Eric Hudson only wanted to play basketball on the playground courts across the street from his Bucktown apartment. For that he wound up in jail.
He went to Georgetown University, graduated with a major in international economics, and returned to Chicago, where he went to work for a government-sponsored antipoverty agency. “I lived with my family on the south side, but it was dangerous being back in the old neighborhood,” he says. “Many of my friends, including my old girlfriend, were strung out on crack. I loaned them money but I felt like I was an enabler. I was robbed once and shot at twice. Just by hanging out with old friends I put myself at risk of being killed.”
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So he settled in Bucktown, a classic in-between north-side community: neither all black, all white, all Hispanic, rich, poor, nor yuppie, but a mixture of all–though in recent years an influx of young professionals has threatened to drive out the working class. On Hudson’s block are renovated homes and newly constructed, suburbanlike condos owned by men and women who walk golden retrievers and skate about on roller blades.
The police carted off their prisoners and returned for more. “The cops said, “Everybody up against the fence’–like, you know the position, you know the drill,” says Hudson. “I was shocked; I didn’t do anything wrong. Everything I needed to establish my credibility–my bank card, my credit cards, my phone card–was in my wallet back home. Suddenly, I’m just this black guy in a sweatshirt and Nikes with a gold earring and a shaved head. I kind of lost it; I got upset. I said: “Against the fence? For what?’ I said, “I’ll get against the fence if you give me your badge number.”‘
After several hours in the station, the police undid his handcuffs. “The kids and I loosened up,” says Hudson. “I said, “You guys ever been in the projects?’ They said no. I said, “You ever seen a real gang fight?’ They said no. This is all stuff I had seen before. I knew they weren’t hardened criminals–they didn’t even come close. They’re just a bunch of kids that society doesn’t give a damn about.
Hudson says the police never offered him a chance to leave the court. “If they had given me a chance to leave I would have taken it–believe me, I did not want to have a run-in with the cops,” says Hudson. “And I never said anything about a police state. I don’t even think it’s a police state–it’s racism.”
