Illinois: Corrupt in life, corrupt in death

The biggest news story in the Chicago area is the Burr Oak cemetery scandal. The Alsip cemetery, along with the neighboring Restvale cemetery, were the only local cemeteries segregation era African Americans could bury their dead.

Segregated in life, segregated in death.

Blacks can be buried in any cemetery now, but many African Americans up until a few days ago still chose Burr Oak, the larger of the two, as the final resting place for their loved ones mostly because other family members were interred there, and when the rapture comes, they believe the generations will arise together.

But last week it was discovered that at least 300 Burr Oak grave sites were desecrated. Caskets and bodies were dumped in a remote corner of the cemetery, and the vacated plots were resold for cash by rogue employees. A section known as Baby Land was particularly hard hit.

Burr Oak is best known as the final resting place of Emmett Till, whose brutal murder in 1955 helped galvanize the civil rights movement. Till's grave has not been violated, however, his body, in conjunction with an investigation into his death, was disinterred in 2005. In accordance to state law he was given a new casket. But the old one, which cemetery operators promised would be part of a Burr Oak Till memorial, was discovered in a remote shack amidst debris. The casket had been infested by possums.

Other famous people buried at Burr Oak include blues singers Dinah Washington and Willie Dixon, and heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles.

There were numerous warning signs that things were amiss at Burr Oak, most notably a May Chicago Tribune article. Now there is plenty of fingerpointing going on.

But the fingerpointers are missing something. Illinois and Chicago have a well-deserved national reputation for political corruption. Three of our last seven elected governors have gone to prison, and a fourth, Rod Blagojevich, was indicted five months ago.

Since 1971, an astounding Chicago thirty alderman have been convicted of crimes--that's about one every 18 months. There's no pattern: Democrats, Republicans, black, white, men and women are members of that hall of shame.

This culture of graft filters down to Jane and Joe Bungalow. I've lived in Illinois my entire life, and I've encountered numerous tax cheats, commission chiselers, and insurance fraudsters.

The egregiousness of the alleged Burr Oak criminals is the only thing that's shocking to me about this story.

When the next Illinois politician is indicted, the reaction will be muted. Folks here will shrug their shoulders and mutter, "That's just the way it is here."

Well, the way it is stinks.

It's time to change that.

But for now, Illinois remains corrupt in life, and corrupt in death.

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