On Good Friday in 2017, I marched through a violent Chicago ghetto with Blaise Cupich.

On the surface, it was an archdiocese-sponsored "peace walk" tracing the Stations of the Cross through the Englewood neighborhood, one of Chicago's most dangerous. (Spoiler alert: Crime did not go down after the "peace walk”)

In reality, it was a PR stunt & an opportunity for an old white liberal to cosplay Martin Luther King Jr while dozens of other old white liberals got to parachute into a ghetto for a few hours, then return home feeling good about themselves

I saw the event for what it was, but drove down anyways, mostly to play tourist in a neighborhood I normally wouldn't dare enter. Fatherless boys with guns don't care where their bullets fly or whom they hit.

Englewood was once a stable, middle class neighborhood with nearly 100,000 people. 63rd & Ashland (shown here in 1952) was once the biggest shopping district outside downtown Chicago. That was the Englewood my father knew & grew up near.

Today Englewood's down to about 30,000 residents. Incredible number of vacant, empty lots. Only businesses are protestant storefront "churches," barbershops/hair salons, fast food restaurants, & corner liquor/convenience stores.

Emptied my wallet of all but $36 cash, a credit card, driver's license & medical insurance card before I left. Serious anxiety about how far away I'd have to park & walk by myself to get to St Benedict the African church where the march was to begin.

Drive down went quickly - little traffic on Good Friday. Found a spot in 6400 S Harvard in front of the Our Redeemer Lutheran ecclesial community building, whose decay is an apt metaphor for the heresy of protestantism

It was a 1 block walk to St Benedict. Expected to see tour buses carrying loads of marchers for the walk, but there were none. Arrived to find overwhelmingly middle-aged white crowd loitering.

We saw members of several male & female religious orders

Michael Pfleger, pastor of St Sabina (hosted Louis Farrakhan's “Satanic Jews” speech last year) with Jesse Jackson

Man in fez with rainbow flag that read, “Peace.” This was the ONLY flag flown during the march. It did have 7 colors; the "gay pride" flag has 6.

This was 2017 when the "Black Lives Matter" movement was still a thing. Several protestors did appear & chant whatever, but police escorted them off the parish grounds.

There was little quiet during this event. The buzz of the news helicopters overhead, gathering footage for the 11am newscasts, was constant, annoying

Finally Cupich & a small army processed out of St Benedict the African to the dais. Jesse Jackson positioned himself behind Cupich so he’d be on camera, desperately trying to appear relevant at a time when BLM activists spurned him

Several stations of the cross were said outside St Benedict. Cupich read an opening line, then names of Chicago shooting victims since Jan 1 were read, a layman read Scripture, Cupich said a prayer, then we sang. Finally, the actual walk began.

It took about 30 minutes to march down Marquette (6700 S) to 68th & Green for the next round of stations. Along the way we passed thru a desolate, devastated neighborhood. A boarded up four flat.

The streets were empty. I'd expected we'd pass gang members on corners, cursing at us to leave, but there was no one. Some residents, like these children, looked out their windows at us & waved

This street was once wall-to-wall buildings

A storefront protestant ecclesial community gathering space in Englewood

Of all the photos I took, this was my favorite. Habited religious. A casket store. To think there's so much evil, so much murder in Englewood that the neighborhood can support a store that only sells coffins…

Over & over the vacant lots in what was once a densely-populated, safe, stable neighborhood

Good Friday 2017 in a Chicago ghetto: Styrofoam cups stuck in a chain link fence spell out, Hosanna in the highest

Tiny homes in Englewood. 30 feet deep?

Faded glory at 68th & Halsted in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood

Finally we reached the 68th & Green where the media were waiting. More stations read. This "ecumenical" event sidelined Mary to appease the protestants & unfaithful. There was no intercessions to Our Lady. During a peace walk.

The stations of the cross reflections that were read aloud hit all the liberal talking points about guns, government programs, racism, etc. They omitted mention of conversion to Christ, the Prince of Peace, or his One True Church, or even prayer & fasting.

Liquor-convenience store, fortified with prison bars, on Halsted in Englewood. For residents in Chicago's poverty-stricken ”food desert" ghettos, stores like this are their only supermarket.

The peace walk marched a half-mile up Halsted to 63rd. This was once a major commercial drag, lined with 2- and 3-story stores & apartment buildings.

Left, heading north up Halsted to 63rd St. CTA L train station ahead.
Right, looking north up Halsted from that same L station, 1917 postcard.

Man in a raggedy, denim patchwork habit

We reach the next stop at 63rd & Parnell, where more stations are read.

The Negro planation hymn, "Were you there,” sung after several stations were marked at 63rd St

The walk, in some ways resembling a White Power march, continued east, turning south down Stewart to return to St Benedict the African

Passing the former St Bernard parish school, now a charter school named after a Muslim - Betty Shabazz, wife of Malcolm X

Blase Cupich's ghetto peace march concluded back at St Benedict the African, where we prayed an Our Father, he offered a blessing, & thanked archdiocesan staff for attending (indicating to me many of the several hundred marchers were employees ’volun-told' to attend)

During the peace march I heard zero prayers for the dead or for the souls in Purgatory. Crowd was overwhelmingly middle-aged or older, stark contrast to mostly young, authentically Catholic March for Life crowd

So much violence is driven by the 7 deadly sins, especially pride, covetousness, lust, anger, & envy. There was no mention of them. Or of forgiving thy neighbor.

The peace walk had zero effect on violence in Englewood.

-End of thread-