Introduction

Welcome to “Cornered,” where we take you inside Black Chicago’s urgent fight for survival, stability, and justice. In this special investigative episode, reporter Malachi Webster follows community leaders, entrepreneurs, and activists navigating the intersecting crises of housing insecurity, job loss, and everyday violence—from the early-morning patrols of Bronzeville’s streets, through the hustle of local barbershops, to the high-stakes world of nonprofit funding and city politics.

You’ll meet Marquinn McDonald, Akilah McCord, Chris Davis, and others who confront Chicago’s changing landscape, sharing personal stories that reveal how policy, economics, and history collide at the neighborhood level. With voices from the front lines, “Cornered” exposes hidden battles over jobs, homes, and hope—and asks: who will decide the future of Black Chicago?

Turn up the dial and join us as we uncover resilience and resistance at the crossroad. 


*This work was made possible in part by funding from the Alliance Matters campaign, an initiative of Chicago Independent Media Alliance (CIMA) and the Field Foundation.

https://www.cnwmedia.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is the CNW Network, a platform where brilliance meets
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we go beyond the headlines with storytelling that connects, heels
and inspires, and with freedom banter to keep it real.
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(00:24):
voice from Chicago to the nation. Welcome to the movement.
Welcome to CNW from Chicago News Weekly. This is Cornered
Black Chicago at the crossroads of jobs, housing and survival.
The three part investigative podcast, we go inside a community
at the breaking point where rent spikes outpaced paychecks, promises

(00:47):
from city hall fall short, and the reality of public
safety is lived on the street, not in the headlines.
Our team spent weeks on the ground and homes before dawn,
in block club meetings, at barber chairs, at city here,
capturing a crisis that statistics alone can't explain. You'll meet
Mark Quinn MacDonald, a community organizer patrolling his own block,

(01:08):
Aquilum Accord, navigating a nonprofit through a funding maze, and
Chris Davis, whose barbershop has become a sanctuary for much
more than a haircut. In this series, we ask what
does survival look like when the odds are stacked again
and again? What happens when Black Chicago is pushed economically, politically,
and physically into the margins, And what will it take

(01:31):
to ensure that this isn't just a story of crisis,
but one of accountability. I'm Alachi Webster. This is cornered