Riding bicycles, playing tag, jumping rope and even jumping in mud puddles are some of the simple pleasures of childhood that just don't happen as often. More often than not, the calm on the Chicago's south side is shattered by gunfire in this urban battlefield. Open fields are not where the children play. These areas are simply too dangerous because there is nowhere to hide when the inevitable shooting starts. The danger is inside as well.
Gunfire is frequent.
In Vietnam them people came back crazy. Such is the legacy of Chicago's oldest public housing project. This month's Unsung Heroes, LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman, help us remember the children behind the walls of Ida B. Wells in two award winning radio documentaries and in their recently released book, Our America. In the spirit of The Diary of Ann Frank, Mr. Jones and Mr. Newman chronicle their lives with the help of two tape recorders given to them by David Isay, a National Public Radio producer. LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman were both thirteen years old when they started this project.