Chicago: ‘No monuments to racism’
By Catherine Kavanaugh
Near a busy corner on Chicago’s South Side, on April 7, cars slowed and passersby honked or raised their fists in support at the sight of a small group holding a banner proclaiming, “Honor Black Lives — No Monuments to Racism.”
Chants of “You can’t stop the revolution! Black women bring the solution!” rang out as more activists and community members gathered to demand the removal of a monument to Confederate soldiers known as the Confederate Mound. The 50-foot marker dominates Oak Woods Cemetery in the Black working-class neighborhood known as Grand Crossing.
Since last September, members of Smash White Supremacy-Chicago, led by Black Youth Project 100 and the local branch of Workers World Party, have gone door-to-door in Grand Crossing to investigate the impact of the Confederate monument on the people who live in its shadow. They were also promoting BYP 100’s #HonorHerLabor campaign to replace the monument with a statue of anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells. The grave of that legendary African-American journalist, newspaper editor and anti-lynching activist rests just yards from the Confederate Mound.
