The Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Roman Catholic priest and social activist, called for a revolution instead of “a bunch of resolutions” Wednesday night in Lawless Chapel.
The Brain Food lecturer, known as a militant white priest who fights for his black parishioners on the South Side of Chicago, addressed a crowd of about 125 people as part of Dillard University’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration week.
Pfleger said America is going to hell because citizens choose to ignore the homeless and less fortunate people around us.
“We’ll never achieve greatness while ignoring the poor,” he said.
He said the election of Donald Trump exposed the real America some try to pretend doesn’t exist. He referred to Trump as a bully and posed the question, “How do you tell a child that bullying is wrong when we awarded Donald Trump with the biggest job in the world?”
Pfleger cited more issues in America, including unemployment rates, mega-churches, misappropriation of funds in the American budget, and called for change through unity of small communities. He said we need the courage to rise up and change; we in the communities must come together to create change.
When he’s not preaching, Pfleger spends his time being an activist for the community around him. He has founded many programs in the Chicago, such as “Operation Empowerment” that trains Saint Sabina members to inspect neighborhood stores for poor conditions, the Employment Resource Center, the Ark Youth Center, Saint Sabina Social Service Center and Samaritan House for the homeless (Saintsabina.org).
He also spends a great deal of time fighting racism and promoting unity among all mankind. Pfleger is a preacher and activist known for having no filter when explaining what problems exist and how to move forward.
Other MLK events held by Dillard included a Day of Service, with student volunteers working at four locations, a showing of "Selma" and a spoken word event, "What Would Martin Do?"
A second speaker will be featured in President Walter Kimbrough’s spring Brain Food lecture series. CNN contributor Van Jones will offer Justice Revious O. Ortique Jr. Lecture on Tuesday, Jan. 24. Listed among Ebony’s 2013 Power 100 and winner of a NAACP Image Award, Jones has two New York Times best-sellers: “The Green Collar Economy” and “Rebuild the Dream.”