Chicago Native Son Deval Patrick Visits Natal Neighborhood

[paineinthearse]

Posted by a proud Deval Patrick for Govenor of Massachusetts volunteer. From Deval's blog. Feel free to post your thoughts at http://www.devalpatrick.com/blog/blogtext.cfm?ID=15

Neighborhood Tour and Senator Obama
10.05.05

This past Sunday, we were in Chicago on Sunday for a fundraiser hosted by Senator Barack Obama and had some time to visit the South Side, where Deval grew up.

We started at ShoreBank, where Deval’s grandfather worked as a janitor for 60 years. Deval talked, as he often does, of the humility and dignity with which his grandfather carried himself, citing the remarks of the ShoreBank President at his grandfather’s funeral: “If he had worked in a different time, he would have been chairman of this bank.”

The next stop was 56th and Wabash. Deval talks a lot about the sense of community he felt growing up there: “If you messed up in front of Ms. Jones’ stoop, she could mess you up just as if you messed up in front of your own.” I’ll be honest – I wasn’t sure there actually was a Ms. Jones. So I asked Deval which house was hers. He pointed it out, and we walked up to it and took a long look. And out came Ms. Jones, in her 80s, but still looking like she could straighten us out.

We spent a couple of hours in the old neighborhood, visiting his church, his house, his middle school. It was an emotional tour.

The night ended closer to downtown at a reception with Senator Obama. It was a great mix of colleagues, friends and family and the Senator shared some of his thoughts with the crowd. “Deval’s candidacy is similar to my own, except this time we are starting with a better candidate.” Deval followed this kind introduction by pointing out that “you know your campaign is doing alright when Barack Obama is your warm-up act.”

Senator Obama closed the evening with a simple prediction: “Deval Patrick is going to win.”