Rev. Pfleger Will Bring 750 Crosses To Michigan Ave. NYE To Protest Violence
By Stephen Gossett in News on Dec 30, 2016 3:55PM
An anti-violence rally and demonstration of remembrance for those who were killed in Chicago in 2016 will be led by Rev Michael Pfleger on Michigan Ave. on New Year’s Eve morning.
The demonstration, which starts at 11 a.m. in front of the Tribune Tower, will feature small, white wooden crosses being carried for each of the 750-plus people killed by this year.
“It is our hope that those carrying crosses signifying Chicago’s slaughtered will bring a heightened reality to the magnitude of lives lost,” Pfleger told the Sun-Times.
Chicago had its highest homicide total in nearly 20 years in 2016.
The crosses are made by Greg Zanis, 66, of Aurora, who has been constructing the memorials for years and has displayed some near the sites of mass shootings, such as the massacres in Newtown and Orlando.
"We all know the numbers. It's horrific. It is a war zone," Zanis told the Aurora-Beacon News earlier this month. "We hear people say the homicide rate and shootings are unacceptable and we need to do something about it. This is my way of doing something."
