Chicago Sun-Times

Mitchell: City cops fail first heat test

Thu, 02 May 2013 02:24:02 -0500

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 were wounded during a nine-hour spree that began in the afternoon. It was the warmest day this city has seen in months. While most people were out enjoying the weather, apparently a number of shooters were out settling scores that have been simmering all winter. But Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy has consistently downplayed the …

Mitchell: Decision to cancel Brooks-Payton game is a slap in the face

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 02:17:58 -0500

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 Payton’s parents refused to let players travel to the Far South Side in Roseland to play a game that was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Let’s stop right there. Given the steady stream of shootings and killings occurring on the South Side, I really can’t blame any parent for having concerns about a night …

Mitchell: Message “42” delivers — love conquers hate every time

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:16:54 -0500

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 of the White Sox announcer coming from the only TV set in our apartment. My dad loved baseball, and he didn’t miss an opportunity to remind his children about the racism Robinson faced when he was signed to the Dodgers in 1947. Still, last Thursday it was mainly out of curiosity that I went to …

Too angry to cry about Cornelius German

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 02:35:45 -0500

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

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 02:50:21 -0500

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 police had concluded that Baker’s story was not true. In fact, Baker and her boyfriend, Michael Scott, 21, who lives with Baker, were each charged with first-degree murder Friday night. But little Bryeon’s body still hasn’t been found. “We have searched dumpsters, alleys, vehicles and the mother’s home. We are still looking at the mother’s …

Mitchell: Mother’s claims about boy’s disappearance highlights race

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 02:19:34 -0500

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 closest neighbor. For most of the day, under dark clouds and intermittent rain, rescue operators searched the murky brown water looking for the body of a 1-year old. The river at this location is strangled at points by tree branches felled by winter. But on Wednesday, the water moved swiftly under the bridge, as a …

Ministers take over Englewood home after family flees from gang

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:12:38 -0500

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 lock on a gate leading to a pathway where young men were selling drugs. “I was in this house three days before they jumped on me,” Robinson said standing on the front porch of the now vacant house. “They were mad because I locked my gangway gate. They usually walk through here and run through …

CeaseFire predicts murders will be down this year

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:52:28 -0500

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 have a spike in March or April, you are on your way to historic lows in homicides.” Whether the reduction is because of Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy’s aggressive policing strategy or the unseasonably chilly weather isn’t yet clear. On Friday, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department credited the reduction to a comprehensive policing …

MARY MITCHELL: Michelle Obama and community come together for youth

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 02:20:20 -0500

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 are civic leaders. And some are business leaders who defied the odds by building successful businesses in a city where race and class have been formidable barriers. Frankly, when black people say, “It takes a village,” these are the people who make up that village. In the face of such prolonged violence in many black …

Black clergy hypocritical on same-sex marriage issue

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 02:21:01 -0500

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

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 02:34:06 -0500

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 hefty percentage of the black vote despite facing black opponents. But a contentious school strike and the mayor’s plan to close 54 schools on the South and West sides have led to a lot of grumbling among black supporters. Indeed, Karen Lewis, head of the Chicago Teachers Union, has publicly labeled the school closings as …

Mitchell: Flash mobs should be stripped of their Facebook accounts

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:09:24 -0500

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 places outside the ’hood that could be invaded by large groups of disrespectful teens. According to the Chicago Police Department and city officials, last weekend’s chaos was orchestrated on Facebook and Twitter and involved about 400 teens. Although there were no reports of robberies, assaults or property damage, the teens ran up and down the …

Almost 36 years later, rape victim still hoping for justice

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:07:34 -0500

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

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:29:53 -0500

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 stories on a regular basis about children killing their parents, it’s midnight. When you have young people shooting sleeping babies in their strollers, it’s midnight. When you have elderly people afraid to leave their homes for fear they will be preyed upon by their neighbors, it is midnight. I may be “Baptist born and Baptist …

Mitchell: Closing low-performing school programs is long overdue

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:28:56 -0500

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

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:20:43 -0500

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 could go to a better school. But on March 12, Parker’s world fell apart when her daughter allegedly hanged herself in the family’s garage because she was distraught over a barrage of negative posts on her Facebook page. Lt. Michael Rompa, of the Bolingbrook Police Department, said Kenyatta’s death is still under investigation pending the …

Mitchell: It was surreal seeing little Jonylah Watkins in a casket

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 06:47:22 -0500

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 was slightly larger than an infant carrier. Her cheeks, unlike the sunken cheeks of the dead, still had the robust look of life. “I want my baby back. I want my baby back,” the mother wailed inconsolably as hundreds of mourners filed past and gave the baby, nicknamed “Smooch,” a final good-bye. The mourners began …

Mitchell: People should get angry over gangs killing innocent people

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 06:52:17 -0500

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 a rampage, smashing windows and throwing rocks. “Someone hit an officer in the face with a brick, another brick was thrown through the window of a police van, and there were 46 arrests — mostly for disorderly conduct,” the New York Times reported. I am not suggesting that people should ever riot. Young people were …