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Unpopular Opinion of a Legal and Mental Health Practitioner Working with Immigrant & Black Communities in Chicago
I work between the immigrant and Black American communities (yes there are often intersections).
I’m an LSW and a DOJ. It’s been challenging to drive past the CPD on the West Side and see migrants at the station in this moment of crisis. It is demoralizing to see human beings pawned by our so-called leaders. It is demoralizing to see Chicago’s good intentions as a sanctuary city get exploited.
My unpopular opinion is this.
It is very difficult to see White Americans — church groups, the mainstream media, and yes, liberal woke White politicians- further exploit the Migrant Crisis to bolster their own egos and assuage their own conscience.
When I pass the local CPD on the West Side of Chicago and then go to work with a primarily BIPOC population in the same neighborhood who are also (and have been) suffering and facing extreme marginalization without any White fanfare or compassion, this hurts.
Where were these White people and legislators with good intentions, with their compassion, with their sense of urgency to do something, when crack, heroin,and massive gun and gang violence started overwhelming the Black population in Chicago? And where are you now?
