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| 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!
But I can still
hear
Pfleger
Father Pfleger
Cryin'
In the wilderness
Of dreams
Defyin'
Cataclysmic schemes
No matter how silent
Chicago now seems
Without him
Silence…
Silence
Feel the void,
A familiar
Oppressive noise
Rising violently
Capsizing
Sinking beneath
Relentless stormy seas
Fragile New Hope's
Old Dreams
Gasping
Amid Silence
That drowns
The cries
That abound
Of those
Who die
With the mucus
Of poverty
Dripping
From their lonely eyes
The deafening sound
Of piercing lies
That soar miles high
Toward forbidden, powder blue skies
With invisible glass
Ceilings
Repressed feelings
And PTSD
In this American
city of Du Sable
Where the Negro
Still
Is
Not
Free
Who is unafraid
To speak for me?
To fight for we?
For us
In frequencies
Decipherable by
Even the least of these
But reviled by
Powers that be
A voice
Unrelenting
Uncompromised
And yet despised.
"The Enemy"
To them who lie
But Champion
In our brown eyes
For decades now
Unto this hour:
Pfleger
Father Pfleger
No.1 Instigator
No.1 Agitator
Chief Drum Major
For Justice
Both here
And beyond
A city
I find
Most fond
Of silence
Silence...
O, great city
Now absent
Of that rolling
Thunder
That cries aloud,
"Justice!"
When it just is
Just us
For whom
Justice is still denied
O, City that does not
Hear our cries
"16 shots"
Crooked cops
Baby-killing goons
Hittas on the block
Hopelessness running
Like deep rivers of snot
Homelessness not subsiding
The lonely & brokenhearted dying
The elderly barely surviving
And the whole hood realizing
“We're all we got”
Amid woeful neglect
Cast aside
And disrespect
Promises made
But not promises kept
Liars on the right
Haters on the left
Pfleger in the middle
Except now
we're left
With silence...
Silence
As cold winds blow
And this city
On the verge
Of losing her soul
Chicago
Stone cold emptiness,
Chicago
Icy old hollowness
Chicago
From the Gold Cost
To the Cold Coast
Chicago
Where your twinkling skyscrapers & Ferris wheel
And your shimmering midnight shore
Shield the truths
That lie just beyond your front door
Of how you absolutely abhor
Those who would shine the light
Upon your cancerous sores
Upon your history
of those whom your bullets have claimed
Or of accusations
That like hollow points
Murder a name
Is not a man
"presumed innocent?"
Let truth & justice reign
This much is plain
Pfleger
Father Pfleger
Has marched into the fiery hell
of city streets
Waged a holy war
For the least of these
Did not abandon ship
In stormy seas
Sought not politicians
Or preachers to please
Cried aloud
And spared not
In the face of hate
That he might help alter
This city's fate
Declaring with crystal clear clarity
In the key of Charity
The way things are
But the way things ought to be
His light shinning
Redefining “church”
Bringing healing to hurt
Not a savior
But a man
Who has lifted his voice
For a righteous plan
Stood as a good shepherd
In defense of lambs
When so many so-called leaders
Didn't give a damn
Pfleger...
As constant
As the morning sunrise
Even when wearied
And with tears in his eyes
Even when facing
Adversaries & haters
And fellow clergy
Who were nothing more than fakers
Even when with animus, some of these declared,
"Here he comes that
Pfleger"
"Who does he think he is?"
Pfleger
"Speaking truth to power"
Pfleger
"Feeding poor Black kids"
Pfleger
"Shutting down liquor stores in the hood"
Pfleger
"Like he's so good"
Pfleger
“That white activist Catholic priest”
Waging war in the belly of the beast
Pfleger
"Sit him down"
Pfleger
"Shut him up"
Pfleger
"Shut him down"
Pfleger
"Stop all that damn marching"
Pfleger
"We've had enough"
Pfleger
Silence!
Pfleger
Silence
The river of tears flowin'
Down the Magnificent Mile
No more shutting down the Dan Ryan
No more complaints to file
No more declarations
Of the hypocrisy
Of American Democracy
Of deferred dreams
In a land of disenfranchising schemes
Of back-room political conspiracies
Of racist religious sanctimony
Of the master plan to keep Black folks bound
Adrift in illiteracy’s sea
In a perpetual state of economic impotency
And centuries of social insufficiency
Silence...
Except
I still hear Pfleger
And the witness of
His light
After all these years
Compels me
Now & Here
Loud & Clear
To
Say something:
To hell with Silence.
Until justice rolls down like waters
And righteousness like a mighty stream
Until from Englewood to North Lawndale
Life more resembles Dr. King's Dream
Than a nightmare
on Elm Street
And all God's children
Can say, "I'm free"
Until Black Lives Matter
And the excuse-filled political chatter
Ceases to be
Like this lingering tale of two cities:
One ugly
One pretty
One where the cold wind
Always blows colder
And the other that always
Shines golden
A city where Silence
Is emboldened
Without someone like Pfleger
But what if
Amid this Silence
There arose
A thousand agitators
A thousand Irritators
A thousand Instigators
A thousand Justice Drum majors
Ignited
By his shining light
And decades' guidance
On the side of right?
No
more
silence
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| Father Pfleger being interviewed by students in fall 2019 before boarding leaving on a caravan of buses headed to Washington, D.C., for the "March to End Gin Violence" |
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| A column written by John Fountain whose students were embedded as reporters on the trip to Washington, D.C., for the "March to End Gun Violence." |