wrong color

The Unity festival was very interesting: much more African that I had imagined. And I mean African in the sense that many of the booths were selling items from Africa. The school marching band was present. . . and everything else was just getting started. Denice from the alderman's office was thrilled to see us, which really made the experience.

Between festivals, we ate hot dogs. . . on the street! Yes, a true Chicago experience down by Maxwell St.

Fiesta del Sol was a complete surprise: it is the city version of the county fair. The rides were the ones that I had grown up loving. That rickety, nauseating style to be followed by great fair food.

However, it was going to The House that really made the day. We thought we were going to a hip-hop service in Lawndale; instead we saw the community from the inside-out. Andrea and I accompanied Tiffany to the corner of 16th and Ridgeway to ask the community what they thought of the church and Jesus. It was meant to be a time for honesty and excellent listening opportunities. Surprisingly, people like the church. They think that it is a good place and they love Jesus. The only negative comment was that the church is filled with fake people (which is true). However, it was the interaction with the Chicago Police that left the biggest impression. Two cops pulled over and hopped out of their car to talk to us. One hit on Andrea, and the other said that Jesus was a rabbi. After thoroughly checking out what was happening, they asked how long we would be staying. Tiffany told them not long, and they said "say it to the camera" speaking of the security camera hanging from the lamp post across the street. After they got in the car , they looked at Tiffany and said "you take care of those girls." To which she replied, "who is gonna take care of me?" You see, Tiffany is black. Andrea and I are white. And it made a difference tonight. White people do not belong on 16th St. After the cops rolled away, Tiffany went on to explain that the color of our skin was the reason they had stopped in the first place. We talked about injustice. We talked about not belonging (every person from the area that we talked to told us to be safe). Tonight, we were the wrong color.