WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Join Richard Steele as he hosts a lively conversation at Maria's Bar in Bridgeport about what it used to mean to be black in Bridgeport after dark and what it means now. Wednesday, June 27, at 5:30 p.m.

All summer long we're talking about race - out loud - in frank conversations and lively public events.

This week we talk with Jim Capraro, who witnessed something so traumatic in Marquette Park in 1966 that he devoted his entire life to improving the economic vitality of the Southwest Side neighborhood.

Poet Ashley Gonzalez was an 18-year-old senior at Northside College Prep High School when she competed in the Louder Than a Bomb Youth Poetry Festival in the Spring of 2008, representing her high school. 51 Stars is an intense look at collonialism in Puerto Rico, calling out the United States for the way the island - both its people and its land - has been treated.

Carol Jackson was 21 years old when she was first interviewed by Studs Terkel. Today, she is retired and living in the Chatham neighborhood.

Contributor Jessica Young attended an event on race hosted by WBEZ and Vocalo. "If I could have tweeted," she says, "this is what my feed would have looked like."

Poet Adam Gottlieb was an 18-year-old senior at Northside College Prep High School when he competed in the Louder Than a Bomb Youth Poetry Festival in the Spring of 2008, representing his high school. Adam wrote about the history of Jews in Chcago, his experience growing up as a Jew in Skokie, and the migration of American Jews throughout history.