By W. Kamau Bell, CNN
This week, Chicago was in the news for a good reason. And that is pretty rare these days. If it’s not more reports of street violence, then it’s the Presidentthreatening the city with … well, I don’t really know what exactly.
Former President Barack Obama — who should be the No. 1 contender for the next Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign — announced that he and his wife, Michelle — aka Beyonce’s Beyonce — were donating $2 million to programs designed to help at-risk youth find summer jobs. (I guess now we have an idea what Obama might have planned for with his $400,000 from Wall Street.) But that wasn’t the only reason Chicago was in the news. It was also reported that someone shot and injured two police officers. The second story is unfortunately the kind that America more often thinks about when Chicago comes to mind.
Knowing that more people associate Chicago with street violence than generosity is difficult for me, because despite all my proclamations of being from the Bay Area, I have spent much of my life in Chicago. So I have a deep love and a pretty good understanding of the city. And that’s why this week on “United Shades of America With W. Kamau Bell,” I felt so compelled to go back and see if I could get the real story about how the reputation of Chicago matches up with the reality.
Read more at http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/06/opinions/chicago-united-shades-kamau-bell-opinion/
