The Roaring 20s - Trump's Chicago

...in the wake of what's happening in #chicago ...ima drop this today

There was an article published by The Courier-Times newspaper back in May that caught my attention. It was on the front page of the “Living in Person” section, with the headline: “Students Experience Roaring 20s”. Local homeschoolers had put on show bringing the 1920s “back to life”. Also on the front page, was a picture of a group of kids; all “dressed to the nines as flappers and mobsters.” Machine Gun Kelly, Al Capone, Eliot Ness and Coco Chanel, just to name a few.

The article begins by stating that: “It was the era of gangsters, Prohibition, and all that glitters.” It then goes on to tell us about the invention of the juicer. Which they even demonstrated by making lemonade. The students were taught about the art deco style, choosing a “celebrity” of the era and creating their own art pieces. The program ended with a feast from a variety of foods popular in that decade...peanut butter cups, chow mein, Coca - Cola and a few others. But I have a problem with this article; for a number of reasons. But the issue I really want to address? Gangsters and Prohibition.

Let’s talk about the REAL Roaring 20s.

The 1920s was a period of profound transformation in American life. It was a fun and glamorous as this article may portray, especially for Black Americans. It was a time of pure racial hatred and divide. It was this reason that caused the Great Migration, the mass moving of blacks from the Southern states to the North. Black Americans moved because living conditions were so poor in the South, but quickly discovered that life in the Northern cities was just as hard, if not harder than back in the South. Jobs were often hard to find. Housing was poor. And the treatments from whites was even worse. In fact, it was during this time, that the Ku Klux Klan members began to increase and the terrorization of blacks picked up. Burning crosses in the front yard of black families; sometimes beating and even murdering them.

Around the same time, a series of race riots broke out throughout the cities, with the worst happening in Chicago..hometown of Al Capone and Eliot Ness. There was an incident where a young black boy, entered a part of the beach that was “white only”. After throwing stones at him, he fell into the water and drowned. It was also in Chicago where Ness’s greatest achievement came, after taking down Al Capone, “Traffic Court”. He also implemented the process of examination of suspected drunk drivers and the immediate arrest of those found intoxicated. However, his character was questioned after he assembled a team of policemen who used their clubs on strikers, creating nothing but chaos and injuries, resulting in over 100 hospitalized strikers.

But anyone who’s done research, or even read anything about the “Roaring 20s” , knows what it really was about...LIQUOR!! There’s no way you can talk about the 1920s without saying anything about how American society was impacted by prohibition,  “The Great Experiment” ; it was the Prohibition Era!! Gangsters, bootleggers, speakeasies, prostitution, gambling...It was an era of organized crime! The effects of prohibition on law enforcement were also negative. The sums of money being exchanged during the dry era, proved to be a corrupting influence in both the Federal Bureau of Prohibition, and, at a state/local level. Officers would often be tempted by bribes to get into bootlegging themselves. And while many stayed honest, there were enough who took part in it, that the public trust in law enforcement began to fade. The growth of illegal liquor trade made criminals of millions of Americans. Court rooms and jails overflowed; the legal system couldn’t keep up! Many of the defendants in these cases would wait sometimes over a year to go to trial. As the cases started to increase, the court turned to the “plea bargain” option, allowing them to clear hundreds of cases at a time. The solution the United States had come up with to fix the problem of alcohol abuse, had instead created a bigger problem.

The Harlem Renaissance was also another major 1920s event, but there’s no mention about it; no character portrayed in the photos. It was at this time, that the musical style of blacks was becoming more & more attractive to whites. White novelists, dramatists, and composers started to exploit the musical tendencies and themes of African Americans in their works. It was during this very same time, the template for our modern day media culture began to form (phonographs, radio, “talking” pictures, etc..) , connecting Americans through a network of sounds and visuals. The banning of alcohol and the subsequent rise of speakeasies, clearly played a role in the music’s evolution during those times.

Now don’t get me wrong, because as much as it may seem like this is all about race, it simply isn’t. It’s about facts, which the article in my opinion, lacks. But what’s even more disturbing, is the content and lack of diversity in said article. In a town that’s so high and hell bent on drug enforcement, this is what is published? A picture of a child portraying to be Machine Gun Kelly; a bootlegger, bank robber and kidnapper; a career criminal who, eventually died in prison serving a life sentence? Or Al Capone, one of IF not the most infamous gangster in American history? How about Eliot Ness? The law enforcement official who was a firm believer in “by any means necessary”? Coco Chanel wasn’t just known for being a racist, she collaborated with AND spied for the Nazis!

I’m just saying, the next time you decide to publish anything about any era, research the facts. Ask some questions. Especially if it’s going to be read by ALL persons in the county. When you know better, you do better.

“After lunch, the students returned to the year 2017, concluding that the Roaring 20s might be fun to visit, but that they wouldn’t want to live there.” ….well kids, I have some bad news. Don’t turn on the tv and don’t go outside, stay far away from social media, because you’re living in it right now.

Only in this era, it isn’t alcohol. More like,  “War on Drugs”.

-theComfyMisfit