HighBeam Research

Title: Chatham invests in education // Parentsbelieve that learning holds key tochildren's future Series: MAKING IT: Thestory of Chatham

Date:

April 30, 1986

Publication:

Chicago Sun-Times

Author:

WilliamBraden((PHOTO CAPTION CONTINUED)) Because your parents have paved the wayfor you to get an education." Chathamites take pride in their community'sappearance. Lillian Steele tends to the public garden on South Eberhart.Eddie Robinson heads the Chatham Park Manor Citizens Radio Patrol. Thepatrol serves as the eyes and ears of the police. Gwenda Anderson sits onthe front stoop with son Rakeen, 2 1/2. Chathamites watch out for each otherand report suspicious activity to the police. Sgt. Marcus Grey (pictured herewith Issac Hawkins) says times have changed in Chatham. "The crime rate islow. . . . But four or five years ago, Chatham was almost free of crime."Chatham's children believe they can make it. Yvonne Cotton, 14, says, "If Istart out on the right foot, I can make it on my own." Chathamite GloriaCotton says Chatham kids "have a future. . . . We set high standards inChatham, for ourselves and for our children." ((CAPTION ENDS)) Three decades ago, upwardly mobile blacks broke out of the ghetto to settlein the South Side community of Chatham.Chatham became a focal point for the emergence of a black middle classthat currently represents half of Chicago's black population. It is a vibrantcommunity of excellence that is also a community in transition. This is the third of four articles on the people, the values and the future of Chatham. There's an old saying in black Chicago. "You have to work twice ashard to get half as far." You don't often hear that these days from the young people of Chatham."These kids have a future," said Gloria Y. Cotton, a Chatham mother and thedirector of ambulatory services at Bethany Hospital."It's almost like they're compelled to do well," she said. "We set highstandards in Chatham, for ourselves and for our children. And we are seeingto it that these kids are educated."

Cotton was laying down the law to a group of seven teenagers, including herdaughter Yvonne, who had gathered at the offices of the Chatham-AvalonPark Community Council on Cottage Grove Avenue."I didn't have to work twice as hard," she told them. "All I had to do was goto school and apply myself. No matter what the color is, the education isthere. You can make it. You can overcome any obstacle."Emphasis on education in Chatham has been described as "almost ruthless." The Rev. Michael J. Nallen, pastor of St. Dorothy's Church, said education forChathamites is "almost like a god." The teens seemed to agree. All were planning on college, and on business orprofessional careers, from computer science to electrical engineering."The opportunities are out there," said Tonya Berry, 18. "If you know whatyou want to do in life, there shouldn't be anything there to stop you -whether you're black or purple or whatever. You just have to work hard at it,and believe in what you want to do.""It's not going to be easy," said Kenneth D. Daniel, 16. "But I feel if I just staydetermined and don't let bad times get the worst of me, with a lot of hardwork, I can make it. A lot more doors are open. And I've found, over theyears, that if I put my mind to most anything, I can get it accomplished.""If I start out on the right foot, I can make it on my own," said Yvonne Cotton,14."It's going to be really tough," said Darrin P. Golden, 16. "At school they tellme that with a college degree you still might end up working in a grocerystore. But I plan to make a lot of money. And I know I can. Times havechanged a lot, from what my elders tell me. I don't feel it's open. It's going tobe a challenge for the rest of my life. But I'm sure I can make it.""I can see myself making it in electronics," said Dan Hayes, 15. "If youbelieve you can make it, you can do it.""It's like my father always tells me," said Arthur Fykes, 17. "If you want to dosomething, you can do it, no matter who's there to try to stop you. Just goahead and do it.""You don't have to work twice as hard," said Lloyd H. Rice, 16. "Because yourparents have paved the way for you to get an education. My mother tells mehow hard it was to strive for goals in the South and all that stuff. So I thinkit's easier now, because our parents paved the way."

"I expect to work twice as hard," Golden said. He split a grin and added,"That's because I plan to be twice as good."In at least one sense, these are all typical children of Chatham's upwardlymobile middle class. All seven are students at Catholic or private highschools. And that's cause for concern in some quarters, on two counts.Chatham's parents are supposed to be role models for poor black adults. Butwhat about the children of the poor? The original idea behind school integration was not to have black childrengoing to school with white children. The idea was to have poor children goingto school with middle-class children whose values would somehow rub off.And that won't happen in Chicago if middle-class black parents insist uponsending their children to middle-class schools, including public magnetschools. There's also a question of how hard a new generation of Chatham parentswill work to improve their community if they're not involved in the publicschools. The parents understand this. And they regret it, they'll tell you. But they willput their own children first. And that includes Chatham parents who teach inChat-ham's own public schools (which are above average). They bus theirchildren to elite institutions. "Parents will pay any price," Father Nallen said,"because they realize education is the key to upward mobility."It also should be asked if Chatham's gung-ho teenagers have been shelteredfrom the subtle forms of racism that black leaders say they'll encounterwhen they enter the competitive work world.Probably so. But take the case of David Nunery, age 2, whose parents Leeand Carolyn are both young professionals employed by downtown banks.Said a family friend, journalist Michael Anderson, who grew up in theChatham area:"Of course there's still racism, but is there any doubt that David will go tocollege? No. Not even a question. Graduate school? Of course. Can that childreasonably expect to do better than his parents? Yes. That's a big middle-class determinant. You expect to be a stepping-stone for your kids."When I grew up, parents hoped in their wildest dreams that maybe the kidswould do better. But there wasn't the certainty there is now.