Southside Projections at the
South Side Community Art Center
(3831 S. Michigan Ave.) — Thursday, 7:30pm
For most of its history, Chicago has
been a hotbed of gang culture in America. Although the street gangs
of Los Angeles get more attention from the national media and Hollywood
screenwriters, the Chicago gangs that formed in the late 1950s and expanded
throughout the Civil Rights era really created the model for what we
know today. The beginnings of the Vice Lords, one of the oldest and
largest street gangs to emerge from this era, is the subject of the
two documentaries presented in this rare screening of almost-forgotten
films. Made just a few years after some young men from the North Lawndale
neighborhood met at a juvenile correctional facility and founded the
gang in 1958, Ford's THE CORNER (1962) is perhaps the earliest glimpse
of the "club." Highlighting their increasing impact on Chicago's
African-American communities, it feels like an industrial or educational
film, but is more concerned with the feelings and viewpoints of it subjects
than either would be. Utilizing non-synch narration by members of the
gang, we get a sense of how these young men see themselves. They talk
about why they joined a gang, why they drink, how they feel when they
fight, their respect for hardworking single mothers, and their indifference
towards absent fathers. These matter-of-fact statements are powerful
in their self-awareness, even if they were obviously staged in a studio.
We hear an articulation of the despair and hopelessness that these young
men have about their prospects for a job and financial security, and
their knowledge of being trapped in a cycle of poverty. This mood changes
significantly in Beall's LORD THING (1970), which chronicles the VL's
growth into a large coalition of gangs with over 20,000 members, and
its emergence as both a community and business force. During the late
60s and early 70s, the leaders of the gang, now sometimes know as the
Conservative Vice Lords (or even CVL, Inc.), began thinking well beyond
their immediate surroundings and utilized their collective confidence
in completely new ways. Beall gives us a fair amount of back-story,
presented through re-enactments of historical fights with rival gangs,
played by a cast of actual CVL members. He also documents numerous meetings
of gang leaders that look and feel like town-hall meetings, and show
both their increasing size and expanding concerns. Political actions
such as protests carried out at construction sites, and a march on city
hall—conducted as a joint action with other large Chicago gangs—illustrate
how the CVL chose to use their power to influence the economic and social
conditions in their turf and beyond. At times, Beall's film feels rather
propagandistic—pro VL— but this may only be due to the desire that
leaders like Bobby Gore have for using the VL's power to effect social
and economic change. Perhaps this sympathetic depiction is the reason
the film was never shown in the US, despite screening at Cannes and
winning an award at the Venice Film Festival. After funding the film,
the Xerox Corporation decided not to release it. Allegedly, they bowed
to pressure from Richard J. Daley and the Chicago Democratic Machine,
both of whom are roundly criticized in the film's final moments. Followed
by a discussion with former CVL members (including poet and musician
Orron Marshall), local historians, and activists. (1970 & 1962,
58 min & 26 min, DVD Projection)
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