TALES FROM H-TOWN: THE FACE OF RACISM

Harvey is a mostly African-American community today, with a growing Latino population. Back in the 1970's it was pretty much Black and White. Most seemed to get along well, but there were still incidents.

Growing up I was a Boy scout in Troop 376 in the 1970's. We met at First United Methodist Church on 154th/155th & Lexington. Our Troop was racially mixed, and that was clearly pointed out by our Patrol Leader, Rick Furlong. He was a White boy who liked to throw around the word "Nigger" at the Black scouts, when he was mad. He felt like he could get away with it because his father was close to the Scoutmaster and usually at meetings.

One Summer we were at Summer Boy scout Camp...Camp Kiswaukee. A couple of weeks of living in nature. Cold showers in the morning, food cooked over a fire, keeping snakes out of your sleeping bags, using Out Houses (icks!), learning to shoot bows and rifles, and more. It was fun! Especially for African-American urban kids who weren't used to the outdoors. Other Black scouts from the neighborhood included Tracy Dyson, Parrish Walker, Hiram Walker and Excel Jones. We had a number of cool White scouts like Tim & Terry Houts (Houts or Fouts, can't remember which), Tim Martozzi, Scott Furlong and Jim Whippie in our troop too, but there still was Patrol Leader Rick!

One day I was walking with Excel near a pit that had ropes hanging above for scouts to swing over. It was an obstacle course type of thing. We were on our way to another good dinner (all meals there were the bomb diggity), when Rick walked up and said something to Excel. Excel said something back, and Rick called him a nigger. Excel had heard that word one too many times, so he karate flying kicked Rick into the pit! Rick kept calling him a nigger while he tried to crawl back up to ground level. Excel grabbed a rope, swung in the air, and kicked him back into the ditch! Rick was pissed, while Excel and I were cracking up! "You stupid niggers," Rick yelled as he climbed out of the pit again. He rushed at Excel, but Excel danced back and popped Rick in the face with a punch! The next time Rick rushed, same result --Pop! Rick was crying by now and Excel was fighting and laughing hysterically. Rick saw that he couldn't win so he ran off to tell someone; but Excel didn't get into any trouble. After that, Rick stopped using that word around us.

On my block there were a few White families. One of those was run by Mr. Cain, who let it be known that he hated Black people! If my friends or I walked past his house he would scream "Get away from my house you little coons!" We would laugh at his fat ass. If we spoke to his son Kenny, Mr. Cain would tell him not to speak back. Sometimes he would even call the police on us for walking past his house or playing football in the street. Eventually things started to happen. Maybe it was karma. Somebody shot his dog! A boy on the block named Bernie got caught tarring his car. And then, one night, someone threw eggs through his windows and put smoke bombs in his living room mailbox. He moved away soon after.

It was Senior year in high school, 1983-84. Parrish Walker, his brother Hiram, and I walked to other side of town to checkout our friend Diondrae White. We were walking past a bar on Halsted, when a White man ran.out and yelled "Get away from here! We don't want your kind around here!" I don't remember who it was, but one of us shouted back "Fuck you!" He ran back inside, and less than five minutes later we heard sirens. When we saw the police, Parrish and I ran. Diondrae and Hiram kept walking. The police pulled up next to them and put Diondrae and Hiram in the back seat. Parrish and I walked by and saw them sitting there. Eventually they were let go, but to be put in a police car for "Walking While Black," in a now majority Black city, was fucked up!

After high school I got invited to a party by a girl that I went to Thornton Township High School with, Diane Ingram. I'd had a huge crush on Diane for all four years of school, and I was thrilled that she'd invited me to a party at her house. That night I hooked up with my buddy, Jaime Heimlich, and we headed over to the party. I was the only African-American there, but I was having a bal! I remember lots of drinks in the backyard, seeing Diane smiling a lot, seeing Jaime laughing, and passing out on the back porch! I eventually sobered up, and Jaime and I started to head home. When we got to the front of Diane's house I saw two guys sitting on the steps. "Take it easy," I said, and was going about my way, when one of them yelled back "Go back to Africa!" I turned around and started walking towards him. "Get up so I can beat yo ass," I screamed. His friend apologized for him, said that he'd had too much to drink, and asked me to forget it. It was yet another face of racism. He tried to ruin my night, but I didn't let him!

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