Why I Stand with Father Pfleger

Father Michael L. Pfleger stands during a march last year to protest the killing of George Floyd and the continuation of systemic racism. (Photo credit: John W. Fountain)

This is an extended version of a column that appears in Sunday's Chicago Sun-Times newspaper 

By John W. Fountain

I stand with Father Pfleger.

Oh, I hear you, dear Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, in purporting to be on the side of justice and transparency in your silencing and removing of the nationally renowned, longtime pastor of the Faith Community of St. Sabina while officials conduct a probe into allegations of sexual abuse of a minor more than 40 years ago.

Indeed I am among the multitude that believes that truth and justice--no matter how long delayed--must prevail. That we must, at all costs, protect the least of these: Our children.

I hear you, trust me, I do. Even as I stand painfully aware of the Catholic church’s well-documented ferrying of known pedophile priests from parish to parish while paying incalculable sums in settlements to sex abuse victims--including a reported more than $200 million by the Chicago Archdiocese.

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"How often does the church’s hierarchy venture beyond its majestic gothic headquarters to touch the untouchable in Englewood?"  

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My Visit To Ghana: Remembrance of Black History Long Before Slavery

John W. Fountain stands at Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. 

He visited Ghana in 2007 and will return this August as a Fulbright Scholar where he will teach 

at the University of Ghana in Accra and conduct a research project titled,

"Africa Calling: Portraits of Black Americans Drawn To The Motherland."

He is a professor of journalism at Roosevelt University.

By John W. Fountain

Imagine. If the ocean could cry. If the walls did cry. If the sands could speak. If the cells here in Cape Coast would try to tell the tale of blood lost, of tears shed. Of souls dead. Imagine…

These were the words I penned shortly after visiting the former slave castle in Cape Coast, Ghana, in 2007--a hauntingly majestic white stone fortress overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. 

Standing on that side of the Atlantic upon this castle, where my ancestors began their shackled journey to North America, staring into waves that lapped at its shores, I was awash in Black history. Moved in ways I had not been before by our story as African Americans, by our journey, which did not begin in 1619.

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In City of 'Silence,' Never A Greater Need to 'Say Something'

Father Michael L. Pfleger, senior pastor of the Faith Community of St. Sabina

By John W. Fountain

Silence

Hear the silence

The sound of nothingness, 

crashing

like waves 

upon this star-kissed city's shore, 

in the face of injustice 

and poverty

that roar

Silence...

Deafening 

Amid burgeoning malevolence 

Merciless greed

That leaves

Black lives scattered

Black lives shattered

Listless

In the bitter night cold

Frozen

In drifting now

Souls frostbitten

By Hatred

So cold

So bold

Old schemes 

In "The White City"

Where Black dreams 

Remain elusive

Privilege exclusive

And voices that challenge 

The status quo

So few and far 

Between

That silence 

now screams!

Aunt Mary's Triple-Decker German Chocolate Cake Recipe

"I tried it, mission accomplished!" -John Fountain on baking Aunt Mary's German chocolate cake shown here.

“You almost need to Zoom it, at least the steps and what you do or its not going to come out good...” -Aunt Mary, 82 

Well, I won't Zoom it, but I’ve included pictures from my own foray into baking Aunt Mary’s German Chocolate Cake, which turned out splendid. Here’s the recipe and detailed instructions.

Ingredients for Cake: Four egg yolks; one bar of Baker’s German Sweet Chocolate; two cups of sugar; two sticks of unsalted butter; two cups of cake flour (or sifted, if ordinary flour. Aunt Mary sifts her flour about five times); one cup of buttermilk; one teaspoon of vanilla extract; one teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of salt. (Three 8-inch pans greased with Crisco Regular Shortening  and sprinkled with flour (shake off all excess flour.))

Ingredients for Icing: For icing: One stick of unsalted butter; one can of evaporated milk, one cup of sugar, one teaspoon of vanilla extract; Three egg yolks, one medium bag of pecan pieces; 1 medium bag of coconut.

Cake Instructions: Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature before you start. Aunt Mary says she sets them out eight hours before she bakes. As you get started, separate seven egg whites from yolks; beat seven egg whites, and set egg yolks to the side (four for the cake, and three for the icing). Aunt Mary says, “I usually put all the egg whites together and beat them and set them to the side...”

America doesn’t have a murder problem. America—black and white America—has a heart problem. A son of Oakland, Victor McElhaney was slain. He was an American son. He is not forgotten. Say his name.

 

Unforgotten: The Untold Stories of Murdered Chicago Women

As we prepare to launch our project on 51 murdered Chicago women next weekend, most of them African American, I am excited to share the work of my journalism students over this past year at Roosevelt University. But as a journalist for the past three decades, I am also troubled, disheartened to some degree.

For while I know that we as a society care--we have to care--about the injustices inflicted upon even the least of these, sometimes it is difficult  to tell. 

Among the stories I have written over a career, the least amount of feedback I receive from readers of all races is when I have chronicled the lives and deaths of Black people. For stories about the trivial, for my recent story about cake, for instance, I received no less than nearly 60 emails, from Florida to Hawaii. I'm not mad about that. Matter of fact, the responses just may have inspired a cookbook.

But what about the Unforgotten: The Untold Story of Murdered Chicago Women?

It is a different subject than cake, for sure, weightier, substantive and so deserving of our attention. 

-John W. Fountain

https://www.unforgotten51.com/

#unforgotten

#50womengone