WBEZ journalist Natalie Moore’s debut book, The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation, is a must-read for anyone interested in how ingrained racial segregation is in America, particularly in Chicago. And while mayors Daley and Emanuel have touted Chicago as a world-class city, it remains one of the most segregated cities in America. Moore illustrates through her own life’s experience how years later it still leaves an indelible mark on everything that inspires the American Dream, from housing policies, and schools to how a community views itself.
What was your neighborhood like in Chatham growing up?
Wonderful. I take pride in the fact that I grew up in a sort of racial cocoon. I learned about neighborhood improvement, block clubs and how to support black-owned businesses. But I also learned about the ‘black tax’ – fewer goods and services, more crime compared with other neighborhoods.
How has it changed?
Chatham is an aging community that isn’t an option for young professional families the way it once was.
How does segregation affect essential things like food, access to health care, groceries and community development?
Segregation is about race, not just class. You can make $100,000 and live in a black community and not have access to those essential things.
What element about segregation would surprise readers?
Segregated communities — whether black or white — are by design. Decades of discriminatory policies in Black communities and government policies that favored White suburbs via loan preferences and highways have left our region looking the way it currently does.
What was your process in writing the book?
A lot of research, interviews, coffee and late nights!
Did you have a main purpose in writing the book?
I want people to think about their housing choices and how segregation hurts the whole region. We will be an area of inequity until we address segregation.
The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation is published by St. Martin’s Press.
