On Saturday morning, the sound of honking cars echoed up and down 79th Street. Passersby were responding to a group of young people waving signs reading “Free Prayer” and “We Believe,” as part of the Prayer on the 9 prayer line and peace march.
Organized by local pastor John Hannah, who leads the New Life Covenant Church, the event is aimed at protesting gun violence and remembering lost loved ones. Last year, the march attracted an estimated 2,000 participants, who lined up along a nearly two-mile stretch of 79th Street. This year, heavy rain and approaching thunderstorms drove many indoors, but hundreds of people still congregated along the street, clutching umbrellas and donning clear plastic ponchos.
To Ashley Johnson, a youth ministry leader at New Life who lost a cousin to gun violence, the day was about supporting those still struggling with the death of a loved one long after the death.
“The first day after a loved one dies there’s someone there, but afterwards things become much harder,” Johnson said. “Today, it’s really about letting the community know that the lives that have been lost, even long ago, have not been forgotten, that we are here, that we are mourning with them, that we love them, that they are not alone.”
Ann White, a Bronzeville resident and New Life Covenant member, echoed Johnson’s sentiment as she took shelter from the rain in a doorway on the corner of 79th and Ingleside.
“I think this march is important as a way to pray for the community and let people know that we care,” White said. “Violence can spread rapidly, even if it might not be happening on my block today.”
The street has faced mounting difficulties in recent years, including a spike in gun violence. In 2014, CPS teacher Betty Howard was killed by a stray bullet as she was working a second job at a real estate office on 79th Street. Her death sparked anger in the community and helped spur the creation of a new nonprofit, the Greater Chatham Initiative.
Some residents, like Thomas Adams, hope that these kind of initiatives and the work of institutions like New Life will help revive the street.
“The impact of these efforts is that the neighborhood is already taking a slight turn for the better,” Adams said. “79th used to be a lot more hectic but so far this year it has been relatively calm. We all want to see things get better throughout the city.”
Eventually the unrelenting rain forced organizers to reschedule the march.
Some residents decided to march anyway. Despite the cancellation of the New Life march, a separate march organized by the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity continued as planned, with well over a hundred men clad in their fraternity’s black and gold colors, all advancing down the center of 79th Street, shielded from the rain under dozens of umbrellas.
Other residents returned to New Life. At the corner of 79th and Cottage Grove, about a dozen people formed a circle and began to pray after hearing news of the cancellation. One man cried out, “thank you for allowing us to be your vessels and servants, oh God.” The prayer concluded with cheers.
Among those in the prayer circle on the corner was Sharon Winston, who emphasized her continued dedication to ending crime in her neighborhood.
“Even though it’s in the rain, we want to emphasize just how dedicated we are to the cause and how its important to us, regardless of the weather,” Winston said. “I mean, I would have stood out here as long as we needed to just to prove how much we want to help with the issues of crime and the issues going on in the city of Chicago.”
This piece has been updated to reflect the following change:
(Correction 05/29/2017): A previous version of this story mistakenly stated that the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity march was part of the Prayer on the 9 march. In fact, they were two separate marches.
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For clarity. The Alpha Phi Alpha March was actually a separately planned March occuring at the same time. Our first March on 795th occurred in March 2015 and this was our second March on 79th. We had approximately 300 marchers. Our General President Everett Ward PhD participated as well as Commissioner Stanley Moore and State Sentator Donnie Trotter who are members of the Fraternity as well.
Here’s the thing about Prayer. It has to be backed up by action. Prayer without any action behind it is just as good as no Prayer at all. Now Prayer is important and so is FAITH, all of these things are very vital to our individual collective survival as both Black People and as a Human Family overall because, at the end of the day when it’s all said and done, GOD is really all you got when everything and everyone else fails you. But FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD. Only with action will an idea solidify and materialize. The real reason that a lot of people in the black community are poor, unemployed, and lack the resources they need to live a decent quality of life is 1) Laziness, 2) Poor Attitudes towards the world of work, particularly around following instructions and doing whatcha told, 3) Poor Presentation when interviewing for jobs, particularly around dress codes and behaviors, 4) They exhibit a long list of very inappropriate behaviors at jobs sites. Employers Black, White, or whatever got no time for this nonsense and they got no patience. A lot of black men and women got life all twisted. They think that the world must adjust itself to their foolishness and that ain’t how life works. Now I’m a black man and I love black people, but too many of us are carrying on with a lot of foolishness. And nobody has the time, nor the patience for these little stupid ass games, so a lot of our young people need to grow up. These are the reasons many blacks are unemployed and living in poverty generation after generation. Racism is there and it does play a part in it, no question about it because Racism in America is a reality and it always has been, but it’s a small part of the poverty and unemployment problem, because Millions upon Millions of black men, women, and youth work every damn day, earn a decent living, and live very comfortable, stable, and affluent lives in this country and thrive and do well in every endeavor under the SUN, that is a fact. So looking at that, you can’t blame racism for your lack of socioeconomic success in life. That’s all due to your own laziness, shiftlessness, lack of personal responsibility, and poor choices in life. Because if you go out there and break the law and now you can’t find a job or vote due to your felony conviction, that’s not society’s fault, it’s yours. It’s your responsibility to hold down a job, get an education, acquire marketable skill sets, manage your finances properly, and take care of your life, that’s called being an ADULT. GROW UP, PEOPLE.
People need to take personal responsibility for their own lives. There are places all over America, where black people are doing things the right way and achieving success through hard work and discipline. There are Affluent African American Communities all over America where black people own beautiful homes, own and operate successful businesses, have successful careers, and live wonderful and decent lives. The media in this country has led us all to believe that the everyday lives of black people, especially black men revolve around crime, violence, dysfunction, incarceration, and dependence on public assistance programs for daily survival, which is a life void of self-respect and human dignity. But that’s just not true, most black people don’t live like that. The African American Community is more than capable doing for self without any interference or assistance from anyone, because everything that all these talking heads being spewing for decades about what black people need to know, we’re doing it in spades. Over 3 million black owned businesses, employ over 3.5 million people, and generate $206 Billion Dollars in annual revenues, so we don’t need no more damn speeches, everybody needs to just let us do what we do.