Lakefront Outlook Newspaper
Wednesday June 22, 2005

To the Editor:

My name is Winfred T. Wilson, Sr. I am a 13-year veteran of the United States Navy and a resident of the Bronzeville community. Through the years I have been dedicated to uplifting my community and mentoring the youth. It is because of this that I have invested in Info Max Solutions Incorporated and Yo’ Dogg Catering. Through these businesses I plan to make a difference in the African- American community.

My goal as an entrepreneur is to build resiliency and develop skills necessary for our community to become productive and successful citizens. I aim to overcome the adversities of a negative environment through education, training and employment. Consequently, this will promote more prosperous living conditions for our community and future generations.

As a businessman in Chicago I question why this city and the state of Illinois can allow our youth to constantly be trapped in this cycle of malevolence that is designed for them to become residents of the prison system.

Why is it that the system is strategically designed to target African-American youth and consequently tear apart the African-American family? Why are jails being built at rapid rates for our youth but no jobs are offered as an option to stay out of the prison system? Instead of solving the problem by creating new jobs, building resources and employment for the African-American community it seems as if the problem has and continues to be ignored. Why aren’t African Americans given the same employment opportunities as other nationalities. For these reasons I challenge any government official to answer these questions in an open forum.

Please feel free to attend our open forum at 6:30 p.m. on June 27 at the StarLight Live Entertainment Theatre & Banquet Facility, 450 E. 43rd St.

Winfred T. Wilson, Sr.
Bronzeville Community Association

To the Editor:

I am in my 80th year. Practically every day I use the bicycle path along the lake to bicycle, walk and jog as a path to where I swim. I have been doing that since at least the 1980s. It is a privileged, glorious experience. Age has meant nothing to me because of this.

About a week ago, at about one in the afternoon, riding home from my Spanish group at the Cultural Center downtown, I was attacked by four youths not much more than 15 years old at the rise on 35th Street. Each one took turns beating me in the head with their fists until they were able to knock me off my bicycle. Fortunately I had on a helmet. They probably hurt their fists more than they hurt me, though my nose and jaw were scraped and damaged.

With the help of other cyclists, we called the police almost immediately. They caught two of the kids within 15 minutes, one of whom had my bicycle. I walked toward three of them as they were getting ready to cross the 35th Street pedestrian bridge. I called them cowards.

One of them said “Hey, mister. I didn’t have anything to do with it.” What was striking on their 5 foot 8 to 10 inch frames between 180 and 200 pounds was how well groomed they were: sparkling white T-shirts, clean, almost new black trousers, perfect hair cuts. They did not appear underprivileged or neglected.

What an experience. I have been in psychological shock, which kept me from writing this until now. There are so many people on the paths who are so vulnerable, much more than I.

I am in fairly reasonable shape so I withstood the physical trauma fairly well. I do not think that would be the case with some of the others. How tragic. We are spending hundreds of billions all over the world going around beating up people so we can control and dominate. But we don’t have money for youth here to make them constructive and creative.

We have given everything to the military and corporations and are on the verge of creating a fascist state. We have lost our sense of priorities. Where are the police bicycle patrols, which I hardly have seen this year?

Yes, the police did a fine job of getting the perpetrators though I am not sure yet if they got them all. But why is this happening at all?

These insults have to stop. And we must be prepared to save our youth from destroying themselves at all costs. This business of going to Iraq to save those people for democracy is so ridiculous I almost choke when I think about it.

Alfred D. Klinger