by admin | Jun 4, 2020 | Activism, Books, Business, Chicago, Civil rights, Crime, Emergency Management, Government, Personal history, Politics, Public safety, Racism, Resilience
I weep for my neighborhood. I weep for Chicago. I weep for the state of criminal justice in America when a police officer, hand in his pocket, a look of utter indifference on his face, feels the sense of impunity that empowers him to kneel on a black man’s neck in...
by admin | Apr 20, 2020 | Activism, Blogging, Civil rights, Coronavirus, Disaster, Education, Emergency Management, Government, History, Immigration, Politics, Public health, Public policy, Racism, Resilience, Volunteerism
What follows is an adapted, re-edited version of a Facebook post from today that seems to have struck a nerve, attracting dozens of likes, comments, and shares. As a result, I concluded that perhaps I should add it to this blog. No pictures here, just observations:...
by admin | Oct 29, 2019 | Activism, Books, Chicago, Christianity, Civil rights, Crime, History, Identity, Immigration, Personal history, Public safety, Racism, Religion, Terrorism, Volunteerism
Last week was for me an eventful time, including a four-hour trip to Dubuque, Iowa, on Thursday for the Growing Sustainable Communities conference, an event the city sponsors every year. I spoke in a session that afternoon, October 24, on community planning for...
by admin | Sep 22, 2019 | Activism, Civil rights, Crime, Immigration, National security, Politics, Public policy, Public safety, Racism, Terrorism, Volunteerism
National Park Service photo We have become so accustomed to a certain Homeland Security phrase since the events of September 11, 2001, that we have never seriously contemplated its larger meaning. “If you see something, say something,” for most people simply means...
by admin | May 13, 2019 | Activism, Books, Chicago, Civil rights, Education, History, Housing, Politics, Public policy, Racism, Social Science
In 2013, the board of education of the Chicago Public Schools succeeded in closing 50 neighborhood schools, an action fully supported by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Of these, 90 percent had a majority of African American students, who comprised 80 percent of students in the...
by admin | Nov 6, 2018 | Activism, Civil rights, Disaster, Disaster policy, Government, Housing, Natural Hazards, Public policy, Resilience, Urban Planning, Water, Wildfire
This post will be brief. Rather than ask you to read my thoughts, I want you to listen–hard. It has long been known among disaster recovery planners that lower-income citizens are considerably more vulnerable to disasters largely because of the marginal...
