Lori Lightfoot is running against Rahm Emanuel for Mayor of Chicago. An hour wasn't long enough, as usual. But we got into police conduct, the cop academy, immigration, pensions, taxes, school closings. Don't underestimate Ms Lightfoot. She was quarterback back in the day, and she's tough.
Rus Bradburd joins us to talk about his book, All the Dreams We've Dreamed: A story of Hoops and Handguns on Chicago's West Side. It is a story about sports, coaching, college recruitment, schools, gun violence and real folks, like Shawn Harrington. Shawn went to Chicago's storied Marshall High School.
Harrington, 41, was a Division II All-American at Northwest Missouri State, where he landed after playing at Mineral Area (Iowa) Junior College, then New Mexico State following graduation from Marshall in 1993.
His career as a basketball coach was cut short by a bullet as he covered his daughter and saved her life and who now sits in a wheel chair, tells as much about this city’s Black flight and transformation to a city for the rich, as any sociologist’s academic study.
Progressive political strategist and consultant Joanna Klonsky brings us up to date on the #MeToo Movement in Illinois' state capital. Greg Kelley, President of the midwest local of SEIU Healthcare talks about the labor response to the impending Janus decision and their experience with Harris v Quinn, where the court ruled against SEIU.
Our old friends, Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, join us to report on their trip to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice that opened recently in Montgomery Alabama. Our discussion covers issues of the criminal justice system in Chicago, gun violence, the CPS sexual abuse scandal and more. An hour talk among friends.
Brother Mike returns this week with our guest, polyglot Amara Enyia. Amara is a Chicago Renaissance Woman and Iron Woman. Enyia ran for Mayor last time around but hasn't found a candidate to support yet. She thinks Rahm is very beatable and we talk about a Progressive pathway to the Mayor's office.