We the People

Juneteenth and Standing United Against North & South Divisions

(Yes friends, I’m still here. Alive. On this planet. Currently in Idaho. Longing for Sicily.) First the personal, then the philosophical. I haven’t posted in a while, so I hope you’ll stay with me.

I was recently in Chicago for a few days to see family. At the airport, I almost purchased a sweatshirt. Mostly because they were on sale and simply said “Chicago.” So tempted by the $19.99 price tag that I stopped at three airport stores and contemplated the purchase before finally getting on my flight. The truth is that I didn’t need a sweatshirt. But oh, my hometown Chicago… Though I will never again live there, I will always feel connected.

Last night, I watched the opening ceremonies for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. My longing to go “home” swelled. I need to return. Again. Not just to see my family but to make the pilgrimage. To return home home to the South Side, to visit Jackson Park. And when I do, I’m getting a sweatshirt – no matter what the cost.

It’s not just that Chicago is my “hometown,” the place of my youth, where I spent 16 years from age 2 to 18, where my father and mother both died—twenty years apart, and where my siblings still live, it’s that I’m from the South Side. Bridgeport. Home of Mayor Daley and Comiskey Park, where I spent my summers going to ballgames with free tickets earned from placement on honor roll. And when I say ballgames, well, there’s only one Chicago team that matters: The White Sox.

When my parents divorced, I went to school on the Northwest side of Chicago in Portage Park and lived with my mom in Belmont Central. But I still spent a good chunk of time on the South Side with my father: Hyde Park, the University of Chicago, the Museum of Science & Industry, the Japanese Garden. The Obama Center speaks to me not just because of the Obamas but because of where it is. Its placement in Jackson Park is a recognition of their roots and a public call to community. All community, yes, and specifically the South Side.

Oh the joy! here’s the official link for The Obama Presidential Center (see video at the end of this piece for more information)

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Why is the South so commonly associated with poverty and the North with wealth?

In the U.S.: slavery equaled poverty throughout the bottom half of the States—apart from plantation owners—while the North was the seat of commerce, advancement, the industrial revolution, education, and prosperity.

In Blaine County, Idaho: Bellevue in the south, the gateway to the Sawtooth Mountains, home to many booming silver and lead mines years before it became a state in 1890. This is where the County’s workers and majority of miners lived. It is still the home of laborers. Much later, Sun Valley was founded in 1936 as a planned resort community, luring the famous stars and high society from Hollywood. Today, it continues to draw the wealthy, with homes between 4,000 to 10,000 square feet. It is also where, in 2006, they refused to cap single-family home sizes to 12,000 square feet. (For reference, the average home size in Bellevue is 1,700 sq ft, just above what the average home size was in America in the 1980s. In 2015, the average American home size grew to 2,500 square feet. Today, 12,000 sq ft is the equivalent of five average suburban homes.) Neighboring Ketchum is replacing historic buildings with big modern condominium complexes. Together, these two communities at the north end of Blaine County consist of 50-60% second homes (or multiple-owned homes) with upwards of 71% used only for vacations.

And then my beloved Sicily. Part of Italy, yes, ever since Garibaldi swept it up in 1860. But Sicily is still Sicily and there are lots of Sicilians who don’t think so highly of Garibaldi. Sicily will always be the South, largely independent. Still associated with poverty and simple ways. While Tuscany and Lombardy will always drip with romantic glamour, as if only they are privileged with extraordinary beauty in the countryside, in art, in fashion, and in history. These northern areas are typically where the wealthy reside, famously buying old villas and restoring them to grandeur. (See the famous homes of Some celebrities here)

Though recently Mick Jagger revealed himself on social media reveling in his adopted Sicilian home. But there has always been something gritty about Mick – right? - (despite his glamorous female partners) and it seems fitting that Sicily is where he’d relax. (And yes, this makes me smile.)

My intention here is not to fan flames of prejudice, rather to point out what’s obvious to those of us from southern places. While folks in the north are often surprised and even offended.

Of course, these are generalizations. For example, I have friends, quite wealthy, who live in the South Valley, using their resources to ecologically restore the oldest working ranch in the area. Under their ownership, decades of degradation were transformed into healthy habitat for wild trout, elk, pronghorn, migratory birds, and more. They live there because they are much happier there, feel much more grounded there, than in our northern places. Kinda like me in Sicily: I’m not from that place, but I feel of that place.

Now in Palermo, Sicily there is much debate now about the rich. Dua Lipa and Callum Turner’s recent $1.7 million dollar wedding. Japanese billionaire Kaoru Nakajima spending an estimated half million to host 1400 guests for his 73^rd birthday in 2023. These and other occasions when the city felt essentially rented to the rich at the inconvenience of the locals. No different than the Jeff Bezos wedding in Venice last year. Except that Bezos spent an estimated $46-$55 million and no one had to search the internet to learn who he was. Ah yes, see the disparity? The difference between north and south.

What’s my point? I’m proud to be from the south or in the south: the South Side of Chicago, the southern part of Blaine County, the large southern island of Sicily (getting kicked by the boot).

In a political time when the emphasis is on the rich getting richer, the working class have slipped largely from middle class to one accident, one illness, one layoff away from poverty. I think it’s time for us –many of us – to reclaim our history and pride.

We’ve wasted too many hours and years watching lives of the rich & famous and supporting their antics. Seriously. Haven’t we seen all we need? It’s all the same toys, same kitsch, same plastic surgery, same “reality” TV. Bring back the shows that represent the most of us: All in the Family, Good Times, Roseanne, Mom, Modern Family…. ! (tell me, what show do you think best represents America?)

True power is in the people. In community, compassion, and cooperation.

Not in mavericks and romanticized cowboys. Not in billionaires, jetsetters, and influencers.

Life is what happens every day and day to day. Working, eating, volunteering, taking care of the people we love. Real life is not what happens on vacations or on jets or in social media photos or even in politics.

As we celebrate Juneteenth, we remember the Emancipation Proclamation was signed 2 years and 5 months before the news reached the enslaved people in Texas. 900 days of continued forced slavery in the South. 900 days when freedom was a right but ignored by those in power.

It’s time to spread the news. In the north and in the south. Everywhere. Workers make a country strong. Workers have power. It’s time we wield it (again).

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