So, in case this doesn't get completely flagged, which it should, its also dead wrong. I lived in Chicago for years, family from Chicago, so I've been coming there literally since I was born. The cost of living is low, and the idea that "major parts of the city are off limits to white people" is exactly as absurd and racist as it sounds. I worked on the south side, and am painfully white. I biked and walked around the south side and have gone to meetings on the south side and west side. People pushing this are either racist or simply trolling. Its a wonderful, cosmopolitan city, with dozens (and dozens) of languages spoken, quiet friendly neighborhoods to live in. The only neigborhood I've ever personally had trouble in was Wrigleyville, and I'm going to shock people here, but it isn't people of color making it difficult. I lived in Jeff Park, up and down Milwaukee, Wrigleyville, and Evanston (Not Chi, but close). Its a great city to live and work in and I miss it dearly.
Same: Beverly, Evanston, Lakeview, Uptown, and finally Oak Park, where we raised our family (youngest is off to college later this year). I have never once been the victim of a racist attack --- not even anything verbal --- but, in Beverly, I saw my black friends victimized, firsthand.
To echo tptacek, I never had any serious issues, and I rode the Green Line a lot when I lived in Chicago. The closest thing to what you describe that happened to me occurred once, when I was waiting for a bus near Washington Park. Never on the trains.
I've lived on the other side of an alley from Austin, in northeast Oak Park, for 13 years, and no: I have never had an issue like the one you describe, nor has my wife and nor have my kids.
My wife and I on multiple occasions on the red line, or in the South Loop, River North, or museum campus, during the daytime no less, have suffered probably two dozen verbal attacks purely on the basis of race. My most memorable attack was: "die, you white ass cracka ass mf* piece of s*!"
I've been everywhere between Hyde Park and Wilmette, and lakefront to Oak Park, and the racial tension is real. Viewing Chicago through blue colored glasses does a great disservice to a city that has struggled with unbelievable racism for the last 70 years.
I've had exactly one negative experience on the Green line, as I was coming home to my apartment 62nd street - a group of young men surrounded me and tried to intimidate me, clearly a casual pastime for them. I stood my ground, acted like an adult, and they left me alone.
Yes, I lived on the South Side, and yes, I am white. Chicago has a storied history with racism, with many ongoing issues. But there are people constantly, constantly working on those issues - wonderful people of all races who really, really care. And things are improving. Even the University has stopped its (abhorrent) previous practice of parachute research. They've started to realize that if they'd like to keep that shiny ranking of theirs, they need to really invest in uplifting their surrounding community. Van Dyke was convicted of murder - that would have never happened in Chicago of old!
As for your most memorable attack, I have a counter, but from San Francisco. A (white) homeless man lunged from his spot on the sidewalk, got within a millimeter of my skull (I could feel his hot breath in my hair) and yelled "F*CK YOU!!" over and over again.
It was a busy street and no one stepped in to this man towering over me.
No one here cares. The homeless throw feces at tourists (I've seen it) and attempt to punch passerby (sometimes with success). No one cares. You want to talk about deplorable behavior bred out of poverty? Come to San Francisco and walk down Golden Gate and Market. I've never seen anything like this in Chicago.
I won't argue about the structure of segregation in Chicago. But in terms of the travel, I live in Bridgeport, which is on the south side, and take the Red Line downtown. I have never once heard a bad word from anyone on the crowded train, and I am often the only painfully white person in the car. I have no hesitation about walking around the neighborhood, or anywhere downtown.
My experience is vastly different from yours. I have lived in the Chicago area for many decades, and two years here in Bridgeport (not far from Sox Park).
I think in predominantly white neighborhoods like Bridgeport, you'll see fewer issues especially with its large police presence on duty and off duty.
I take it you've never been a victim of a "wilding" in River North like I've had. Nothing like getting targeted and getting swarmed while eating at an outdoor patio at State and Ontario or later that exact same night waiting at the Grand red line stop.
Chicago police have released surveillance photos of a group of teenagers who they say attacked a man after stealing his wife’s iPhone on the Red Line subway downtown over the weekend. The couple were on a train near State and Lake streets about 10:20 p.m. Saturday when the woman dropped her iPhone and one of the teens picked it up, police said.
The flash mob phenomenon has taken an alarmingly dark turn on Chicago's Near North Side. Teenage posses, some apparently assembled via social media networks, are visiting chaos on retail and tourist hot spots in and around the Gold Coast, Streeterville and Michigan Avenue's Magnificent Mile.
