Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Otis McDonald


Who of you has ever heard of Otis McDonald or The Chicago Crusader?

I am not surprised, as I have never heard of the Chicago Crusader.

For many years Chicago had three newspapers, the Tribune, the Sun-Times, and the Daily News. Many years ago the Chicago Daily News stopped printing its daily afternoon newspaper, and so I assumed that Chicago had two newspapers. However, I just became aware of a third Chicago newspaper … The Chicago Crusader.

The Chicago Crusader, known from 1940 to the 1950s as The Crusader and from the 1950s to 1981 as The New Crusader, is a weekly African-American newspaper serving Chicago. It is one of two newspapers in the Crusader Newspaper Group, the other being the Gary Crusader. 

I recently read an article from The Chicago Crusader by journalist J. Coyden Palmer about Otis McDonald. I had never heard of Otis McDonald. Mr. Palmer thought that it would be a fitting memory to name, or rename, a Chicago public school after Otis McDonald.

I am seeing a lot of blank stares, and hearing a lot of ‘N.A.C.’ (‘ not a clue’) in reference to the name, Otis McDonald. Whereas, I would guess that even very few of you who live in the Chicago recognize that name, his name is probably well known to many members of the NRA. Yes, you heard me right! Otis McDonald was a Second Amendment activist. He lived in Chicago, and challenged the city’s ban on handguns in court and eventually won his case when the Supreme Court ruled that the ban violated McDonald’s right to keep a gun in his home for self-defense.

He stood up and took on the City of Chicago, when others were afraid to, as is detailed in his book “An Act of Bravery: Otis W. McDonald and the Second Amendment.”

Otis McDonald was an amazing African American man and an American success story. The son of sharecroppers, McDonald left school at age 14, but ended up earning his associates degree while working at the University of Chicago as a maintenance engineer before retiring in 1996.

From African American journalist Cam Edwards:

“J. Coyden Palmer is right. The city of Chicago should honor Otis McDonald; for his Second Amendment activism, for a life well-lived, and for the inspiration that he continues to provide gun owners and civil rights activists to this day.”

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