November 1, 1942 – AUGUST 9, 2022
Harold Lucas was one of the most dedicated and committed activists I’ve encountered in my many years as a journalist. His activism on behalf of Black Chicago was noteworthy in itself. But his special passion was the beloved neighborhood that raised him, and his range of commitment to that community spanned so many dimensions, he can justifiably be called the Godfather of Bronzeville.
I met Harold Lucas on the bike path. I had just bought my first serious 10-speed (a steel-hybrid Fuji) and I set out for the lakefront bike path to test my rusty skills. Bro. Harold — he was widely known as Buzzy then — used to hang with a group of accomplished and speedy Black riders, he was one. I met him as they were gathering –at the Point in Hyde Park — for a 55-mile round trip to the Bahai Temple in Wilmette.
These were expert Black bikers I never knew existed until I started pushing pedals on the path. One of the primary reasons for my bike purchase was weight reduction and these sleek Brothers provided much inspiration. After that first meeting, I would frequently encounter Buzzy and his fast-pedaling partners on the lakefront path.
I was also an active journalist, writing for a national publication that focused much coverage on Chicago’s Black community, and I would occasionally run into Harold as I plied my reporting ‘beat.’ And why not?
He was an active and articulate community advocate/ agitator and the chief polemicist for Bronzeville as a tourist destination. Bro. Harold was a ubiquitous presence wherever issues important to Black Chicago were topics of discussion. We talked a lot about Chicago’s past and future. He had dozens of ideas and was deeply opinionated, a stubborn Brother– lovingly irascible. But y’all know that.
In the words of his daughter, Sherri Lucas-Hall, “He was passionate and generous in his unceasing advocacy of Bronzeville/Black Metropolis.”
I hadn’t arrived in Chicago yet from the East Coast, when Buzzy famously chained himself to the Regal and Met Theaters in an unsuccessful attempt to keep those two Bronzeville landmarks from being demolished. Fifty years later, the stories about his heroic attempts to salvage those two historic buildings are significant sagas in Bronzeville lore There is a gigantic Bronzeville sign at the McCormick Place overpass that stands as a monument to his dedication.
After a while, his presence on the path decreased but our off-path discussions picked-up. I was always impressed by Harold’s passionate historical perspective, the scope of his interests, and the coherence of his vision for a tourist friendly Bronzeville. He was the President, CEO & Founder of the Black Metropolis Convention & Tourism Council. His lifelong mission was to maintain Bronzeville as a self- sustaining community of proud Black residents and stave off gentrification. Anyone who listened to WVON Radio was familiar with Buzzy’s frequent and insistent complaints about what was or was not being done to his beloved Bronzeville, and who was or was not doing it.
Although we seldom got political on the bike path, whenever Buzzy phoned my Saturday night radio show, he didn’t shy away from political discussions; naming names and calling out politicians or anyone else he felt were not doing their jobs. That was just what Buzzy did.
Photo: Nathan Thompson
I sometimes chided him, suggesting that his curmudgeonly ways might be more alienating than endearing to those he should endear. He would dismiss my concerns, insisting that his intensity is what attracted people to his cause. And I suppose he had a point. More than that, though, Bro. Harold grew secure in his significance; he figured out his role in life and he tried his best to follow the script. He did a hell of a job. RIP, good Brother.
Salim Muwakkil is Senior Editor for In These Times Magazine and host of the Salim Muwakkil Show on WVON-1690 AM.
