It’s summer. The birds are singing, the grass is green, the president is floating a potential Blagojevich pardon either as a form of political distraction or as the word salad that erupts when someone wakes up the commander in chief too early from nap-naps and the Chicago Corruption Walking Tour is ready to go for 2018.
Buy your tickets now at Dabble.co.
The corruption tour, for those of you who don’t know, is my yearly wander through downtown Chicago taking tourists through the spots where corruption happened in the city.
Bribes, shady land deals, kickbacks, bad-faith contracts, systemic racism and just plain being a jerk in office have done more damage to this city than any Valentine’s Massacre or thrill-killing U of C grads, so why let the Capone tours have all the fun? I lure the punters in with promises of Blago wackiness and leave ‘em with a hefty dose of civics. It’s fun.
Each year, the tour gives half the tips to a local nonprofit journalism group. In part it’s a way to give back to this city, in part it’s to allay my guilt at making a personal profit off Chicago’s legacy of corruption, in part it’s a way to casually mention I do accept tips.
The first year, the money went to City Bureau. Please donate to them.
The second year, ProPublica Illinois. Please donate to them too.
This year the money will go to The TRiiBE, helping them provide a voice for and change the narrative of black Chicago. Donate to them, donate to them, donate to them and save some money for Injustice Watch, which I’m planning on giving the share of 2019 tour gratuities to.
I like The TRiiBE because they’re writing stories no one else is, and giving a community historically underrepresented in Chicago journalism its own voice and platform. But I’m not the best person to talk about the work they do. They are.
So hopefully, you’ll join me and wander among the exhibits that make up the museum of corruption we call Chicago. I’ll keep a spot for you.
