The word Grassroots is normally used in relation to political campaigns. But it also can be applied to the people at a local level that without the big money or political savvy can take up a cause, push it through and bring justice to their purpose.
http://www.lakeandhalsted.com/ did just that. According to their website, the story began in the summer of 2005, every weekend night at the closing hour 3:00am fighting among club goers escalated in the vicinity of the Lake & Halsted nightclubs especially Chromium NiteClub. The fighting, screaming, drug use, public peeing, property destruction escalated to such a fervor that neighbors and local business owners started to protest the lack of civility and safety in their neighborhood.
Saturday Nite's Alright For Fightin....... ummm so's Sunday!
The City of Chicago trying to appease the neighbors and to stem the violence started to station Police and Tactical Officers outside the Chromium Niteclub on Saturday night to Sunday when the most violent of street fighting occurred. Unfortunately, this was not enough. On the LakeandHalsted website you will see that even with the presence of Police, horrible fighting still occurred. That is when the neighborhood took action. That is when they became a Grassroots Organization determined to stem the violence, make the Chromium Niteclub owners responsible for their patrons and bring some semblance of peace back to their neighborhood where they worked and lived.
The neighbors took the usual course of action. They met with Aldermen, they filed petitions, they worked with law enforcement but it wasn’t until a lone woman started to film the violence from her Art Studio across from the club that officials started to wake up to the problems that this particular nightclub caused. This woman weathered threats to her property and even threats on her life but still she kept filming. And then the unthinkable happened. On August 19th a young man visiting the club, with family members for the first time, lost his life that night. He was shot 5 times in the back by some idiot clubgoer that took offense to this young man’s presence. This murder was done in plain sight of the Police stationed at the club.
On the website you can hear and see what the neighbors see, hear and witness: http://www.lakeandhalsted.com/
Now people started to notice; especially a local news station. Interviewing the brave artist that took up her camera, the terrors that this nightclub allowed were finally being taken seriously. On October 29th the Liquor Commission pulled the liquor license from the owner. It was pulled on a technicality and not because of the violence but I know the attention this story was given helped and was due to the bravery and courage of this Grassroots Organization.
The definition of Grassroots is “the common people”. There is nothing common about these heroes.
