[notdownwidems]

Stockyards have been closed down for decades. And my experience sometime in the ‘90’s was that people from outside Chicago associated it with Michael Jordan, not Al Capone.

My most memorable vision of Chicago was when, as a young navy enlisted man, I had to take a train in those parts, a train which went through the south side, which looked like Beirut, complete with fires in trash cans, block after block of crumbled buildings, poverty and dysfunction. I have absolutely hated the place ever since!

[Fu-fu2]

There are still alot of areas of the city like those you remember. The Loop and lakefront areas are beautiful, but there are neighborhoods I wouldn’t venture into—like any city. But there is also a growing Black middle class. There are areas on the outer fringes of the ghettos that are looking surprisingly good. I hope someday soon they start voting in terms of economics rather than race.