Snapshot · The Indicator from Planet Money
The South Side is not just a symbolic term — it is literally the largest geographic section of Chicago and was for decades the largest Black neighborhood in the United States.
Where this was said
At 12:15 · chapter starts 11:00
Gene Demby pivots to ask how younger South Siders — who have no memory of a pre-Obama America — relate to his legacy. Myra Kwadja's answer is quietly devastating: the students she worked with at Hyde Park Academy found nothing remarkable about a Black president, not because they were inspired but because they were disengaged. Their entire relationship with government was mediated through policing: cop cars stationed outside the school expecting a fight, the constant surveillance of young Black bodies in public space. When Kwadja took students to vote after they turned 18, or interviewed those who didn't want to, she found that participating in civic life felt indistinguishable from submitting to police authority. Obama's visits to Hyde Park Academy were cool — he's a celebrity, after all — but they produced no 'me too, I could be that' feeling. [1] — Myra Kwadja "For the high school students Myra Kwadja worked with, Obama was a celebrity — not a beacon of possibility. Their relationship with governme…" 11:00 The children who grew up in Obama's Chicago did not inherit his hope. They inherited his neighborhood's policing.
For the high school students Myra Kwadja worked with, Obama was a celebrity — not a beacon of possibility. Their relationship with government was filtered entirely through daily police presence, making voting feel like just another form of being surveilled.
Obama advisor David Axelrod famously argued that nobody uses Jackson Park when advocating for building the center there. Myra Kwadja hears those words every time she bikes through for cherry blossoms or the house music picnic — because 'nobody' really means 'certain nobodies.'
Only 42% of young men think women understand their problems, and only 25% of young women say the same about men — a mutual comprehension deficit that previous generations largely closed as they aged.
In focus groups across Philadelphia and Raleigh, every hand went up when asked if parents discussed financial stability and education, but no hands went up for marriage or parenthood.
The share of American families with only children has risen dramatically, meaning more young people grow up without the negotiation, compromise, and friction that siblings naturally impose.
Young liberal women report experiencing sexual harassment online more frequently than conservative or moderate women, partly due to higher political posting activity drawing hostile responses.
Among Gen Z, a majority of women identify as feminist while only about 40% of men do — a 15-point gap that barely existed among Boomers, Gen X, or Millennials.
A study conducted before and after the pandemic found that the share of Americans with a regular third space — a community gathering spot outside home and work — fell roughly 20 percentage points and has not recovered.
Survey data shows a massive generational divide: most over-50s believe their parents viewed them as average, while a majority under-50 say their parents viewed them as special.
When asked whether a woman cheating is morally wrong, young women were far less likely to take a hardline stance than older women or men, suggesting a shared-fate or experiential factor is shaping the judgment.
Survey data shows that men with more close friends are significantly more likely to have recently gone on a date or be in a committed relationship, highlighting the link between social integration and romantic success.
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