All Eyes on Chicago
Today, August 19, 2024, marks the first day of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. It is expected that upwards of 50,000 people will descend upon Chicago including delegates, media, and protestors. We are taking this opportunity to invite you to view the video, photos, and a set of interviews from an event that the Great Cities Institute hosted, exactly fifty years after the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
On the night of August 28, 1968, thousands of young, primarily white, activists headed for the Democratic National Convention in downtown Chicago, intent on protesting the Vietnam War. Mayor Richard J. Daley dispatched an army of police officers and called upon the National Guard and U.S. Secret Service. Activists appealing for peace were greeted by nightsticks and tear gas, as were reporters and Eugene McCarthy convention delegates, as they tried to exercise their First Amendment rights. The debacle was televised and triggered outrage around the nation. The protestors chanted: “The Whole World is Watching.”
In Chicago in 2024, there will be many protestors against the War on Gaza. While we do not expect a repeat of the 1968 debacle, we do think that reflecting on 1968 reminds us of the interplay between protest and repression in a democratic society.
On August 28, 2018, exactly 50 years after that infamous 1968 Convention, UIC’s Great Cities Institute hosted a provocative and urgent program exploring why “The Whole World is Still Watching.” Participants included organizers of the 1968 protests who brought personal accounts, including reflections on the period leading up to that day. These and other panelists discussed the personal and historical significance of these events. Key to the discussions were questions about the role of social protest in a civil society. Moderator Laura Washington also asked questions about the legacy and lessons learned from their experiences.
We invite you to watch the discussion held in the University of Illinois Chicago with panelists who provided firsthand accounts and fifty-year reflections. This link also gives you access to sit-down interviews with Cha Cha Jimenez, Che Brooks, Mary Scott-Boria, and Don Rose.
As Mary Scott-Boria says on the panel, “Democracy is a verb.” It requires action – from all of us who value it.
