...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel...’s South Side neighborhood Woodlawn.
She remembers him as a genius who was set to skip ahead to kindergarten after just two weeks of pre-school. He was full of life and didn’t call her "Mom" or "Mommy" but "Happy."
Gregg recalls having to move mountains to get any public and media attention on his case. Like many people, she was horrified by what happened in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday, but she couldn’t help but notice the difference in reaction to the tragedy that shattered her world. MJ was Gregg’s only child, and in the 10 months since his death, no one is in jug for the boy’s homicide and the investigation remains open.
But she was not surprised by the attention and support Highland Park received because it’s a predominantly White Chicago suburb, she says. Gun violence is so normalized in Chicago’s South and West sides, that it doesn’t receive the same concern, she says.
"I thought there would be more outcry for a 4-year-old whose life was taken away, and I just didn’t see that," Gregg says. "We see it all the time, the difference in how Black and Brown children are treated."
| The difference in a Democrat-controlled city, anyway. |