Social Justice

September 8, 2017
ROTTEN ROOT: WHY I JOINED IN CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE YESTERDAY
 
Yesterday, September 7, 2017, I joined three residents of the so-called Tent City, in civil disobedience against the City of Chicago’s order to evacuate their  make shift homes under the Wilson and Lawrence street viaducts.  I am appalled, not only at the city’s actions, but at the moral state of our democracy. 
 
How numb to disasters have we now become that some of our most defenseless citizens may be kicked to the curb? 
 
I joined in civil disobedience yesterday, because morally I believe all of us share responsibility for the scapegoating of the poor and powerless. Our moral amnesia to social ills is no longer a good excuse. I call on all people of faith and conscience to stand with the residents of Tent City. 
 
The City began a pilot program of housing homeless people last year, based on the surprising success of such programs in other large cities.  Now they’re once again dragging their feet, and shuffling their tactics and promises to residents of Tent City, much less the 1,000’s of other homeless in our “great” city. 
 
I risked arrest yesterday, September 7, to highlight this hypocrisy.  Most of our social problems in Chicago stem from the same disregard and scapegoating of the poor and powerless as seen in this tragic example.  This systemic failure is directly linked to City Hall and Springfield’s morally bankrupt budgeting process for some decades. 
 
I risked arrest yesterday, and indeed sat in jail in the 19th Precinct, to highlight our collect moral failure.  Illinois is one of the wealthiest states in the country and if we want, we can easily fund our housing, schools, healthcare, and life-giving government programs, with a few changes, (see for example, FEI).  This is a choice we are not making right now.
 
I’m not talking about handouts.  I’m talking about the moral will to budget in a fair way. Right now our budgeting decisions continue to favor the richest at the expense of the rest of us.  Public policy, as carried out in its city, county and state budgets has a moral root – and ours is rotten.  
 
The residents of Tent City are not just a barometer of this devolution, but are living and breathing individuals like you and I – friends, fellow citizens that want to be productive members of society, not kicked to the curb and swept away.  Who will be next if we don’t stand up for what’s right today?
 
I joined in civil disobedience yesterday for a both/and.  For both our renewed morality and spirituality, and for public policy including budgets that reflect this and work from the bottom up to favor the poor and powerless first.
 
I call on Chicago to transform itself and care for each and every citizen, starting with those living in Tent City.
 
The Reverend Fred Kinsey, Pastor
Unity Lutheran Church, Chicago

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ONE Northside Organizing Neighborhoods for Equality: Northside

Organizing Neighborhoods for Equality: Northside is a mixed-income, multi-ethnic, intergenerational organization that unites our diverse communities. We build collective power to eliminate injustice through bold and innovative community organizing. We accomplish this through developing grassroots leaders and acting together to effect change.

ONE Northside organizes people from over 100 institutions, as well as individual community residents, from Rogers Park, Edgewater, Uptown, Ravenswood, North Center, Lake View, and Lincoln Park.

Click here to visit their website. 

Link here for one-pager on the Wall Street Financial Transaction Tax

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Nursing Home Partnership

Unity continues to develop a partnership with its neighborhood Nursing Home, 
All American, located around the corner on 5448 N Broadway.  
A team from Unity visits All American once a month on Saturday afternoons 
with the goal of connecting as neighbors, 
bringing the face of Christ, and making friends. 
Contact Pastor Fred for more information. 

Click here for their website.

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