Black Excellence

New Extended Series, Black Excellence will follow the lives of 10 Black young adults on their roads to success. 

Introducing Sasha, Tonya, and Austin Community

“Growing up, my neighborhood was pretty good. A few flaws here or there but nothing major. The community was friendly and everyone was considered family especially on our block.” Sasha was born in Chicago. She loved school, described it as both exciting and fulfilling. She anticipated going to school each and every day because she learned a lot of great stuff being educated in a charter school. Her neighborhood was one of unique style, as are many in Chicago, with one family frame houses and two-flats combined on a block with wide streets, sidewalks to play on and porches to sit and greet neighbors. Although Sasha paints a picture of what one would think of when posed with a thought about American neighborhoods, Sasha’s view of her neighborhood was limited. That “family” Sasha speaks of on her block, tore a family apart when one of her best friend’s was raped by her own cousin and the family moved states away. Sasha had not forgotten that tragedy that struck her friend, nor had she been exempt from the sounds of gun shots that sometimes rang through the front door as if they were the doorbell. But somehow, it was good for her.

Tonya grew up in the same neighborhood by division of the city, the largest neighborhood on the Westside and in the entire city by population density, Austin Community. But Tonya describes her part of the neighborhood very differently. Whereas Sasha was to the northwest of the neighborhood, bordering a very affluent suburb of Chicago, Oak Park; Tonya lived 15 minutes south of here, at the southern most part of the neighborhood, bordering a predominately Hispanic community, Cicero Township. Tonya often recalls in individual relationship building meetings with people the prostitutes and drug dealing she saw on a daily basis. Police presence is still vividly pictured in her mind as she flashes back to see women being thrown into the back of police cars and young boys thrown across them. She too however, talks of closeness and sense of community she felt.

Both their parents were cautious of them. Sasha never left her block and Tonya couldn’t leave her own porch for much of her childhood years. But fortunate for them, they had popular blocks that were frequented, allowing them to socialize with children from other parts of the neighborhood. Tonya lived next door, separated by an ally, to the community center, where boys would go to play basketball and girls would go to watch. She lived on a block mixed with houses and factory buildings, that after one was torn down became a vacant lot for play, riding bikes, and increased criminal activity.

These two met at a charter school, on the Northside of the city, in a vastly different neighborhood from the one they both knew. This school would take them on a journey neither could have anticipated. But one thing was for sure, Sasha would be excited to go to school to see Tonya and the rest of their crew everyday!