A 35 minute drive south of the city of Chicago can be found the town of Chicago Heights. The town was once heavily Italian due to the waves of immigration early in the 20th century bringing families of economic migrants (to use modern parlance), including my own great grandparents.

Many settled in the East side or the Hill area, close to the steel mills and factories. It was a town on the rise during the first half of the 20th century, expanding significantly as new industries set up. By mid-century half the residents were of Italian background.

Alas, that was then.

Today, Chicago Heights has a rate of poverty double that for the US and its population is shrinking. The factories have gone. Most of the whites - Italians included - left long ago. The Hill is now predominantly Mexican and the East side overwhelmingly Black. My mother and her family were amongst those of Italian descent who left in the 1960s, never to return.

Working class protestant communities have been let down by their supposed leaders - Chris Donnelly

Cara Hunter: ‘Ireland’s future belongs to the youth of today’

When I read the comments of DUP councillor, Tracy Kelly, about the violence in Sandy Row last week, I immediately thought of Chicago Heights and communities which experienced a similar........

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