Part XIII - "Big Al's Place"

Back in the late 1960's, I was teaching at Zion Lutheran School, located on the southwest side of Chicago - 99th. & Winston Avenue. The then principal, Karl Schmidt and I often stopped at Al Vignato's tavern on the corner of 99th. & Vincennes.  The picture is of the current remodeled place.  The two- step front entrance is exactly the same.  Local Chicago taverns often had the bar in the front of the building and living quarters in the rear.  The two story attached structure is where Al and his wife - Maria - lived.  The tavern was separated from the living space by a ringed-drape in the doorway between the two sections.  The tavern was frequented by an interesting clientele:  Chicago policemen and officers, Chicago firefighters, Catholic priests, and of course a couple of Lutheran School teachers.  By the way, all were white folks.

Al shared some of his background with me one evening as I sat at the bar.  He told me that he used to "cook" for the Capone gang.  That meant that he was making illegal booze during Prohibition days.  He said that he had several individuals do the "cooking" for him in their homes.   When I asked him if he had to pay off the cops, he just laughed and told me that the only ones that had to be paid off were the "gas meter readers" - since the stills used quite a bit of natural gas during the "cooking".  

On another occasion, I noticed that he did not have a liquor license on display in his tavern.  When I asked him about that, he replied, " Never had one before and don't need one now!"     I guess he was an exception.  I always wondered if the Chicago Police clientele had anything to do about that.....

Zion Lutheran School was about 3 blocks west of the tavern and Al always took a daily walk every early afternoon on a nice sunny day.  I would often see him pass by the school building in his usual regalia:  full length light brown wool coat, very dark sunglasses, and a fedora on his head.   If he didn't look like he was some sort of "Don", nobody did.  Hence my nickname of Big Al.....

Great memories!  But not all great....  

The neighborhood was beginning to undergo the "change".  Black folks, wanting to escape to a better neighborhood, were ever so slowly moving into the area.  White folks were very wary and nervous.  Certain areas were "off limits" to black people - often using physical barriers as the "unofficial lines" not to be crossed.   The most common were railroad tracks - but viaducts and major thoroughfares were also territorial lines.  And of course, expressways have always done their job as well.  Even the building of the University of Illinois - Chicago campus was a huge barrier to stop the migration of black families moving ever closer to downtown Chicago.  Back to Al Vignato.....

There was a CTA bus stop in front of his establishment.  One evening, a black person got off the bus and came into the bar.  Al, behind the bar, met him before he could get in too far.  He asked the person what he wanted.  The black man said he wanted to buy a pack of cigarettes.  Back in the day, cigarettes were often kept behind a counter in specially designed sleeves that held the several brands.  Al had a rack of them behind him.  So, when the man asked to buy a pack, Al said he didn't have any cigarettes.   The man said that they were right behind Al.   Al repeated that he didn't have any cigarettes.  The message was clear.  No black person could ever patronize his establishment - even for a pack of smokes.  The man left  without incident, probably because he was all too familiar with this type of treatment from white establishments.

I was amazed at what just transpired.  I thought there might have been an altercation with such an obvious display of discrimination, but Al said he wasn't worried.   His trusty "bullwhip" and German Luger behind the bar were always "ready".

I said nothing more.  I also continued to frequent his tavern.  I gladly ate the hard-boiled eggs that Maria would set out on the bar coming from her kitchen in back.  In that tavern, everyone knew no black person would ever be allowed in Al's place.  

That made us - and especially me - complicit.

Part XI - Thanksgiving Day - 50 Years Ago

I cannot recall the exact year, but it was in the late 60's or early 70's.   We were celebrating Thanksgiving Day dinner at Mom and Dad's house.  I don't recall exactly who all were there, but most certainly one of my uncles was there.  I recall the seating arrangement - Dad at the head of the dining room table, me to his right, and my uncle on his left.  Paula was sitting next to me.  Somehow the conversation moved into race.  Why or how I cannot recall.  But what happened after that was another example of how racism was "inbred" into my upbringing and culture.

Not recalling the specifics, but my uncle was spouting off all of the stereotypical nonsense about blacks.  I, being a freshly minted college graduate, had the opposite view.  Perhaps I was already teaching in an integrated school setting at the time.  In any event, I "took him on" and countered all of his prejudicial nonsense to the degree that all he had left was to refer to me as "sonny boy" and "you'll learn".  (As a side note,  I'm sure he would be one of those Trump supporters over the past four years - ignorant, afraid of change, racist, etc.)

For the first time, I got so angry that I got up and said "We're leaving!"   I softened it a bit to say we're going to go for a car ride - and so Paula and I left and were gone for about an hour or so - just to cool off.

When we returned, I believe my uncle and aunt were gone and my dad talked with me in the kitchen attempting to be a peacemaker among the family.

Looking back, I don't believe I was any sort of advocate for racial justice.  Perhaps I thought I knew better since I was more educated.  So, that incident on the surface looked to be an "awakening" for me by standing up for human rights and dignity.  In retrospect, it was neither.  It wasn't enough to counter my cultural and environmental upbringing.

Part X - What happened at Fenger High School ?

When I started high school in the fall of 1958, my sister was beginning her senior year there. Fenger's enrollment back then was somewhere around 3,000 to 4,000 students.

The 1959 Yearbook (Courier) showed my sister as graduating and me as a freshman.  All students were classified by semester, rather than by year.  For example, your first semester as a freshman one would be a 1B student and the following semester one would be 1A.  A senior would be 4B in the first semester and 4A in the second.  Why?  Students started school at two different time periods in Chicago.  Most started in September while others started in January.  So, when I began in the fall of 1958, I was a 1B.  Those who started high school in January of 1958 would be 1A when I started.  I believe the purpose of splitting up classes was due to overcrowding of the high schools, but I am unsure of that.

Now to the racial composition.  In the 1959 Courier, both senior graduating class combined had 50 black kids.   In 1962, when I graduated, both senior graduating classes had only 1 black kid! The old paradigm was once a school or neighborhood started to become integrated, the white families would start to move out until the entire neighborhood would now be segregated - only as black families.   So how could Fenger High school go from 50 graduating blacks to only 1 in a three year time span?  

Answer:  Build a new high school that would siphon off the black kids thus making Fenger a white high school and the new high school a black high school.  The new high school was Harlan High. It was built just east of the new Dan Ryan Expressway (which also divided white and black neighborhoods much farther north to almost downtown Chicago).   So my commute to high school was around 4 times greater distance than to another public high school.  The "unwritten law" is that you don't go into the projects !!!!

Once again, that was the way it was throughout my high school years.  And it was totally acceptable to all the whites I knew - including myself.

Part XIX - Schools for all ?

In Part VI, I mentioned Riverdale Branch grade school on the "north side" (meaning north of the Calumet River) on 133rd. Street.  Several kids from my "block" as well as the "north side" went to that school as it was the only one serving our far southside area of Chicago known as the Riverdale area.  

This school was called a "branch" of some other larger public school which I suspect may have been Pullman, but am unsure.  

It appeared to be normal to me that only white kids went to that school from our neighborhood and the black kids living in the projects (Altgeld Gardens) went to their "own" schools.  

When Chicago Public Schools were built in Altgeld Gardens after WWII, the school district was gerrymandered by creating Riverdale "Branch" for the white kids while the black kids in the project had to go to school in the project ..even though some lived closer to the "branch" school than the ones in the project!  

When it came to High School, kids in my neighborhood went to Fenger which was approximately 3 miles away.  Carver High School was less than a mile away.  And high school kids in Altgeld Gardens could only attend Carver High School. 

For us white kids, it was just accepted as "that's the way it is".   Inbred racism doesn't seem bad when it becomes a major part of your upbringing.

Part VIII - Ignorance is bliss?

Where does one begin when it comes to the concept of "white privilege"?   Let me start with the word "ignorance".  However, the word in and of itself has many synonyms all of which provide a new meaning of the word.  Here are but a few:  

• Unawareness

• Blindness

• Obliviousness

• Shallowness

• Unenlightened

• Unconscious

• Superficiality

• Half-knowledge

In addition to just plain ignorance, there is also culture which includes caste systems (reference Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste").  

Subsequent posts will be recollections of events that at the time went seemingly unnoticed or acceptable, but now serve as "enlightenments" of how they fit into this overall theme.

Part VII - My "Englightenment"

The title of this post totally squares with the overall blog title of "Never Too Late to Learn".  More specifically, my focus is in regards to racism and prejudice against African-American (people of color) people.  

As with so many learning experiences in life, they come much later on in life - IF one is capable to recognize them and open enough to change.  Some people refuse to accept any change at some "line in the sand" time frame.  In my view, they have ceased to exist as a "being" at that moment even though their hearts continue to beat and their lungs continue to breathe.  I am sure there are philosophical definitions for this, but I prefer to use plain English.

If I had to pick out one thing that became a catalyst for me to change is the whole concept of  "white privilege".  I first heard of the term from our son Paul who spent a significant part of his career in the academic world working at various colleges and universities.  Initially, I was offended by the term and denied it applied to me.  Who me?  Privileged?  I grew up 100% blue collar with all "the trimmings".  More on those experiences in future posts.  But for now, there is NO WAY that I could accept the fact that I was privileged. 

But I fully embrace it today.  Subsequent postings will focus on my transition into acceptance of it, albeit over decades.  

Part VI - Elementary Schools in the Neighborhood

St. Paul Lutheran, St. Mary's Catholic, & Riverdale Branch 

The above-named schools were basically the only three elementary schools anyone in our neighborhood attended.

Quite a few of the kids on our street attended St. Paul Lutheran - which was located on the south side of 138th. Street - making it technically in the suburb of Dolton.  My dad went to school there from middle grades through 8th. grade.  In fact, one of his teachers, who also was mine, was Mr. Bernahl.  He taught 3rd. and 4th. grades and died the year I was in the 4th. grade. My mom and dad were married in the church as was my sister Donna.  Both Donna and I were baptized, attended there through the 8th. grade, and were confirmed there as well.

I only recall one of my neighborhood pals going to St. Mary's and that was Jackie Mongeau, who lived across the street from me.  We often played wiffleball on the side street (Forest Ave.) next to our house.  We traded baseball cards and quizzed each other on player stats printed on the backside of the card.

A few of the other kids on the block went to a school called "Riverdale Branch".  It was a Chicago Public School and located on 133rd. Street - just east of Indiana Avenue.  It was on north of the Little Calumet River and therefore was labeled the "north side" by those of us who lived on the "south side" of the river.  It was a "branch" of some other Chicago Public School - my guess would be Pullman, but I am very unsure of that.  More on Riverdale Branch in another blog.