Twenty years ago, when he was a young teen living with his grandmother, Ron Tate would sneak a radio into his bedroom at night and sit under his covers listening to Blackhawk games.
Tate is thinking a lot these days about the notion that some activities are off-limits to blacks: he’s organizing a campaign to force the Chicago Park District to build an indoor skating rink somewhere in the black community.
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“I used to play in Grant Park,” says Tate. “They were rough games without pads or helmets. One day I decided, ‘That’s it.’ But I needed some kind of aggressive release because I have a lot of energy to burn off.”
In December 1989 his aunt Elma Douglas bought him ice skates. “I had never skated before but I took to it right away,” says Tate. “I loved it.”
Tate decided to call attention to Holliday’s plight.
The ad itself didn’t draw one phone call.
But Tate happened on another problem while he was helping Holliday.
