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| PFLEGER: Trying to 'tie up' Chicago? |
SPECIFICALLY,
PFLEGER HAS plans to do his march along the Dan Ryan Expressway come the
morning of July 7 – which is a Saturday.
Theoretically,
Pfleger wants to have his supporters march along the highway that is a major
thoroughfare leading people into and out of the various neighborhoods of the
South Side.
He
talks of wanting to clog up traffic so bad that people will have one heck of a
time getting anywhere. Pfleger wants to create a massive inconvenience for the
people of Chicago – which he says is nothing compared to the conditions that residents
of select neighborhoods in Chicago have to endure when it comes to being at
risk of being shot or killed in, or near, their own homes.
It
seems the Police Department is trying to cooperate with the idea of a protest
act. But the Chicago Sun-Times reports that they want Pfleger to turn his action
into a march through the neighborhoods.
BECAUSE
TO MAKE it anything other than risky for protesters to try to block up traffic
along the Dan Ryan is going to mean several hundred police officers being
diverted from their home police districts and doing duty along the Dan Ryan.
Anthony
Riccio, a first deputy superintendent for the Police Department, says having
that many officers reassigned potentially makes high-risk neighborhoods even
more dangerous. Although it should be noted the Dan Ryan (Interstate 94) technically is under the jurisdiction of the Illinois State Police.
I
already can envision the stories that will result if somebody gets killed in
the Englewood neighborhood that Saturday because there were not the usual accompaniment
of police in the South Side neighborhood.
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| Can Pfleger's protesters really jam up the Dan Ryan? |
HIS
BOTTOM LINE?
Pfleger
and his followers plan to be along the Dan Ryan, starting around 95th
Street, at 10 a.m. on July 7 – which is next Saturday.
I
suspect that Pfleger thinks he’s already made enough of a concession by holding
his protest on a weekend, rather than a weekday, when traffic would be even
more intense.
Then
again, it’s a bit of practicality. I have no doubt that if protesters tried to
clog up the Dan Ryan during the week – even if it wasn’t during a morning or
evening rush hour time slot – there would be many of those commuters trying to
get to, or home from, downtown jobs who would persist in driving right through
the protesters.
AND
AFTER SUCH an act of “hit and run,” they’d argue that they’re the victims, with
the protesters being trouble-makers who are able to engage in such actions solely
because they’re “out of work bums” (or perhaps they’ll use more vulgar language).
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| Law enforcement of Chicago … |
For
what it’s worth, I understand the point of doing a Dan Ryan protest rather than
a neighborhood action. It would be way too easy for people to dismiss the latter
as something irrelevant to their lives because they never set foot in “those”
places.
A
part of me thinks one person posting their thoughts on Facebook had a point this
week when saying that if Pfleger really wanted to get the city’s attention, he’d
try to clog up the Edens Expressway. As in a road traveling north to those
neighborhoods and suburbs where the locals think urban violence is irrelevant
to them.
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| … and Illinois will be busy July 7 |
Although
I must also confess the protest is unlikely to impact me, no matter how out-of-hand
it gets. I have an aunt who’s organizing our family’s annual summer
get-together for that very same day; which means I won’t be anywhere near the Dan
Ryan – although I’m sure my assorted cousins and I will be able to debate the
merits of Father Pfleger’s actions for ourselves.
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