The Second City’s first: Filmmaker Raymond Lambert discusses the spectacle and miracle of Harold Washington’s mayoral run in Chicago

It was a crisp April day in 1983, typical for the Windy City. But something atypical was also afoot. A certain static was in the air as Chicagoans awaited results from one of the most important political races in the city: the mayoral candidacy.

The opponents were almost poetically juxtaposed: Harold Washington, a Black man and descendant of slaves, with a razor-sharp wit who reluctantly took the post after being beckoned by the Black community, and Richard M. Daley, the white privileged son of Chicago’s recently departed iron-fisted ruler.

The mayor’s seat was left vacant by Richard “The Boss,” J. Daley, who’d died that December after having run the city for more than 21 years uninterrupted. He’d built what residents referred to as The Machine, a specific style of corrupt Democratic-Party politics that favored greased palms and sketchy relationships over meritocracy and ethics.

Before officially launching his mayoral campaign, Washington watched the Machine crank its gears from afar as an Illinois House Representative and vowed to dismantle it once elected as mayor. Unsurprisingly, this drew the ire of everyone that’d long benefitted from the system.

“He took this huge behemoth head-on because he knew that if he didn’t, Black people would continue to suffer,” said Raymond Lambert, executive producer of Punch 9, an independent documentary that chronicled Washington’s mayoral run and subsequent win. “It’s such an incredible story, and it really needed to be told.”

Hearing Lambert speak about Washington’s life in vivid detail, you’d think he grew up in Chicago where the former mayor’s presence is imprinted everywhere. But the Wilmington, Delaware native said he hadn’t even heard of the political figure until after he moved to Chicago in the early 90s to work for Gardner Rich, Chris Gardner’s (who was depicted by Will Smith in the award-winning film Pursuit of Happyness) securities firm.

“I wasn’t here during the time Harold was mayor so I had no awareness of the huge impact he had on local and national politics,” Lambert said. “I was more familiar with other Black mayors across the country like Wilson Goode out of Philly or Maynard Jackson in Atlanta, but not Harold, which is interesting because he was of the same ilk.”

He’s right, and as the documentary noted, Washington’s historic win in Chicago, one of the most racially segregated cities in America, caused a global ripple effect. As the New York Times reported, Washington’s race caught the attention of the foreign press: ‘‘The lesson of Chicago, despite the harsh words of the campaign,’‘ wrote the Paris daily Le Monde in 1983, ‘‘is a happy one not only for the Democratic Party but for democracy itself.’‘

The tense race underscored the long-simmering and deeply rooted systemic racism that cloaked the city for generations.

“I was very aware of Martin Luther King, Jr. saying that Chicago was the most racist city he had ever been to in his life. Not Georgia, not Alabama, not Mississippi, but Chicago,” Lambert said, referencing an interview the civil rights leader gave following his 1966 march. “I knew that history, and I could identify with it because I’d met that same struggle as a young Black businessman who came to the city full of hope and ideas, but was met with racism and resistance.”

The co-founder of the legendary comedy club All Jokes Aside, Lambert helped launched the careers of Steve Harvey, Bernie Mac, Chris Rock and Jamie Foxx among many others, but eventually had to shut its doors in 2000. “I was up against just trying to operate in the city and eventually failing at that towards the end was all race-related. So, I knew what it was.”

Lambert said Washington’s short-lived second term (cut short by his death in 1987) happened just a few years before he moved to Chicago in 1991, yet he saw in it another good omen that he was meant to make a film about the political titan’s life. And much like another civic giant that came out of Chicago, he was deeply inspired by Washington’s story of perseverance.

“It always amazes me how people don’t give Harold the credit he deserves for helping to shape Obama’s career,” Lambert said, referring to the former president’s beginning in politics, largely inspired by Washington.

“I originally moved to Chicago in part because of the inspiration of Mayor Washington’s campaign,” Obama said while accepting the Harold Washington Award from the Congressional Black Caucus in 2012.

And much like Washington, Obama’s political ascent was eerily similar to his mentor’s, rife with racism and resistance.

“Obama has said he wouldn’t be where he is if he didn’t stand on the shoulders of leaders like Harold Washington,” Lambert said. “And Chicago was really a training ground for what he dealt with in Washington D.C. once he won the presidency. It’s no surprise, you know. And that’s why this documentary was so important to make because it’s not only a head nod to Harold and his work, it’s an acknowledgment of, although a great city, Chicago’s complicated relationship with its people of color. We’re still dealing with this three decades after his death. If Harold were still here, I’m sure he would say we have a lot more work to do, but he’s ready for the challenge.”

More information about the film’s screenings can be found here.

Jasmine Browley is the current business editor for Essence Magazine and is responsible for penning stories at the intersection of the workplace and Black culture.