Carter Country and Obama Center

Happy birthday, Jimmy Carter, from an admirer in Chicago. [READER]( Looking through Facebook the other day, I saw a photo of Mayor Harold Washington and Jimmy Carter from some time in the 1980s. Thom Clark had posted it in honor of Carter’s 97th birthday. Great picture. Thom—a writer/activist—has always been a good photographer. Washington and Carter were in Uptown at the dedication of a Habitat building. In those days, Carter was always in and out of town, building affordable housing with his church group. Hammering nails, sawing wood, hauling supplies. He wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.[[Illustration of Ben Joravsky]]( I remember a story in the paper about one west-side work site. Also mid-1980s. A west-sider watching Carter at work told reporters, "Reagan may be the president, but this is Carter country." I loved that line. Felt the same way. Wherever I lived back then—it was Carter Country. You might say that in some ways, I was a little like MAGA, who refused to acknowledge that Biden won and Trump lost. Except, I knew Carter lost. I didn’t like the outcome—a lot of good Democrats lost their seats in that landslide. But I didn’t think the election was stolen. I mean, c’mon, I wasn’t batshit crazy. Funny thing is that I wasn’t a huge fan of Carter when he was president. He was too centrist for me. I even thought about voting third party in the general—Barry Commoner—but I stuck with Carter. Glad I did. Maybe I’m feeling so good about Carter these days because he looks good in contrast to Barack Obama, another ex-president who drops in on Chicago from time to time, though not to build low-income housing. I had so much nostalgia for Obama when he left office. I’d tell my leftie friends, "Obama’s the greatest president of my lifetime." And they’d tell me, "Well, that’s not saying much." Unlike Carter, Obama’s been a disappointment as an ex-president. All about building his brand, being a celebrity, and making money. He was in town just last week to celebrate the start of construction on the Obama Center in Jackson Park. South-side activist Dixon Romeo was on the podcast, talking about how they need a stronger community benefits agreement to protect longtime residents from being displaced by the gentrification the Obama Center would ignite. Think about that. Back in the 1980s, Carter was building affordable housing in Uptown to help low-income residents stay in a community that was starting to gentrify. And now we have Obama building a center that will help gentrify working-class residents out of their neighborhood. Not sure we call that progress. Anyway, happy birthday, Jimmy Carter, from an admirer in Chicago—aka, Carter Country. [Ben Joravsky [signature]]( Colson Whitehead’s novel, [Harlem Shuffle]( Quentin Tarantino’s novel, [Once Upon a Time in Hollywood]( [Ben Joravsky]( on Muhammad Ali [Ben and Dr. D]( on the week that was The political [know-it-alls]( on politics [Miles Kampf-Lassin]( on the right wing [The Ben Joravsky Show]( [Listen to The Ben Joravsky Show]( [Adam Geoffrey Cole merges ancient traditions in the timeless folk of Fallowing]( by [Steve Krakow]( [Saint Louis postpunks Trauma Harness invite you to their “Bat Barn”]( This bouncy Halloween song captures the creeping dread and giddy fun of horror stories. by [Leor Galil]( [Ben Grigg energizes his shoegaze style as Whelpwisher]( by [Leor Galil]( [Dancing their Chicago style]( Four finalists in the Red Bull national competition show the best of Chicago street dance. by [Corli Jay]( [Issue of Sept 30 - Oct 13, 2021 Vol. 50, No. 27]( [Download Issue]( (PDF) 1971 Chicagoans have relied on the Reader for trusted alternative coverage of our city. The Chicago Reader is now a 501c3 nonprofit organization which means our survival is in your hands. In order to continue to be your trusted alternative voice of Chicago, we need your help. If you can donate just $5 today, we can show the world that community funded, independent journalism is the future. [DONATE TODAY!]( [View this e-mail as a web page]( [@chicago_reader]( [/chicagoreader]( [@chicago_reader]( [Chicago Reader on LinkedIn]( [/chicagoreader]( [chicagoreader.com]( [Forward this e-mail to a friend](. Want to change how you receive these e-mails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. Copyright © 2021 Chicago Reader, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616