Footage shot by Bill Stamets leading up to the 1995 mayoral election. In the first segment, Mayor Daley addresses the crowd at a ceremony and press conference in honor of the live "Pocahontas" show in Chicago. In the second, mayoral challengers Ray Wardingley, Roland Burris, and Lawrence Redmond participate in a panel hosted by the Chicago Urban League.
00:00 Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley stands on stage with Joe Roth, the chairman of Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, and Irene Bedard, the Native American actress who voiced Pocahontas in the animated Disney film. Mayor Daley gives a short speech to the crowd in honor of the Chicago Theatre’s Pocahontas stage show. He declares June 16th-22nd to be Walt Disney Pocahontas Week before being joined by a host of Disney characters.
9:00Copy video clip URL Out in the lobby of the Chicago Theatre, Mayor Daley answers questions from the press about “race norming,” a controversial affirmative action measure used by police departments to help minority recruits fare better on exams. The Chicago Police Department had recently stopped the practice, and the Daley administration chose to hold results of the exam until after the primary elections, so as to avoid dredging up racial or police issues.
13:40Copy video clip URL Cut to preparations for a panel hosted by the Chicago Urban League before the 1995 mayoral election.
16:30Copy video clip URL A Channel 7 reporter practices his scoop: the Chicago Election Board is predicting an all-time low voter turn-out of 40%.
21:05 Moderator Cornelius Collins of the Chicago Urban League introduces the candidates: Roland Burris (at that time, the Attorney General of Illinois), Lawrence Redmond, and Ray Wardingley.
21:56Copy video clip URL Wardingley, the sole Republican candidate for mayor, introduces himself. “I believe in a two-party system—I believe that Chicago has not got a two-party system.”
23:26Copy video clip URL Burris thanks the Urban League for hosting the event, and wishes that “the incumbent mayor would have enough respect for the citizens of this city” to participate.
27:11 Harold Washington Party candidate Redmond, who believes that the city has been run in “a racial fashion” for many years, and aims to end discriminatory practices.
32:30Copy video clip URL Collins allows questions from the audience.
36:24Copy video clip URL “I’m a new breed of Republican,” Wardingley assures the crowd. “We’re the little Republicans. We’re the working-class people.”
38:10 A man in the crowd explains to the candidates that trade schools have been closing down in Chicago, leaving working-class people no resources for job preparation. “There’s a design–intentional or not–to create a permanent underclass,” Burris explains.
44:30 Roland Burris talks about his commitment to empowering young people, especially against the looming threat of gang violence in the city. “I wasn’t always the Attorney General–I wasn’t always the comptroller–I wasn’t always the bank vice president. I was some little rough dude hanging out in the streets, too, until some older people showed me a vision.”
48:54Copy video clip URL Redmond talks to the crowd about Philadelphia’s “Empowerment Zones,” a program that he believes Chicago should emulate. The Empowerment Zone programs are federally funded, but rely on a community-based board to distribute the money.
52:30Copy video clip URL Wardingley proposes legalizing gambling in Chicago. He is quickly booed by the audience.
54:10Copy video clip URL Burris talks about the bureaucracy within the CTA and lowering fares.
55:50Copy video clip URL Burris says, “The key to a fiscally responsible city is a city auditor.”
59:17Copy video clip URL Tape ends.
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