“It’s Bud Billiken time,” Mayor Richard M. Daley declared at a special luncheon honoring this year’s Bud Billiken Royal Court. In his salute to the annual parade and to the vision of Robert S. Abbott who founded it, Daley paid compliment
“It’s Bud Billiken time,” Mayor Richard M. Daley declared at a special luncheon honoring this year’s Bud Billiken Royal Court.
In his salute to the annual parade and to the vision of Robert S. Abbott who founded it, Daley paid compliment to the Black family.
The parade, Daley said at the July 31 luncheon held downtown at the Chicago Cultural Center, is “all about children…to celebrate African American families.”
Daley referenced this year’s Royal Court as an example of some of the positive things the city’s Black youth are involved in.
“Today is good news,” the mayor said, noting that there is often bad news reported about Black youth that leads to negative perceptions of them.
Daley spoke of the Black family’s fortitude and how the struggles in the Black community, as a whole, have come to serve as a beacon of hope.
First elected mayor of Chicago in 1989, Daley has participated in the Bud Billiken Parade for at least 15 years, according to Col. Eugene Scott, head of the Chicago Defender Charities that puts on the entire Bud Billiken event.
The 79th annual parade will step off at 10 a.m. Aug. 9 and roll through Washington Park on King Drive.
The Royal Court will be on one of the first floats in the parade.
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