And Then There's The Reality

Writing in The Irish Times, famed novelist Colm Toibin shares his delight over the election of a black man as president of the United States.

His prose is touching, heartfelt and sincere. His lack of familiarity with Chicago is telling.

Remarkable that white America voted in a black man, considering the sort of racial animosity his friends found while canvassing for Barack Obama in rural Pennsylvania. What's truly remarkable is the sort of racial inequality that exists in Chicago, held in place by clout and sweetheart deals.

Had Mr. Toibin's friends gone to the 35th Street, they would have discovered that black folks live on the east side of the Dan Ryan Expressway. The Bridgeport dagos and the Irish are found on the west. Had they wandered down to 75th Street, they would soon learn that all the African-Americans dwell to the east of the railroad underpass, and the whites to the west. The Augustinian-operated high school is but blocks away from one of the worst public high schools in Chicago, but those blocks separate different worlds.

Father Michael Pflager preaches to the black parishioners of St. Sabina's, and accepts state funds for his various programs, and he keeps the blacks where they belong. Jesse Jackson runs Operation Push and twisted Anheiser-Busch's corporate arm until his sons had the most lucrative beer distributorship in Chicago, and he keeps the blacks where they belong.

A black teen made the mistake of crossing the Dan Ryan Expressway one sunny day, to shoot hoops on the white side where the gangs couldn't hassle him. Frankie Caruso and his pals beat the kid senseless, left him permanently brain damaged. Frankie got a little slap on the wrist and it's all but forgotten in Armour Square.

President-elect Obama might know Frankie's dad, Toots Caruso. He's been linked with Richard Daley's political machine, the same machine that got out the vote for Rahm Emanuel. And he's considered one of the leading members of Chicago's Outfit.

Amazing that white Americans could vote in a black man, while the city of Chicago remains one of the most segregated cities in the United States.

Amazing that white Americans expect great changes coming when the Daley political machine is slowly taking over the White House. Chicago on the Potomac, is it?