What’s Next?
I would like to congratulate everyone that ran and advocated for our community. Now after the results have been announced, we take stock of what’s next.
Since the election, I’ve seen a number of references to “bringing Kankakee back” or “rebuilding” Kankakee. I’ve said from the beginning of my own campaign that if that is the goal, we will most definitely fail. We need to be clear there is no going back in time or repeating the way things used to be.
Nor should it be the goal. Because we need to acknowledge that the good ol’ days were not good for everyone. The goal needs to be creating a new and better Kankakee, a sustainable, prosperous community that ensures everyone a place at the table to speak, be heard, contribute, and make decisions.
Mayor Chasity Wells-Armstrong led in this regard. She opened doors to people of all colors and backgrounds, people that had not previously been involved in the process of local government, by encouraging and appointing them to places of leadership. She also implemented a number of ideas that have been successful in other towns, even if they had never been tried here.
To instill these traits on a lasting basis throughout our community, which I sincerely hope we will do, it will take more than resolve. It will take humility. Humility to hear a perspective beyond one’s experience, to acknowledge instances and impacts of privilege, and to avoid combatively forcing what is merely a personal opinion on someone else.
I have known Mayor-Elect Chris Curtis for years, and I have always been struck with his dedication to our City and his conscientious sense of humility. I’ve seen him listen first during tough conversations. He’s equipped to put these characteristics to good use in his new role, a focus of which must be mending a frayed community and building on the areas of momentum that exist right now in Kankakee--an invigorated downtown and rising home values, new small businesses and non-profits choosing to launch in Kankakee, and an increasingly diverse group participating in roles of local leadership, including the last night’s election of Kankakee’s first ever Latinx alderman, Victor Nevarez.
We all know there are real obstacles that our community faces, and the Daily Journal comments section isn’t likely to let us forget them anytime soon. But keep in mind that the same naysayers have been predicting Kankakee’s impending doom since the 1980s, and they haven’t been right yet.
Those paying attention know there are more victories on the horizon for Kankakee, but it’s going to take every one of us to see them through to completion, with each of us offering our distinctive voices and skills to advance the common cause of Kankakee.
- Alderman-Elect Dave Baron
