According to a report by Reuters’ Mary Wisniewski called “Chicago mayor touts drop in crime but murder rate remains high,” Chicago’s murder rate is the highest in all of America and in the beginning of this September, our city’s murder rate was 27% higher than that of New York City (despite the fact that New York’s population is three times that of Chicago) and 49% higher than that of Los Angeles’s (whose population is 40% larger than Chicago’s).
Needless to say, there is a violence epidemic in Chicago.
One of the city’s most vocal social activists is coming to Saint Xavier to discuss this epidemic.
Next week on October 9, Reverend Michael Pfleger will give a lecture on non-violence as part of the Squeaky Weal Lecture Series.
Fr. Pfleger, well-known for his social activism in Chicago will lecture on, according to sxu.edu, “What does or what could the philosophy and practice of nonviolence bring to current situations of injustice and violence, domestically and internationally? Is nonviolence as a strategy for personal and social change still powerful or merely a memory of times past?”
This lecture obviously comes in the wake of the tragic shooting that injured 13 people – including a child at the tender age of three years – in a Chicago park a little over a week ago, as well as the countless acts of violent murders and homicides that occur within the city every day.
Our staff would like to see Fr. Pfleger touch on is how the violent acts – seemingly relegated to the far south side – affect the entire city including St. Xavier University students.
There is a tendency to think that acts of extreme violence are non-existent because we don’t witness them personally.
A numbness seems to take over. Television news broadcasts bring in reports of violent homicides, both city-wide and on a national scale.
It’s becoming harder to be phased by violence and death when it is heard about so often and seems to just be an average part of life.
In all honesty, we doubt that many students (some of our own staff included) find their lives even remotely disrupted or – dare we say – even disturbed by these frequent reports of violence in our own backyard.
Yet the violence is real. The danger is real. The families destroyed by gang violence and senseless murders are very real.
Seldom do we actually see the true despair of the families destroyed by these events and heinous acts.
Hopefully, Fr. Pfleger will be able to show those of our student body who don’t see the effects of violence in our city the true depth of tragedy to these acts of violence.
Last week, Fr. Pfleger held a Peace League basketball game at his parish of St. Sabina. Over 20 NBA players attended. The purpose of this game was to join neighborhood youths, many of whom are on rival gangs with one another, to come together through the clean and wholesome sportsmanship that the game of basketball can provide.
Fr. Pfleger’s Twitter account is frequently used by the pastor to report on violence and provide the priest’s own personal views on the tragedies that occur on a daily basis in the city as well as occasionally providing glimpses of hope and encouragement of the spirit in the wake of these tragedies.
Truly, Fr. Pfleger’s dedication to the mission of finding peace and fighting senseless violence is admirable and deserves the attention of not only all concerned St. Xavier students, but of concerned Chicagoans.
Fr. Pfleger’s lecture will take place on our Chicago campus on October 9 at 6:30 pm.
The Xavierite Staff
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