Then and Now

August of 1968 was an uneasy time in Chicago.  The Democratic National Convention was to meet on the South Side to nominate their candidate to succeed Lyndon Johnson who had withdrawn his name earlier in the spring. It had been a time of unrest and fear.  MLK and Bobby Kennedy had been assassinated. Richard Nixon was favored to carry the day for the Republicans. Richard J Daley was mayor of Chicago and his angry red face on television made it clear that no demonstrators would be allowed to disrupt the work of the convention.

On Monday of that week there were some protestors who gathered in Lincoln park on the near north side of downtown.  “Hiz Honor” made sure there was an adequate police presence to keep things under control. By the end of the evening, a young seminarian had a fractured skull the result of rifle butt wielded by a member of the National Guard.

The next day some of us were asked to be present on Tuesday evening to try to bring a pacifying presence to any further confrontations. So clerical collar obvious I made my way to the small park just a short distance from the Lake Michigan shore.  There was a strange glow, as the police had come with bright flood lamps. There were lingering clouds of tear gas in the air.  We had been told the police would come into the park from the east and attempt to push any demonstrators out.

And come they did, up over a slight rise in the terrain, batons at the ready, marching in a line to persuade anyone in front of them to move, to leave the park. But their steady, deliberate march did not last. The line began to run toward us… chaos erupted.  We were chased out the park and into the neighborhood, scrambling up on porches, running down alleys trying to escape the swinging sticks of “Chicago’s Finest”.

We escaped but there was a sense that something precious had been lost:  a confidence in the order of things and a security that justice could prevail. And now is another time when confidence in our leaders and institutions is in question.  I am grateful that the demonstrations have been largely peaceful and that there have been few attempts to provoke violence.  Nevertheless, count me as one who is uneasy with a president who proclaims his duty to protect law and order rather than the people… all the people.     

I will not be facing tear gas again (God willing!) but I must express the  hope and prayer that justice will prevail, that black lives matter, and that any peace that comes is not because of submission to an “occupying force”, but an affirmation  of the ideals we profess. 

                                                                                                            Ross Ludeman