Chandra Christmas-Rouse – Interview Part 2

March 5, 2025

ArtistsCommunityRaDLOW

Part 2: 

Description: Ten people with masks on direct their attention to a granite and bronze monument in honor of Ida B. Wells-Barnett. An individual wearing a striped white, pink, blue, and yellow shirt stands directly in front of a plaque, actively reading.

Ten people with masks on direct their attention to a granite and bronze monument in honor of Ida B. Wells-Barnett.

As we reach the end of our conversation, Chandra shares with me her thoughts on community engagement and holding space during our current social and political turbulence. 

Chandra Christmas-Rouse: I’ve been thinking a lot about where we are politically. The fact that this is an election year and I feel like there’s so many folks that are struggling to cultivate a political identity. Siloed, two-party systems and a lot of our government and governance systems aren’t reflecting our values and lived experiences and desires right now.

I’m trying to really grow the type of civic infrastructure that I’m plugging into and also creating for other people to plug into, and I’m thinking about what that looks like right now. Really, number one is: where are folks getting political education? How am I maintaining my understanding of political education in particular at this moment, and making space for political communion that better reflects our shared values? I’ve been really thinking about how much fear there is at this moment and [questioning] where the civic infrastructure that can express our power lies, collectively.

Building a collective civic commitment to each other and how we’re gonna hold space; how we’re gonna give each other grace to understand. What do we want our political identities to be and how do we better foster belonging? That kind of community building when everything is feeling so high stakes around an election year—how do I redirect a lot of that fear and isolation, into connectedness and reinforcing our values and kind of reorienting our political focus to be more like civic infrastructure? I want to better cultivate this really courageous process of dreaming. 

Description: On a brown table is a yellow poster paper with a blue Madlibs sheet to the right of it. Written on the top of the poster says, “Welcome to the Bronzeville Community”. All around the poster says, “white castle”, “Oakwood Shores”, “Lake Meadows”, “B.B.Q. Time”, “Mandrake Park”, “Bad Bilikin Parade”, “39th Street Y.M.C.A.” with a picture above it captioned “Old Ida B. Wells”, “Ellis Park, and “arts & crafts”. There are eight pictures that depict those words. Included are magazine clippings of the words, “Summer” and “Bliss!” in white letters and stickers that say, “New Challenge”, “Learn and Live”, “Work hard” and “Be Happy”, where someone wrote the word “people” under it.

Poster created during the May 2021 senior workshop

We end our conversation on the topic of real estate and its impact on the expansion of social, political and community development. Chandra shares from her perspective on its influence and the role her book plays in fostering public engagement and autonomy. 

C: I think a big part of my field of urban planning is shaped by real estate and development.  I definitely feel the development process of my neighborhood is one that I’m trying to infiltrate and better ground. Part of why I wanted to create this book project in a short form, is that folks could attend a committee meeting, for example, and be able to get through the book at the beginning of a meeting and start a conversation about future development. I wanted to create these short activations to help that particular industry be more grounded in these tenants and principles. My project started in response to disinvestment—this systematic removal of resources. So back to [critiquing] who holds the financial power, all of the development patterns and lack of access to information around how these systems flow. 

Chandra’s meditations on social power are a site of their own—fertile with endless vigor and possibility for our communities.

Related Links:

Saidiya Hartman interview with The White Review

History of the home of Dr. Margaret Taylor Burroughs 

Block Club Chicago and CBS news on the removal of benches at bus stops

BlackSpace Urbanist Collective

Related Links

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