Stories by Erica Gunderson

Journalist and author Dawn Turner has been writing about race, politics and people her whole career. But in her latest book, she’s turned her pen inward as she reflects on her own life’s path and how it diverged from the lives of the two girls she grew up closest to — her sister Kim, and her best friend Debra.

Most shipping containers are packed with consumer goods, but the brightly painted shipping containers in Boxville at the corner of 51st Street and Calumet Avenue are packed full of small businesses with big ambitions.

Slain activist Fred Hampton would have turned 73 years old last month, and though he was killed more than 50 years ago, his memory and legacy still loom large. Now Hampton’s son is seeking a landmark designation for the only surviving building with ties to Hampton’s activism.

Whether to keep cops in schools has been a controversial subject for years. With Chicago Public Schools back in session, we hear how some high schools made the choice to remove or maintain the police presence in their hallways.

A local doctor combats COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. We talk September baseball with the Spanish-language broadcasters for the Sox and Cubs. And teaching young people to document their communities. 

As the 2021 baseball regular season winds down, the Cubs and White Sox are headed in different directions. Chicago’s Spanish-language baseball announcers slide in to talk about the teams’ prospects in the postseason and next year.

The pandemic has shut down the Mexican Independence Day Parade for a second year, but Fiesta Boricua is going ahead with its plans. We talk with the event organizers about their decisions.

It’s been more than a year since Chicago Public Schools students have sat inside their classrooms full time. Now, with mask mandates, vaccine requirements for staff and other COVID-19 safety protocols in place, CPS children are about to embark on a year unlike any other.

According to a new report from the city’s inspector general, alerts by the gunshot detection system ShotSpotter used by the Chicago Police Department “rarely” lead to evidence of a gun crime. 

A business school dean gives us the last word on supporting Latino entrepreneurs — and how that can benefit all Americans.

Vaccine mandates are being put into place in some cities and sectors. Will those policies disproportionately disenfranchise the Black community, which lags behind in vaccination rates?

The founder of the organization Coffee, Hip-Hop & Mental Health gives us the last word on making mental health therapy normal — and accessible — for everyone who needs it.

Nearly 700,000 Chicago residents claim Mexican heritage, and over the years, Mexican culture has become woven into the city’s tapestry. A new business in Little Village explores the space where the Midwest meets Mexico by combining haircuts with deep cuts.

“Un Puente Musical” weaves the Chicago Philharmonic’s chamber orchestra with the instruments, musicians and composers of La Isla del Encanto.

When recreational marijuana was legalized in Illinois, Gov. J. B. Pritzker’s stated goal was to use the burgeoning industry to reverse the harm done to Black and brown communities during the war on drugs. But those profiting from pot sales are nearly all white men.

Black and Latino neighborhoods in Chicago are more likely to be burdened by industries that pollute the air, ground and water, making environmental justice an important part of the equation as the country moves forward.

After a year of being cooped up inside, many Chicago teens are ready to get outside. We talk with youth organizations about low- or no-cost activities young people can do right now and through to the fall.

In Chicago, summer is synonymous with festival season. This year, with Chicagoans hungrier than ever for summer food and festivities, two signature Latino festivals are set to stage their comebacks.

A new documentary on the LGBTQ Latino experience in Chicago. Two Latino festivals are making a comeback. And finding home away from home in a community garden.

A new documentary explores inequities through the experiences of four Latino Chicagoans who identify as LGBTQ-plus as they navigate the COVID-19 pandemic in their personal and professional lives.

The CEO of local engineering firm Ardmore Roderick tells us what he thinks the city should do to help Chicago’s small businesses.

In the wake of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist’s decision to reject a tenure offer from the University of North Carolina, we talk with local scholars about their experiences in higher education as Black women.

Over the past year, a small group of people who are homeless have established a tent encampment in a small Avondale park. Similar encampments are all over Chicago, and as Illinois’ eviction moratorium nears its end, the number of unhoused people is expected to grow.

For many people, the idea of gelatin desserts conjures up images of the jiggly retro novelty that appears at church potlucks and in school lunchboxes. But in Mexican culture, gelatins are not just a sweet treat, but an art form. 

This Fourth of July holiday we look at a word that has had different meanings for different Americans: patriotism, and what it means to some members of the Black community.

A new exhibit and programming series at the Newberry Library looks at the ties between the revolutionary histories of the U.S. and countries across Latin America.