What Happened to the Washington Coalition?
This year marks the 40th anniversaries of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the 1968 Democratic convention uproar. Having worked with King and played an active role in organizing the convention demonstrations I will take some note of these in coming columns.
But it is also the 25th anniversary year of Harold Washington’s hard-fought nomination and election as Chicago’s first black mayor—four and a half Camelot years for the city’s black and progressive white communities, riddled with historic significance.
For several weeks now I’ve been attending a series of panel discussions, exhibitions and meetings to relive or analyze the event. Some of course composed of sentimental fluff, others offering excellent retrospective insights into sociopolitical Chicago.
One permanent product is a fine book of HW photos by Antonio Dickey and Marc PoKempner with an elegant summation of the years by Salim Muwakkil. (Full disclosure: there’s even a photo ... Read More...
