Race, Poverty, Farming and a Natural Gas Pipeline Converge In a Rural Illinois Township
Leaders are pushing for a new pipeline, opposed by some, in what once was called the largest Black farming community in the Northern U.S.
By Brett Chase, Chicago Sun-Times
April 23, 2021
Johari Cole-Kweli feeds her chickens on her farm, Iyabo Farms, in Pembroke Township, Illinois on April 21, 2021. Credit: Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
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Five years ago, the mayor of Hopkins Park, a Black, rural community in Kankakee County, Illinois, argued for building an immigration detention center there to boost the economy. The people who lived there said: No, thanks.
Pat Nabong / Sun-Times
A few years ago, when Mark Hodge argued that bringing an immigration detention center to Hopkins Park, the Black, rural Kankakee County community he serves as mayor, would be good for the economy, people who live there said: No, thanks.
Now, Hodge is making a new development push for his town and the surrounding, historic farming community of Pembroke Township south of Chicago. He’s backing a proposal for a natural gas pipeline built by the utility Nicor that would run through a rare ecosystem to bring natural gas to the area and, he hopes, a boost to taxes and the local economy. And again he’s facing flak.