I learned to write feature stories by listening to country music. The songs were filled with stories, characters and emotions that grabbed the listener's heart. I wanted my stories to have the same impact.
Today we continue our series Race: Out Loud with a look at how politics and politicians have changed over the last few decades.Unlike many communities in the Chicago area, the halls of government are integrated.
For white students in suburban Chicago, school has become a much more diverse place in the last 20 years. But the region has seen a jump during that time in the number of highly segregated black and Latino schools, a new WBEZ analysis shows.
Teresa Puente describes herself as "a brown-skinned Chicana." "People have guessed that I am from many places, including Venezuela, India, Morocco, Turkey and Guatemala," she writes. "They never guess I am Chicana or Mexican-American."
In Chicago and the suburbs, a quarter of a million black and Latino children go to schools where more than 90 percent of students come from their same race. For our ongoing series on race, reporter Linda Lutton talked to seniors who just graduated from some of these schools.
Poet Samuel Carroll was a 17-year-old junior at Lincoln Park High School when he competed in the Louder Than a Bomb Youth Poetry Festival in the Spring of 2011 as a member of team Youmedia Chicago. In his piece, Forgotten, Samuel addresses the stereotypes solidified in people’s minds about Native Americans and speaks directly to those assuming incorectly about his heritage.
Elgin, like many other Chicago suburbs, saw huge demographic changes the last twenty years. But you would never be able to tell that nearly half of the city is now Latino if you look at who's working in the local government.
