it comes again in a newer, more contagious version. The latest variant is Omicron. It’s more challenging and takes our medical community into mental and physical exhaustion, so much so that many medics are considering new careers. Some cities have called for assistance from the army to administer in hospitals. It’s a global problem as the government makes up new rules on dealing with the deadly virus. New York’s Mayor-Elect Eric Adams has canceled his inaugural festivities. Broadway and theater performances across the country are canceling performances.
Many won’t be at the dining room table as we move into family holiday celebration mode. So instead, we wait for Dr. Fauci‘s wisdom to claim that we can return to normal as we wait to see if we will have the countdown celebrations. It could be a lonely New Year’s night to ring in 2022. We wait patiently for normal to become the change we desperately desire. COVID changed our lives in too many ways, from the way we meet on Zoom to casual dress with the newest house shoes as we fight the COVID weight from the comfort food we snack on all day at home.
We watch national news as Biden’s bill is being held by the single vote of senior United States Senator Joseph Manchin. The Biden bill could do wonders for the country. All votes count. We watch Trump challenge the government with full force as democracy fights for itself in America. Yet this madness has been our 2021, and now it is the year that was as we forge forward.
We keep hope alive as we celebrate this marvelous time of year. There is a sense of confusion and discontent in the high time of giving and reflecting. But the crime has to stop. Covid, please go away. Science has been historically rapid with vaccines, but the germ keeps on coming. Pray your prayer to make it better as we have acknowledged the Covid plague. May 2022 be a better time for all of us.
Happy Holidays to all as we approach a new year with new outcomes. Before long, we will be in a political season.
