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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Attending inauguration is an honor, costly
The South Shore Drill Team, one of two groups from Chicago selected to participate in the inaugural events, is still trying to meet its fund-raising goal.
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Mitchell: Django — An action figure doll?
Is it appropriate to sell collectible dolls based on the controversial movie “Django Unchained?” With everything African-American consumers are grappling with, including how to keep from being shot dead in the street while trying to get to their local grocery stores, worrying about action figures …Read More
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Mitchell: ‘Django Unchained’ was ‘appallingly bloody’ but ‘I really, really enjoyed’ the movie
I don’t consider it entertainment to watch as a character hacks a human body into bloody bits and pieces. So I get why some people are put off by Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained,” and have joined film director Spike Lee’s passive boycott of the film. …Read More
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Apartment management wants to evict woman because son is in rap video
Talitha Funchess, 43, is being evicted from her subsidized apartment in the South Loop because her 20-year-old son appeared in a rap video. Actually, he appeared in a very bad rap video. Funchess has lived in the 2100 block of South Michigan building since 2009. …
Mitchell: Sandi Jackson owes her ward residents answers
If someone staked out Ald. Sandi Jackson’s South Shore home, voters would know whether the alderman spends much time there. But given her stature, anyone lurking outside her door is likely to be hauled off to jail. So voters have had to wait for Jackson …
South Shore Drill Team takes national stage at inaugural parade
The South Shore Drill Team has long represented the South Side at festive events, most notably at the annual Bud Billiken Parade. But on Jan. 21, the 32-year-old drill team will represent the City of Chicago when members march in the inaugural parade for President …
Mitchell: Government will never keep guns out of the wrong hands
Shortly before my father passed away at 85, he told my brother to go to the attic and get his “shotgun.” To describe this relic as a shotgun is giving it too much credit. My father’s grandfather gave it to him when my dad came …
Connecticut shooting ‘reminds us that evil knows no boundaries’
MARY MITCHELL: Across this nation — in towns like Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six adults were gunned down, and in neighborhoods like Englewood where hundreds of children have been killed — many of us look to the men and women of God to help us survive evil.
Mitchell: Group works to bring attention to Ald. Jackson’s alleged neglect of ward
Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th) has got to go. That’s the goal of a group that is fed up with crime and mayhem in the ward. On Wednesday, Jackson squashed reports that she is contemplating resigning even though she spends much of her time in Washington, …
Crime pays for mug-shot magazine’s publisher
We’ve all heard that crime doesn’t pay. The truth is some vendors are experiencing a boon because of the homicides in this city. For example, a storefront industry has popped up to provide R.I.P. T-shirts and custom-designed obituaries. Last week, I stopped at a gas …
‘Back gate’ is touchy subject
Nothing riles up black people like being told to go to the back door. This sensitivity is rooted in the blatant racism of the Jim Crow era when, among other indignities, black people weren’t allowed to go through the front door because of skin color. …
Mitchell: Where is Sandi Jackson?
The spot where five people were wounded by gunfire outside a currency exchange Monday night is just four blocks from Ald. Sandi Jackson’s 7th Ward office. It is bad enough that the shots were fired at one of the busiest intersections in the South Shore …
Mary Mitchell: Vanecko indictment a hopeful sign for the little guy
There are times when I think that Chicago is going to hell in a handbasket. This is not one of those days. Today, there is a glimmer of hope because the mother of a regular guy — a guy with no clout; a guy who, had he landed in trouble, couldn’t have afforded a lawyer in a three-piece suit — helped expose a criminal-justice system that too often fails to uphold the rights of the common man when they clash with the interests of the powerful.
O’Hare’s janitorial contract a messy situation
A $99.4 million janitorial contract the city awarded to United Maintenance Co. to clean O’Hare Airport is a big mess. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday that the owner of United Maintenance, Richard Simon, was once involved in another company with “alleged mob figure” William Daddano …
Former Chicago cop faces perjury charge
Sylshina London, a former Chicago Police officer facing a felony perjury charge, is a small fish. Unlike the ranking officers in the Jon Burge torture cases, London isn’t accused of standing by while young African-American suspects were tortured with electric shock, beatings and suffocation. Indeed …
Corey Brooks considering entering crowded 2nd Congressional race
From early indications, the special election in the 2nd Congressional District is going to be a bloodbath for Democrats. Gov. Pat Quinn has set Feb. 26 as the primary election. Besides the likely suspects — aldermen, state reps and senators, lawyers, and former elected officials …
Sobbing Rev. Jackson on son’s resignation: Jesse Jr. ‘is not well’
The Rev. Jesse Jackson has always been a man with a plan. But on Thanksgiving eve, when it was painfully clear that his namesake would resign as a member of Congress, Jackson was emotionally broken.
Englewood native put aside doubts to win Rhodes Scholarship
When Rhiana Gunn-Wright walked into the Chicago History Museum as a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship, she was a bundle of nerves. Despite her stellar educational background (she graduated magna cum laude from Yale, and was at the top of her class at the Illinois Math and Science Academy), there was a moment when she questioned her qualifications.
A mother fights in the war on wrongful convictions
I don’t know where black mothers get their strength. During slavery, young black mothers had to watch their children being sold off to distant plantations never to be heard from again. Today, too many young black mothers are seeing their sons get killed in the …
Mitchell: Curry should not have received a felony conviction for bonding his daughter’s hands and feet with tape
Most people would agree Andre Curry, 22, should suffer some consequences for binding his toddler daughter’s hands and feet with blue painter’s tape and posting the photograph on Facebook. It was an ignorant stunt. Thankfully, the toddler was unharmed and some good did come from …
