'Shame of Chicago' examined housing bias. Let's do the same for employment discrimination.

"Shame of Chicago, Shame of the Nation" not only provided a glaring and, at times, shocking account of the Black experience in Chicago, it also offers meaningful explanations for the present conditions of the city’s Black communities.

The four-part documentary series, which aired on WTTW, concluded last week.

In breathtaking detail, the series tells the story of Chicago’s role in housing segregation and discrimination — from restrictive covenants to redlining to selling homes on contract and other intentional policies and practices — that have contributed mightily to the racial wealth gap seen today.

Indeed, it's must-see TV. But there’s so much "shame" to share. Future installments could highlight Chicago’s brand of systemic racism in a variety of areas like education, the criminal justice system, employment and others.

For instance, I’d love to see one that tackles employment discrimination.

It could also open with the Great Migration, chronicling the journey of millions of African Americans who traveled north not only to seek refuge from the clutches of the Jim Crow South, but also to seek the promise of work.

This installment would highlight the various domestic and manual labor Black Chicagoans found. It would also show how pivotal Chicago’s Black workers — particularly Pullman porters — were to the labor movement nationwide.

A look at historic census data shows that the employment gap between white and Black Chicagoans was never closer than it was between 1910 and 1930. In those days, the newly arrived Black Chicagoans were more often working than their white immigrant counterparts.

But the series could show how things have changed since then.

A pool of forgotten Black workers

It would show us how some unions denied Black workers from joining their ranks. It would show us how the construction trades erected barriers to prevent Black workers from gaining the training and certification to break into their industries. And it would tell the story of the rise of the Democratic Party machine and how its political patronage armies mobilized to steer government jobs — and power — away from Black communities.

Just as it has in segregation, Chicago remains a leader in employment discrimination. And that past helps explain why things look the way they do today.

Among the nation’s 30 largest metropolitan areas, metro Chicago owns the highest level of Black unemployment at 13%, according to census data spanning the five-year period from 2018 to 2022. With a nearly three-to-one ratio, metro Chicago also has the widest gap between Black and white unemployment among the nation’s 30 largest metro areas.

Things are just as troubling in the city itself. Only Cleveland and Detroit have higher levels of Black unemployment. And only Washington, D.C. has a wider gap between Black and white unemployment.

The series would dive deep into unemployment disparities, investigating why experience and education don’t provide remedies.

For instance, the census data shows that Black Chicagoans with a bachelor’s degree have a higher rate of unemployment — 7.5% — than white Chicagoans with no college and a high school diploma, at 7.1%.

This hypothetical series could help to push back against those who say there are jobs that no Americans want. Those folks are forgetting about a pool of Black workers that remains underutilized. And for those who believe Black people don’t want certain jobs, or any job at all, data shows that Black Chicagoans are more likely than any other group of workers to take jobs with long commutes and at odd hours.

Higher rates of unemployment, poverty and crime might be why some businesses avoid Black workers or Black communities, altogether.

However, explorations like “Shame of Chicago, Shame of the Nation” offer the context necessary to understand why such disparities exist. They also offer the common sense needed to potentially move us all beyond stereotypes and stigma.

Alden Loury is data projects editor for WBEZ and writes a column for the Sun-Times.

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