The Lungs of My Neighbors
04/22/20
by Sara Heymann
For this contribution, produced in the wake of the Hilco disaster in La Villita and in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, I asked six of my neighbors these questions to inform portraits I made of their lungs. The prompts I shared with them included:
How do you feel?
How are your lungs?
How does the neighborhood feel to you right now?
Any other thoughts?
Chief Curator of the Museum of Objects Left on the Sidewalk
Ana, 25
Natalie, DJ and event curator
Irma, La Villita resident for 27 years
C, tattoo artist
Edith, 32
How can I describe Little Village? To me, it’s a nexus of energy. A place of bright colors, good food, loud music, and creative people. A place with corrupt politicians and disinvestment. A space in which many of the most selfless and nurturing parts of society are evident, but so are the inequities. And they are magnified during this pandemic.
La Villita is home to the largest Mexican population in the Midwest, with the density of Mexican-Americans as that of New York City. It houses the Cook County Jail, one of the largest hot spots of COVID-19 in the United States. The main drag, 26th street, is the second highest grossing business district in Chicago next to the Magnificent Mile. But despite its economic importance, the city has never supported this community in a real way. And because of this, La Villita has a history of having fierce, justice-minded community members with networks to support each other, and those networks are coming out in full force during this pandemic. From the Tcep mutual aid effort, to New Life delivering food to elders, to Amor De Dios providing curbside food pick up, neighbors are checking in on each other. Creating Spanish language resources when the government fails to. Passing money to one another, because many people in the community do not qualify for stimulus checks or unemployment benefits.
It’s also a place with a lot of pollution. The Crawford coal plant started belching out toxic clouds in 1925, way before COVID-19 hit. Not surprisingly, Little Village has some of the worst air quality and highest asthma rates in Illinois. LVEJO and community members fought for 12 years to get the Crawford Coal plant shut down, and it finally did in 2012. The community could take a breath. Then HILCO, a multi-billion dollar corporation, bought the defunct coal plant two years ago and announced they were turning it into a 1.2 million square foot Target distribution center that would see hundreds of trucks daily. It was a slap in the face to a community that had fought for so long to be able to breathe. HILCO received a $19.7 million tax break to boot. Why is it always corporations that get that kind of investment?
They started demolishing the old coal plant last year without installing the air quality monitors that the community demanded. Last year, a worker fell to his death on the worksite. And that’s why it’s despicable, but not surprising, that HILCO, the city, and Alderman Michael Rodriguez decided that blowing up an old coal smoke stack was an appropriate thing to do at any point—let alone during a respiratory-related pandemic. Blanketing the community in a thick cloud of toxic dust—again—was OK.
Lori Lightfoot thinks that a $68,000 fine and a 6-month work stoppage is punishment enough. But La Villita is going to make sure that’s not the end of it. You can find some of the demands from the community here and here. And I know that HILCO will not be staying in La Villita to continue to pollute our lungs. We won’t let them.
Sara Heymann is a member of Únete La Villita, an Associate Teen librarian at the Douglass branch library, and an artist. You can see more of her art here.
Sara Heymann worked on this piece with Marc Fischer, the Quarantine Times special editor. Occasionally, Marc selects a Chicago artist to share a commissioned creative response to the pandemic.
