Multiple times a day, in cities across the US and beyond, a simple yet powerful message is repeated by the
well-meaning, the ignorant, and the bigoted: “don’t go” – avoid at all costs those Black and Brown disinvested
neighborhoods that have become bywords for social disorder and urban decay.
This book is a collection of intimate stories and evocative photos that uncover the hidden influence of both
subtle and overt “don’t go” messages and the segregation they perpetuate in Chicago. Told by everyday people
to Tonika Lewis Johnson and Maria Krysan – a Black artist and a White academic who met through their shared
passion for anti-segregation work – the stories paint a rich picture of life in a segregated city.
One by one, the storytellers upend pessimism with candid, deeply personal, humorous, and heartbreaking
tales, and with novel ideas for simple actions that can serve as antidotes to both racism and “place-ism.”
By inviting readers into the lives of regular people who have ignored the warning to stay away from “don’t go”
neighborhoods or who live in those very same neighborhoods, the stories in Don’t Go illuminate the devastating
consequences of racial segregation and disinvestment as well as the inevitable rewards of coming together.