As crowds roared inside the United Center over the past week, with Democratic organizers joining together to build enthusiasm for the party’s nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris for president, the whole spectacle has been nothing short of a “nuisance” for Dee Henderson.
Henderson’s back porch directly faces the large arena that was designated as the convention’s hub of late-night political speeches and events. The tall steel fencing put up by officials around the center almost touches the above-ground pool where her grandson likes to swim on hot summer days.
“They caged me in,” said Henderson, who has lived behind the United Center for the past half-century in one of the last single-home residential buildings on the block.
On Thursday, the final night of the long-anticipated convention, while Harris gave a speech in front of tens of thousands inside the arena and millions around the world, the 66-year-old — like most other West Side neighborhood residents — stayed home. The convention, though just several feet away from her backyard, could not have seemed farther away, she said.
She said she knew there were protests Monday afternoon because she could hear them from her back porch. Her house is less than a mile from a park adjacent to the United Center where protesters scuffled with police officers in riot gear after momentarily breaking through the security perimeter.
“It sounded like they were getting into it,” she said. “Like a fight.”
In a city that was beseiged with A-list politicians, state delegates, protesters and merch vendors this week, with most flocking to downtown hotels or the convention sites at the United Center and McCormick Place, most Chicago commuters opted to avoid the crowds and work from home.
But Henderson did not have the luxury of removing herself from the action. While she said she was happy to be safe in her house — she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 19 years ago and has arthritis in her knees — two of her doctor’s appointments were scheduled the week of the Democratic National Convention. She’d worried about her ability to get there with the road closures, though she made it to both with relatively little trouble.
A week before the DNC, as construction workers revved their engines in her backyard, Henderson turned up the volume on the large speaker on her back porch, smiled and swayed to the music: Johnnie Taylor’s “Soul Heaven.”
“Look what they’re spending money on,” she said, as she watched the layers of fencing and concrete go up. “And they’re hardly doing anything for me.”
She fondly remembered her childhood at the house: the snow that stacked up higher than cars, the early mornings rushing to the school across the street with her siblings. Her children and grandchildren all grew up there, running down the long driveway and sitting in her inviting kitchen. Her living room is adorned with their framed portraits. “Our family, a circle of love founded on faith,” reads cursive stencil lettering on the wall.
“I’ve seen a lot of change,” she said from her back porch, looking at the roofs of buildings she said were once “old and raggedy.”
She said she often feels like she has no say in decisions from politicians. She didn’t hear about a new proposal to remake the Near West Side around the United Center until after the fact on TV, for example. And the convention is no exception.
“But that’s life,” she said. “The rich just get richer.”
Henderson was in Chicago for the 1996 convention, and she believes politicians have been under pressure to make their gatherings “bigger and better.” Over 4,000 delegates flew into Chicago for this year’s convention to represent their states and local communities. For each of them their airfare, hotels and food was expected to have cost thousands of dollars.
As a Black woman, Henderson expressed uncertainty about whether the nation is ready for a presidential candidate like Kamala Harris. But she said Harris’ speech was “promising” and it was time for President Joe Biden, who dropped out of the race for reelection, to “take a nap.”
Henderson has a large network of family and friends in Chicago who frequently drop by to check in on her. She said the convention mostly kept them away.
“I’m not getting company now,” she said earlier this week.
Tuesday afternoon, she looked up at a large gray Osprey aircraft that flew low over her house. She eyed several Secret Service officers on the roof of the United Center and said they looked like “pigeons with guns.” In the weeks leading up to the convention, she said she would sit on her porch with a Tito’s cocktail and watch them move around.
Despite some annoyances, she said she was mostly thankful for the convention security because it would protect her from chaos during the busiest days.
Because of her proximity to the United Center, Henderson is no stranger to large crowds and commotion. This one just feels bigger, she said.
“It’s a little over the top for me,” she said.
Henderson’s family is political, and politically connected, she said proudly. But they know how to throw a party better than the Democrats, she said.
While tens of thousands of conventiongoers swarmed the West Side for the DNC, Henderson was counting down the days before her annual “white party” over Labor Day weekend.
She planned to fire up the large, rusted grill in her backyard and roast ribs for hours. Kids would play in bounce castles and shoot hoops. She would have a red carpet, two disco balls and dozens of bottles of Champagne.
One week after the convention, hundreds of relatives and family friends wearing white outfits would drive from other states to be there for her own multiday event, which she said would be even better — her very own “Dee-N-C,” she said, laughing.
