Robin Hood
Reverend Robin Hood grew up the youngest of a large family in the Lawndale Neighborhood of Chicago. His entire extended family was tight, with numerous aunts, uncles and cousins all living within a few square blocks. Reverend Hood had two children as a young man, and says he “missed his opportunity” to go to college. Instead, he took a very good job at Farley and Sons chocolate factory. They treated their employees really well, with benefits and paid time off, but Lawndale was known for its many candy factories, and the others were not so good to their workers. When ACORN began to unionize the Mars Chocolate factory, Reverend Hood joined the movement because he wanted to see those living in his neighborhood making a livable wage. This was the late 1980’s, it was around this time, while on break on the roof of the chocolate factory, that he heard God’s word calling to him to preach the gospel. After successfully unionizing the Lawndale candy factories, Reverend Hood took some time away from ACORN. Then, in the ealry 90s, when abandoned houses were becoming a big problem in Lawndale, Reverend Hood saw an ACORN flyer and called to find out what he could do. He was recruited by Madeline Talbott and helped clean up lots and fix houses. ACORN helped multiple families in Lawndale get affordable housing through fair loan practices. He says that organizers like him were a pain in the neck, if they were having a protest at the state capital and the bus was leaving at 6:00 AM, they’d call people multiple times that week, and then be at their house waiting that morning. He says he was relentless. He would bring boyfriends of young women working in McDonalds and have sit-ins in the Speaker of the House’s office until they were either kicked out, or a bill demanding a minimum wage hike was placed before congress, and then they would come and do it the next day, until they got what they wanted. If need be, they’d bring out 80 year old grandmother’s who would insist on being arrested, always a successful tactic. They were successful in getting the minimum wage raised from $7.25 to $10.00. In the early 2000’s, Reverend Hood became Political Director of ACORN, and he fought successfully to keep a Walmart from opening on the outskirts of his neighborhood because they refused to pay fair wages and would not hire formerly incarcerated people. Over the years, he has been threatened by gangs, and faced other pushback, but it was never a problem because he put the work in, both through ACORN and through his ministry. No one was going to put him in danger once they learned he had helped their mother get the heat turned back on, or helped buy groceries––it’s about building community, it’s about helping one another out, and if you do that work than the unity will see you through. His father named him ROBIN HOOD because he felt in his gut that he would live a life of service and fend for the poor.