• The Raven Room shuts down despite strong community support

    The Raven Room shuts down despite strong community support
    When my favorite bartender at the Raven Room told me that the bar and event space is shutting down at the end of April, I nearly burst into tears.  For more than a year, I had been visiting the establishment every Wednesday night for its weekly Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) events. I’d made close friends […]
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  • Doing it for the gaze

    Doing it for the gaze
    What was in the water in Hollywood in the late 80s and early 90s to instigate so many films (Fatal Attraction, She-Devil, Soapdish) about obsessed and vengeful women? Was it just part of the backlash to feminism anatomized by Susan Faludi? Or did these stories in some way tap into the rage of women who […]
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  • REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY OF NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS (“RTA”) REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

    REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY OF NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS (“RTA”) REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
    The post REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY OF NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS (“RTA”) REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS appeared first on Chicago Defender.
  • Meet Omari K. Prince: 2024 Chicago Defender Men of Excellence Honoree

    Meet Omari K. Prince: 2024 Chicago Defender Men of Excellence Honoree
    Omari K. Prince is a lion for the Illinois small business community. 
    As Director of Government Affairs for the Small Business Advisory Council, he engages with elected officials and policymakers and lobbies on behalf of the small business community and neighborhood business districts in Chicago and across Illinois. 
    He is pivotal in ensuring that the SBAC fulfills its mission of promoting “the success of small business through political advocacy, support services and educational
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  • Black Woman Shot & Killed In Front Of Grandchildren On Mother’s Day

    Black Woman Shot & Killed In Front Of Grandchildren On Mother’s Day
    Photo: Central Alabama CrimeStoppers
    An Alabama grandmother was hosting a Mother’s Day celebration when she was shot and killed in front of her grandchildren, per PEOPLE.
    64-year-old Gloria Crews died on Sunday (May 14) after someone opened fire at her outdoor party in Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery police and fire medics responded to the shooting at around 7:02 p.m. but were unable to revive Crews. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
    Crews was reportedly shot as she was directing child
  • Documenting queer grassroots organizing

    Documenting queer grassroots organizing
    “Images on which to build, 1970s-1990s” is a powerful introduction to how queer and trans communities visually documented and expressed themselves between the uprising at Stonewall and the legalization of gay marriage. From portraits and documentary-style protest images to flyers, magazines, calendars, and collages, this exhibition is a delicious buffet of gender, racial, and class […]
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  • President Joe Biden Meets with Black Detroiter’s at CRED Café Ahead of NAACP Keynote Address

    President Joe Biden Meets with Black Detroiter’s at CRED Café Ahead of NAACP Keynote Address
    President Joe Biden is making his rounds with Black voters across the country.
    Today, President Biden is in Detroit to deliver the keynote address for the Detroit NAACP’s 69th Annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner. After landing in Detroit shortly after 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 19, Biden made his way straight to Detroit’s CRED Café, in Rivertown to have a private conversation with Detroit residents. 
    CRED Café, which is the brainchild of former NBA athletes and sibling
  • Tesa Anewishki: Championing Equity and Transformation in Healthcare

    Tesa Anewishki: Championing Equity and Transformation in Healthcare
    Before Tesa Anewishki became the first African and Native-American CEO of Loretto Hospital, she received an early holiday lesson in her youth about the importance of giving and selflessness. 
    It came via a bearded man — not the one you’re thinking of — on a downtown Chicago street when she was around 13. This man had a garbage bag and icicles in his beard.
    So, Anewishki’s mother pulled over, got out of the car, and disappeared into a department store. 
    An hour l
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  • Why I Want Cardi B to Vote

    Why I Want Cardi B to Vote
    “Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.
    by Keith Boykin
    Cardi says she’s not voting. But if voting didn’t matter, Republicans wouldn’t be trying so hard to stop us from doing it.
    In a new interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Cardi B explained why she won’t be voting in the November
  • King College Prep Principal Brian Kelly Wins 2024 Golden Apple Award

    King College Prep Principal Brian Kelly Wins 2024 Golden Apple Award
    Principal Brian Kelly of Martin Luther King College Prep receives the Golden Apple Award (Photo-Golden Apple Foundation).
    The Golden Apple Foundation, the leading Illinois-based nonprofit committed to preparing, mentoring, and honoring great educators who advance educational opportunities for students, recently surprised Brian Kelly, principal of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. College Prep High School in Chicago, with the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Leadership, presented in honor of foundin
  • Black Teen Accepted Into 122 Schools, Earns Over $5 Million In Scholarships

    Black Teen Accepted Into 122 Schools, Earns Over $5 Million In Scholarships
    Photo: Getty Images
    An Oakland, California high school student has raked in over 100 college acceptances.
    According to NBC Bay Area, Helms Ategeka, a Head-Royce School student, garnered $5.3 million in scholarships from 122 colleges.
    “I feel really lucky that there are people out there, that there are institutions out there that see the value that I have to give,” Helms said.
    Helms said he believes his array of extracurriculars, including choir, theater, and a club he started himself
  • Hyde Park Summer Fest Canceled Due to Rising Security Costs

    Hyde Park Summer Fest Canceled Due to Rising Security Costs
    The Hyde Park Summer Fest, one of the most popular Southside Summer events, is canceled this year. Event organizers called off the event due to rising security costs. 
    The cancellation comes a year after the Summer Fest held its most significant event, featuring notable Hip-hop acts like 2 Chainz, Clipse, and Lil Kim and attracting thousands nationwide to the spacious Midway Plaisance. 
    According to event organizers, the cost of hosting an event of that scale became untenable. As the S
  • Marjorie Taylor Greene Attacks Jasmine Crockett’s Appearance, Chaos Erupts

    Marjorie Taylor Greene Attacks Jasmine Crockett’s Appearance, Chaos Erupts
    Photo: Getty Images
    Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) launched a personal attack against Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D), sparking chaos during a House Oversight Committee meeting.
    On Thursday (May 16) night, lawmakers gathered for a House Oversight Committee meeting over whether Attorney General Merrick Garland should be held in contempt of Congress for declining to hand over audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur about his handling of classified docum
  • Florida A&M Launches Investigation Into $237 Million ‘Gift’ Deemed Hoax

    Florida A&M Launches Investigation Into $237 Million ‘Gift’ Deemed Hoax
    Photo: Getty Images
    Florida A&M University officials have launched an investigation into a $237 million donation that was seemingly fraudulent, The Root reports.
    The investigation comes after FAMU announced earlier this month that it had received a $237 million gift from Batterson Farms Corp. CEO Gregory Gerami.
    The historic donation was placed on hold and ultimately “ceased” after questions of the transaction’s validity arose. Amid the controversy, Shawnta Friday-Stroud, F
  • Review: Doctor Who (Season one/Series 14)

    Review: Doctor Who (Season one/Series 14)
    After 60-plus years as a strictly British institution, the BBC’s beloved long-running sci-fi series Doctor Who is finally taking the TARDIS across the pond. For the first time in the show’s history, instead of airing first in the UK and then internationally, Doctor Who will drop on Fridays on Disney+ in the United States (and […]
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  • Review: Back to Black

    Review: Back to Black
    In its first five minutes, Back to Black all but looks directly at the audience and recites facts about Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) as if reading from a checklist: she’s a supremely talented singer with a flair for the dramatic and an old soul who can’t understand why other young people don’t like jazz. The […]
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  • Review: IF

    Review: IF
    There’s a fine line between the whimsical dream logic of Roald Dahl and irritating, incoherent nonsense. Director John Krasinski’s new kids film IF is nowhere near that line. Despite the best efforts of the extremely talented child actor Cailey Fleming, IF makes no sense, narratively, emotionally, or visually. The only fun to be had is […]
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  • Review: In the Fade

    Review: In the Fade
    Fatih Akin’s 2017 In The Fade (Aus dem Nichts) starts out as a painful and necessary examination of the human costs of right-wing ideology and neo-Nazi violence. Reformed drug dealer, travel agent, and translator Nuri Şekerci (Numan Acar) and his son Rocco (Rafael Santana) are killed by a neo-Nazi nail bomb, leaving wife and mother […]
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  • collected thesis statements

    collected thesis statements
    By JK Anowe
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  • CCPSA nominees advance, Mohawk Johnson takes plea deal, First Nations Garden vandalized

    CCPSA nominees advance, Mohawk Johnson takes plea deal, First Nations Garden vandalized
    CCPSA nominees (mostly) move forward The City Council’s Police and Fire Committee on May 14 gave the nod to six of the seven candidates nominated to serve on the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA). The nominees, selected by Mayor Brandon Johnson from a list of 15 people put forward by representatives from […]
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  • Review: Thelma the Unicorn

    Review: Thelma the Unicorn
    Kids love unicorns. It’s just a fact. They’re sparkly, cute, and always have some kind of magical rainbow vibes radiating off of them. But what about boring old brown farm ponies? Does anyone care nearly as much about them—even if they’re imbued with a superstar singing voice? That’s the question at hand in Thelma the […]
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  • Review: The Big Cigar (Miniseries)

    Review: The Big Cigar (Miniseries)
    What can be said about an icon? Apple TV+’s The Big Cigar sets itself an impossible task: telling a meaningful story about one of the most compelling and provocative political figures of the 20th century, Black Panther Party cofounder Huey Newton. In 1966, Newton cofounded the party with Bobby Seale and served as its first […]
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  • Levi Holloway’s Turret is a 21st-century Endgame

    Levi Holloway’s Turret is a 21st-century Endgame
    If you’ve been looking for the 21st century’s answer to Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, your wait is over. Levi Holloway’s Turret, now in a world premiere (also directed by the playwright) with A Red Orchid Theatre, taps into the same existential dread and odd father-son dynamics present in Beckett’s 1957 masterpiece.  But Holloway (who won raves […]
    The post Levi Holloway’s <i>Turret</i> is a 21st-century <i>Endgame</i> appeared
  • Collaborative Bridges Breaks Ground on West Side Wellness Center

    Collaborative Bridges Breaks Ground on West Side Wellness Center
    With a promise and passion to transform behavioral health services on the West Side of Chicago, Collaborative Bridges hosted a groundbreaking ceremony where enthusiastic Chicagoans gathered at their facility at 4223 West Lake Street to partake in the celebration. 
    Collaborative Bridges Wellness Center in West Garfield Park is a partnership of West Side Chicago safety net hospitals and community mental health agencies designed to ensure that the care of people experiencing mental health and
  • For the labor of art made transparent

    For the labor of art made transparent
    Editor’s note: Coco Picard spoke with Tony Lewis, Devin T. Mays, and Ellen Rothenberg about their group exhibition “WORKS BY.” Edited text from the comic is transcribed here to ease readability. Tony Lewis, Bethany Collins, Devin T. Mays, and Ellen Rothenberg consider labor, effort, and value in the group show “WORKS BY” at the Neubauer Collegium […]
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  • Chicago Native Serves At U.S. Navy Helicopter Squadron In Japan

    Chicago Native Serves At U.S. Navy Helicopter Squadron In Japan
    Chief Petty Officer Lauren Walter (Credit: Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Bryan Niegel).
    By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jerry Jimenez, Navy Office of Community Outreach
    NAVAL AIR FACILITY ATSUGI, JAPAN. — Chief Petty Officer Lauren Walter, a native of Chicago, Illinois, serves in the U.S. Navy as a member of a helicopter squadron forward deployed to Japan.
    Walter graduated from John Hope College Preparatory High School in 2008.
    The skills and values needed to succeed i
  • 17-Year-Old Black Teen Who Started College At 10 Earns Doctoral Degree

    17-Year-Old Black Teen Who Started College At 10 Earns Doctoral Degree
    Photo: Instagram
    A Chicago teenager who took her first college course at age 10 recently earned a doctoral degree at 17.
    defended her dissertation at Arizona State University in December, becoming the youngest person to earn a doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health at the school. She participated in ASU’s commencement ceremony early this month, marking her latest achievement in higher education.
    “It’s a wonderful celebration, and we hope … that Dorothy Jean insp
  • Black Teen Earns Nearly $15M In Scholarships, Accepted Into 231 Schools

    Black Teen Earns Nearly $15M In Scholarships, Accepted Into 231 Schools
    Photo: Getty Images
    A high school senior in Georgia has been accepted into over 200 schools and awarded nearly $15 million in scholarships, per WJCL.
    18-year-old Madison Crowell, a senior at Liberty County High School in Hinesville, Georgia, said she applied to hundreds of schools and was admitted into 231 of them. Crowell also garnered $14.7 million in scholarships.
    “I wanted to apply to as many schools as I did … because I’m coming from a low-income area of Georgia and so I
  • Watch: A Conversation with Men of Excellence

    Watch: A Conversation with Men of Excellence
    The post Watch: A Conversation with Men of Excellence appeared first on Chicago Defender.
  • Shaker Barbeque beefs at the next Monday Night Foodball

    Shaker Barbeque beefs at the next Monday Night Foodball
    You’re looking at 100 percent USDA prime brisket there, friendo, smoked over post oak for 14 hours until it melts like beef butter. Just like your daddy did. And by your daddy, I mean Daddy Mike Shaker of Shaker Barbeque, the former fine-dining cook turned central Texas-style smoker. He’s like the Miles Davis of barbecue: […]
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