By Ben Joravsky
The language of peace and love makes a drastic contrast to the hammering that’s been the rule in Uptown for the last 30 years. When Shiller moved there in the 1960s, Uptown became a generational and ideological battleground. She and her New Left cohorts organized the ward’s poor blacks, whites, and Latinos against the older, regular Democratic politicos based in the lakefront high-rises. Those early campaigns are the stuff of legend. Activists from each side accused the other of smashing windows, defacing signs, and stealing votes. But Shiller proved virtually unbeatable, and by the 1990s most of the old guard had either died, moved, or dropped out of politics. Shiller had no interest in running for committeeman, so a vacuum existed. It helps explain why Reed’s the incumbent committeeman in the first place.
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Eventually she moved to Jones Commercial High School, where she gained a reputation among students as an “organizer,” the teacher who sponsors or oversees everything from the senior prom to the school play to museum outings. “I wasn’t planning to run for committeeman–I didn’t even know what the job did,” says Reed. “I ran because the people in my block club asked me to.”
“That election’s behind me now. I want to look to the future. The way I see it, this job is not much different than my life as a teacher. It’s about education. I want to conduct voter registration drives and inspire young people to get active in politics. I want people to believe in politics. It’s so disappointing to see people who don’t vote. I have always voted. I’m old enough to remember what it was like in the old days when black people couldn’t vote. I remember what Dr. King went through in his march to Selma to get people the right to vote. I want to spread the word and inspire people to get involved.”
“I’m comfortable with what we did in not backing Poshard,” says Snyder. “This was a congressman who wanted to amend the Constitution to ban abortions in all circumstances. So yes, I was willing to stand up for a pro-choice position. Isn’t that what you want your 46th Ward committeeman to do? The 11th Ward and the 19th Ward get their voices represented in the party. Shouldn’t the lakefront?
It’s uncertain how long decorum will prevail. The committeeman race is far down on the ballot, and the candidate who wins it will be the one who brings the most voters to the polls. In Uptown that has always meant stoking passions. Will it be long before Reed’s backers start bashing Snyder as “Helen’s baby brother,” while Snyder’s supporters call Reed Daley’s “shameless stooge”?
On December 29 several residents formed the Davis Theater Preservation Corporation. The next day they made a bid on the Davis.
