News
30 Years After Chicago’s Deadliest Heat Wave, Systemic Racism Is Still the Root Problem
The disaster disproportionately killed Black residents in neighborhoods that still face the worst health and resource crises. A new city effort tracks these vulnerabilities.
By Keerti Gopal
CHICAGO—Cheryl Johnson was watching the news during the worst heat wave in her city’s history when she learned that a man she’d known since she was a child had been found dead on the steps of a church downtown.