mitchell
Mary A. Mitchell biography
Mary A. Mitchell is an editorial board member and columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. She is a recipient of numerous journalism awards, including the prestigious …
Read More-
Mitchell: City cops fail first heat test
The shooting at 71st and Jeffery on Tuesday evening hit too close to home. I live within walking distance of the corner where four young men were shot, one fatally. In various parts of the city, three men were killed and at least 15 others …Read More
-
Mitchell: Decision to cancel Brooks-Payton game is a slap in the face
Talk about dropping the ball. The spat between Walter Payton College Preparatory and Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory over a forfeited game brought out the worst in some of us. Several news outlets reported that Payton had to forfeit its game with Brooks because some of …Read More
-
Mitchell: Message “42” delivers — love conquers hate every time
I did not rush to see “42,” even though the film pays homage to Jackie Robinson, the first black man to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. To be honest, my father ruined baseball for me. I can still hear the drone …Read More
Search recent columns
More Columns
Too angry to cry about Cornelius German
With all due respect to Cornelius’ parents, Ronald German and Timika Rutledge, Cornelius appeared to be the teen concerned parents are trying to protect their kids from. According to police, he was affiliated with a gang and at the time of his death, he was leaving a backyard dice game.
Mitchell: Little Bryeon should be on our minds everyday until he is found
Hope is fading that Bryeon Hunter’s body will be found. The toddler went missing from the Village of Maywood last Tuesday. Three Hispanic males battered her and sped off in a car with her son, according to Lakeshia Baker, the boy’s mother. Within hours, Maywood …
Mitchell: Mother’s claims about boy’s disappearance highlights race
Twenty-four hours after Bryeon Hunter was reported missing from Maywood, police officials from across the west suburbs came together to search the Des Plaines River. Police vehicles and trucks lined both sides of the street on the bridge that separates Maywood from River Forest, its …
Ministers take over Englewood home after family flees from gang
Three days after moving into a house in the 2000 block of West 68th Place in Englewood, a couple was forced to flee after getting into a confrontation with gang members. Phyllis Robinson alleged her family ran afoul of gang members when they put a …Read More
CeaseFire predicts murders will be down this year
Tio Hardiman, director of CeaseFire Illinois, predicted last week that Chicago is turning the corner on homicides. “Normally, there is a spike in reducing homicides during the months of March and April. We are not experiencing that spike so far this year. Whenever you don’t …Read More
MARY MITCHELL: Michelle Obama and community come together for youth
The crowd that filled the ballroom of the downtown Hilton Hotel for the “Get In Chicago” luncheon included many of the people who have long labored behind the scenes to improve the quality of life for black people in this city. Some are politicians. Some …Read More
Black clergy hypocritical on same-sex marriage issue
When it comes to the debate over gay marriage, I have to ask myself: What would Jesus do? Would he organize his disciples to block passage of legislation that would have allowed same-sex marriages to be legal? Or would Jesus have been too busy healing the sick, feeding the hungry and visiting the prisoners to even get involved? I’m not impressed that a group calling itself the African American Clergy Coalition has geared up to battle a bill that would legalize gay marriage in Illinois.
Mitchell: Rahm’s parents raised him not to be scared of a good fight
Sometimes to understand where a person is coming from, it helps to know where the person has been. That’s certainly the case with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who caught many of us by surprise when he swept into the mayor’s office two years ago with a …Read More
Mitchell: Flash mobs should be stripped of their Facebook accounts
Putting more cops on foot and bike patrols on North Michigan Avenue to deal with mobs of unruly black teens may discourage the next flash mob at that location. But what about State Street? Navy Pier? Foster Avenue Beach? Or the hundreds of other public …Read More
Almost 36 years later, rape victim still hoping for justice
MARY MITCHELL: Rosa Pickett will never forget Sept. 3, 1977. It was her sister’s birthday. It also was the day the 17-year-old was sexually assaulted in Robbins while on her way to the birthday party. No one was charged. So when Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart held a community meeting after 51 untested rape kits were found at the Robbins Police Department, she showed up.
All we need is love ... for the poor
I’m not Catholic, so I don’t know much about the Catholic religion. What I do know is this; the humble gestures of Pope Francis cut across religious lines and have renewed my faith that religion still brings light to a dark world. When we have …Read More
Mitchell: Closing low-performing school programs is long overdue
MARY MITCHELL: There is no easy way to close a school, even one with a floor full of empty desks. But Chicago Public Schools Chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett appears to have given it her best shot. She appointed a commission that was guided by Frank Clark, the former CEO of ComEd. Clark has a long track record of trying to improve the quality of life for African Americans in this city.
Mitchell: Bolingbrook teen apparently takes her life after cyber bullying
Kenyatta Parker seemed to have everything going for her. The pretty 15-year-old Bolingbrook High School student was an honors student and had recently won a speech contest. Her mother, Yolanda Parker, moved from the West Side to Bolingbrook so that Kenyatta and her younger brother …
Mitchell: It was surreal seeing little Jonylah Watkins in a casket
It is surreal to see a 6-month old baby lying in a casket. Jonylah Watkins looked like a life-sized baby-doll. Her mother, Judy Watkins, picked a petal-pink coverall to lay her baby to rest. The dead baby was placed in a golden-edged beige casket that …
Mitchell: People should get angry over gangs killing innocent people
When will black people get as outraged over a gang-banger killing innocent people as they do when a police officer kills an unarmed black man? After police in Brooklyn’s East Flatbush neighborhood fatally shot 16-year-old Kimani Gray last week, mobs of teenage protesters went on …
Mitchell: Honor Jonylah Watkins by helping to change her neighborhood
The most fitting memorial for Jonylah Watkins is a living memorial. Tying balloons to a tree and collecting teddy bears that the child will never play with is an empty gesture. The balloons get bigger. The T-shirts get flashier. The hearses are longer. But the …
Mitchell: Jonylah Watkins’ death should have never happened
No one should have to grow up in the world Jonylah Watkins was born into. On one side of town, sirens sweep across vacant lots and boarded-up buildings, and people are just trying to stay alive. On the other side, cranes rise above people plugged into toys, scurrying off to jobs and busy social lives.
