Dreams from My Father

Barack has only been to Chicago once, when he was 11. That was when Toot, Maya, and Ann traveled the country. He was impressed by the indoor swimming pool at their motel and fascinated by shrunken heads at the Field Museum. Arriving in July as an adult, the city seems much prettier. Barack drives around and thinks of the Black people who came to Chicago during the Great Migration. He imagines Frank watching Ella Fitzgerald perform and Regina skipping rope. He tries to make the city his own. On the third day, he stops in at Smitty’s Barbershop. As he cuts Barack’s hair, Smitty and the other men discuss Harold Washington’s election. They talk about the mayor affectionately, like he’s a relative. Barack wonders if the men would talk like this if they knew where Barack came from—but he knows they’d stop talking if Gramps walked in.

That afternoon, Marty picks Barack up and they drive to the old Wisconsin Steel plant. Marty says that lots of different people used to work there, but they all ignored each other outside of work. These people need to work together if they want their jobs back. Marty talks about his organization, the CCRC. He started it two years ago with the help of a Catholic bishop when he learned that both Black and white people were equally ashamed of being unemployed. Over 20 churches formed CCRC, while others joined a related group. CCRC just won funding from the state for a $500,000 job placement program, and they’re headed to a celebratory rally. Marty allows that it’ll take 10 years to rebuild manufacturing in the city, but people need victories now—they can go after politicians later. Barack realizes that Marty isn’t actually that cynical.

When they arrive at a school auditorium, Marty introduces Barack to Deacon Will Milton and they scurry away. Three Black women block Barack from following and introduce themselves as Angela, Shirley, and Mona. They start to tell Barack that they’re thrilled to have him and imply that Marty is struggling, but Marty calls them onstage before they can finish. Barack watches the event, which includes a choir, a roll call of churches in attendance, and a number of speakers. To him it seems flat, but the crowd seems to enjoy themselves. Seeing Black and white faces united in this vision helps Barack feel cheerful. Marty can’t take Barack home after, so Barack takes the bus.

Barack sits next to Will and hears Will’s life story. Will served in Vietnam and then worked at a bank, but when he was laid off, he turned to Christ. He makes a point to call out hypocrisy in the church when he sees it. He insists that Black people are obsessed with becoming middle-class and are less interested in following the heart of Scripture. Will chuckles that nobody listens, but he speaks anyway. He notes that many get upset that he wears a collar, since he’s married and not ordained. But a collar gives him some standing, and even the cardinal doesn’t care that Will wears it. Barack knows very little about religion, so he just nods. Will gets off at a church and encourages those on the bus to stay involved. As one woman gets off, she asks where the promised jobs are.

The next day, Marty gives Barack a list of people to interview. His job is to “Find out their self-interest,” because that will get these people to organize. The interviews are harder than Barack expected. People are tired and suspicious, but once he’s in people’s kitchens, most are happy to talk. He learns that most people in the South Side grew up on the West Side, where conditions were tough. Some followed their parents into industrial jobs; many more found jobs as social workers, teachers, or bus drivers. They were able to buy houses in white neighborhoods. These stories remind Barack of Gramps, Toot, and Ann’s stories of moving to do better—but these take a different tone. Chicago never recovers from the racial upheaval, and though many people are proud of their accomplishments, they worry for the future.

Many of these people have adult kids who live at home, and many see younger, less stable families moving into the neighborhood. The new families don’t invest in maintenance and crime increases. Barack’s interview subjects see that their progress is ephemeral, and he sees that Will is right. People are proud that they’ve achieved middle-class status and will do anything to try to distance themselves from those who are poorer. But in every home, no matter how poor or wealthy, Barack notices a photo of Harold Washington; Washington offers “collective redemption.” However, Marty still accuses Barack of not digging deep enough.

Finally, during an interview with a woman named Ruby, Barack starts to get it. Ruby talks about her son, Kyle, and his brushes with gang activity and she introduces Barack to other parents concerned about the poor police response. They organize a neighborhood meeting with the district commissioner and point Barack to Reverend Reynolds, whose church is on the block where a shooting took place. Reverend Reynolds is the president of the local ministerial alliance and invites Barack to a meeting. Barack is thrilled and gives an impassioned pitch. Though Reverend Reynolds is impressed, a Reverend Smalls isn’t. He insists they don’t need Barack and Marty, and they won’t work with the racist Catholic archdiocese when they have committed Black aldermen on city council. None of the ministers take Barack’s flyers with them, and none return his calls.

The community meeting is a disaster. Thirteen people show up and the district commander cancels. Barack spends his time directing elderly people to the Bingo game upstairs while Ruby sits sadly. Marty arrives halfway, helps Barack clean up, and takes Barack for coffee. He says that Barack needs a more specific issue than gangs and needs to make inroads with leaders. Marty laughs when Barack tells him about Reverend Smalls and says that Smalls is just a politician in a collar who is trying to take advantage of the polarized city. Marty says it’s good Barack learned his lesson, but Barack doesn’t know what he learned. He realizes that each faith group may say the same prayers, but they all are loyal to different people. Smalls and others don’t want to hear that a Black mayor won’t solve their problems.