Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Monday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“The differences start in how the burial markers look at Oak Woods Cemetery on the city’s South Side,” the Tribune reports.
“One, a Confederate Mound, lists the names of thousands of Confederate soldiers who were captured and died at Camp Douglas in Chicago. It’s topped with a bronze statute of a Confederate infantry soldier. Farther north, a simple gravestone marks where famed African-American journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett was buried. She shares a gravestone with her husband that states, ‘Crusaders For Justice,’ under their names.
“On Sunday, two groups held simultaneous but separate ceremonies, putting a spotlight not only on the juxtaposition of the markers in the Grand Crossing cemetery but also on the contrasting opinions of the role Confederate monuments should have in modern America. Both ceremonies remained peaceful, and the opposing groups did not interact with each other Sunday morning.”


An anti-racism coalition called Smash White Supremacy wants the Confederate monument removed.
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“The Confederate Mound was first dedicated in 1895 by President Grover Cleveland with about 100,000 people in attendance. But it hasn’t been without controversy. In 1992, some alderman were against a proposal that would have given the site historical landmark status. That proposal failed.”
According to the Chicago History Museum:
“In June of 1891, members of the Ex-Confederate Association of Chicago met to appeal to donors they considered sympathizers of the Confederate dead in order to construct a monument in their honor. The Ex-Confederate Association originally intended to debut the statue during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, but the project was not finished in time. The 1895 dedication ceremony drew a significant crowd, including a visit from President Grover Cleveland and his whole cabinet.”
See photos at the link.
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Back to the Trib:
“David Keller, who wrote a book about Camp Douglas, said the mass grave is noteworthy because it contains the most Confederate soldiers north of the Mason-Dixon Line.”
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Note: I added all the links in the Trib story.
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Sun-Times video:

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CBS2 Chicago report on the monument, from last August:

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From Adeshina Emmanuel for Chicago magazine last September in a piece titled How The South Side Came To House A Not-So-Controversial Confederate Memorial (“It’s meant to honor those killed in a POW camp. It was created to symbolize unity. Yet, now, a symbol of a regime that espoused white supremacy is comfortably situated inside a cemetery surrounded by a black community”)

Every year, rifle-toting men in Confederate costumes come to the South Side of Chicago carrying Confederate flags stitched with the outline of Illinois.
This is the Illinois chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a hereditary group that visits the Oak Woods Cemetery in Greater Grand Crossing for an annual memorial service honoring thousands of rebel soldiers buried at Confederate Mound. Some leave flowers at the base of the monument, which has plaques bearing the names of the 4,000 or so soldiers who were identified out of more than 6,000 dead.
Looming over the mass grave site is a more than 40-feet-tall monument topped by a larger-than-life bronze statue of a solemn Confederate soldier. He stands there looking down on Confederate Mound with his arms crossed across his chest, holding his hat in his hand.
You won’t see anything else like him in Chicago.

Links as they were by Chicago.
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New on the Beachwood today . . .
The White Sox Report: Welcome To The Regression
“We’ve been offered the Kool-Aid by the Sox PR gurus,” our very own Roger Wallenstein writes. “Like most fans, I very much want to drink the Kool-Aid, but I’ve never been fond of the lemon-lime that they’re offering. I like the red kind. The cherry. Once it’s an option, give me a pint.”
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Jonathan Pie, TV Reporter!: A Hostile Environment
“Make the country so fucking shit that no one wants to stay, trapped in an endless fucking cycle of hold music and fear. On purpose! You nasty, heartless fuckers.”
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ChicagoGram


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ChicagoTube
Meet The Man Who Takes Care Of Honeybees On Chicago Skyscrapers.

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BeachBook
Is That Empty Air In Your Chip Bag A Scam?

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When Beauty Is A Troll.

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They Spewed Hate In The President’s Name.

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TweetWood
A sampling.


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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Hot or not.

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Posted on April 23, 2018