Last night the five member Ceasefire Rogers Park team tried to hold a Circle Prayer at Fargo and Ashland in response to the shooting that took place on May 22nd.
No one showed up.
Joe Moore was a no-show. Harry Osterman was a no-show. Carol Ronen was a no-show. These are the so-called leaders who pushed for this tax payer funded program. But they can't even come out a support them in their time of need.
The Chicago Police Department didn't show up. The clergy in the neighborhood didn't bother to show up either. There were no ex-aldermanic candidates. There were no representatives from any of the communities social service agencies.
From the looks of things, our community must be okay with all the shootings around here. Because they sure don't seem to want to come out a protest them.
What that tells me is my neighbors tolerate shooting like this. That, or everyone's just numb to the fact people are shooting bullets at each other to solve their problems.
BLOGNOTES: Julie Segraves and I did recruit one walk-on dog walker and prodded the Ceasefire organization to at least walk around the block with us. The way I see it, if they're taking tax dollars to perform a duty, I want to see my money at work. Along the way Ceasefire handed out a few buttons and Bumper stickers to a couple of kids and a couple adults. Other than that, the event was a huge bust.
9 comments:
Oh come on, Craig. Who KNEW about the circle prayer, anyway? It wasn't posted on your site, or any other RP blogger's that I know of. Were there fliers? An e-mail alert? How did they get the message out? (Or DID they get the message out?)
Maybe you should blame CeaseFire's approach to publicity, rather than the apathy of the neighbors.
Not blameing anyone person the point I found interesting is the commont "The way I see it, if they're taking tax dollars to perform a duty, I want to see my money at work"
Think about all the tax dollars the goverment takes!! Let's just focus on city & county taxs here.
All the taxs collected and there are shortfalls everywhere, (think CTA) the services we get back , think about it,not much of a return on our dollars.
We who have cars pay min of $75.00, for what to drive on the streets, (people who don't live in the city can do that & at a cheaper sticker rate) to not be able to park on restricted streets!
We can go on & on , we are not let's face it seeing our tax dollars working for the tax payers.
The city wants to have the 2016 olympic games here!! I can't wait to see how much burden that will stick the taxplayers worth!! Before ripping me on that these are elected officials promising it won't cost us any taxs dollars it will benifit us....these are the same officials who can't even make a local tax run events run.
How many people in attendance were on payroll?
What is the average fee ceasefire charges per shooting or is it a flat annual fee?
Could anyone from ceasefire maintain a community dialogue.
The rash of shooting make me think it might be wise to send multiple reps to all the caps meetings.
How many people in attendance were on payroll?
What is the average fee ceasefire charges per shooting or is it a flat annual fee?
Could anyone from ceasefire maintain a community dialogue.
The rash of shooting make me think it might be wise to send multiple reps to all the caps meetings.
I'm struck by an important nugget of insight in Craig's comment: "my neighbors tolerate" or have become "numb to the fact that people are shooting bullets at each other to solve their problems."
We are indeed numbed by the frequency of gun use on the streets of our community, but I don't think any of us do or should tolerate it.
What is our responsibility as residents? What can we do? It should be clear by now that tackling the problem of crime requires some new and different strategies and solutions.
Yes, last night's prayer vigil, about a shooting that happened 2 blocks from my house, had little promotion. However, over the years Ceasefire and their fiscal agent Organization of the NorthEast have done massive advance flyering and pulled in the news media for their events. As a result resident participation has ranged from NO ONE at all to DOZENS of neighbors. Usually Craig is the first, and often the only, community resident working to promote them.
I'm not going to point a finger at elected officials about missing yesterday's prayer vigil, or the many, many ones they have missed before. Their presence would be nice (Harry Osterman does help get state funding for Ceasefire, and that's good), but I'd suggest something more substantive for all our leaders. I'd like to encourage their leadership and action to help get more residents, especially People of Color, involved in:
- CAPS,
- Block club development,
- Challenging landlords who own crime-ridden buildings
- Supporting our schools, teachers, and principals, and
- Community programs that are an alternative to life on the streets for youth
I've been to too many prayer vigils. It's time for our community to do something radically different.
I live one block from where the vigil took place yet I knew nothing about it. Craig, how did you find out about it? I'm sure you are already overwhelmed trying to keep up with this blog so I obviously don't expect you to be the Cease Fire go-to-guy but do they have a website I can go to to get information and alerts in a timely fashion? By the By, thanks again, Craig, for keeping this blog. I really do refer to it almost daily. PEACE
I've attended a couple of their monthly meetings and have my name on their community email list, which you can get on by attending a circle prayer.
Ceasefire Rogers Park said they flyered for this event too when I asked them last night. But I personally didn't see a flyer.
Ceasefire didn't email me on this particular circle prayer either, but Julie received a call and posted the information in the comments section of this blog.
That's how I found out, on my own blog.
I am Michael's tenant and was not aware of the vigil either.
"our community must be okay with all the shootings around here. Because they sure don't seem to want to come out a protest them.
What that tells me is my neighbors tolerate shooting like this..."
I don't believe the lack of attendance at a circle prayer has any indication of the community's tolerance of the shootings. Although some good may come out of an event that brings the community together, do these vigils result in a decrease in shootings? Do the gang-bangers in the neighborhood notice the protest and stop shooting? As M. Harrington touched on above, these gatherings are not going to solve our problems. Perhaps better solutions revolve around ousting the slumlords, positive neighborhood events, and developing not only alternative activities for teens, but a creative plan to get them interested and involved.
Post a Comment