PFLEGER USES 9/11 REFERENCE TO APPEAL FOR JOBS FOR AT-RISK YOUTH
Father Michael Pfleger on Tuesday used a provocative reference to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to exhort Chicago businesses to open their doors to 58,000 disconnected young people who are neither working nor in school.
“Nineteen people on 9/ 11 terrorized this nation. Nineteen people shut this nation down. Imagine what we in this room could do if we were as committed as they were,” Pfleger told an audience of moversandshakers including Mayor Rahm Emanuel during the Opportunity Youth Summit at the Chicago Cultural Center hosted by Thrive Chicago.
“We have learned how to save the e whales. We’ve learned how to save the dolphins. We’ve learned how to save the exotic birds. Well damn it, it’s time to learn how to save our children.”
Pfleger argued that a “not- in- mybackyard - mentality” is no longer going to work. Not when Chicago has more than 58,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who don’t have a job and are not going to school.
“We are all in this boat together. Sooner or later, it’s gonna affect you in the downtown and the North Shore if you don’t do something about it because violence has keys and it can drive anywhere at any time,” Pfleger said.
“We talk all the time about the change in the culture of the Police Department. We’ve got to change the culture of ourselves in this city to say we’re all part of this. Nobody gets a pass. Nobody can walk away or just say, ‘ I’ll look at it from afar or pray about it.’ It’s going to demand that we target these individuals who have been discarded and disposable. We can’t just ride the tide. We’ve got to go after the places that don’t even have water.”
Thrive Chicago is a not- for- profit that has launched a campaign to get 10,000 of those disconnected young people back to work, or to school, by 2020.
That’s apparently not good enough for Pfleger, crusading pastor of Saint Sabina’s Catholic Church in Auburn- Gresham. Pfleger said it’s no accident that most of the disconnected young people live in Chicago’s 15 most violent and impoverished neighborhoods.
“It creates the perfect storm for our children to fall through the cracks of society. If you put two lions in a cage and you don’t feed them, one’s gonna kill the other. If we cage in whole communities around this country, we will see people turn on and kill one another in a survival of the fittest,” Pfleger said.
“Too many young people feel today like they are throwaways. Like they are discarded and they are disposable. These conditions have helped create a climate of violence. Our children have become… the road kill of our day.”
Pfleger exhorted Chicago businesses to open their doors to disconnected young people and break down the barriers used to keep exoffenders out.
“It’s going to demand that we pry open the doors … and sometimes kick down the doors. Whatever we’ve got to do to make businesses and employers open up their doors to these young people,” Pfleger said.
“We’ve got to open up the doors to businesses who have closed their doors to those who have records or a past history of incarceration. We can’t keep telling somebody, ‘ Do something with your life, but we’re not gonna open the door to do that.’”
“NINETEEN PEOPLE ON 9/ 11 TERRORIZED THIS NATION. NINETEEN PEOPLE SHUT THIS NATION DOWN. IMAGINE WHAT WE IN THIS ROOM COULD DO IF WE WERE AS COMMITTED AS THEY WERE.” THE REV. MICHAEL PFLEGER, at the Opportunity Youth Summit on Tuesday