When it comes to Chicago, prayers can’t hurt. But prayers are also not enough.
The city known more these days for shockingly high rates of murder and other violent crime than for deep-dish pizza and the blues, has become a concern for Pope Francis. The pontiff recently sent a letter to Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich, saying he’s praying for the city and its crime victims.
Click here to read more Blade editorials
The bishop shared the letter ahead of a Good Friday march for peace through Englewood, one of the neighborhoods particularly beset with violence. He also announced that the diocese will spend a quarter-million dollars on anti-violence and youth programs. That sounds kindly, but the nature of the programs needs to be fleshed out. Teaching job skills and creating new jobs will be more effective than lectures on the evils of gangs and guns.
The pope’s message echoes much of what the South Side’s Rev. Michael Pfleger has preached for many years at his St. Sabina parish. Rev. Pfleger has worked for years to draw attention of the city’s elites to the suffering in poor neighborhoods on the south and west sides where gang violence is brutal and the death toll shocking. In 2016, 4,300 people were shot and more than 760 were killed, while more than 750 have been shot so far this year and about 150 killed. He has urged parishioners to choose peace and love while condemning city leaders who continue to ignore or only half-heartedly address their neighborhoods’ struggles.
The church is doing its job. Other Chicago institutions need to do theirs.
Decent, law-abiding people in many of Chicago’s worst neighborhoods don’t trust the Chicago police — for several reasons. The shooting death of Laquan McDonald in 2014 is just one of them. An officer now stands charged with murder after a long-withheld cruiser dashcam video was released showing the officer shooting the teen in the back as he walked away.
The city must do everything to rebuild trust so that police can effectively do their jobs in these dangerous places. That means, for one thing, living up to its promise to release videos of officer-involved incidents within 90 days. It also means not backing off police reforms, even though the attorney general has signaled that the justice department is no longer inclined to press the matter.
The city also must do more to deconstruct segregation that has divided Chicago into neighborhoods that the city cares about and neighborhoods it doesn’t. A study released in March by the Metropolitan Planning Council showed Chicago is the tenth-most segregated city in the United States. If the city addressed that problem and reduced segregation, Chicago would have more college graduates, a stronger economy, and fewer shootings, the report concluded.
The nature of the current crisis has partly to do with social structure and history: Povery, segregation, and a culture of violence. But it also has to do with a failure of leadership by the mayor and Chicago’s longstanding and continuing failure to reform the police department.
So pray, yes. And accept the prayers and concerns of the great Pope Francis. But God helps those who help themselves. Chicago needs prayer, but it also needs more competent, accountable, and visible policing. It needs not just more cops, but smarter cops and better leadership.
First Published April 13, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
