Two families, asylum seekers from Venezuela, shared a tent after being kicked out of a Rogers Park motel for missing curfew by seven minutes.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Many feel it was cruel for the Super 8 Motel to ask migrants to leave the hotel after they missed a curfew (“Migrant families kicked out of Rogers Park motel for missing curfew are sleeping in tents”). Perhaps the consequences of their tardiness were severe. Yet the migrants have repeatedly expressed that they desperately want to become citizens of the country. We have heard countless stories from the newcomers about how they arrived in the U.S. only after Herculean and dangerous efforts.
Accordingly, if the migrants so desperately want to make their home in the U.S., like many before them, they must work hard and follow the rules. If abiding by a curfew means that you can maintain free housing, you would think that all of the migrants would be back at the hotel well before the curfew. You would consider the deadline set in stone.
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Even if it was just seven minutes late, as our parents used to tell us, “late is late.” With what they have on the line, the newcomers should not even be cutting it close. Like most things in life, you have to earn what you desire. If you desperately desire something, you will do what needs to be done to achieve it. Especially if it means being on time.
Terry Takash, Western Springs
In 2016, we told Republicans that Donald Trump was a crook. They voted for him anyway. Were they fooled or didn’t they care? Now Donald Trump is under four indictments. If they vote for him or if they support him, they are complicit. It won’t be Donald Trump who destroys American democracy. It will be the Republican Party.
Martin Nicholson, Niles
Growing up in Chicago, I’ve seen some members of our Black and Brown communities struggle to access meaningful career development services. As a young single mother, I recall how challenging it was to find education and career support, only to be met with “resources” that were geographically inaccessible or prohibitively expensive.
Not much has changed since then.
Local, accessible, and affordable career services are key to closing the wealth and opportunity gaps in Chicago, particularly in single-parent homes. And delivering them is precisely why I started CHBM Services and Disruptive Inc., a workforce consulting business and nonprofit providing end-to-end career services. Since our founding, we’ve helped more than 3,000 Chicagoans jump-start their careers — free or at low cost —through counseling on resume writing, LinkedIn networking, interviewing, emotional intelligence and more.
Technology helps make this possible. It’s the cornerstone of our virtual operations. New innovations help me keep overhead low and direct revenue back into my business while ensuring my nonprofit operates in the black, which is vital to securing competitive grant funding.
We may take these innovations for granted, but that makes them no less critical.
What concerns me is that our lawmakers in Washington are pushing for legislation that would restrict American technology companies and hamper innovation. Policies circulating in Congress would jeopardize the very platforms that make my business possible while disincentivizing future innovation with mountains of red tape.
August is Black Business Month, and my hope is that our elected officials remember that chipping away at the tools that form the foundation for small businesses puts the most vulnerable communities at risk. They have an opportunity to recognize the role of innovation in protecting and advancing equity. On behalf of small businesses and nonprofits in Chicago, I hope they seize it.
Catherine McNeil, Woodridge
