6 To Gain 14

Chicago and Its Neighborhoods Death Gap

(Current Long Term Project - Started: 02/01/2025)

The City of Chicago has 77 separate and sometimes very distinct neighborhoods. These neighborhoods have long been part of the city’s unique makeup and charm.

Although Chicago has been known for decades as one of Americas most segregated large city’s my story delves much deeper than that fact alone. If you peel back the onion of the previous statement you will see much more than most people know or want to know

In recent years it has been proven that there are long-term consequences of segregation in Chicago which several have coined the “death gap” .This means that there is much more damage being done by Chicago's racial segregation divide than simply separating blacks from whites.

Within the “death gap” explanation ones life expectancy resides much more in the neighborhood one lives in as opposed to the color of a person’s skin or the amount of money one has in his or her bank account.

My story centers around 2 Chicago neighborhoods located only 6 city blocks apart – Hyde Park where the average life expectancy is 83 and Washington Park where the life expectancy is 69.

How is this possible in the wealthiest country in the world? Sadly, my documentary is only one example that exists in Chicago as it does in other large cities across our nation.

The 713 Ft Bridge

Economic & Racial Disparity in Small Town America

(Project Completed November 2024 & Dedicated to my Mom)

In the southwestern corner of Michigan there are two small towns (90 miles from Chicago) perfectly situated on the beautiful beaches of Lake Michigan - St. Joseph and Benton Harbor.

My story is one of two cities, separated only by a river. One quite affluent where many corporate executives and much of its 88% white residents live in well combed, lakeside mansions. enjoying a medium household income that is 4xs as high as that of their less fortunate neighbors whose 87% black residents live in poverty.

All one needs to do is look for a grocery store in Benton Harbor offering fresh produce – there is only one. This is only one example of the socioeconomic gap that exists between the two.

Benton Harbor with its deserted store fronts, boarded up homes, burned out buildings, and homeless, stands only a few hundred yards from the bridge with a marina full of fancy yachts to the left and a Jack Nicklaus Designed PGA Championship golf course to the right.

This acute economic distress has made Benton Harbor eligible for state tax credits that its wealthier neighbor could not access. In order to build Harbor Shores, the border between these 2 small towns was temporarily altered, a line that is in all other ways is impermeable. The St. Joseph land became part of Benton Harbor, making this development eligible for state and federal tax credits.

The juxtaposition between an impoverished population set against two rising monuments of wealth - Whirlpool World HQ & Harbor Shores PGA Golf Club — all wedged into little more than four square miles — makes this small US town a textbook example of economic and racial disparity in America.