An Open Letter to the Edgewater Community

Hi! I'm Regina.  I was one of the people representing Edgewater Mutual Aid Network (EMAN) at the Armory community meeting on July 27th. After taking some time to reflect (and hydrate!), I wanted to share some thoughts with you, my neighbors.

Before the meeting, I was not opposed to the Armory being used as a temporary shelter for asylum seekers, and after the meeting, I am still not.  EMAN stands in solidarity with new arrivals to Chicago who are displaced from their nations of origin due to climate catastrophe, political oppression, and economic injustice, and extant Chicagoans who are displaced from their homes by gentrification.  The plan presented by the City officials to temporarily shorten, suspend, or re-locate Park programs is– relative to these injustices– not displacement.

With that said, many people who ultimately disagreed with the use of Armory as temporary shelter brought up several points that I and many of my EMAN friends absolutely agree with.  Even if we disagree over this decision made by the City, we are exasperated for many of the same reasons!  The week after the meeting, I find my feelings have shifted towards curiosity:  can Edgewater residents do more to confront these issues than spend two torrid hours in a gymnasium on a July evening?

EMAN was created in response to the lack of institutional support during the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, by Edgewater residents who were not going to wait around for a politician or a CEO to decide what crumbs of assistance we deserved.  EMAN participants have come and gone over the last 3+ years, but we remain strong, proving that there are many neighbors who want to connect with and support each other.  We have proven that a group of people contributing what they are able towards the goal of a just and welcoming community can have big results. We have provided over $10,000 in support to asylum seekers– and that’s just in the last three months, while simultaneously providing food and other resources to more established neighbors, tending our community garden, organizing social events, and more.  

At the meeting, I heard people speak about a mindset of abundance.  Neighbors assembled and organized around a common idea in a short amount of time with professionally printed signs and stickers.  I was impressed by their ability to mobilize, even though I disagreed with their message.  Can we as a neighborhood use that time, that energy, those connections, to adjust to this unprecedented situation and find compromises where nobody is bereft of community support? 

I heard concern over loss of park programming for seniors and youth, and I was relieved to hear that core services will continue in different locations in the neighborhood and that the Senior Satellite Center will continue operating.  I hope that our concern for youth and seniors who currently live in Edgewater also means that we are empathetic to people who travel thousands of miles for the good of their children and families.  But I’m also curious about how we can find other ways to support seniors and children whose services are being disrupted.  Can Edgewater businesses, faith communities, nonprofits, or even private neighbors organize and provide space for alternative social programs?  Can Edgewater gyms provide temporary discounts to people who rely on the Armory for their exercise routines?  Jackalope Theater, who produces plays in the Armory, made a post on their official Instagram account welcoming new neighbors in need of shelter and expressing optimism that they will find a different stage to bring their art to life.   If we adopt a mindset of abundance, there are so many potential solutions mere blocks away. 

I heard frustration over a lack of definitive answers to questions such as how long the Armory will be used as a shelter.  I’ve only lived in Chicago since 2012, but it’s been long enough for me to learn to be skeptical when I hear that a City project is going to be reassessed in 6 months.  The Armory will doubtless be a safer shelter for asylum seekers than a police station floor, but it is not a long-term solution.  Can we hold OEMC accountable to this promise in six months’ time?  Can we demand that City officials create a more supportive process of providing assistance to asylum seekers and rectify the shame of having dragged their feet for a year in creating a plan to address this crisis?  Can we encourage them to allow community groups access to the Armory, to help asylum seekers quickly resettle into more appropriate residences?  Can we continue to protest the City’s reliance on Favorite Staffing, on an out-of-state contractor already racking up complaints of unfair treatment of asylum seekers at other sites around Chicago?

I heard anger at the injustice of focusing on the needs of asylum seekers when the needs of unhoused neighbors have been long ignored.  Many people in our neighborhood face danger without adequate shelter to endure extreme weather conditions.  Others also highlighted the injustice of low- and no-cost community programs being impacted while wealth-hoarding billionaires contribute nothing to meet these urgent needs.  Can we demand the plutocrats provide for all our neighbors in need?    Can we demand that the county, state, and federal government provide the necessary funding to permanently house, clothe, feed, and support migrants and unhoused Chicagoans alike?

Some neighbors with whom I spoke before the meeting expressed that they did not agree with some of EMAN's political goals.  I've spent most of my life arguing with friends, family, and strangers on the Internet about my political beliefs;  I've learned that not everyone's going to agree with me.  But do you agree with us that if you passively wait for government structures to change to meet your needs, you’ll be waiting for a very, very long time?  That billionaires aren’t likely to have an overnight change of heart about sharing their fortunes? 

Is there something you can do– even if it seems like a small gesture, a brief amount of time, a dollar or two– to make Edgewater a little more welcoming to everyone, a little more equitable, a little less reliant on the Gordian knot of bureaucracy? 

Is there a neighbor who is willing to join you? 

I know there is. 

I hope you connect with them.