I spent a good part of last week in Chicago, specifically The Sal's territorial headquarters. I was recently appointed to be a committee member for multicultural ministries, and so I attended meetings one day and a seminar the next day. Both were very interesting. It is nice to know that people are looking at multiculturalism as more than just race/ethnicity/the color of your skin. There are all kinds of cultures and sub cultures. This has been something I have been passionate about for a very long time. We desperately need to be aware of the different and changing cultures and how we can reach out to them in ways that don't say leave your culture at the door and embrace ours or go somewhere else. Anyway, it was a good time and I met some great people. I look forward to what comes of this in the next three years.

When I got back I walked into a lot of drama concerning our neighborhood. We have had some issues with the drug dealers who live across from us, but before I left we discovered that there are now squatters living in the old Olive Branch Mission parsonage (pastor's house) illegally. I had called the cops on them last week after they entered the church and two were arrested. The previous week the church had been stripped by scrappers looking to make a quick buck. While I was away the pit bull puppy that they had let run around loose and outside in the cold nearly all night was killed. We don't know if it had been hit by a car, or if they killed it, or if when/if it had been hit that they just let it die rather than take it to the vet, but nonetheless, this stirred up a lot of anger on the street. So, when I got home from Chicago I sat out on my porch with the light off and watched all the drug deals go down between the squatters and the dealers. I watched as someone tried to sell drugs to a girl who had just bought from our neighbors. I watched as she went to the squatter house and kicked on the door yelling that they needed to let her in because it wasn't even their house. So, I called the police and they checked out everything but by then the drugs were gone.

I got to talk to the police for a good amount of time. I learned about their failed meetings with the city and their union officials to discuss concessions and how the city leaves the meetings without a word. They won't even indicate where the police might be asking too much. The officers told me how the city is justifying less police by the shrinking population, which is crap because the criminals aren't leaving, only those who can afford to live in the burbs. The officers told me that they live in Grand Blanc and if they get laid off, it will affect us citizens the most because where they live it is safe. They choose to work in Flint to try and give back to the community where they grew up. In the end, I got some advice and pointers from the police as to how to get some things done on our street. It's a frustrating situation but this is why we are here. I am not going anywhere.