As the city prioritizes public parks as the stomping grounds for festivals, _KellyGarcia__ has been speaking with the local residents impacted. Here, youth soccer coach Ernie Alvarez recounts his days in Douglass Park.
On a humid summer afternoon at the playground near 19th and California, 67-year-old Ernie Alvarez sat serenely under the blazing sun. The longtime youth soccer coach reminisced about his beloved Little Village, the neighborhood he’s called home for more than half a century. His soft eyes were fixed on the damaged soccer field before him.
Meanwhile, across the BNSF railroad embankment that separates the two communities, Black residents in North Lawndale were replacing the predominantly Jewish population. At the time, it was one of the few neighborhoods in the city where Black people were allowed to buy homes—through exploitative contracts. The neighborhood underwent financial collapse, the effects of which are still evident today.
“There was a lot of that when I was younger,” Alvarez said, pointing at red police tape blocking off a portion of the park yards away. Just hours before near the playground, a young man was shot and killed while waiting in his car for his mom to finish her doctor’s appointment. The reason behind the shooting is still unclear.
Over time, their reading levels improved. He started challenging his students to get creative with their writing and soon enough they were entering poetry slams. The first year was tough: none of his students came back with trophies. He was shocked to hear the kids refer to themselves as a “bunch of losers from Little Village.”Sixteen years later, Alvarez is still the youth soccer coach. Through a wide grin, he boasts about the seven youth poets who’ve won the national poetry slam.
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