[Dialogue] 44 years ago today ...

[W. J.]

Sometimes our legalism needs to get radically called into question by the 
intrusion of divine activity (which is not at all the same as any human 
activity).
Yes, we all knew who set the fires (as well as who put them out). And, according 
to Lingo (I think) there was a lawyer in our group who was insistent that we 
report who dunnit to the cops. His first name was Michael. 
Of course JWM was wise enough to know that we owed our continued existence in 
5th City to the willingness of the local community--including the fire 
setters--to have us stay. And apparently that didn't sit too well with this 
lawyer! So he and his family picked up and left.
When I arrived a few weeks later, there were burns in the carpet in the middle 
of the seminar rooms, as well as the bullet holes in the doors etc (hence the 
name of the "bullet hole office" at the top of the stairs in the Administration 
Building). Funny how those little details stick with you long after the 
building's been 'dozed.
Marshall



________________________________
From: Bill Schlesinger <pvida at whc.net>
To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue at wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Sat, April 7, 2012 7:07:13 AM
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] 44 years ago today ...

 
Mixed memories.  Mine included Tony going around putting out fires as (never 
mentioned) friends set them in the building, and instructions not to discuss 
those activities with the police, JWM talking earnestly with folk asking them 
not to destroy what we were building.  Life is complex.
 
Bill Schlesinger
Project Vida
3607 Rivera Avenue
El Paso, TX 79905
(915) 533-7057 x 207
(915) 533-7158 FAX
pvida at whc.net
www.projectvidaelpaso.org

________________________________
 
From:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On 
Behalf Of Wilson Priscilla
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2012 5:03 PM
To: Colleague Dialogue
Cc: Order Ecumenical Community
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] 44 years ago today ...
 
We lived near O'Hare so we were picking up returning pedagogues from the 
weekend...then farming out Order children until the riots quieted down. We had 
the Marshall children at our house during for a week...or more, I can't 
remember. 
I'm sure everyone has memories of those moments...where we were when we got the 
word of MLK's death and the subsequent fires across the nation.
Thanks for the reminder of how the "gangs" really saved the Institute work at 
that moment.
Priscilla
 
On Apr 5, 2012, at 8:31 PM, Ken Fisher wrote:


 
 
Dear Colleagues,
On my fb page I wrote ...
44 years today, the West Side and South Side were burning and seething with 
rage. The shock of 'oblivion' or non-being catapulted Joe Mathews and the Order: 
Ecumenical into the New Religious Mode and the New Social Vehicle. I recall 
arriving on the West Side five weeks later and being a part of the spirit 
rebirth of that cataclysmic event. At that time, Gene Beasely and his gang moved 
into an apartment of 3444 as protection.
Ken
 
 
>From Kathleen Hamm Jones 
Wow, thanks, Ken. I remember so well where I was, in an apartment on Blackstone 
St in Hyde Park. Unlike the West side of Chicago, the Southside was kept from 
burning mostly by patrols by Jeff Fort and the Blackstone Rangers, who went door 
to door of the businesses and posted flyers signalling their protection of the 
establishments. The back story was of course about Rev John Fry of 1st 
Presbyterian Church who poured his whole life and at times, his sanity, into 
making that gang into a precursor of the "guardians" which got attention in NYC 
later. Somewhere I think I still have his book of sermons from that time called 
"Fire and Blackstone." Since then I think we have gone backward in institutional 
racism, as the USA leads the world in incarceration of African-American males. 
And on top of that fact, the pernicious reality that prison populations are 
being "sold" as private corporations take over running the prisons. It's a 
profitable biz if you contract out cheap captive labor. It makes my head feel 
like exploding.
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 Priscilla H Wilson
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