The week began with headlines remembering the courageous life and work of Elie Wiesel. But those headlines were replaced almost instantly with shaky cell phone images that have rightly scorched the emotions of most everyone I know. Those images, along with the others in recent years that have grabbed our collective attention (for a while, anyway), give all of us eyes to see what has been happening for years when there were no cell phone cameras and 24-hour news channels. This week has brought us an eruption of violence that is Chapter 159 in the excruciating racial history in this country. It’s hard to muster hope when we’ve seen video footage of the brutal murders of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and five Dallas police officers (with seven others wounded in that attack). This story rides on the shoulders of a stunning string of terrorist attacks around the world, including Orlando, which took place during Ramadan. And I can not forget the litany that fills the headlines of my local news each night at 10 p.m.: There have been more than 2,000 shootings so far this year in the city of Chicago.
So far. [Read more]
