Hope Won

by Nora Hamill

I grew up in a white neighborhood in Chicago. Chicago was a city of ethnic neighborhoods and for many years, each ethnic group had their own neighborhood. My neighborhood was predominately Polish and Lithuanian. My father was from Ireland and although there were Irish in the neighborhood, you still needed to speak Polish or Lithuanian to shop on Archer Avenue, our main neighborhood shopping district.

Our neighborhood was not “tolerant.” If a black person dared to walk into our neighborhood, he was beaten with a baseball bat (or bats) and run out quickly. The throng of young white boys salivating as they ran to “beat the n_____” was frightening, so it was a rare occasion that a black person was found on our streets.

The neighborhood to the south of mine had the bragging rights of actually “stoning” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he marched through MarquettePark. The whites threw bricks at the blacks as they marched for civil rights and equality on the south side of Chicago. There was a Nazi headquarters a block away from the Park and it was supported by the locals. Hate, especially of the black man, was the name of the game.

I always liked to think that the Irish were more open and accepting of other races. Maybe because they were under the domination of the British for so long, they knew what it felt like to be enslaved, to have your language and customs forbidden, to be starved and forced to work in menial jobs. So my father and mother did not teach us to hate.

My mother worked hard to find affordable lessons so that her daughters could have an education that separated them from the average neighborhood slob. She hoped that we would go to college and not end up working in the local factories, drinking beer and/or fighting in the local gangs. From the age of 11 through 18, we had the opportunity to attend an Art & Music summer camp where my sisters and I made friends from all over the City. In fact, we had many friends in a variety of colors.

Our lives were enriched with music, dancing and theater. Since my dad worked for the airlines, we also had the benefit of traveling and experiencing other peoples and places. All of these opportunities took us out of the neighborhood and expanded our minds, our hearts and our attitudes.

When I was in high school, we had some of our friends over for a sleepover. Yes, we had invited black friends too. Within a short period of time, our house was burned down. This is a testament to the hate that white Chicagoans shamefully had for black Chicagoans. I could list pages of racial stereotypes that were gleefully bandied about on a daily basis. Hate and intolerance was our white neighborhood’s way of life.

When Dr. King was murdered in 1968, many black people of Chicago were so angry, so sad, so frustrated, that they began to riot. Mayor Daley issued an order for the Chicago Police to “shoot to kill.” Another testament to the way white Chicago thought of black Chicago.

As my family grew, finally numbering ten children, my father’s drinking increased and my mother had to go to work. My younger sisters did not have the opportunities that the older girls had and they stayed in the neighborhood. They became haters. Earlier this year, when I asked 3 of my sisters if they were going to vote for Barack Obama, they responded with the same racial epitaphs that I grew up hearing from the white citizens of Chicago all those years ago.

What is Hate? It’s not the opposite of love for you have to feel strongly about the person or thing you hate. Indifference is the real opposite of love. Hate is: Hiding A Tender Emotion. Hate is what you do when you have a feeling that is too big too handle and you are angry or afraid. Hate is a form of fear. Often it is fear of what might happen if there is change – usually a change you are afraid of or don’t want. Racial hatred is a de-humanization based upon myth, customs or habits. It’s passed down from generation to generation with many children learning to hate when they have had no personal experience to base the hate upon.

I was impressed by Obama’s speech on racism. He put American racism in perspective with grace and civility. I could actually feel him speaking from his heart. I felt his hope. I felt that he was the breath of intelligent fresh air that was needed for this country to move beyond categorizing people based upon their skin color.

When I asked my landlord if he thought Obama had a chance to win, he said “I’m afraid the country is still too racist to elect him. People say that they will vote for him, but when they are alone in the election booth, they won’t be able to vote for a black man.” My experience with my younger sisters confirmed his fear. Racism was too great - Obama would never win.

Fast forward to the night of November 4, 2008: The cameras panning the crowd in Grant Park, Chicago, showed white faces, black faces, brown faces, yellow faces, red faces, rich faces, poor faces, skinny faces, fat faces, old faces and young faces all pushed together in a great sea of humanity standing and waiting for the election results, all hoping that Obama would win. 85% of Chicago voted for Barack Obama. 67% of the usually Republican Chicago suburbs voted for Barack Obama. This means that white Chicago voted for the black guy!

That night, HATE LOST!

And the tears flowed.

By the end of this election cycle, the American people stood up and let the world know that they had enough of the hate! They refused to elect Elizabeth Dole. They repudiated the hate mongering of Sarah Palin. Even the darling republican, Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota, got spanked for her hateful words.

Something had happened that night - something deep and wonderful.

Chicago changed. Cities and States changed across the United States. America stood up and the world felt it.

I began to think about my sisters and their hateful words about Obama and realized that they were behind the times. Their hate felt so outdated, so old, so irrelevant. I looked at the people in Grant Park that night and saw our future.

Hope Won!

Find out more about Nora

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