“Not long ago I found myself in the uncomfortable position of needing a dollar to get home,” writes Joshua Henkin in the Chicago-based socialist newsweekly In These Times (September 28-October 4). “Left with no other alternative, I approached a well-dressed, middle-aged woman and explained my predicament. She promptly handed me the money, no questions asked. While there’s no way of proving it, I doubt if I could have gotten the money if I had really been in need. . . . The point is that I, with my crew-neck sweater and docksiders, came from her world; I could have been her next-door neighbor, even her son. For the same reason, its not surprising to find that the poor are more generous to panhandlers than the rich. ‘People driving Jaguars,’ one woman said, ‘they give you 50 cents and tell you not to buy booze. You go to a black neighborhood, its no big deal for them to give you $2, $3, $5 or $20 for that matter. They’re more receptive to being poor.’”
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“A strong immigrant work ethic and a ferocious sense of turf so far have prevented Pilsen from plunging into the powerlessness and despair that grip many impoverished minority communities in Chicago,” writes Alfredo S. Lanier in Chicago Enterprise (October 1988). “Among Pilsen’s leadership, the specter of ‘gentrification’ also has been a lightning-rod issue. . . . Today even the sight of Reeboked North Side trendies at local restaurants makes some people nervous. ‘The day I have to stand in line to get Mexican food I’ll know the neighborhood has gone to hell,’ grumbles one long-time resident.”
