We lost two Black giants last week – Josie Childs and Ed Gardner. They were of the same generation, the generation that Tom Brokaw labels as “the greatest.” They were builders and workers dedicated to the empowerment and full participation of Black Chicago.
They lived when the Southside of Chicago had the Roberts Showroom, Joe Louis was the champ, and Jackie Robinson played baseball. The Parkway Ballroom was an elegant banquet facility,Ebony Magazine and The Defender provided the news on Black people. They were neighbors to the Tuskegee Airmen. Childs and Gardner were pioneers as their society integrated but still lived in certain parts of town.
Josie @ 96..
Josie Childs was very much a behind-the-scenes political player. She lived 96 years. Josie worked in City Hall with Mayor Daley in the Special Events office under Colonel Jack Riley . She was on the team that hosted Queen Elizabeth in Chicago. She recalled the day candidate Jack Kennedy came to tour the Southside.
Starting as a novice, she soon became an expert as she witnessed and participated in Chicago politics. She was confident of the late Harold Washington, knowing him from the early days of his involvement in the Third Ward Young Democrats. Harold was a masterful politician and understood the behavior and strategies of machine politics. Josie was a go-to person for the Southside political dynamic. She was a fundraiser, a get-out-the-vote organizer, a strategist, a connector, and what we would call today an influencer. She did not know about social media. She knew telephone and person-to-person meetings; her contacts were on an index card. She was effective. In 2013, she founded the Harold Washington Legacy Committee. She was concerned that Washington’s legacy would be forgotten. She remembered.
Ed Gardner @ 98…
Ed Gardner was a teacher turned entrepreneur. He lived on the same block all of his life in the West Chesterfield community. He built a hair care business in his wife’s kitchen until she transferred him to the basement.
The family business grew as he created products for local beauticians for Black women. Indeed it was a family enterprise, with initial deliveries from the back of the car. Gardner’s Soft Sheen products caught on, helping beauticians create new hairstyles as he built a multi-million dollar enterprise with a corporate office on 87th Street.
He created jobs and other companies; his family members headed up growing departments and businesses, and his enterprises became international. In 1998 he sold them for a hefty sum and became wealthy.
Gardner was the Chicago Bulls co-owner and board member of Chicago United and The Chicago Urban League. He invested in a skyscraper on South Michigan Avenue (the building never materialized). He was money-wise.
His most significant contribution to the Black community, to the Black body politic, was with a campaign, ”Come Alive October 5,” created by Emma Young and Chuck Colbert. Harold knew he required new voters to win the election. Gardner spent $250,000 monthly on Black radio stations and converted his hair product advertising to Harold’s politics. It worked, and the rest is history. His advertising dollars were the making of Harold as Mayor of Chicago. He made a difference in the win of Harold Washington.
New Campaigning…
As I reflect on the politics of yesterday headed by these two stewards and look at today, it caused me to take a hard look at campaign changes. I guesstimate that Harold’s initial campaign had, at the very most, was a million-dollar budget. TV advertising was limited and did not flourish as in today’s campaign. Paul Vallas reports about $11 million in campaign funds, and Brandon Johnson has growing funds at $7 million. The point is that both are well-financed and can afford TV commercials. Harold’s commercials were on the radio with a Black community target.
Chicago’s business community financed Harold’s initial campaign. The likes of Al Johnson, John Johnson, George Johnson, Al Boutee, Cirilo McSween, Elzie Higginbottom, Darryl Grisham, and many others. Bill Berry organized them. White money was foreign. Black business people carried the campaign finances. Union funds were unavailable. It was a people’s campaign.
This new campaigning is quite different, ugly, and even shameful. The mayoral campaign of 2023 is racial, and it has become ugly. Out-of-towners are visiting churches to speak negatively about a candidate. Rented protesters are on the street, screaming with quasi-threatening tactics. Signs are being torn down and put up, labeling Vallas as a “mega candidate.” He is not, and this campaigning turned ugly. Paul is not a racist. And it is unfair to paint him as such merely because he is White. Black operatives are being paid to be harmful and destructive to political efforts. Propaganda is the order of the day.
This is a tight race; the polls indicate a dead heat, and every vote will count to determine who the next mayor is. People must make choices based on the debates and the forums being held. But the lies should not be tolerated.
Both of the unions are playing dirty pool. An aldermanic candidate experienced a drive-by spray of gunfire in front of his house. So dangerous that nearby schools were on lockdown, with hysterical neighbors on the street. The opponent is a military/policeman and a so-called minister. Children in school should not be locked down because of a political election.
My problem with both candidates is that they are union financed, and each candidate will owe allegiance to the respective union. How will this affect governing? Unions are membership organizations and the general public does not belong to the union. Unions negotiate for union exclusively . Unions negotiate pay raises and benefits. Because of his union affiliation and overwhelming “progressive white” support. Johnson has been labeled as a “socialist.” Not fair. For both candidates we are concerned with who is behind the scenes and who might be running city hall.
So, where are we? This campaign has become about race and class. People are being paid to intimidate. Outsiders are being brought in to excite. But all politics is local, and Bernie Sanders and Al Sharpton do not vote in Chicago. Young people don’t vote. Over a million people in the city DID NOT VOTE in the primary, and the vote count is expected to be lower in the general election. The commercials will be over soon. The signs will disappear. The polls will close. The vote will be counted. A new mayor with a new city council will be in place on April 5, ready to take the oath to lead our city into the future. Hopefully, the city is not so divided and fractured that the new mayor won’t be able to put it back together again.
We need unity for our city, and negative campaigning is not for the public good.
