Metal Detecting Far Southside Chicago Parks

[chiil]

Has anyone ever gone metal detecting in the West Pullman/Roseland parks? My parents used to live there way back in the day... but I question how safe it is now.

Maybe I should pose my question as... is it safer to detect in park during the early AM hours? Let's say 5 or 6 AM? Has anyone been harassed at a park that early in the day?

I also pulled up some aerial maps of the location I hunted earlier in the week, and there was never a home located there (at least from 1938 and beyond). I'm wondering if it was a local dump area.

Gabe

[DPBOB]

never have, If I was , I would want a few others to join me who are brave.

[tmanfromtexas]

I have hunted most of the parks on the south side of chicago in the last 2 years or so. I usually hunt with at least one other person just keep people honest. I have never had a problem in any of the parks except Garfield and it wasnt anything. TMAN...

[ronbo22]

My Gparents lived a block away from the Normal theatre that was on 119th St. (Ilived in Calumet Park) I would love to go there and look around the old neighborhoods........with a large group.

[chiil]

I'm down. This weekend I'm planning on visiting my parents... but maybe next weekend if we have others who are interested?

[LM]

With all due respect, are you new to Chicago?
This is what they call an 'activity with inherently negative expectations'. Those neighborhoods are tremendously dangerous in general, magnified many times over if you are aren't black. Walking around a ghetto city park with a metal detector?
LOL.

The odds are, you'll go there and not have any substantial trouble (although I can pretty much guarantee you're going to get plenty of weird looks and likely a sideways comment or two), but the odds of you encountering trouble there is massively higher than if you were in Edison Park.

In the daytime, not as bad, but I would kick that "early AM" up to mid morning, since "early AM", a lot of the thugs haven't gone to bed yet. If I recall correctly, isn't one of those parks where some thugs just very recently opened fire on a random crowd of people, killing a little girl? Presuming it's lawful to do so, might I suggest the park by Wolf Lake in Hegewisch. A lot safer, far south-side, if I were to guess I'd say it probably has very little MD activity.

[twistidd]

The color of your skin has nothing to do with how much success you'll have in any given place. In theory, you won't "be OK" in that area just by having black people you know around you. If someone goes into a troubled neighborhood they aren't familiar with, I tell you it won't matter what color you are, how many tattoos you have, or anything else- if you're not welcome, you're not welcome. There's not a whole lot of unity among race in society anymore, and that goes for all races.

To me, some things are not worth the trouble. I love metal detecting, but getting into certain areas only because they may be old and rarely hunted is foolish. There is inherent danger anymore where go, but venturing into certain areas is just asking for it eventually. Swing at your own risk.

Good luck,

Joe

[LM]

The color of your skin has nothing to do with how much success you'll have in any given place.

I like idealism too, but I'm sorry. This is just flat-out inaccurate.
Chicago isn't the most segregated major metro area in the US by accident. All of those places that are now black used to be white and the people who once lived there didn't pack up and leave for no reason. Without getting into a whole cocktail of conversational dynamics that will drift this discussion off onto a tangent that's probably inappropriate for a treasure hunting board, it's either delusional or naive to suggest that race plays no role in being picked out as a potential target in these places.
It does. It's one of those issues where race is a really, really big deal.

Human nature can be ugly, but it's best to not gloss it over with ideals when personal safety is in question. Be it a prison, a school lunch room or the demarcation of Chicago demographics and venturing into 'exciting' city neighborhoods, human nature and it's interplay with race is an issue whether we care to openly admit it or not. Being a lone white guy in a park with a metal detector in Roseland is not a wise thing (bordering on being suicidal) and yes, it's a very different story than if it were a black guy there doing the same thing. If you don't understand this, I'm left to assume that you must be one of those people who form high-minded opinions while tucked safely in the Northside, without ever going to see how these places work for yourself.

I'm not a racist person by nature- I've seen the best and worst of what Chicagoans of all races have to offer- but being one of the handful of remaining white Southsiders myself, I'm not naive about much as it pertains to race, either.

Don't want an argument here and overall, we generally seem to agree about the broader sentiment, so the last word belongs to you if you want it.

[Lowbatts]

Ahh, memories of the South Loop project. All those nice older streets and sidewalks up and out of he way. Never had any trouble there, except with a few cops who thought I should be back out here in the country....

Last guy who stole an MD from me was white, but I digress in an moment of idyllic racial/ethnic neutrality. Bad neighborhoods are where you find them, not where they find you, whichever version of "they" suits your fancy or lack thereof. I'd much rather hunt Douglas Park than Nogales. I'd much rather hunt Nogales than Johannesburg, and much rather hunt any of those than Pakistan. Anybody up for a road trip to North Korea? I hear they got some killer digs there!

Now have a soda and enjoy hunting your park of choice. At least until we change our currency to lead.

[Gimmie The Loot]

Anytime ANYBODY black or white comes up to me in ANY park, city or suburban, it makes me a little guarded. I just make sure I hold my shovel as if it is a weapon and I know how to use it! Crazys are in every park that I have hunted in. Of course I have also had my fair share of normal people just curious what kind of goodies I've been finding. I like bringing military backpacks with me or wear camouflage pants when MDing so maybe people interested in giving me trouble think I have combat training or larger weapons... At any rate, I try to be careful when I go out but would definitely stay to parks I am familiar with.

[twistidd]

The color of your skin has nothing to do with how much success you'll have in any given place.

I like idealism too, but I'm sorry. This is just flat-out inaccurate.
Chicago isn't the most segregated major metro area in the US by accident. All of those places that are now black used to be white and the people who once lived there didn't pack up and leave for no reason. Without getting into a whole cocktail of conversational dynamics that will drift this discussion off onto a tangent that's probably inappropriate for a treasure hunting board, it's either delusional or naive to suggest that race plays no role in being picked out as a potential target in these places.
It does. It's one of those issues where race is a really, really big deal.

Human nature can be ugly, but it's best to not gloss it over with ideals when personal safety is in question. Be it a prison, a school lunch room or the demarcation of Chicago demographics and venturing into 'exciting' city neighborhoods, human nature and it's interplay with race is an issue whether we care to openly admit it or not. Being a lone white guy in a park with a metal detector in Roseland is not a wise thing (bordering on being suicidal) and yes, it's a very different story than if it were a black guy there doing the same thing. If you don't understand this, I'm left to assume that you must be one of those people who form high-minded opinions while tucked safely in the Northside, without ever going to see how these places work for yourself.

I'm not a racist person by nature- I've seen the best and worst of what Chicagoans of all races have to offer- but being one of the handful of remaining white Southsiders myself, I'm not naive about much as it pertains to race, either.

Don't want an argument here and overall, we generally seem to agree about the broader sentiment, so the last word belongs to you if you want it.

Ouch!!

You know, I realize I worded that awkwardly. I was responding to Skates Ice, since he suggested hunting with black people since it would be safer. What I meant was, hunting with black people in a black neighborhood doesn't mean you'll be "OK"...that's where my comment about unity comes from. It's not necessarily "us against them" from the standpoint of a particular race, it's all for one and one for all in most cases. Some issues are beyond race. That's all.

Try not to be so judgemental, you don't know me, or where I'm from. Calling me naive and/or delusional based on my post is kind of low. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to retreat to the relative safety and comfort of my North Side neighborhood!

Joe

[LM]

Hey Joe.
I wasn't taking a swipe at you personally, friend. I'll admit to being a bit hypersensative to this issue, largely because what we're 'supposed to believe' just doesn't jive with how things work, in the "Chicago real world". It's something I see and live with every day that most other people don't even begin to understand.

I presently live in a 'diversifying' Southside community, largely because because of an in-law family situation and the need for my sweetie to be close to her elderly mother. If it were up to me, I'd be in Lincoln Park in the bat of an eye... Where we are now used to be a fine place and still isn't 'bad' by Chicago standards, but it's rapidly swirling the drain and there is a racial/socioeconomic component in play that is plainly undeniable. Also, where we live is very much an 'enclave' surrounded by largely black neighborhoods, meaning all of our household business (shopping, laundry, etc) is conducted in places where we are regularly the only white faces in the building.

It's funny; we've all heard people say flatly 'racist' things, but then caveat with "... but I have black friends...".
I have a pretty ethnically-eclectic group of friends and comrades who represent the racial rainbow. Some of the best advice I've been given on places I should avoid has come from my hispanic and black friends, who- because of our familiarity with each other- are comfortable with openly discussing those sorts of things.

Frankly speaking, a guy with a metal detector is an oddity wherever he goes. Put a white guy with a metal detector in a place like Englewood- that borders on insanity and I guarantee you any black Chicago cop would tell us exactly the same thing. I just don't want to see anyone get hurt because they don't really understand what sort of personal-safety factors are involved, in those kinds of places.

[twistidd]

Poker Player,

Agreed.

We're tentatively planning a Buffalo Wild Wing outing to take place soon. You should come stop by. As you probably already know, we are an eclectic mix of odd, very odd, extremely odd, and borderline insane individuals. Hope to see you there (whereever and whenever it is)!

Joe