79th Street Was America Then

An Interview About Health, Healthcare and Public Health and Safety With Jahmal Cole by Kimberly J. Soenen | January 25, 2022

Jan 25, 2022

Early in November, two men were shot dead and Cole was shot at during lunch-hour gun violence on 53rd Street in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that a 31-year-old man died after being stabbed in his right leg in the 5300 block of Cottage Grove Avenue and a 24-year-old man was shot and killed during a robbery in the 900 block of East 54th Place. Cole was shot at in a third crime, which took place around noon in the 1500 block of East 53rd Street. The fatal shooting, fatal stabbing and lunch-hour gunfire are not only the daily reality on Chicago’s South and West Sides, but across the entire city and all neighborhoods, from Logan to The 42nd to Back of the Yards.

Over the last five years, violence has exponentially increased in Chicago for a number of social, cultural, political and economic reasons as well as long-entrenched segregationist policies and statutes. In 1992, my senior thesis film at Loyola University Chicago in Rogers Park, a gang enclave, was titled “Waiting in The 90’s.” The short film examined the unique brand of Chicago segregation, structural violence and marginalization. The violence—and type of violence—has worsened since.

I’ve been following Cole since he first stood on the sidewalk in front of his house as a very young man many years ago and gave an impromptu speech about the root causes of cyclical trauma and structural violence. I remember hearing him and immediately looking deeper to learn more about him. Back then, there was not much to know, other than this was a young man who had reached his limit with the Public Health and Safety crisis and was deciding to speak out on the street, and engage with a sense of urgency and anger.

That unscripted speech—improvised, and spoken directly from the heart—was the seed of his civic engagement organization called My Block, My Hood, My City. In that speech, he addressed the impact of poverty on the human mind, body and spirit.

Under Cole’s leadership, the non-profit organization he founded and directs called My Block, My Hood, My City—known to Chicagoans locally as M3—has become a grass roots movement.

Today, a mature partner and father of two daughters, Cole's been shot at twice in recent months—and the first incident left him wounded. Cole was pierced by a bullet in his arm on September 29, 2021 at 69th Street and South Shore Drive—a shooting he previously hadn’t disclosed because he was working through the trauma of it and wanted to keep it private.

Cole and I have been in communication since around 2017 about an array of political, grass roots and local Chicago issues related to health, healthcare, mental health and Public Health.

Now, he is running for Illinois’ 1st Congressional District seat.

After earning his trust over the course of years of interactions, I reached out to him to learn more about his motivations, intentions, fears, and views about health, healthcare, Public Health and Safety.

I also asked him outright if he thinks he can survive Chicago.

When people say “The South Side of Chicago,” you and I know Chicago very well and know what that encompasses. But for those who don’t know, tell readers about The South Side. How many neighborhoods does the First District of Illinois include and how many neighborhoods of Chicago’s 77 are on The South Side?

Chatham, first of all, isn’t a neighborhood, it’s a state of mind.

We have Block Clubs, businesses, top students, strong churches, exceptional athletes, innovators, musicians, entrepreneurs, active youth groups, world class drum lines, globally renown singers, top-tier chefs, authors, artists, photographers and essayists. We have an extremely strong local paper called Southside Weekly and much much more.

Like most, people here are working to improve their lives and the lives of their children every day. Every neighborhood is like that, too.

So, “The South Side” isn’t one thing, it’s a collection of stories and people and culture.

There are about 25 neighborhoods that are a part of the First District in Illinois, but there are also many municipalities and townships. too.

I first heard your voice years and years ago when you gave an impassioned impromptu speech on the street about violence “not being normal.” My father is from 72nd and Eggleston and my grandfather and great uncle used to play baseball in Marquette Park together as young kids before they learned to speak English. My Dad walked to St. Sabina as a kid. We both have strong ties but experience Chicago in very different ways. You stay, when many others choose to relocate. That’s at the heart of the blues.

Why do you stay, how do you define home, and what does The South Side mean to you as you run for office?

I stay because I care too much about my neighbors to leave them.

I can leave, I have the ability to “get out,” as we say in Chicago, but I don’t want to. I want our community to be safe and thriving, so I am running for office to do just that.

You can’t choose your parents or where you’re from, but you can choose where you make a difference. And home is where you make a difference.

There’s a very powerful lyric written by Chance that resonates deeply within me. It reads: “79th Street was America then.” That, I think, is what it means to me. It was my home and my world. And, I want my daughters to be able to experience that. To know that feeling of home. That connection to home.

Since 2016, what are the biggest civic engagement changes that you have experienced on The South Side?

I think 2016 really woke people up to how much damage the United States government can do (and has done). We knew that government wasn’t doing enough for our people, but I think we didn’t realize how much worse it could actually get.

People engage in so many different ways. Some people vote, some people protest, some people change their careers to help…it just depends on who you ask.

For me, advocating for change meant showing up a lot more for other activists, and other people who needed my support. It also meant relying on each other, working together to organize and push for change. It was really incredible to see us all realize what we could lose, but then build each other up.

You and I are both asked—frequently—by friends and colleagues, how we live with the “violence" in Chicago.

I view the violence as civil unrest, and a byproduct of centuries-long oppression. The world over, wherever there exists a vacuum of poverty, unemployment, segregation, system marginalization and oppression, that vacuum is filled with anger, hopelessness and violence. When people say to you: “Why do you stay?” What’s your answer?

I stay because I care.

I mean, I know about all of those things, we know about all of those things, because we have lived within them. We’ve sadly learned to navigate the world entrenched in those problems. I mean, segregation is violent, oppression is violent, and so is everything else you mention. Our ability to see beyond the violence that they see, and articulate the violence that we experience, is why we stay. We stay because that violence shouldn’t be experienced by anybody.

So we stay, and we fight because we love our neighbors.

Congressman Bobby Rush announced his retirement after 18 terms in the United States House of Representatives two weeks ago. He is known as the number two man of the Black Panther Party when Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were killed in bed by a United States government tactical unit.

President Barack Obama ran against Congressman Rush and lost, though Rush then backed Barack Obama all the way to the White House when he ran for President and fought for many of Obama’s programs thereafter.

What is your feeling now as you think about that legacy, the past, and where The South Side of Chicago residents and leaders needs to go now?

Congressman Rush is a giant and a legend. I’ve always said that because he has done so much to create a path for us. Here, in the First Congressional District of Illinois, we get to stand on the shoulders of giants because of their willingness to fight and push when it was uncomfortable.

Those leaders who have come before us, risked being killed in their beds.

A lot of that work is being put down and pushed aside by people in politics. Currently, many people in power in Washington, D.C. and in local and state governments across the United States are refusing to pass a monumental Voting Rights Act. They are pushing back against teaching history as it has really happened. That legacy of Civil Rights Leadership is being threatened and undermined on a national scale. We all need to collectively reinforce the Voting Rights Act by passing the laws that protect it in perpetuity. We also need to look ahead to our future. Voting Rights is something everyone should be fighting for, protecting and defending.

We need to create jobs, mental health clinics, and get to a place where our lives are no longer threatened.

That’s what I am so excited to do when I get to Congress.

You have a family—two daughters and a fiancé. When kids are injured or killed by persons using guns violently and aggressively in Chicago, how does that impact Public Health? How does each injury and death impose Vicarious Trauma on you and your own family? People are overwhelmed and fatigued by learned helplessness. How do we end the cycle?

The other day a leaf hit my cheek and I got scared that I had been shot.

A leaf.

When guns are fired and harm and death happen, you barely have time to react. You don’t even notice what’s happened and cannot process what’s happened until there is blood everywhere. So the endless violence is hard and traumatizing for all of us.

When I talk about gun violence, mental health and Public Health with my partner and daughters, it’s like there’s this huge ripple beyond the physical wound. Yes, violence means we have to send someone to the hospital, get them stitched up, and help them heal physically. I mean, even I have personally experienced that when I was shot. I still have a bullet in my arm and airport security still stops me when I am trying to catch a flight.

But I say it’s a ripple, because gun violence—any kind of violence—also causes a Public Health crisis and damages our mental health. We are each traumatized after every single shooting, every injury, every death, because we think about that person and get scared that we’ll lose them, or someone else, or even our own lives.

It’s very hard to keep going some days.

I think there are two important things for ending the cycle: Mental Health counselors and creating meaningful work for people.

If we can’t heal from the trauma, we succumb to it. And if we don’t have work, our health and safety, what else can we expect people to do?

What, about this journey, are you most fearful of, and how do you maintain your energy, drive and vision for a new South Side?

I think after being shot, that’s what I’m most fearful of.

I am afraid I won’t make it to election day.

But I get up everyday, and focus on my mental and physical health. I journal. I listen to my body when it says to take a break and I do everything I can to stay positive. Church, family, friends, mentors, youth activists and my fiancé all certainly help with that!

I maintain my energy and my vision by being hungry. Every day, I learn something new about policies and laws and what we can and should be doing as a government to lift people up rather than quash the human spirit. It gets me excited to think about what we can do! And seeing people show up for me, I mean, this week alone, seeing people sign up to collect signatures for me to get me on the ballot in the freezing cold January weather of Chicago is inspiring.

The people on The South Side believe in me and I owe it to them to give it my all.

Tell me the best things you remember about growing up on The South Side. What do you most embrace and celebrate that journalists and politicians and citizens often don’t hear about our see?

Tell me about the people, the place, and the spirit of it. I have strong ties and familiarity, but for those who get their information from the television network or cable news in sound bites, what is The South Side they need to see, learn about and experience?

I’m originally from Waukegan, Illinois, where the tallest building is the jail. It’s also the most modern building there.

I remember growing up and seeing the yellow lights and tiny windows, and people would play basketball at the top at night. Now, when I think about it, I wish the city would’ve spent the same time investing in the community that they spent designing that jail.

My mom worked in the Cook County Assessor’s office in Waukegan. That felt like Washington, D.C. to me! It gave me a glimpse into civic engagement, civic responsibility and how to build consensus around healthy ideas rather than be combative, militant or polarizing.

For my growth and health, my Grandma’s house was extremely important. I have 22 cousins, and Grandma’s living room was where we had dinner and fish fry. I loved those times. I also remember when I was growing up, my mom would send each of us—me, my brother and my sister—to the grocery store with Food Stamps (Now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the United States.) She would tell us we could spend ten cents, and to bring her back the change so she could buy bleach. You couldn’t use Food Stamps for basic toiletries then.

For us, back then, eating at a McDonald’s was a luxury. I remember one time as a child, I stole a protractor from the store and, as odd as it sounds now, my dad was so proud of me. He told people I was going to be President of the United States one day because I was stealing school supplies.

As a fourth generation Chicago citizen—my five nephews are coming up as the fifth now—I am frequently offended by the ways in which some of my colleagues parachute in and document The South Side.

In one case, a respected photojournalist from Europe took photos of an adolescent minor holding a gun to his own head in a Gang House Haven. The young boy was vamping theatrically for the photographer. The news outlet published the photo. Ethically, I felt it exploited the minor and at the same time encouraged the celebration of violence.

In other cases, I see young journalists, new to Chicago, with no relationship at all to it, beginning to document civil unrest and the vortex of cyclical trauma. They are repeating the same trappings of documenting without in-depth background, capturing images without context or trusted sources on the record, and capturing graphic violence without story or long term relationships with the community.

With best intentions, journalists frequently capture the forces of reaction and aftermath rather than the root causes of violence. It’s much easier to grab an image than have a conversation on the record. It’s easier to snap a series of photos rather than knock on many doors and earn hard-won trust over years from local sources. The tenets of in-depth story and true knowledge of place have been seriously frayed.

When journalists cover The South Side, readers and viewers see the police tape, the tears, the blood, flashing lights, FBI Task Force jackets and the aftermath, yet very little attention is paid to community, business owners, educators and people who are working toward Health Literacy, Affordable Housing, Affordable Healthcare and Employment Training.

It is true to say that the segregation in our hometown of Chicago is the most severe in the United States. It is overt, visible, palpable. It’s in our bones. So, how do we stop the parachute and pinball journalism and shift the focus to Public Health and those who are working to leverage human potential and Economic Empowerment? It is accurate that the violence is a reality that needs to be documented, but how can we strive toward ballast and balance rather than fear mongering and bubbles of prejudice?

The South Side that people need to see and experience is the culture. Journalists can show B-Roll of boarded up windows and people sagging their pants, but they somehow always miss the vacant lot that was transformed into a community garden, or the school that people fought to get redesigned.

People need to know about the incredible architecture of this place, the world famous food and our deeply connected and generous culture. Those things get missed when journalists are looking for sensational pieces. And we set trends. People look to Chicago for ways to dance, our slang, how we activate. There are so many ways to get involved in the community.

We’re the Midwest and this city is the heartbeat of the country.

For those who are not yet aware of the organization that you founded and direct called My Block, My Hood, My City, why did you launch it and what does it mean to you, the kids and the neighborhoods of Chicago? What have kids said to you about their experience and its impact?

M3 is about kids seeing that the world doesn’t end at the corner of their block. It’s about showing them they have options…which means hopefulness and a healthy, safe future.

I launched M3 because I started volunteering out of Cook County Jail and saw people who didn’t know about the world around them or the ample opportunities that existed outside of their block.

My Block, My Hood, My City is about exposing youth to things that they would never see if our programs didn’t exist, and making sure young people know that they have options. I started this organization because I believe that if you show people better, they do better.

Kids don’t know what a job at a bank is, but they have 15 Currency Exchanges in their neighborhood. We are making sure we—our entire staff, our volunteers and the elders in our business and faith communities—give that to them.

Just recently, we opened our M3 Microgrant Program, giving away $200,000 to local businesses on The South Side. That’s the kind of direct impact and work M3 is all about. Real change and lasting impact.

I also believe that travel is transformative, so our M3 Explorers Program is about exposure. What does that mean? It’s giving kids exposure to new cuisines, new cultures, new job path options, everything. It’s about exposing kids to a new worldview. The kids say it’s life changing. They know what’s possible now. They tell me that their confidence is better. They are optimistic.

Before we launched the Explorers Program, many kids had never been on an elevator or seen Lake Michigan. They ask me “What ocean is that?” when they saw Lake Michigan for the first time.

M3 expanded and grew with the growing needs of our community. When people needed us, we showed up. Whether that was shoveling snow, clearing trees after storms, passing out PPE, passing out groceries, Lighting up Martin Luther King Drive with holiday lights…whatever it is, we show up. We are not armchair activists or social media instigators. We are in the streets of Chicago daily, listening to people and responding.

We listen.

Your partner often talks about the importance of mentoring and grooming young leaders and civically-engaged students. How do you do that and are you inspired by the energy you are feeling from youth and youth leaders across Chicago?

Absolutely! Chicago youth activists are so smart, engaged and inspiring. That’s why I’m running for Congress. I want to help them get rid of the red tape, and be a partner in Federal Government. They deserve support and help from Congress, and I am inspired by them each and every day. We demonstrate that support by listening to their music, meeting them where they’re at, not judging them for the same mistakes I have made and sharing food with them.

But most importantly, we at M3 are being consistent. We are reliable and we do what we say we will do. That trust is currency. It’s everything.

As we’ve discussed, my maternal grandfather and grandmother owned a grocery store at Jackson and Kilbourn in the 1920’s and built a home near North and Harlem. My late father’s family is rooted in The South Side at 72nd and South Eggleston by Marquette Park. Our family is dug in here with deep roots, stories and businesses. But it’s a very tough city. There is robbery-murder in my own family history, muggings, violence, strife.

Have you ever wanted to give up on, and leave Chicago?

Sometimes I do think about leaving. (Especially for warmer places, of course, as all Chicagoans laugh about!) But I know I am here to help people. That is my purpose and purpose outweighs comfort.

My work isn’t anywhere near complete yet. There’s a whole generation of smart, engaging, confident youth activists coming up now and they need someone—an entire nation—who is committed to helping them both thrive and succeed.

They need a partner in the United States Federal Government who is going to stand up for them. They need funding for after school programs and everything they do. To listen. They need someone who is going to help them cut through the red tape. That’s why I don’t want to leave. I’m determined to cut that tape.

What are the number one, two and three agenda priorities from Day One in office if you are elected?

Day one—as always—is about being present, grateful and humble, and building strong relationships. My top priority is getting in front of Congress and making sure they understand the bio physiological and Public Health impacts of gun violence because violence is so much more than a number, a statistic, a fleeting network news story.

I need people to understand that gun violence is so easy for us to prevent, but people just have to be willing to do it. I think after that, I am definitely trying to push forward on increasing investment in our neighborhoods, for high quality affordable education, sustainable job training and jobs, and National Improved Medicare for All / House Resolution 1976.

How do you plan to “work across the aisle” in a state, like Illinois, which is known worldwide for entrenchment, dysfunction and political posturing? We are after all, called The Windy City, not for our weather, but for the air politicians waste on talk and self interest rather than action.

I plan to do that because I don’t play political games. I am not like other people specifically because I am going to be direct, honest and come from the heart.

I know how to work with people from different parts of the world, who have grown up in different circumstances.

Remember, I went to college at Wayne State University in Nebraska. I know what it means to be outside of your comfort zone. By operating in this way, by sticking with my truth, I’m unshakeable.

So people can posture all they want. When they’re done playing games, we will talk and get the real work done.

The exceptional thought and policy leader Bryan Stevenson, founder of Equal Justice Initiative, makes a compelling case for why we all need to honestly confront our past in order to change the future. How can Chicago escape, and move on from, it’s ugly international legacy of redlining, segregation, police brutality and political corruption? How do we heal politics, and emerge from this collective pain?

I don’t think we need to escape from it. We need to reckon with it.

We need to understand just how deeply structural violence has impacted our everyday lives, our choices and our policies.

We will heal by first acknowledging the pain, and truly reinforcing that we can do something about it. We can help Black families generate the intergenerational wealth that was stolen from them by centuries of enslavement, marginalization, Redlining and systemic oppression. We can put an end to police brutality, and we can safeguard against corruption.

We can do all of these things, we just need to recognize our power and our right to do it. And we need politicians and business owners who are going to fight for us, and with us.

When you say “People First,” how will you balance the needs of employment and social justice? Can we truly Do Well by Doing Good?

I think social justice must include business development and employment. Not tax breaks for developers who cut and run. We need longterm, stable employment ad people are ready to work. If you cannot get a job in your own neighborhood, there’s a problem there, and it is a social justice problem. That’s how we balance it. We must generate work that you don’t have to take a two hour CTA ride to get to.

Doing well by doing good, yeah, we really don’t have a choice. You can’t turn back, and do bad and expect it to help people.

The road is too narrow to turn back.

Now that you are running for Illinois' 1st Congressional District, how do you overcome your own fears, self doubt, fatigue, anger, frustrations and the personal and political attacks?

Every day is another battle between inclination and obligation. I actually announced my campaign to run for office last July in 2021, back when it was uncomfortable to jump into the race. We had our volunteer kickoff this year on King Day. King wasn’t just about volunteering, he was about changing our economic, social and political systems. So I thought, there’s no better way to honor that legacy than to ask our volunteers to organize for political change on that day.

I’m inclined to read social media posts and listen to what people say every day. But I am also obligated to take a stand with integrity, so that’s what keeps me going. Also, I just stand guard at the door of thoughts and what I take in.

For young men out there, what are the lessons learned from your own journey and what would you say to young men who are feeling marginalized, unseen and discounted?

The best lesson I’ve learned is: No excuses.

The highest level of maturity is taking full responsibility for all of your actions, and you have to learn that. I also always tell my youth: Do what you love, and you’ll organically build relationships along the way with people who will support you and help you.

I always say to do more than expected because it’s a positive investment in your future. And, if there is anything I’ve learned in the last year, it’s that trials and tribulations are all indicators that you’re on the right path.