1 - Young Black Male

The 1997 brutal beating of 13-year-old Lenard Clark in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago serves as the catalyst for a deep examination of racial violence, systemic segregation, and the limits of community justice. After crossing into a white neighborhood to inflate his bicycle tires, Clark was left in a coma by a group of white teenagers, an event that mirrored the historical trauma of Emmett Till and exposed the deep-seated racial divide reinforced by Chicago’s political machine. Yohance Lacour recounts his personal evolution from a militant college student and drug dealer—who initially organized a retaliatory response to the attack—to a narrator reflecting on the complexities of reconciliation and the subsequent disappearance of witnesses. Through interviews with peers present during the 1997 unrest, the narrative explores the intersection of personal identity, political power, and the lasting impact of racialized violence on the South Side.