Chatham invests in education

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HighBeam Research

Title: Chatham invests in education // Parentsbelieve that learning holds key to

children's future Series: MAKING IT: Thestory of Chatham

Date: April 30, 1986 Publication: Chicago Sun-Times Author: WilliamBraden

((PHOTO CAPTION CONTINUED)) Because your parents have paved the wayfor you to get an education." Chathamites take pride in their community'sappearance. Lillian Steele tends to the public garden on South Eberhart.Eddie Robinson heads the Chatham Park Manor Citizens Radio Patrol. The

patrol serves as the eyes and ears of the police. Gwenda Anderson sits onthe front stoop with son Rakeen, 2 1/2. Chathamites watch out for each otherand report suspicious activity to the police. Sgt. Marcus Grey (pictured herewith Issac Hawkins) says times have changed in Chatham. "The crime rate islow. . . . But four or five years ago, Chatham was almost free of crime."Chatham's children believe they can make it. Yvonne Cotton, 14, says, "If Istart out on the right foot, I can make it on my own." Chathamite GloriaCotton says Chatham kids "have a future. . . . We set high standards inChatham, for ourselves and for our children." ((CAPTION ENDS))

Three decades ago, upwardly mobile blacks broke out of the ghetto to settle

in the South Side community of Chatham.

Chatham became a focal point for the emergence of a black middle classthat currently represents half of Chicago's black population. It is a vibrantcommunity of excellence that is also a community in transition.

This is the third of four articles on the people, the values and the future ofChatham. There's an old saying in black Chicago. "You have to work twice ashard to get half as far."

You don't often hear that these days from the young people of Chatham.

"These kids have a future," said Gloria Y. Cotton, a Chatham mother and thedirector of ambulatory services at Bethany Hospital.

"It's almost like they're compelled to do well," she said. "We set highstandards in Chatham, for ourselves and for our children. And we are seeingto it that these kids are educated."


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Cotton was laying down the law to a group of seven teenagers, including herdaughter Yvonne, who had gathered at the offices of the Chatham-AvalonPark Community Council on Cottage Grove Avenue.

"I didn't have to work twice as hard," she told them. "All I had to do was go

to school and apply myself. No matter what the color is, the education isthere. You can make it. You can overcome any obstacle."

Emphasis on education in Chatham has been described as "almost ruthless."The Rev. Michael J. Nallen, pastor of St. Dorothy's Church, said education forChathamites is "almost like a god."

The teens seemed to agree. All were planning on college, and on business orprofessional careers, from computer science to electrical engineering.

"The opportunities are out there," said Tonya Berry, 18. "If you know what

you want to do in life, there shouldn't be anything there to stop you -whether you're black or purple or whatever. You just have to work hard at it,and believe in what you want to do."

"It's not going to be easy," said Kenneth D. Daniel, 16. "But I feel if I just staydetermined and don't let bad times get the worst of me, with a lot of hardwork, I can make it. A lot more doors are open. And I've found, over theyears, that if I put my mind to most anything, I can get it accomplished."

"If I start out on the right foot, I can make it on my own," said Yvonne Cotton,14.

"It's going to be really tough," said Darrin P. Golden, 16. "At school they tellme that with a college degree you still might end up working in a grocerystore. But I plan to make a lot of money. And I know I can. Times havechanged a lot, from what my elders tell me. I don't feel it's open. It's going tobe a challenge for the rest of my life. But I'm sure I can make it."

"I can see myself making it in electronics," said Dan Hayes, 15. "If youbelieve you can make it, you can do it."

"It's like my father always tells me," said Arthur Fykes, 17. "If you want to do

something, you can do it, no matter who's there to try to stop you. Just goahead and do it."

"You don't have to work twice as hard," said Lloyd H. Rice, 16. "Because yourparents have paved the way for you to get an education. My mother tells mehow hard it was to strive for goals in the South and all that stuff. So I thinkit's easier now, because our parents paved the way."


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"I expect to work twice as hard," Golden said. He split a grin and added,"That's because I plan to be twice as good."

In at least one sense, these are all typical children of Chatham's upwardlymobile middle class. All seven are students at Catholic or private high

schools. And that's cause for concern in some quarters, on two counts.

Chatham's parents are supposed to be role models for poor black adults. Butwhat about the children of the poor?

The original idea behind school integration was not to have black childrengoing to school with white children. The idea was to have poor children goingto school with middle-class children whose values would somehow rub off.And that won't happen in Chicago if middle-class black parents insist uponsending their children to middle-class schools, including public magnetschools.

There's also a question of how hard a new generation of Chatham parentswill work to improve their community if they're not involved in the publicschools.

The parents understand this. And they regret it, they'll tell you. But they willput their own children first. And that includes Chatham parents who teach inChat-ham's own public schools (which are above average). They bus theirchildren to elite institutions. "Parents will pay any price," Father Nallen said,"because they realize education is the key to upward mobility."

It also should be asked if Chatham's gung-ho teenagers have been shelteredfrom the subtle forms of racism that black leaders say they'll encounterwhen they enter the competitive work world.

Probably so. But take the case of David Nunery, age 2, whose parents Leeand Carolyn are both young professionals employed by downtown banks.

Said a family friend, journalist Michael Anderson, who grew up in theChatham area:

"Of course there's still racism, but is there any doubt that David will go to

college? No. Not even a question. Graduate school? Of course. Can that childreasonably expect to do better than his parents? Yes. That's a big middle-class determinant. You expect to be a stepping-stone for your kids.

"When I grew up, parents hoped in their wildest dreams that maybe the kidswould do better. But there wasn't the certainty there is now.


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"To be blunt, what did parents hope for their kids when I was growing up? Ifhe was a boy, they hoped that he wouldn't get killed in adolescence - by thepolice, or by other young kids in trouble. That he wouldn't become a drugaddict. That he'd get a job and hold a job and not get a girl pregnant. Thoseare not middle-class parameters. That's really a lumpenproletariat mind-set.

"I'm sure that Lee and Carolyn's biggest fear is not that David will shootheroin at 16, or knock up some girl at 16. The aspirations today are so vastlygreater. And reasonably so. Objectively, blacks are better off than they everhave been. As a bald statement, there's no question about it. I had it easierthan my parents did. And my children will have it easier than I did."

The 33-year-old Anderson recalled that Chatham itself was a low-crimehaven where people slept with open doors. And for years, Chatham washighly successful in keeping evildoers outside its borders.

But times have changed, said Sgt. Marcus Grey, neighborhood relationsofficer for the Gresham Police District.

"The crime rate is low," he said. "It's lower than anywhere else in the district.But four or five years ago, Chatham was almost free of crime. Young peopleare more mobile today, and they have just recently discovered Chatham. Thepeople had not really prepared themselves, and they're alarmed now by stuffthat happened all the time in other areas - burglaries, car thefts, pursesnatchings, even some criminal sexual assaults." `There were four or fivemajor robberies here in the last couple of months," Nallen said. "We wereone of them. The nuns were hit for $3,000. The sisters were at prayer, and

the guy just went up the stairs and took the lunch money.

"There are a lot of car thefts. People have come to funerals and have goneout to find their cars gone. There are a lot of purse snatchings, a lot ofknocking down of old people and taking their money. One lady had her furcoat ripped off her back right across from the Jewel, at 4:30 in theafternoon."

Chatham's growing population of senior citizens is especially vulnerable tostreet thugs. Most homes have two working spouses, making themvulnerable to daylight break-ins. But neighbors watch out for each other -

and are quick to call police when they see anything suspicious. A strangerwalking through will find his passage followed by parting curtains. And areporter was told, during an interview with Chatham-Southeast CitizenPublisher William Garth:

"Nobody can loiter on the corners. If we were to do this interview out on thesidewalk, you'd see people peering out of windows. And the police would behere in 15 minutes, at the most."


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Residents also are revitalizing the Chatham Park Manor Citizens Radio Patrol,which at one time had more than 50 people cruising the streets 24 hours aday in private autos equipped with CB radios. The patrol is headed by EddieRobinson, a 67-year-old retired carpenter, and it serves as the eyes and earsof the police. Suspicious situations are reported to a base-station operator,

74-year-old Herman O. Hamilton, who calls them in to the Gresham District.

Chathamites cooperate fully with the police. But they're also prepared todefend themselves, if necessary. Clementine Skinner, a 70-year-old widow,recalled the days when the major South Side gangs were forming, in theearly 1960s, and she said:

"They came into this area offering `protection.' People met them at theirdoors with pistols and said, `This is our protection. You come back here, andwe'll blow your brains out.' So they left Chatham alone. And that was veryearly in the game. If you stand up to these characters, they're just chicken."

The Chatham-Avalon Park Community Council headed by Washington D.Burney is alerting residents to the crime problem by publishing policestatistics in a newsletter, the Torch, edited by accountant Keith Tate.

"We want to make sure that people know exactly what's happening," saidTate, 37, the council's executive vice president. "Because we have a lot ofsenior citizens, people might feel we're easy pickings here. But in addition tocalling the police, we have people who are very adamant. And they willshoot. We want people to know that this is a community that will toleratevery little. We in Chatham will not have anyone come in here and sell us

melting ice."

Melting ice includes gang activity, narcotics - and plantation politics.

"Chatham was the base of the black independent political movement," saidpolitical strategist Don Rose. "The middle-class people who moved in wereeconomically independent of the Chicago machine, and they were the firstpeople to rebel against the old politics. They elected one of the first blackindependent aldermen, Bill Cousins, back in 1967, and their neighborhoodcouncil was one of the pillars of the civil rights movement. They're the heartand core of Harold Washington's support. They register and vote - with

vigor."

"They're thinkers," Nallen said. "They're sophisticated and educated andthey think for themselves. They may not vote for you. But they're going tovote for somebody. They're people who take their civic duty seriously."

The 6th Ward that includes Chatham gave Washington his biggest majorityin 1983, said Ald. Eugene Sawyer. But you'll hear some pointed criticism of


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the mayor's performance. His links to influence peddler Clarence McClain, inparticular, grate on Chatham's sense of middle-class respectability. ("Liedown with dogs and you get up with fleas," Skinner said.)

"This is a community that's clearly expressing its concern," Rose said. "But I

don't think Harold has lost his support. I think you're getting sympatheticcriticism. And people shouldn't confuse that with disaffection."

You'll hear some kind words for President Reagan. `At least Reagan tells youwhat he's going to do for you," Garth said. "Nothing. The Democrats tell youthey're going to do something for you, and they don't do anything. Mynewspaper did not take a position on Mondale and Reagan. We were neutralin 1984. And what Reagan has done for patriotism in this country isunbelievable. Even in the black community. If they caught you burning a flaghere now, they'd probably shoot you."

"A lot of flags fly on the Fourth of July in Chatham," agreed William H. Finch,superintendent of Chicago School District 17. "The man has done much, inmy mind. You just cannot, out of hand, say the man is lousy."

Reagan's appeal is severely limited by cuts in programs that benefit seniorcitizens and education. And dismantling government is not an especiallypopular notion in a community that abounds with government workers.

Next: The future of Chatham.

Copyright (null) Chicago Sun-Times

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Chatham invests in education