“Mothers Against Senseless Killing” promote a new vision

Latest

Tamar Manasseh, founder of Mothers Against Senseless Killing (M.A.S.K.), and supporters raise questions at the 6th District police station about why they are being harassed for doing life saving work in Chicago. PHOTO/ANDY WILLIS
Tamar Manasseh, founder of Mothers Against Senseless Killing
(M.A.S.K.), and supporters raise questions at the 6th District police station about why they are being harassed for doing life saving work in Chicago.
PHOTO/ANDY WILLIS

 
CHICAGO, IL — Chicago is not only a tale of two cities—the Magnificent Mile vs. poverty stricken neighborhoods—it’s also the tale of two visions. One vision is to secure our city with military-style police who terrorize dispossessed communities. The other vision is to have sharing and nurturing neighborhoods where resources become the property of all. Mothers Against Senseless Killing (M.A.S.K.) is an organization that works everyday to make that revolutionary vision a reality.
M.A.S.K. has been in operation for two years on one of the most dangerous corners in Englewood, one of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. They bring peace by feeding people, by meeting and talking with each other; they provide a friendly place for children to gather. The love demonstrated by the men and women of M.A.S.K. has real effects. Violence has been greatly reduced and everyone agrees that they represent hope for a different reality, free of deprivation.
You would think M.A.S.K would be heralded as heroes. But no, they face constant harassment by property owners and police. When a landlord complained he didn’t want them set up near his building, he complained to the alderman and M.A.S.K. leader, Tamar Manasseh, was forced to come to a meeting at the police station. Neither the landlord nor the alderman showed up, but about 30 community supporters of M.A.S.K. did.
Supporters came from all over Chicago, where the model of going to trouble spots to share a meal and conversation has caught people’s imagination. Some call them healing corners. But the police and often government officials don’t like it. Such sites present an opposite narrative to the zero tolerance, mass incarceration, police beatings and murders that are more and more the daily lot of our poorest communities.
Supporters left the police station with a tentative agreement for this summer and some assurance that the harassment from the landlord was over for the time being. But that very evening one of M.A.S.K.’s members returned home to find an eviction notice.
As the incidents of harassment and such obstacles pile up, Tamar Manasseh issued this statement on her Facebook page: “We try to make people’s lives better and the government doesn’t come up off a dime in support of it . . . but we have to constantly beg you to not be a hindrance! We have to beg you to let us feed your people somewhere that’s clean. We have to beg you to not harass and threaten us while we’re doing our good work. Now we even have to beg you to grant us a permit to host a block party, an event you don’t have to spend a dime on, to supply the children in YOUR area with all of the necessary tools they need to return to school!!!! I’ll be damned if I’m gonna BEG anybody to allow me to help the people that they should already be helping!”
If the government can’t provide it’s people with the necessaries of life then they are unfit to rule. They need to turn over the abundant resources to the people who need them. Our neighborhoods have leaders, like M.A.S.K. who know what it means to build a sharing and cooperative community.

+ Articles by this author
+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

1 COMMENT

  1. I saw Tamar Manasseh speak two times so far on Ch. 11 and am blown away by her. She needs much more media exposure to highlight a point of view and an approach to fighting off violence which is sorely needed in our fractured city. Yes, TIF money needs to be sent to community groups such as hers! I live in the whiter section of the 29th Ward, Alderman Taliaferro presiding. Has she been in contact with him? Wow.
    Jeanine Tobin (a 78-year-old grandma in Galewood)

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

Students Walk Out Across the Country to Protest Trump’s Election

Read the speech delivered by a student at the student walkout at MSU two days after the Presidential election. Thousands of students nationwide walked out to protest Donald Trump's election and his policies on the same day.

Let’s Join Hands to Resist the Trump Agenda

Thousands of groups and millions of people are beginning to reach out to one another to resist the Trump agenda. Regardless of who we voted for, we the people, have a common interest in seeing to it that all our families are well taken care of, that all children are well educated and have a future, and that we have a society free of climate disaster, racism, bigotry and inequality.

How Democrats Ignoring Gaza Brought Down Their Party

"Many Americans roused to action by their government’s complicity in Gaza’s destruction have no personal connection to Palestine or Israel. Their motive is not ethnic or religious. It is moral."

Undocumented Families Are Fighting for Our Future. Will You Join Us?

'As an undocumented mother, I can’t help but worry for my son’s safety first. As an organizer, my worry turns to resolve.'

Fighting for Climate, Students Walk Out Over Trump

"[The student nationwide] walkouts represent a call to action for both parties," said Sunrise Youth Movement, a group that advocates for political action on climate change.

More from the People's Tribune