southside - 2022

The south side of Chicago is one of four “sides” – up north, down south, out west, ova east.

The south side is tough – it’s mostly black, although there are Mexicans throughout and pockets of whites. Most of it can be described as the hood, although there are affluent areas.

My experience on the south side as a white person is that of freedom. You get left alone a lot – people mind their business. Some friends and I built a skate park in between two houses on the south side of Chicago. The neighbors were cool with it. One time the cops came because we had the sledgehammers out and they said “what the fuck is going on here” and we said “we’re building a skatepark” and they said “okay be careful”.

You have to be careful on the south side.