Original News, Features & Opinion on Chicago, Illinois and America
Realtors twisting facts on Home Rule referendum By Ray Hanania If you live in many of the Southwest suburbs, you might be receiving election mailers from the powerful realtors association urging voters to vote NO on referenda that would give local communities Home Rule powers. The realtors don’t like it because Home Rule gives local…
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Online Book, White Flight and racism in Chicago in 1969 By Ray Hanania The online book is called “Midnight Flight,” the story of racism in Chicago in the 1960s. The book is a memoir of living on Chicago’s Southeast Side in the 1960s and how realtors using racial fears forced White homeowners to seek their…
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Arrogance and racism in Michelle Obama’s lecture on White Flight Former First Lady Michelle Obama addressed an audience at the 3rd Annual Obama Summit this week and one of her topics was Chicago’s history of “White Flight.” But instead of speaking about it with knowledge, she addressed it with a subtle anger blaming White people…
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Remembering Chicago’s racial tensions from the late 1960s Looking back at Chicago in the 1960s and the racial tensions that divided Blacks and Whites, I decided to write a book about that experience. White Flight, which I titled “Midnight Flight: One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online…
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Midnight Flight: Chapter 13 — Notes from Readers One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online novel) By Ray Hanania (C) 1990-2022 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved Send us your comments, letters and memories and I will post them here. Email me by clicking here. You must let…
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Midnight Flight: Chapter 12 — Looking Back One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online novel) By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2020 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved The families that moved out of South Shore Valley were the real losers. We were the victims, too, the people…
Midnight Flight: Chapter 11 — Friends Left Behind One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online novel) By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2018 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved Rely on memory for inspiration, but always check it for perfection and accuracy. Memory is human. So, it is…
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Midnight Flight: Chapter 10 — The Sub-Urban Life One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online novel) By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2018 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved “Wash your whiskey in your water, sugar in your tea …” “Wuz all this crazy questions you askin’ me …”…
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Midnight Flight: Chapter 9 — Midnight Flight One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online novel) By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2018 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved “I’m gonna leave the city, got to get away. “I’m gonna leave the city, got to get away. “All this fussing…
Midnight Flight: Chapter 8 — In the Eye of the Storm One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online novel) By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2018 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved “I can fly like a bird in the sky. “I can buy anything that money can buy….
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Midnight Flight: Chapter 7 — Bowen High School One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online novel) By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2018 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved “Give me a head with Hair, long beautiful Hair, “Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen, “Give me down to there, Hair!…
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Midnight Flight: Chapter 6 — Alone in the Playground One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online novel) By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2018 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved “There she was just a walking down the street, “singing do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do “Snapping her…
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Midnight Flight: Chapter 5 — Black is Bad One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online novel) By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2018 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved “I’m from Milwaukee, and I ought to know. “It’s Blatz, Blatz, Blatz, Blatz, wherever you go. “Blatz is the…
Midnight Flight: Chapter 4 — Written Long Before One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online novel) By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2019 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved Chicago’s borders, literally, marked the end of civilization as we knew it. Beyond the city’s borders was a vast wasteland…
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Midnight Flight: Chapter 3 — A Beautiful, Idyllic Community One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online novel) By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2020 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved “You don’t know, what we can find. “Why don’t you come home with me little girl, “on…
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Midnight Flight: Chapter 2, Dividing Lines One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online novel) By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2020 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved “You never really knew a man until you stood in his shoes and walked around in them.” — To Kill…
Midnight Flight: Chapter 1, Introduction By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2020 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved This book is about one family’s experience of White Flight from a changing and great Chicago community, South Shore Valley (also called South Shore Gardens, Calumet Heights). It is also one person’s memory of living in a wonderful…