Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Last year, Luis Centeno remembered, he thought a weeklong shutdown of his gym was a good thing if it meant saving lives and mitigating the spread of COVID-19.
“Everyone thought it was going to be just a one-or-three-week lockdown. Then it turned into a month. Then, almost a-year-and-a-half later, and we are just barely coming out of it,” said Centeno, founder of Fit Results.
On Friday, Chicago will end a year of restrictions on crowd size, indoor gatherings and the like caused by a global pandemic which has claimed millions of lives, including nearly 600,000 in the United States.
A week after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, a large crowd of mostly Latinos gathered under the arch leading to Little Village’s bustling 26th Street.
People knelt during a moment of silence for Floyd. The smell of sage swept through the crowd as part of an indigenous ritual.
Some people waved signs stating “Black Lives Matter” while others held posters proclaiming solidarity between Latino and Black communities.
The gathering reignited a rallying cry for Black and Brown unity after video depicting Floyd’s death led to a racial reckoning across the country. In Chicago, shifting racial demographics, longstanding segregation and differing views on the role of police have put that goal to the test.