The Sentinel

Black residents in Illinois are eight times more likely to be homeless

The state has earmarked $290 million for homeless services this year but advocates are asking for an additional $100 million for emergency housing, assistance and prevention programs.

Photo: Jon Tyson/Unsplash

by Judith Ruiz-Branch
Illinois News Connection

CHICAGO - Black residents in Illinois are almost eight times more likely to be homeless than white people, with lack of livable wages and affordable housing among the primary drivers.

Researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago said homelessness is an issue of equity with Blacks disproportionately represented across the state. Rent burdens and economic hardship are both driving factors. In 2022, about 63% of Black renters spent more than 30% of their paycheck on housing.

One in four Black residents is living in poverty in Illinois and one in seven is in deep poverty.

Chama St. Louis, director of organizing and network expansion at the National Black Worker Center, experienced homelessness in the winter of 2011. Even though she was working full-time, she said she could not afford to pay for housing and basic needs for her and her family.

"I felt like I was doing everything right," St. Louis recounted. "You can do everything right and still end up in a place where you don't have a home, because the system is failing us."

One in four Black residents is living in poverty in Illinois and one in seven is in deep poverty. St. Louis argued the Trump administration's dismantling of DEI efforts will only further compound matters.

The state has increased investment in programs such as Home Illinois to address the significant rise in homelessness. St. Louis pointed out even though she registered her and her family as homeless, many programs required her to travel based on the availability at shelters on any given day.

"When we had no gas, then we were sleeping in Walmart parking lots," St. Louis explained. "And on days it was really cold, I would take the kids inside of Walmart and make pallets for them at the bottom of a cart and push them around Walmart for seven hours until the sun came up."

St. Louis added she is now dedicated to helping others who experience homelessness. Along with advocating for improved conditions and wages for Black workers, she stressed she tries to humanize the crisis.

"Outside of the real work that we have to do around policy and making sure that people from a systemic standpoint are being treated fairly, we still have to make sure that we are human beings who care about one another and want to see each other do well," St. Louis emphasized.

The state has earmarked $290 million for homeless services this year but advocates are asking for an additional $100 million for emergency housing, assistance and prevention programs.

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Letter to the Editor |
Illinois bill HB2827 is anti-family

Dear Editor,

Another unnecessary anti-family bill is advancing in Springfield. The Homeschool Act (HB 2827) will impose fines and jail time on parents who don’t file a “Homeschool Declaration Form.” In other words, those that don’t register with their local district and provide their curriculum for the school to review will be punished, fined, and even serve jail time.

Many parents choose to homeschool in response to the mandates being passed into law in Springfield. For example: since 2019, students are now required to be proficient in LGBT history. In 2021, they passed a law that required sex ed be taught starting in kindergarten. Five-year-olds are taught to define what lesbians, homosexuals, and transgenders are, while the curriculum gradually gets more graphic in older grades. It’s some of the most sexually explicit material in the nation, supplied by Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion and sex-ed curriculum provider. Such curriculum is an invitation to early sexual activity.

Moreover, this bill allows a truancy officer to interview a child without a parent present for the purpose of launching an investigation.

The bill redefines homeschooling to a single family and prohibits 2 or more households from receiving instruction under a cooperative agreement.

One seriously flawed reason for this bill is to protect children from homeschooling parents “who don’t do it the right way.” As if the state does it better!

On average, homeschooled students score 15 to 25 percentile points above their public school counterparts on standardized tests. Black homeschooled students test scores are even higher - 23 to 42 percentile points higher than Black public school students!

The Illinois Report Card is the state’s official window into how students are testing in math, English Language Arts and Science. The 2024 numbers are nothing but shocking, as they have been for many years.

Only 31.1 percent of high school seniors met or exceeded proficiency in ELA while the graduation rate is at 88 percent. If more than two-thirds of students can’t read, why are they passing them to the next grade and then graduating them? Public schools are sending them into the world ill-equipped. The overwhelming majority can’t read! And our tax dollars are funding this ongoing disaster.

Math is even worse. Only 26.1 percent of high school students can do math at high school level.

They need to focus on the glaring problems in Illinois public schools and not the families who sacrifice to equip their children to become well-educated productive citizens.

I say, “Get them out of public schools and start homeschooling!” Homeschooled children are not the problem. They are the solution!

Urge your state lawmakers to reject HB 2827.

Kathy Valente, Director of Operations
Illinois Family Institute

Got something you want to get off your chest? Send us your letter to the editor today. Here is how: Read this.

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Uni High tops Urbana 8-1 in chilly crosstown tennis match

Robert Gao celebrates his doubles match win over Urbana — University High's Robert Gao celebrates after grueling doubles victory against Urbana's Karl Bonita and Santi Lleras. Narrowing taking the first set, and dropping the second, Gao and partner Kyle Fan won the tiebreak, 10-7. See more match photos below.

URBANA - Despite less-than-favorable weather conditions—a steady breeze and temperatures in the mid-40s—at Atkins Tennis Center, the Uni High boys tennis team swept all six singles matches Tuesday in a home contest against crosstown rival Urbana High School, cruising to an 8-1 victory.

Freshman Jameson LaFave defeated Urbana junior Xander Ashley 7-6 (5), 6-2 at No. 1 singles. Ashley bounced back in doubles, teaming with Sam Sherwood for the Tigers' lone win of the day. The Urbana duo rallied past Josh Persiani and Ian Pan at No. 2 doubles, winning 2-6, 6-1, 10-7.

Sam Sherwood playing tennis for the Urbana Tigers

Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks

Urbana's Sam Sherwood lines up backhand shot during his double match with partner Xander Ashley at No. 2 doubles.

At No. 1 doubles, Urbana’s Santi Lleras and Karl Bonita dropped the first set 7-6 (5) but made dozens of sharp plays and dominated serve-plus-one points to take the second set 6-2. However, Uni High’s Robert Gao and Kyle Fan showed resilience in the third-set tiebreak, capturing the final three points after a 7-7 deadlock to close out the match.

Urbana returns to action Wednesday for a nonconference match against St. Thomas More at Atkins. The Illineks will travel to Bloomington on Saturday before hosting St. Teresa at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Match Results

Singles:
No. 1 - Jameson LaFave, Uni def. Xander Ashley, Urbana 7-6 (5), 6-2
No. 2 - Swapnil Kumar, Uni def. Karl Bonita, Urbana 6-1 , 6-3
No. 3 - Robert Gao, Uni def. Santi Lleras, Urbana 6-2 , 6-2
No. 4 - Kyle Fan, Uni def. Samuel Sherwood, Urbana 6-2 , 6-2
No. 5 - Josh Persiani, Uni def. Theodore Nevins, Urbana 6-3 , 6-4
No. 6 - Ian Pan, Uni def. Gus Rund, Urbana 6-2 , 1-6 , 10-5

Doubles:
No. 1 - Robert Gao - Kyle Fan, Uni def. Santi Lleras, Urbana - Karl Bonita, Urbana 6-3 , 2-6 , 10-7
No. 2 - Xander Ashley - Samuel Sherwood, Urbana def. Josh Persiani - Ian Pan, Uni 2-6 , 6-1 , 10-7
No. 3 - Collins Rosch - Tristen Ting, Uni def. Theodore Nevins - Gus Rund, Urbana 7-6 (5), 6-2

Photo Gallery

Santi Lleras stretches out to return a shot out wide

Commentary |
Are they paid protesters? So what?

by Cab Ivanovich

An astonishing number of Trump supporters took the dangling video bait and swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.

After last weekend's Hands Off! protests across the country, TikTok creator @redsaidblue posted a satirical video, sprinkled with subtle digs at popular MAGA stereotypes, in which she claimed to be attending the protest as a paid participant. In the video, she described what she could and couldn’t wear, who her point of contact was, and that she would receive a bonus for bringing a sign.

"I got paid $100 for going to the protest, and I got an extra $10 for bringing the sign," she confesses to viewers in character as a Trump supporter going over to the other side to make a few bucks. "Overall, it was a pretty good experience. The people were pretty nice."

A MAGA supporter on X (formerly Twitter) with over 200,000 followers, "@TheEXECUTlONER_", posted the performance to his account and encouraged other Trump supporters to share it. The buffoonery sailed by unchecked by rational thought or rudimentary critical thinking.

There were 1,400 Hands Off! demonstrations across the country on Saturday. The majority drew well over 1,000 participants. Conservatively, someone or some entity would have spent around $140 million (before signs). The kicker: an estimated 3 million people took part in the nationwide protests. If all the marchers were punching the proverbial clock, someone would have spent $300 million—which might have been a boon to the economy after the stock market experienced its steepest plunge since COVID, during Trump’s first term.

While @redsaidblue wasn’t actually paid to protest—it's not clear if she even attended one—the blue-check MAGA user is making bank. As of this story, the video had been shared by 24,000 other accounts on the social media platform. While the young woman wasn’t actually paid for the protest, the account that posted her video is cleaning up, having collected 47,000 likes and over 3,000 comments so far.

Meanwhile, the creator began receiving negative backlash from liberals for posting the video, which she eventually took down. She is now attempting to remove copies from the internet. Supporters from the left were enraged, claiming her video added fuel to the political fire by implying extreme right conservatives aren’t smart enough to recognize when they’re being punked.

confessions of a paid protester

@redsaidblue
SATIRE - regrettable.
♬ original sound - Red Said

It appears her critics were right. The video—or screenshots with text excerpts from it—is circulating on conservative social media channels as supposed proof that liberal protesters are social justice mercenaries, reinforcing the narrative that liberals only protest against the Trump administration because they are paid.

Redsaidblue posted a follow-up video to her TikTok account yesterday, apologizing to fellow liberals for harming their movement.

"I truly thought it was so obvious that it was a joke. I thought that if anyone did take it seriously, if they shared it with someone else, the next person would be like, "Bro, that's satire".

Do paid protesters actually exist? They don't, according to an article from USA Today.

"Time after time, claims of "paid protesters" have been debunked, sometimes by the very people who made them in the first place," according to an article by John R. Roby.

Leo Gertner wrote a piece for The Washington Post entitled, "So what if protesters are paid?"

Gertner wrote, "So the next time someone tries to discredit a movement by insinuating that some of the people on the ground are being compensated, ask the all-important question: So what?"

What's the old saying? Freedom isn't free.

Here's a few ideas to make allergy season less annoying

This spring, protect yourself from those triggers that you know will make you uncomfortable.

by Paul Arco
OSF Healthcare

ESCANABA, MI - If you grew up without suffering from seasonal allergies, consider yourself one of the lucky ones.

But if you’ve reached your 40s or 50s and are now feeling miserable during the spring and fall months, welcome to the club. Adult-onset allergies are a real thing. And it happens to a lot of people.

Nearly 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. have seasonal allergies, eczema, or food allergies, according to recent data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Nearly 75% of those are older than 45. Many of those people developed allergies in adulthood or were not diagnosed until they were adults.

Experts are unclear why or how allergies develop in adulthood. Some theories include moving from one geographic region to another, having a reduced immune system or owning a pet for the first time in your life. There is a belief, however, that having one severe allergic reaction or symptoms during childhood can increase your chances of developing allergies as an adult.

Breanne Gendron
OSF Nurse Practitioner

Many people who develop allergy symptoms early in life will outgrow their allergies by their 20s or 30s. But, really, it’s possible to develop an allergy to something – whether it’s an animal or pollen – at any point in life.

“People will have them as kids and sometimes grow out of it,” says Breanne Gendron, a nurse practitioner with OSF HealthCare. “Then the alternative happens, where something starts bothering you as you age. That’s when we teach you about all the different medications you can use to control your symptoms.”

Gendron says most people are bothered by things that bloom and that includes trees and grass in the spring. Ragweed pollen or other weed pollen are problematic in the fall. Spores from molds and fungi are typically around in warm-weather months. And don’t forget about house dust mite allergens, which tend to be present throughout the year.

Most allergy symptoms, while annoying, are mild. Examples are sneezing, itchy eyes and runny nose. In her practice, Gendron notices more adults suffering from sinus infections with their allergy issues, more so than her younger patients.

“The dilemma about having untreated allergies is that you can get extra congestion in your sinuses, which could lead to a sinus infection,” Gendron says. “When you get pressure in your face, and you generally feel a little rundown, then we want to treat you for that.”

Gendron recommends treating allergies with a combination of oral antihistamines, eye drops and steroid nasal sprays. Allergy shots may be in order as well. But first, talk to your doctor to see if you are a candidate for a skin test to determine your specific allergies. “Once the medication gets your symptoms to calm down, you can generally keep it in check with less medication,” she says.

There are other things you can do to help minimize your symptoms. Gendron recommends things like eliminating carpet in your bedroom and washing your sheets regularly to eliminate dust. Consider taking a shower before bedtime, especially after being outside, and keep the windows closed at night to prevent pollen from entering the home.

This spring, protect yourself from those triggers that you know will make you uncomfortable.

“If you are bothered by something in the environment and you know that it bothers you, such as mowing the grass or raking leaves, do yourself a favor by wearing a mask to prevent yourself from breathing in more allergens,” she adds. “And take your allergy pills before you do those things, to make sure that you're going to have less of a reaction.”

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