Some residents here attribute a rise in crime to young people-often African-American-hanging out in the streets. The press conference preceded a community policing meeting that did little to quell an ongoing, racially charged debate in this busy gay-nightlife district. “People snub their noses at us and turn away,” he said. He says that when he and his friends travel to Boys Town, they “come in numbers.” He said they’ve been harassed-one man called him “the n-word” while a nearby police officer did nothing-and have experienced more subtle discrimination as well.
McCool grew up on the south side and in the south suburbs-he lives in Richton Park now. McCool, who’s black, called the area “white boys’ town.” He and the other speakers, members of the LGBT youth group Gender JUST, said they feel racially profiled when they visit the neighborhood. He stood in front of a multiracial phalanx of activists who one by one complained about the treatment they’d received in the neighborhood. “I don’t come by myself when I come to Boys Town,” 21-year-old Joshua McCool said last week at a press conference outside of Inter-American Magnet School. Sommelier Series (paid sponsored content).
