Who Knew?

I've lived in northeastern Illinois almost all my life. To simplify things, I've always told people I live in Chicago, which wasn't really true until about 5 years ago. I grew up in the far North suburbs (which could more aptly be called the Milwaukee suburbs), and lived all over the suburbs post-college. I had no idea what it meant to actually Live In Chicago.

Then, 5 years ago, due to a church change and various other circumstances, I crossed the line. I moved into the city limits. I was officially a city dweller. I didn't think it would matter much, one way or the other, where I lived. How wrong I was.

After about 6 months living with a family in Albany Park, I finally found an apartment in Logan Square. Though it's historically a Hispanic and Polish neighborhood, I found myself sharing an apartment with a Chinese woman and a series of other white women (we had a bit of a revolving door). I had African and Puerto Rican neighbors. And the place got into my blood.

I watched my community experience gentrification. I learned about systemic injustice as I watched it happen in front of me. I cried with my neighbor when her son was shot. Again. I sat on the back porch with my African neighbor while he smoked cigars and waxed philosophical about how and why our city is messed up. But somehow, I stayed an observer. I watched. I listened. And I thought about it some. But it largely didn't occur to me that I had the ability - or the responsibility - to take action. Something kept me separate, held me back.

Then, through a series of events, over the course of about a year, things inside my head began to change. My roommate was killed in a hit-and-run accident. A teenage girl was shot and killed a few blocks from my house, and two neighbors who had been nowhere near the scene were arrested for it, simply because of their skin color. I participated in a protest march to advocate for the rights of working moms who were going to lose their daycare subsidies. And slowly, I began to realize that it wasn't enough. Though I was learning about systemic injustice, learning more about how desperate our city is, attending a church that's walking the path of multiethnicity and social justice advocacy, and supporting people who were working for change, I was still a passive observer. And it just wasn't enough.

Now, of course, whatever we do to impact the pain and injustice we see around us, it's never enough. And it's more than we can understand. At the same time. Because we don't ever fully know the impact of our actions, and all we can do is our best. But I wasn't doing anything, except watching. And the only impact I was having was on myself -- becoming more disillusioned and bitter the longer I watched. Something needed to change.

I've since moved out of the apartment I mentioned above; I now live in a 2 flat walk up in East Garfield Park (a neighborhood that's 97% African-American). Most people hear where I live and have a strong reaction, to put it mildly. And to be honest, I didn't move here for some kind of immersion experience or for any self sacrificial reason. I moved here because I wanted to live with my current roommate -- who is white. However, being here has (of course) impacted me. In my former neighborhood, I could, if I chose, ignore some of the systemic injustice I saw around me. Here, that would be nearly impossible, even if I wanted to. And this contributed to my dissatisfaction, my restlessness, my need to attempt to do something, no matter what it might be.

That's (partially) how Reach Across Chicago was born. (For those of you experiencing whiplash right now, hang with me. It will make sense in about 2 paragraphs.) My entree into "doing something" had a lot to do with friends who work for non-profit organizations. I was always commiserating with them about how difficult or frustrating their jobs can be - either due to not enough resources, or lack of funding, or too much of the wrong thing. A good friend of mine listened to me vent one night about how this non-profit had 18 people who they couldn't put to work, and that non-profit was desperate for volunteers for their soup kitchen. They're about 10 blocks apart, and had no idea that they could have gotten together and solved both of their problems in a heartbeat.

We began to speculate about what might happen if there were a way to connect them immediately, and based on the need. We talked about all the possibilities inherent in creating a network where there was citywide access to resources, volunteers, events, etc. We talked for a long time. And when I woke up the next day, suddenly our idea had begun to become reality.
(OK, I'm exaggerating. But only a little. He's a genius when it comes to technology.)

Creating something like this was never my vision, was definitely not what I imagined to be the result of me finally deciding to "do" something. But when God and my tech-genius friend set out
to accomplish a goal, the results are rarely what we expect. I have no idea where this will take us, or how far. All I know is that I love our very desperate and messed-up city, and I'm hopeful that RAC will begin to make an impact among the thousands of people already working for change.

If you haven't yet, take a look at Reach Across Chicago on Facebook, or www.reachacrosschicago.org. Comment here to tell me what you think, and any ideas you might have. Thanks.