CBA Record November-December 2025

and land sales contracts. We travel—or don’t—through certain parts of the city as we go to work or school. Segregation begets segregation. Advice to “Don’t Go” comes from many sources. Friends. Family. Even stu dent orientation: “Don’t venture beyond this or that boundary if you attend the University of Chicago or UIC.” Got off the expressway at the wrong exit? “Lock the doors, don’t make eye contact!” A new colleague asks for recommendations on where to live when first moving to Chi cago? The list includes the usual suspects: Lincoln Park, Wrigleyville, Andersonville. Your new job elicits concern: “You’re not really going to work at that nonprofit in North Lawndale, are you?” The authors find that “Don’t Go” advice usually comes from people who, indeed, have not gone. But the “Go” message is most effective when it comes from a reliable, personal source. A person has to trust the messenger who says “Go,” and often that messenger has to base the advice on a personally lived experience— “Go, because I went, and it was ok.” What about the fact that certain areas simply have higher crime rates than others? The authors address this. One interviewee acknowledges we shouldn’t say all of a particular area is “bad” or “good.” She finds herself using language like, “that intersection is getting heated.” That narrows it down to a situation rather than blanketing the whole community as good or bad. Use common sense, no matter where you are in the city. Be aware of your surroundings. One block or one house can be risky, while a few blocks over is quiet and beautiful. So why go, if you don’t “have” to? Some white people are hesitant to go to a majority Black area, feeling that they perhaps are not welcome, are being seen as a “woke tourist,” or, if volunteering, may be seen as a “white savior.” But the authors argue: If you do go, you might meet a new friend, find a favorite res taurant, or have a fun experience. And like every community, the small, locally owned businesses need our money. If people and companies stay away,

SUMMARY JUDGMENTS

REVIEWS, REVIEWS, REVIEWS!

DON’T GO: Stories of Segregation and How to Disrupt It

By Tonika Lewis Johnson & Maria Krysan Reviewed by Amy Cook,

Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and CBA Record Editorial Board Member

“Where we live matters. It impacts both the access to and the quality of schools, jobs, healthcare, grocery stores, pharmacies, clothing stores, entertainment venues, child care options, social services, recreational facilities, green spaces, crosswalks, street lights, environmental hazard-free zones, and crime rates. And where you live—in Chicago and most cities across the country—is greatly dependent on race.” D on’t Go: Stories of Segregation and How to Disrupt It is a collection of stories gath ered by interviewing 25 people who reflect on their experiences of being told not to go to the South or West sides of Chicago because of crime. Tonika Lewis Johnson is a Black social justice artist and a recipient of the MacArthur Genius Award. You may have heard of her from her Folded Maps project, where she interviewed “map twins”—people who lived at the same-numbered buildings on the north and south ends of the same street in Chicago—and introduced them to each other to start conversation. Collaborator Maria Krysan is a White sociologist who studies the causes of residential segregation. As a girl, Johnson traveled to Lane Tech High School from her Englewood neighbor hood. She noticed how the neighborhoods changed even as the street names didn’t. “As we traveled north, I saw retail stores, all kinds of grocery stores, crosswalks, well-kept parks, playgrounds and restaurants. As we traveled back south, I noticed the lack of these resources and the abandoned lots and boarded up houses in my own neighborhood. I felt terrible when I realized that my neighborhood was ugly compared to the neighborhoods on the North side.” The book cites data showing that in 2020, Chicago had the highest level of segrega tion between Black and white residents of all of our nation’s big cities. Krysan outlines what most of us already know: Segregation happens in large part because of decades of racist policies and practices at the local, state, federal, and industry levels such as redlin ing, public housing siting, highway construction, restrictive covenants, blockbusting,

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