mitchell
Mary A. Mitchell biography
Mary A. Mitchell is an editorial board member and columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. She is a recipient of numerous journalism awards, including the prestigious …
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Hoops tourney to showcase city, kids
Last weekend, I introduced my 12-year-old grandson to city basketball. He’s been blessed to attend top-notch schools in the suburbs, where he excels in the classroom as well as on the basketball court and soccer field. I wanted to see how he would do when …Read More
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Sarah Palin’s ‘shuck and jive’ remark racially insensitive
MARY MITCHELL: I’m not shocked by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s racially offensive “shuck and jive” remark. Like political yakker Ann Coulter, who apparently thinks it’s a sign of her genius to call the president of the United States a “retard,” Palin has become famous because of her irreverent comments, and these days irreverent often means racist.
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Danny Davis and Bobby L. Rush visit Jackson before he re-enters Mayo Clinic
As U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is preparing to re-enter Mayo Clinic, political experts are predicting he will win re-election by a landslide. That’s amazing when you consider that save for a robocall last week, Jackson hasn’t personally reached out to the public since dropping …Read More
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When the TSA wants to check your afro for security reasons
Jessica Estelle Huggins, 22, is an independent filmmaker who wears her hair in a natural style. Young women like her are popping up everywhere, including in business offices. Last year, some of Huggins’ natural sisters started running into problems at airports because of the hairstyle. “TSAs wanted to check their hair,” Huggins said.
Mitchell: Changing the face of Ole Miss
Courtney Pearson is an unlikely Ole Miss homecoming queen. Not too long ago her race and weight would have kept her from competing in the popularity contest. But the role beauty and race play in homecoming competitions has changed dramatically. And last weekend, Pearson was …Read More
Mary Mitchell: New Chicago Public Schools chief’s hardest task: restoring trust
Barbara Byrd-Bennett’s biggest challenge as the new CEO of Chicago Public Schools won’t be plugging a $1 billion deficit or even closing schools. Those things will get done. Byrd-Bennett’s biggest challenge will be restoring trust in the city’s public school system. I sat down with …Read More
MARY MITCHELL: Goodbye, J.C.: Resignation not surprising
When Mayor Rahm Emanuel was before the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board this week, he mentioned J.C. “J.C” is Jean-Claude Brizard, the beleaguered CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Had CPS been able to deal with the Chicago Teachers Union contract without making its leader, Karen Lewis, …Read More
Lincoln Park school pushing cash-strapped CPS for new facility
Afight breaking out in Lincoln Park over the former Children’s Memorial Hospital site could shape up to be a textbook example of how the squeaky wheel gets the oil. On its face, a “demand” from the Lincoln Elementary School LSC that the cash-strapped Chicago Public …
Ed Gardner and Mayor Rahm Emanuel discuss black contracts
If you want the unfiltered truth, sit down with the elderly or the very young. The elderly don’t have time to mince words and the very young don’t know any better. So when Ed Gardner took his complaint about the lack of black workers employed …Read More
Fraud charges raise questions
Leon Dingle Jr. is a member of an elite class of African Americans whom do-gooders turn to when they want to put on a charitable event. And until last March, Dingle was a member of the Illinois Medical District. For nearly two decades, he sat …Read More
YMCA closure a blow to Austin
Growing up, I longed to go to the Y. But my parents couldn’t afford a membership. And they didn’t know how to get assistance that could have given their children access to the Y’s programs. Despite its image as a benevolent organization, the YMCA has …Read More
Mitchell: Gardner must sustain momentum he built at rally for black contractors
Because Ed Gardner built a successful black business in Chicago that employed hundreds of people in its heyday, he knows what it takes to close a deal. The challenge he faces now is sustaining the momentum that rallied nearly 1,000 last Sunday in the Beverly/Evergreen …Read More
Community answers Ed Gardner’s call to action
On Sunday afternoon, nearly 1,000 people, practically all of them African American, answered Ed Gardner’s call to rally at 95th and Western to protest the continued lack of black workers on construction sites in Chicago. Gardner, 87, founder of the iconic Soft Sheen Hair Products …Read More
Mary Mitchell: Group fights for more construction jobs for blacks
There is a big difference between agitating for jobs and a shakedown. What Ed Gardner, the founder of the iconic Soft Sheen hair products, did when he stood in the path of a concrete truck on the South Side and shut down a construction site …Read More
Ed Gardner continues to push for black construction jobs
You know things are messed up when old warhorses have to lead a movement. For instance, on the South Side, 87-year-old Ed Gardner is confronting a problem that’s been bugging black people forever: the paltry number of blacks working on construction sites. Gardner, the founder …
State’s Attorney offering to relocate witnesses targeted in a murder-for-hire plot
The Cook County state’s attorney will offer to relocate the witnesses targeted in a murder-for-hire plot by the young man accused of fatally shooting Bowen student DeAntonio Goss in 2010. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed reported last Sunday that Pharaoh Morris allegedly told an undercover …Read More
A real witness protection program could be life-saver in justice system
I don’t suspect many Chicagoans mourned the loss of Kimberly Harris, a 26-year-old who died last April in a barrage of bullets. Frankly, the victim was nothing like 14-year-old Dajae Coleman of Evanston who was shot to death on Saturday night while walking home from …Read More
Deplorable teaching conditions? Not at Crown Elementary Academy in North Lawndale
With the teachers strike history, both the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Public Schools are taking bows. That’s OK. Both sides gave up something in order to get kids back in the classroom. But, it will be a while before anyone can say that …Read More
West Side can do better than ousted state rep
A recent poll of West Side voters showing former state Rep. Derrick Smith swamping Lance Tyson, his third-party rival in the November election, is an embarrassment. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Rich Miller in his Capitol Fax newsletter reported the survey Monday. Although 43 percent of respondents …
Karen Lewis needs to start putting out the teachers union fire
MARY MITCHELL: Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis has created a monster. Soothing that monster won’t be easy. Indeed, Lewis’ rhetoric that Chicago Public Schools can’t be trusted worked too well. Now teachers don’t know a good deal when they see one.
