On the eve of Chicago’s first gang peace summit in two decades, the Rev. Al Sharpton on Thursday encouraged the city’s African-American clergy to embrace the event — instead of turning their backs on it because the organizer is a minister from California.
“The disunity is something we have to get beyond,” said Sharpton on his radio show on WVON-AM (1690).
Sharpton said the city’s religious leaders can’t effectively combat the violence in Chicago if they’re fighting their own “turf wars” and “we are acting like dressed up thugs ourselves.”
The Rev. Gregory Tatum organized the event being held at the House of Hope church at 752 E. 114th. He said he hopes up to 1,000 gang members and others will attend the event Friday and Saturday.
“People have been doing their due diligence in getting the word out,” said Tatum, who grew up in the Cabrini-Green housing complex on the North Side. “I am hoping for a miracle.”
In Thursday’s newspaper, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell wrote the summit is receiving a chilly reception from some ministers and activists who don’t know Tatum.
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article courtesy of TheBelleReport.net
Rev. Sharpton Encourages Black Pastors To Embrace Gang Summit was originally published on praisecleveland.com
