This issue of A Public Witness explores the story of Rev. Michael Woolf, an American Baptist/Alliance of Baptists pastor who became the latest clergy to experience violent state tactics being used against peaceful protesters.
Johnson initially claimed he was not aware of the instances, despite having been directly asked about one of the incidents in a press conference earlier this month.
For the second time in six weeks, a pastor was struck in the head with a pepper round fired by a US immigration agent as faith leaders protested the arrival of more than 100 US Customs and Border Patrol agents.
More than 210 people, mostly Chicago-area Christian clergy, signed a letter titled “Jesus is Being Tear Gassed at Broadview.” The letter railed against ICE and agents “hunting and terrorizing of immigrant communities” in the city.
The suit was primarily brought by journalists who allege they have been targeted by federal agents, but the list of plaintiffs also included the Rev. David Black, a Chicago-area Presbyterian minister.
Despite potential danger, religious leaders and faith activists have been a visible presence at Chicago-area ICE protests, some waving signs with slogans such as ‘Love thy neighbor’ and ‘Who would Jesus deport?’
Churches across Chicago braced for Trump’s threat of a National Guard deployment and apocalyptic force, even as Chicago’s rates of violent crime have dropped substantially in recent years as part of a national trend.
In the novel “Green Street in Black and White: A Chicago Story,” Dave Larsen takes us back to a 1960s summer of social upheaval, when youthful mischief collided with the weight of adult fears.