Community is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot at times of crisis during election seasons

whenever we want to code something as true and authentic most of us want to be rooted in community. Many of us consider it

essential. A place where we can feel safe and be seen and find joy that can be elusive in a society that is often unkind to us because of who we are or where we're from.

But the thing about community is that word is so verb. It's a thing that

community it should be a verb. It's a thing we do together and sometimes that

thing is really hard work.

In this episode, we have two dispatches from communities that have been forced to do intense work lately.

In order to deal with the awful consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak

and to face old hidden demons that the Black Lives Matter protests have forced out into the open. I'm Kywright and this is the United States

of anxiety a show about the unfinished business of our history and its grip on our future. In our first dispatch, reporter Jenny Casas has been following a very painful self-rechaining in a Mexican neighborhood in Chicago, a place called Little Village.

As protests against police violence took over the streets of Chicago, Jenny met two

women, two community organizers who saw something deeply wrong within their community in Little

Village.

And they've begun to confront it.

And just a note that some of the sounds

you'll hear in this story are disturbing.

So let's just start from the beginnings, May 31st. What was happening that weekend?

There was a huge protest in downtown Chicago that drew thousands of people.

So we all went together in caravan to downtown.

Laura Ramirez joined the protest when they began almost two weeks ago.

When we get there, most folks get out of their cars

and join the protest that was already ongoing.

...