Perceptions: July 2008 Archives

It depends.

For instance, I wrote a personal account of something that happened to me on Monday in which I referred to the person's race.

A reader from Berwyn had a problem with that.

There's a perception among many in the African-American community that black and brown citizens are subjected to harsher treatment than whites by the criminal justice system. You may or may not agree. But how do you explain an incident, described for us by a professional African-American woman who witnessed the chain of events while waiting for the No. 6 CTA bus:

What she saw:

A dingy gold Ford Explorer stopped short in on Lake Park Boulevard in left lane just after going through a green light. The driver of the Explorer jumps out and stomps over to another SUV (a Honda) that had screeched to a halt just behind him. It's about 3:25 in the afternoon. Explorer yells, "You cut me off." Honda driver rolls down his window and argues back. A war of words ensues.

What happened to Yasmin Acree, a 15-year-old girl who vanished from her West Side home on Jan. 15?

Yasmin, who is the niece of the Rev. Ira Acree, a local activist and outspoken critic of the Chicago Police Department, hasn't been seen since.

"At 15 years old, the only way she could take care of herself is if an adult is harboring her," Acree said. "If that's the case, it is illegal, and it is criminal."

In a five-part series last year, Sun-Times reporter Maudlyne Ihejirika wrote that 54 people, on average, are reported missing each day in Chicago. Just 2 percent of missing juveniles have been abducted.

But Yasmin doesn't appear to fit the profile of a teen who would run away.

On Tuesday morning, a caller left a message on my voice mail with an urgent request: "Please dig a little deeper into the Curtis Cooper death," the unidentified woman asked. "White residents don't want black residents in CHA property to come over to their property. The fence was really illegal. Nobody is talking about why a fence was put up in the first place. It was to separate the blacks from the whites."