Hunter has built lasting legacy with public service spanning decades | Local News
As a young man, Steven Hunter set out to conquer the world.
A lifelong resident of Kankakee and part of the final graduating class of 1966 at the old Kankakee High School on the Warren Avenue campus, Hunter earned a bachelor’s degree from Eastern New Mexico University. After a couple of years of traveling to Europe and Africa and living for a time in Brooklyn, N.Y., Hunter returned to his native Kankakee and quickly got involved in local politics.
“You’re idealistic then,” Hunter said of his time right after college.
Hunter, 74, didn’t conquer the world, so to speak, but his public service to the city of Kankakee and the county has left an impressive legacy that’s still being cultivated. For that, he has been named the recipient of the Daily Journal’s Citizen of the Year Lifetime Achievement award for 2022.
“This is an honor, and I appreciate it,” he said.
Hunter, who grew up on North Rosewood Avenue, served as a Kankakee alderman for 40 years — from 1973 to 2013 — and he’s been a Kankakee County Board member since June 2020, when he was appointed to complete the term for the late George Washington Jr.
He won the election as a 7th Ward alderman in 1973, defeating the incumbent. He said to be an effective representative of your district, you have to build relationships.
“If you can’t get eight votes [as an alderman], you’re left out in the cold,” Hunter said. “You have to establish some relationships and respect from the aldermen. Same thing holds true if you’re on the county board. … You have to be able to lobby and know the subject matter which you’re discussing.”
It was a lesson he learned early in his political career from Republican alderman Virgil Watson, who supported Hunter, a young Democrat.
“He said, ‘Stevie, one thing I’m going to tell you that you’ve got to do, I can’t give you money, but I can give you some advice. Make sure you do your homework before you go downtown,’” Hunter said. “I think that is important. That’s good information for all elected officials. Public servants, know your subject matter.”
As a city alderman, Hunter served under four mayors — Tom Ryan, Russell Johnson, Don Green and Nina Epstein. He was mayor pro-tem under Johnson, which meant he would run the council meeting in Johnson’s absence. Now Hunter serves as a mentor to others and a politician others come to for advice on a variety of political matters.
“Democrats and Republicans frequent my house to explain various things about how municipal government works,” he said. “There’s any number of aldermen who have been to my home, and mayors have come by the house — Green, [Chris] Curtis and Johnson.”
Hunter is proud how he helped effect change during the tumultuous times of the early 1970s and to provide goods and services to people in his ward.
“There were some issues regarding disparity in terms of services,” he said. “So I think I was an advocate for not only my ward but for the underserved, … and about the disparity in police brutality. We dealt with those kinds of issues in the community.”
He was also instrumental in helping to get Ray Benn, a former local Black state policeman, appointed to the city’s police and fire commission at the time.
“Benn was an advocate for enhancing the status of African-American police officers and assisted us in securing more officers through the commission,” Hunter said.
Hunter also worked on the campaign in 1972 for Democrat Dan Walker, who was elected governor of Illinois. It whetted his appetite even more for politics, and Hunter wanted to make a mark when he was elected alderman that next year.
“During my first term, I think there may have only been one or two Democrats on the council,” he said. “The other was Jim Odeneal.”
Hunter didn’t have to look far for inspiration, as his uncle, Benjamin Elton Cox, was one of the original 13 Freedom Riders. Cox, who died in 2011 at the age of 79, lived for a time in Kankakee as a child, and he later became a prominent civil rights activist and was a preacher in North Carolina.
Cox started desegregation efforts in local schools and served as an adviser for NAACP Youth Council.
When Hunter was a child, he thought his Uncle Ben, his Mom’s brother, was a bad person because he heard his Dad answer phone calls about Cox being in jail again. Cox and Hunter’s mom, LouAnna, were from a family of 16 children.
“As I grew up, I knew what that was all about because of his civil rights’ work,” Hunter said. “… He was with Jesse [Jackson] and all those folks as well. You’ll see him in the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. He was quite active.”
Hunter said LouAnna is “still alive and kicking” in Kankakee.
His Dad, John Booker Hunter III, also fostered Steve’s political aspirations. John Hunter was president of the PTO at Franklin School, which is now Proegler preschool at 710 N. Chicago Ave. in Kankakee. John, who passed away in 2004, was also on the credit union board at Manteno Health Center, where he worked as a microbiologist.
In addition to his years of being a public servant, Hunter worked for the state of Illinois for 39 years, primarily in the human resources department. He was based in Kankakee but traveled all over Illinois before his 2011 retirement.
“My last classification of duty was manager of investigations,” he said. “I dealt with contract violations as well as Title VII, all kinds of civil rights infractions.”
Hunter isn’t slowing down anytime soon even after recovering from a recent spinal fusion surgery. He never misses a county board meeting [attending several via Zoom while recuperating], and the committee meetings [executive, finance, and buildings and grounds] that he’s been assigned. His cell phone rings constantly, taking calls from residents, public officials and various politicians on a regular basis.
“I’ve been involved for a half century in Kankakee County politics, believe it or not,” he said. “… [County Board Chairman] Andy [Wheeler] and I talk quite frequently about county government, and he is open to ideas.”
In addition, Hunter is on the board of the Hispanic Partnership of Kankakee County, vice chairman of the Kankakee County Branch of the NAACP, former party chairman of the Democratic Party in Kankakee County and trustee at his church, Caldwell Chapel AME Zion Church, the oldest African-American church in Kankakee County.
Hunter and his wife, Elida, are parents of five grown children.
“You take time out of your busy schedule from your friends and family for meetings and travel, projects, research — meetings, meetings, meetings,” he said. “I remember going to some of the city council meetings which lasted almost ‘til midnight. It was crazy back then.”
