For those of us living in the city of Chicago, this has been a bizarre, upsetting weekend. On the one hand, we’ve had unseasonably clear skies and 85-degree weather, when it is typically in the 50’s and rainy. Every native Chicagoan knows this, forcing us to wonder whether or not we’ll see a real winter this year – or ever – after successive years of slushy winters rather than the weeks of blizzards we know as home.
But while lengthening summers has unsettled us, this weekend’s ICE activity has confused and set every Chicagoan on edge. It’s been a series of daily, unexplained, unfocused actions by ICE that have done little but damage communities and frighten residents. National reporting has missed much of it, but as a one-time Chicago City Hall reporter, I’ve been closely following my friends and former colleagues’ work closely. As a former journalist, I’d say I have a finely tuned bullshit meter, so here’s how I make my news choices:
- Follow reporters with years of experience covering the city. Chicago is blessed with a still-significant news ecosystem and veteran reporters on the streets.
- Look for news organizations capped with veteran editors (who know Chicago) and editorial guidelines that require a source and confirmation process fact-checking. This means reporters don’t dash things off and get it printed – editors read the stories before they go out the door and make the reporters confirm the facts.
- Of course, all my news sources have bylines and are from news publications that have been operating in Chicago for many years, if not decades. Publications rooted in their communities have everything to lose by getting the facts wrong – locals stop talking to them, they lose trust, and good reporters quit to work elsewhere.
Here are some reporters and editors I personally know and trust, that I follow on social media:
There are many others who don’t have active social media, and more who I trust but I don’t know personally. But generally, I encourage you to follow the reporting of Block Club Chicago, the Sun-Times/WBEZ, and the Chicago Tribune. There are other outlets doing good work but these are the ones churning reports out daily.
That said, what exactly has been happening in Chicago that’s set us all on edge? Unfortunately, the national press has missed the drumbeat of craziness straining through Chicago. For instance:
- An ICE agent tossed a smoke canister at people outside a Logan Square (Mexican) grocery store when he was frustrated by cars blocking his route.
- An ICE agent shot buckshot at a local reporter, while she was inside her marked reporting van.
- An ICE agent shot and wounded a woman who was blocking his vehicle.
- ICE agents occupied a Brighton Park neighborhood street (a Latino community) and then shot tear gas at vocal but non-violent protesters – many of whom were neighbors.
- ICE agents, looking for undocumented immigrants, repelled onto an apartment building roof in the early morning, then broke down dozens of doors, arrested random citizens, and left tens of thousands of dollars of damage to people (many who were poor to begin with) who had committed no crime.
- ICE agents arrested a Chicago alderman in a hospital who was quietly asking if they had a warrant for a constituent’s arrest.
- Gov. JB Pritzker is calling for ICE and Homeland Security to leave Illinois.
Meanwhile, ICE raided a West Side Walmart, Border Patrol strangled a man in a car accident, citizen children are being taken into custody by Homeland Security, and the federal government has announced it’s halting funding to a long-planned L extension into one of the poorest parts of Chicago.
All of this in the last seven days. Even though it’s not happening in my neighborhood, I’ve been to these places and know these communities. It’s hard to not feel like my people are under attack.
Stay informed and support your local news publications with your dollars. They’re now more important than ever.