Welcome to the Evolving Folks Project’s ‘Evolved Man of the Week’ profiles. Each week, we will highlight an individual who embodies what it means to be an evolved man, famous and non-famous men alike. The world needs to know their stories and deeds. This week’s honor goes to a fellow Chicago native, teacher, Air Force Veteran, and former progressive political candidate who ran for the Illinois 7th District, Anthony Clark.
Anthony Clark was born on the south side of Chicago to two working-class parents. His father is a retired proofreader and military veteran, and his mother is a retired accounts coordinator, both born and raised in the Morgan Park area of Chicago.
Growing up in Oak Park, Clark experienced firsthand how wealth disparities and demographics determined an individual’s possibilities in a city like Chicago. When traveling to visit family and friends, he saw how a block, an area code, and a zip code could be the difference in access to opportunity. Like many, Clark was impacted by death, incarceration, poverty, and illness.
Clark realized his parent’s dreams by becoming the first individual in his immediate family to obtain a college degree, earning a BA in Communication and an MA in Criminal Justice while serving active duty in the United States military. In 2009, Anthony was honorably discharged from the Air Force due to a service-connected disability.
Anthony Clark ran for Congress in Illinois’ 7th Congressional District in 2018 and 2020, but his election hopes were dashed. Clark finished second in the primary in 2018, carrying just over 26% of the vote, and third in 2020, earning 13% of primary votes.
He was born and raised in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago in the 7th District. He’s an active community member and founder of the Suburban Unity Alliance (SUA), a group working to improve the Chicago suburbs through community engagement. He is also a special education teacher at his local high school.
Illinois is a state that has long been infamous for its political corruption and general dysfunctionality, but Chicago and its inner-ring suburbs have been suffering acutely for decades. Schools are woefully underfunded, unemployment rates are high, and violent crime is abundant. These issues prompted Clark’s career in teaching and his involvement in politics. He is a man seeking to make his community better for all people.
Here is Anthony Clark in his own words about the state of education in our home state of Illinois:
“I’ve been a teacher for 9 years now. My first teaching job, I made $16,000 as a full-time teacher. No students had books, I taught freshman through senior year all in the same classroom, three computers. They had me teaching Spanish, history, and English. I am not bilingual. That’s the lack of investment that happens in so many of our schools and that money stays at the top and doesn’t go to our students. We’ve spent too many years taking opportunities from people.”
Clark has made quite an impact on his community and on the lives of countless people. It seems service is in his blood, and he pays it forward for being a man of the people and a real progressive. He’s a man who follows the tradition of Chicago legend and Black Panther Fred Hampton. His progressive politics and vocal support of the Palestinian people’s liberation might have influenced his resignation. It appears that Mr. Clark continues to stay true to his progressive values. Today, we honor Anthony Clark as this week’s Evolved Man of the Week.
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