Chicago's North-South divide continues to define the city, even after decades of social change for Black and LGBT communities. Challenging that reality has united South Side youth and university researchers for a new digital storytelling project, which seeks to build bridges of understanding.
The University of Chicago's Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health, otherwise known as Ci3, teamed with community organizations serving Black youth ages 13 to 24 to create "South Side Stories." As part of an effort to create a body of social science research, the digital narratives aim to demonstrate how discrimination, stigma and violence constrain the sexuality, freedom and health of young people.
During one of the first storytelling events since the project's February launch, more than 50 gathered with the Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus recently for a viewing and talk-back session at BLUE1647, 1647 S. Blue Island Ave., in the Pilsen neighborhood.
"This is an opportunity to teach young people how to give voice to their own experiences, and to do so in a way that resonates with people," said Craig Johnson, board chair of the Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus, a Ci3 community partner along with the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago and Global Girls. "As a community, we don't always leverage public platforms ... and sometimes they aren't available to us," he said, adding that digital platforms are a new catalyst for social change.
After community partners identified youth participants, the South Side Stories were curated during a series of intensive, three-day workshops facilitated by youth advisers and media educators. Each session included digital media training, as well as an emotional empowerment exercise called a story circle, which uses oral and written prompts to inspire the reflection and conversation necessary to create finished stories.
"In the circle, it's all about the disclosure and sharing. When you see people alongside you taking those risks, you learn that you're not taking the risk alone," said Seed Lynn, digital storytelling manager for Ci3 and South Side Stories, who also works as a spoken-word artist. "We come to understand power as permission, and then people get into the world of their stories."
During the event, Lynn co-facilitated breakout discussions after participants viewed selected stories, including the coming out story of Larry Dean, an undergraduate student at Roosevelt University. Dean wanted to share his coming-out experience through South Side Stories, but came to a realization during one of the workshops: despite a close relationship with his mother, she never acknowledged his queer identity despite having known for seven years. Hoping for a resolution, Dean called his mother for a candid discussion, which can be heard in his video.
"I needed to talk to my mom and have that moment," Dean said, adding that the project allowed him to sift through emotional baggage in a creative way. "Sharing [my story] was heartfelt and personal, but I think it speaks to the community because I felt safe to share those things with people who I really didn't know."
In another short video shared at the event for South Side Stories, Aaron Talley, a graduate student at University of Chicago, describes how a typical Red Line trip from Garfield to Belmont evokes the tensions between his identities as a Black gay man.
"I'm riding this train from one part of me, to the other part of me, beginning at the stop with people who look like me," Talley said. "I'm headed north ... my blackness being beat down into a rainbow. These are the people who love like me, but have no love for the people who are dark like me."
Both stories resonated with participants during breakout sessions at the storytelling event. For Ken Martin, who recently moved from Atlanta to Chicago's South Side, the stories fuel his hope that others respond with community-building solutions.
"It's amazing that we have all these great lines that go to the North Side for work and resources for [the youth], but we have to create that for them on the South Side as well," he said.
Such a vision is top of mind for the Ci3 team at University of Chicago, according to one of the initiative's researchers. The stories will inform individual projects for a group of seven graduate and medical students selected as Ford Scholars, who will work as part of South Side Stories' grant award from the Ford Foundation. Youth advisers collaborate with researchers during the process, as part of Ci3's goal to ensure their efforts best reflect the needs and viewpoints of Black youth.
"It's a reciprocal relationship. What we're trying to do is expand the understanding of how [community workers] talk about and represent young people ... often, we can be very dismissive," said Ragnar Anderson, research specialist for Ci3. "What you have here are complex representations of things that are most important to young people … and these were the stories they wanted to tell."
The digital narratives will be released in phases during the next several weeks. To view the first collection of more than a few dozen South Side Stories, visit the project's online home, SouthSideStories.org .
