Chicago Defender

THE CHICAGO DEFENDER — In this new year, and particularly around MLK Day, you can set a 2022 goal to volunteer as a family. Honeycomb’s schedule of upcoming volunteer opportunities is on their website. Families can, for example, sign...

THE CHICAGO DEFENDER — John Lewis was 25 when he marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, and was beaten by state troopers who fractured his skull. The Greensboro sit-ins at the Woolworth’s lunch counter were led...

THE CHICAGO DEFENDER — In this new year, and particularly around MLK Day, you can set a 2022 goal to volunteer as a family. Honeycomb’s schedule of upcoming volunteer opportunities is on their website. Families can, for example, sign up to prepare a home-cooked meal for those staying at a Wicker Park shelter, help protect a nature preserve along the Chicago River, pack and donate boxed meals for a food pantry in Auburn Gresham, or create activity kits for pediatric patients. With more than a dozen projects, there’s something for everyone.

THE CHICAGO DEFENDER — John Lewis was 25 when he marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, and was beaten by state troopers who fractured his skull. The Greensboro sit-ins at the Woolworth’s lunch counter were led by four college students. And the nine students who bravely integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957 were all between fifteen and seventeen years old. The moment called for action, and Dr. King and countless other young, Black leaders stepped up and answered the call, by fighting against injustice and achieving real progress for the Black community.

CHICAGO DEFENDER — Rodrick Wimberly: The legacy of the Chosen Few is left up to interpretations by different people. You have different stories of the origin of House music. That’s one of the reasons why the history of Chicago House Music is so rich. After people watch the film, I believe they’ll have a much better understanding of the historical basis and development of what House Music is. More importantly, the development of the film was to show the significance of House Music, why it was necessary from a sociological standpoint. I would say that The Chosen Few’s legacy helped create a genre and took it from a small enclave of private clubs to a broader, more universal audience. This allowed for Chicago, one of the most segregated cities in the country, to bring people together. The most incredible legacy of The Chosen Few is that it helped to create  a genre of music but also an entire sub-culture of human-culture expression focused on unity, peace, and love.

CHICAGO DEFENDER - After the meeting, Biden declared that the murder of Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer “launched a summer of protest we hadn’t seen since the Civil Rights era in the ’60s—protests that peacefully unified people of every race and generation to collectively say enough of the senseless killings.” The words were valuable, and so was the symbolism of the president hosting loved ones of Floyd on the first anniversary of his death. 

CHICAGO DEFENDER — “Everyone has a different idea of what ‘support’ means. Asking for help is difficult for most. For victims of abuse, it is also embarrassing. The Slipout mobile app allows users to anonymously connect with a member of The Slipout team to receive one-on-one support,” says The Slipout developer Lisa R. Jenkins. “The Slipout mobile app connects users to emergency service with one click of the Call 911 Now button if they are in imminent danger.”

CHICAGO DEFENDER — “This year has shown me that I am nothing without faith. I enjoyed many highs during 2020, and yet I can also bear witness to some valley lows. Nevertheless, 2020 has taught me to be grateful in the midst of it all. Nothing is to be taken for granted. I find joy in the ability to wiggle my fingers, which is something most may not think of. There are no little blessings. All blessings are huge. This year has also taught me that it’s the shared testimonies that carry the torch of hope and encouragement needed to make it from one moment to the next.”-Lisa, Chicago.