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My #METOO Story - Chicago Street Journal for Wednesday, November 1, 2017

#MeToo addresses the sexually abuse of men, women and children around the world. You are invited to submit your editorials on this and any timely matter to ChicagoStJournal@gmail.com.

#MeToo addresses the sexually abuse of men, women and children around the world. You are invited to submit your editorials on this and any timely matter to ChicagoStJournal@gmail.com.

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February <strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> <strong>November</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />

1<br />

<strong>November</strong> 1, <strong>2017</strong><br />

Volume 23, No. 5<br />

Long be<strong>for</strong>e the #MeToo hashtag or<br />

references to “pussy grabbing” there were<br />

screams and tears from women across all<br />

civilizations, that went unanswered. And,<br />

let’s not <strong>for</strong>get the slave woman, mother<br />

and child, Maya Angelou or The Color<br />

Purple. But, unlike ever be<strong>for</strong>e and thank<br />

goodness in our time, Alyssa Milano<br />

shared her experiences and now the world<br />

responds -- FINALLY!<br />

The #MeToo hashtag has lent a<br />

voice and opened the doors <strong>for</strong> the victims<br />

of sexual harassment and abuse to tell their<br />

stories and release the pain and secrets of a<br />

lifetime. May this door never close and enable<br />

all who wish to do so, to walk through<br />

with a new meaning and understanding of<br />

what is actually taking place around the<br />

world in this sick cycle of the abuse of<br />

boys and girls and women and men.<br />

In France, Twitter users are using<br />

#balancetonporc or "expose the pig" to encourage<br />

women to name and shame their<br />

attackers, while #WomenWhoRoar is also<br />

being used to encourage victims of sexual<br />

#MeToo<br />

abuse to speak up.<br />

Let’s wave our own flags and shout<br />

out #MeToo from sea-to-shining-sea.<br />

<strong>My</strong> #MeToo <strong>Story</strong>.<br />

Excerpt from “Black America – Asking<br />

Ourselves The Tough Questions” by<br />

Sonja Cassandra Perdue.<br />

I was very young. 12 years<br />

old. Kenneth Johnson was younger. He<br />

was 5 years old. We lived on the first floor<br />

of a small two-flat and Kenneth and his<br />

family lived upstairs. The Johnsons were<br />

in their late 20s and had four children;<br />

whenever the young couple wanted to go<br />

out, I was the children’s playmate/<br />

babysitter.<br />

It would be a grand time — every<br />

time. We’d play games, play school, but<br />

most importantly there was no screaming,<br />

no beatings, or arguing. Although I was<br />

young, they knew that they were safe with<br />

me because I loved being in charge and I<br />

just loved small children.<br />

The elderly couple who had previously<br />

lived in that apartment had been the<br />

owners of the building. They had four foster<br />

children and Kenneth’s mother was<br />

their granddaughter. When the mother<br />

died, all of the children, except Robert,<br />

were returned to their parents or to the<br />

state. Maybe there was no place <strong>for</strong> him to<br />

go. He moved in with the elderly gentleman<br />

and his new wife in their home, two<br />

doors down.<br />

Robert and I had been at war since I<br />

was small enough to crawl under a<br />

bed. That’s my earliest memory of him<br />

chasing me and grabbing me in a sexual<br />

manner. I would come to play with the<br />

other kids and he’d begin grabbing me and<br />

touching me and I would run and slide under<br />

his mother’s bed. He was trying to get<br />

me from under there, but he was too big to<br />

crawl under there and reach me. I knew<br />

even then that he was afraid of getting<br />

caught, so he coached me out with smoothing<br />

words that he was not going to bother<br />

me.<br />

Continued on Page 4<br />

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February <strong>2017</strong><br />

4 <strong>November</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />

<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />

Continued from Page 1<br />

#MeToo<br />

This game (attack) of cat and mouse<br />

went on and on. I was just as intense and determined<br />

and he could not get a grip on me. I had<br />

always sent the signal that I was ready <strong>for</strong> a<br />

fight. The first few times, I could crawl under<br />

the bed, but after a while I was too big and I had<br />

to stand and fight or take flight.<br />

As Robert got older and bigger and<br />

stronger, he became more aggressive. It became<br />

harder and harder to fight him off, but he came<br />

knowing that there would be a battle. I don’t<br />

believe that he was yet old enough to be that<br />

sure of himself.<br />

Fast <strong>for</strong>ward to my being 12 and Robert<br />

being 17 years of age. Somehow he had gotten<br />

wind of the fact that I was upstairs with the children.<br />

We were sitting on the sofa watching TV<br />

when the door opened. All of us turned and<br />

looked; as he spoke, he moved from the door<br />

over to me. “I’m going to get you today. I’m<br />

going to get me some today.”<br />

I was thinking, how did he know that I<br />

was up here?<br />

Fear rose up in me and as I prepared<br />

myself <strong>for</strong> a fight. I felt fear. When he moved<br />

in <strong>for</strong> the attack, I was still sitting on the sofa<br />

because it all seemed like one motion from the<br />

door to me. There was no time <strong>for</strong> anything<br />

else.<br />

As we struggled, he was on my right side<br />

sitting on the sofa and trying to push me down<br />

into a lying position. He was trying to get a grip<br />

on my hands and arms and could not because I<br />

was swinging them all of the time. If he could<br />

have stopped me from hitting him, he could<br />

have mounted me. I kept fighting to keep control<br />

or to keep him from gaining control.<br />

For some reason, I didn’t want to start<br />

screaming because I didn’t want to scare the<br />

children. Too late. I looked to my left and the<br />

three smaller children were huddled against the<br />

wall watching us. They had a bewildered, wildeyed,<br />

and confused look on their faces (one of<br />

those “deer-caught-in-the-headlights” expressions).<br />

Kenneth was standing in front of Robert,<br />

a little off to his right about a foot or two away<br />

from him. I can’t say what he was thinking, but<br />

in retrospect, he was gauging the situation.<br />

Maybe at first, he didn’t perceive that I<br />

was in danger. There was no fear in his face<br />

and I don’t recall seeing any sense of panic in<br />

his eyes. This little boy was just standing there<br />

watching us do battle.<br />

Then, things changed. It seemed fast and<br />

in slow-motion at the same time. Now I was the<br />

observer. I will never be sure, but maybe this<br />

little boy sensed, after giving the situation some<br />

thought, that I just might lose that battle. Quite<br />

unexpectedly. Quite, quite wondrously, this 5-<br />

year-old boy leaped on this 17-year-old and began<br />

to beat him so viciously that he couldn’t<br />

maintain his grip on me <strong>for</strong> having to defend<br />

himself against this child’s blows. Kenneth was<br />

beating him and screaming and screaming and<br />

screaming. “Take your hands off of her. You<br />

stop it. You stop it. You leave her alone.” It<br />

was happening so fast. He was moving so fast<br />

that I could not keep up with what was happening.<br />

Those little arms were moving and swinging<br />

and clawing. It was like something flashing<br />

be<strong>for</strong>e my eyes. Watching it would make you<br />

say, “What the hell?”<br />

Robert was not trying to hurt or injure<br />

him, but just trying to stop Kenneth from hitting<br />

him. Robert was laughing at him, at<br />

first. He thought that it was funny. He tried to<br />

grab his arms. Tried to calm him down. Tried<br />

to hang on to me. It didn’t work out like he expected.<br />

He had to let go of me.<br />

I was looking directly into Robert’s face<br />

when that child wiped that smile off of his<br />

mug. He was taking a good look at that child<br />

attacking him. I watched the change taking<br />

place. I heard the change in his tone, his words,<br />

his whole being as he tried to assure Kenneth<br />

that he would not touch me again. He was trying<br />

to hold Kenneth down and tell him that he<br />

was going to stop and that he was not going to<br />

touch me. “Calm down, man. Calm down.” He<br />

kept saying, “OK man. OK man.” He repeated<br />

these words to him over and over again.<br />

I was frozen. I didn’t know how to<br />

move. I only knew how to watch as a participant<br />

in a movie with a surprise ending that was<br />

never even written into the script.<br />

Robert was finally able to calm Kenneth<br />

down and we both sat there staring at this little<br />

boy, who was sobbing and taking these huge<br />

loud breaths. The attack itself was a shock, but<br />

the hollering and crying took it over the edge. It<br />

seemed that that child had gotten so wound up<br />

that he couldn’t come down immediately. He<br />

finally calmed and he told him one more time,<br />

“You leave her alone! Don’t you bother her<br />

again!”<br />

I was taken aback, as I sat there that day,<br />

but Robert was taken further. Robert told him<br />

that he would not touch me again. And he never<br />

did.<br />

Without regard to the size or might of<br />

the enemy, this little boy moved into position,<br />

executed an attack, and was victorious. He left<br />

the enemy/potential rapist empty and impotent.<br />

Robert stood up from the sofa as we all<br />

watched him straighten his clothes. He told me<br />

that he was sorry and that he would never, ever<br />

touch me again. He told me that I had nothing<br />

to worry about. I can only think that if shame<br />

had a smell, it would smell just like Robert<br />

Johnson.<br />

Here and now, I wonder if Robert remembers<br />

the day that a 5-year-old boy became<br />

more man then he would ever be.<br />

Sonja Cassandra Perdue is the author of “Black America<br />

– Asking Ourselves The Tough Questions” now available<br />

on Amazon.com, Founder of <strong>Chicago</strong>’s Black Business<br />

Network and Associate Publisher <strong>for</strong> <strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong>’s<br />

Digital Division. She has completed close to 300 podcasts<br />

available on <strong>Chicago</strong>’s Black Business Radio Network.<br />

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February <strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> <strong>November</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />

5<br />

CHICAGO POLITICS – Keep an<br />

eye on <strong>Chicago</strong> City Council Meetings<br />

from the com<strong>for</strong>t of your home by<br />

viewing live streaming or archives of<br />

past meetings. For each City Council<br />

meeting, the Office of the City Clerk<br />

provides live streaming video, including<br />

captions, on their Council News<br />

Central page. To watch live click<br />

HERE. For more in<strong>for</strong>mation on attending<br />

a <strong>Chicago</strong> City Council meeting,<br />

please contact the <strong>Chicago</strong> City<br />

Council Sergeant-at-Arms at 312-744-6800 or via email.<br />

(CityCouncilSeating@cityofchicago.org)<br />

EDUCATION - Is 5 years of age too young to start learning about stocks and<br />

bonds? John Rogers, CEO of Ariel Investments, doesn’t think so and is currently<br />

involved in creating future financial professionals at the Ariel Community Academy<br />

located on the south side of <strong>Chicago</strong>. In a recent interview with Black Enterprises,<br />

Mr. Rogers stated that, “First, we wanted our students to be really<br />

com<strong>for</strong>table with the stock market.” He also indicated that, “...it’s critical <strong>for</strong><br />

young people to start out with a sound financial footing.”<br />

CRIME – The trial <strong>for</strong> alleged <strong>Chicago</strong> west side street gang leaders Cornel<br />

Dawson and Terry Odum will be the first test in Cook County of Illinois’ racketeering<br />

law. The new law was passed in 2012 and permits prosecutors to hold<br />

crime bosses accountable <strong>for</strong> the actions of the entire gang. More than 20 purported<br />

Black Soul members were arrested in 2013 under this statute.<br />

SPORTS – Love Basketball? Sherman Park will be hosting a Basketball Skills<br />

Camp <strong>for</strong> ages 9 – 18 every Friday from 3:30 pm – 6 pm at 1301 W. 52 nd <strong>Street</strong>.<br />

According to Dr. Health Benefits.com, being involved with sports helps youth<br />

control weight, build endurance, improves mental development, helps develop<br />

socialization skills and it’s just plain fun.<br />

BOOKS – Author Matt Taibbi’s book “I Can’t Breathe” was just released.<br />

Those words launched a nation outcry and prompted protest by the “Black Lives<br />

Matter” movement in response to the death of Eric Gardner at the hands of New<br />

York police officers in July of 2014.<br />

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6 <strong>November</strong> February <strong>2017</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />

<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />

What is the role of a Virtual Assistant?<br />

Most business owners are overwhelmed<br />

and still don’t understand<br />

the importance of utilizing<br />

a virtual assistant. Can you explain<br />

to our readers the role of a<br />

virtual assistant?<br />

The role of a virtual assistant is to<br />

assist small and medium sized business<br />

owners with day-to-day tasks.<br />

Virtual Assistants consists of individuals,<br />

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365 Virtual Solutions specializes<br />

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How does that work?<br />

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What is one of the biggest challenges<br />

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The biggest challenge <strong>for</strong> most<br />

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What is your experience in this<br />

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I’d worked many years in the call<br />

center industry be<strong>for</strong>e starting my<br />

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Would you share with us what<br />

type of companies you work with<br />

and what industries you’ve been<br />

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A few of our clients are JT Virtual<br />

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Jeaneane Brown is Chief Executive<br />

Officer <strong>for</strong> 365 Virtual Solutions.


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February <strong>2017</strong><br />

<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> <strong>November</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />

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<strong>November</strong><br />

February <strong>2017</strong><br />

<strong>2017</strong><br />

8 <strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />

screens. This was by design....it may not have been a joint ef<strong>for</strong>t by the hidden<br />

hands of power and the media, but whatever it was, it has worked!<br />

Black people, afraid <strong>for</strong> their sad lives, left the city. They either moved to the<br />

burbs or exited the entire state <strong>for</strong> what they thought was better and safer<br />

surroundings. They may be accurate in some cases, but in most cases, urban<br />

removal is being planned in many big states, especially if there is prime realestate<br />

to gobble-up, and <strong>Chicago</strong>'s Southside is open <strong>for</strong> an A 1 land grab.<br />

Mayor Emanuel and Governor Rauner have decided that it's politically correct<br />

or in their best interest, politically, to declare the state of Illinois and the<br />

city of <strong>Chicago</strong> as 'sanctuary' landing location <strong>for</strong> anyone non-black to stakeout<br />

their territory. I strongly recommend instead of blacks selling their property<br />

and moving out of the city, they declare their current dwelling grounds<br />

as 'sanctuary communities,' <strong>for</strong> their many relatives who wanna relocate to<br />

the CHI.<br />

Black people, call your kinfolk in every southern state or send smoke signals<br />

to your lost and deprived cousins and cast away family members, instruct<br />

them to redirect their journey and head to <strong>Chicago</strong>. Make this their sanctuary<br />

city and state. Give them housing and help them either get jobs or create employment<br />

opportunities to ensure that they can have a simple quality of life.<br />

Better yet, since the mayor just announced that his administration would provide<br />

Section 8 vouchers <strong>for</strong> immigrants or U.S. citizens displaced by ravaging<br />

tragedies, there is no better excuse, than now to make <strong>Chicago</strong> the new<br />

black migrant's 'sanctuary' home.<br />

CARL WEST<br />

Another Black Great Migration<br />

As the world faces many, many troubling catastrophes, such as raging<br />

brush fires on the West Coast, massive terrorist shootings in major cities or<br />

states including Nevada, as well as deadly hurricanes in Houston, Texas and<br />

Puerto Rico--there are horrible trans<strong>for</strong>mations occurring in places like <strong>Chicago</strong>.<br />

Make this movement to <strong>Chicago</strong> another Great Black Migration. Come and<br />

take advantage of all the privileges that the mayor and governor have decided<br />

to give to anyone who comes to <strong>Chicago</strong> or Illinois to start anew. So<br />

get on the phone and find your peeps and send them a life-line. Let us use<br />

social media, community newspapers, and talk radio to make the call-toaction<br />

like the <strong>Chicago</strong> Defender did over 60 years ago. This historic newspaper<br />

was responsible <strong>for</strong> instructing Negroes in the south to come to the<br />

north and find refuge from bigotry and racism.<br />

And the people who ran from the city to the suburbs, pack your Gucci bags<br />

and move hastily back to Beverly, Chatham, South Shore, Lincoln Park,<br />

Avalon Park.....just bring your black behinds back to CHI! Until the next<br />

edition.....Peace and One Love.<br />

I Write To Differ<br />

All these concerns listed above are life-altering experiences, and we as<br />

Americans should feel their pain. But what's happening in my state and city<br />

hurts even greater. I'm witnessing the demise or destruction or demotion or<br />

deduction--whatever you wanna label it--of black people from the concrete<br />

jungles of the Windy City.<br />

The hidden hands of power have taken steps to ensure that black people remove<br />

(themselves) from <strong>Chicago</strong>. They're using tactics like profiling violence<br />

and other quality of life issues to drive people out of the city limits.<br />

This was initiated with the blowing up of Cabrini Green, which was the first<br />

step in removing unwanted black bodies from <strong>Chicago</strong>'s census count.<br />

Now as black folks move out and others move in at record numbers, it hurts<br />

to see what I predicted is coming full <strong>for</strong>ce. I told you naïve people who<br />

played the blame game and denounced your own community and children<br />

with the help of local media as they presented horrific violence on the<br />

nightly news, that this was not priority number one.<br />

It was all propaganda. They used images of black boys and men committing<br />

crimes against their neighbors to mentally kill the spirit of weak people who<br />

feared <strong>for</strong> their lives as they continued to see crime flash across their TV<br />

FREE Classified Ads in NEXT edition of CSJ.<br />

Send your ad by 25th of month to <strong>Chicago</strong>St<strong>Journal</strong>@gmail.com.


February <strong>2017</strong><br />

<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> <strong>November</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />

9


February <strong>2017</strong><br />

10 <strong>November</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />

<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />

Sorrow Beyond Syntax*…<br />

Hussein Ali Hill-Johnson<br />

Our Moral Decay…<br />

Hussein Ali-Hill Johnson<br />

In America things are now absurd<br />

and “Alt-Truth” has become the key word<br />

Innocence citizens were beaten and one murdered by terrorist<br />

and our President took 3 days to denounce this<br />

All I feel is pain<br />

and lack the words to fully show my disdain<br />

This morning’s sunlight exposed all of the above as sad facts<br />

and all I am left with is a sorrow beyond syntax<br />

*Inspired by the murder of Heather Heyer<br />

and brutal beating of Deandre Harris<br />

Change just <strong>for</strong> change sake<br />

is a major mistake<br />

If you follow leaders that are lost<br />

guess who pays the cost<br />

If you have a square and you cut off four corners you have a circle<br />

that reminds me of the common sense wisdom of Studs Terkel<br />

When it comes to self-respect and respecting others<br />

we are going backwards my Sisters and Brothers<br />

In a car reverse is the strongest gear<br />

but, you can’t win Indy guiding you car with its rear<br />

The answer is not as simple is turning back the clock<br />

in order to rebuild our society GOD must be our bedrock<br />

Because Devil is saying a big hooray<br />

at the state of our moral decay<br />

Hussein Ali Hill-Johnson has been a Poet and Activist since his Freshman year in High School back in the<br />

1973. The addition of the -Johnson is to his name is to honor is Mother (R.I.P.). She was a Short <strong>Story</strong> Writer,<br />

who taught him 90% of what he knows about writing and 100% of what it is to be a person of faith. In the past<br />

30 months, he has written 200 poems, 98 of which are currently published on-line. He can be contacted via<br />

Twitter and via e-mail at husseinhill@yahoo.com<br />

Call 773-998-1925 to be in the NEXT issue.

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