The U.S. government under Ronald Reagan tried to deport Dennis Brutus, an outspoken anti-apartheid activist and poet who taught at Northwestern. My first article for the Reader.
Police and prosecutors went after the kid who pulled the trigger when the barrio’s most promising politician was killed at 31. Did they overlook the ones who pulled the strings?
Ignoring the 20th anniversary of the ’68 riots that indelibly changed the city’s west side, “confirming the suspicions of a great many Chicagoans about the mainstream white media’s lack of interest in the west side and in the black population in general.”
I inaugurated a City Hall column during my time at the Reader. This was probably the one having the greatest impact.
The mayor dies suddenly and the city’s aldermen gather to choose one of their one as his successor.