How a Former Chicago Restaurateur is Saving His Community from Violent Carjackers

I typically reserve this space for writing about how restaurateurs have been pivoting to save their businesses during the pandemic as well as other goings-on in the industry, but what one former operator is doing to save his community deserves as much attention.

Steven DeJoie was getting increasingly frustrated and angry as the number of carjackings in Chicago rose at such a rapid pace that even the news media and Chicago police department couldn’t count them all. In the first 17 days of 2021, there had been 166 reported carjackings — and that doesn’t even count all the attempted incidents.

The former owner of DeJoie’s Bistro, a popular New Orleans-inspired eatery that was around throughout the 1990s in River North, used his platform on social media to call on the city’s Black men to stand up against the violence.

“Carjacking at the gas pumps has become a dangerous, daily event,” DeJoie, who calls his new project the Community First Safe Passage Initiative, wrote on his Facebook page on Jan. 20. “Let’s establish safe passage locations for ladies to fill up with a secure escort. I’ll take a corner. Who’s with me?”

The response was immediate, with local men, community activists, business owners, and radio personalities volunteering to stand up for the cause. Also at risk are senior citizens, who are terrified to visit gas stations and grocery stores as several incidents have been reported at various South Side locations, including one where a woman was shot in the back (She’s still in the hospital in critical condition).

To be honest, I’m not surprised he did this. Back in the day, when DeJoie’s was at its height of popularity, DeJoie and his brother provided one of the few places in the downtown area that catered to a largely African-American crowd. I would know. My girlfriends and I used to hang out there for dinner, drinks and dancing at least a few times a week. I even took my mother there for special occasions; she was a fan of the gumbo and shrimp and grits.

I distinctly recall DeJoie being nice to everyone who patronized his establishment and really caring about the customers. He hired many young people from the South and West sides of the city. Many saw him as a pillar of the Black community because he looked out for it. And after his family shuttered DeJoie’s, he went back into finance, serving the community through mortgage loans, business development, and more.

DeJoie’s call for the community to stand up against carjackers has even motivated the city’s aldermen to finally do something. It’s about time.

DeJoie says his group will be posted up at various South Side gas stations every Saturday. My hope is that someone else takes the charge to do the same initiative at grocery stores, so seniors can shop without fear.

[Steven DeJoie (in tan coat) with others in Hyde Park, taking a stand against carjackers/photo credit, Debra-Flint Salter]