Gang Living.

I was just with a couple of other people who have been camp counselors and I realized that I’m not the only one looking forward to summer.  I can’t wait for camp to come again!

Since I’ve been thinking about camp, it really hit me when we were visiting Quinn Chapel AME last week.  The youth that I met there were so different from the youth with whom I work each week.  They are kids that don’t likely have the opportunity to go to camp each summer.  Instead of worrying about which game system they will get for Christmas they are worried about whether their parents (if they have parents) were able to pay the heating bill.

Quinn AME is in the middle of what used to be the worst neighborhood in Chicago, but now the poor are quickly being pushed out and housing projects are being shut down  because large companies want the land for new developments.  On the outside this sounds okay, a bad neighborhood is being redeveloped, but where do the poor go as rent goes up and housing is torn down?

In Janesville, Green Bay, Marion, Murphysboro, Carbondale, and Pittsfield...in most of the places where i have lived I have not been confronted by this kind of poverty.  On mission trips it still seems like someone else’s problem once time and distance is put between you and the street.  Here it feels like it is my problem.

In the photo above, you will see some of the city housing projects.  The one at the far right (distant) is gang controlled.  The city (and community) has simply abandoned these people and when it gets too bad, they start shutting them down and selling the only housing that some people can afford because the land has become too valuable.

When did a person’s safety and welfare begin to come with a price tag?