WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Sometimes the journey from immigrant to American is a long one, with misunderstandings along the way. One Chicago writer says the journey can also include the kindness of strangers.

In the world of Hollywood or wherever there are minorities heavily present, rarely is there anyone who comes out as a Republican supporter. This is  because there are so few and if they are Republican, they are afraid to openly talk about it. If a person of color in Hollywood were to come out as a right-wing supporter, how will that change their image, and why would it?

J. Nicole Brooks says that as a theater student, her teachers didn’t know what to do with a young black woman from the South Side of Chicago. "They didn’t know that the arts was my refuge," she says.

This summer, WBEZ is embarking on a series of stories and conversations centered around race. Race: Out Loud aims to ask honest, in-depth questions about how we talk and see race in our nation and in Chicago.  As part of the series, Eight Forty-Eight Friday looks at how Chicago’s neighborhoods and institutions support cultural and artistic diversity.

Next time you're stuck in traffic because of road construction, take a look at how diverse the crew is. Race plays a significant role in how construction contracts are awarded. But do programs designed to create diversity translate into jobs for minorities?

Poet Janeida Rivera represented Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School when she competed in the Louder Than a Bomb Youth Poetry Festival in the Spring of 2005 with this critique of Humboldt Park's gentrification.