{"id":1331,"date":"2026-11-03T00:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T00:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/?p=1331"},"modified":"2026-11-03T00:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T00:39:13","slug":"standing-together-in-rogers-park-how-a-chicago-neighborhood-fought-back-against-fear-and-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/?p=1331","title":{"rendered":"Standing Together in Rogers Park: How a Chicago Neighborhood Fought Back Against Fear and Division"},"content":{"rendered":"

For nine years, Rev. Hannah Kardon has called Rogers Park home. Situated on the far northern edge of Chicago along the shores of Lake Michigan, the neighborhood represents the longest single place of residence in her life, following a childhood characterized by frequent moves. Over nearly a decade, building a genuine, enduring community in Rogers Park has grown into one of the defining experiences of her life. <\/p>\n

Walking through the neighborhood often unfolds as a series of familiar, comforting connections. A trip to the local grocery store regularly yields a cheerful greeting from a classmate of one of her children shouting, "Hi, Annabel\u2019s mom!" Passing by a neighborhood bar brings back memories of meeting someone who has since become a close friend. Across the street, a familiar voice calls out, "What\u2019s up, Pastor!" For Kardon, these spontaneous moments feel nothing short of a miracle\u2014a source of ongoing gratitude and pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n

Yet, these familiar streets carry a heavier atmosphere today. Recent walks around the block are haunted by a mixture of joyful memories, deep sorrow, and lingering anger. The physical landscape of the neighborhood now bears silent witness to absences, marked by the lost voices of neighbors who are no longer present.<\/p>\n

The Shadow of Operation Midway Blitz<\/h2>\n

The disruption came swiftly last year during the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s "Operation Midway Blitz" campaign, an immigration enforcement surge that targeted communities across Chicago and its suburbs. Rogers Park, like many other local neighborhoods, was hit hard. <\/p>\n

\"When<\/figure>\n

The impacts were immediate and personal. Someone was abducted from the alleyway directly behind Kardon’s apartment building. A local corner where residents regularly gathered to buy tacos transformed overnight into a site of trauma, where two neighbors were detained during the early days of the campaign. Even as community members rushed into the streets to the north and south, desperately trying to intervene, the individuals were torn away. <\/p>\n

Kardon recalls the terrifying atmosphere of those early operations, including an afternoon when a friend called in sheer desperation, whispering quietly into her phone while masked federal agents stalked outside her door. On one particularly dark day, the neighborhood lost ten people to sudden detentions.<\/p>\n

For months, nearly everyone in the community\u2014alongside countless others across Chicago and the broader United States\u2014spent their days navigating a climate of profound fear. Residents hid in their homes, mourned those who had been taken, and took on risky, unprecedented tasks to protect one another. For many, that fear remains a daily reality. Kardon notes that text notifications regarding nearby detentions continue to arrive, serving as a grim reminder that the enforcement campaign to intimidate and destabilize immigrant families has not ended.<\/p>\n

Hope as an Act of Resilience<\/h2>\n

Despite the ongoing climate of anxiety, Kardon reflects that her faith has taught her a fundamental truth: continuing to live, to serve, and to foster realities of love and liberation in the face of hatred requires active, resilient hope. In response to the trauma inflicted on the neighborhood, she and her neighbors have added new, deeply meaningful stops to their daily walks.<\/p>\n

\"When<\/figure>\n

These walks now trace the geography of community resistance and solidarity. Kardon highlights a specific street corner where residents of all ages, occupations, cultural backgrounds, and walks of life took turns standing guard with whistles to ensure that vulnerable neighbors felt safe enough to visit the local food pantry. <\/p>\n

She points to sidewalks where parents coordinated to escort children home from school, stepping in when it became too dangerous for the children’s own families to leave their homes. She remembers running to her church alongside fellow congregants when the sound of whistles echoed just outside the sanctuary doors, raising their voices in prayer and protest in a desperate plea to drive federal immigration enforcement vehicles away.<\/p>\n

That same afternoon, a church across the street realized that federal agents were waiting outside their doors for worship services to conclude. Word spread rapidly through an urgent neighborhood call-out. People of diverse religious traditions\u2014and many with no religious affiliation at all\u2014poured into the streets. They held hands, formed human chains, escorted congregants safely to their vehicles, and successfully prevented the planned enforcement actions.<\/p>\n

The following day, unaffiliated neighborhood organizers reached out via text message, coordinating a comprehensive schedule of worship times across all at-risk faith communities in the area. They mobilized volunteers to stand outside these spaces during every service, ensuring that such an incident could never happen again.<\/p>\n

\"When<\/figure>\n

Choosing Community Over Fear<\/h2>\n

While the corners of Rogers Park bear the visible scars of pain and loss, they also serve as permanent reminders of the resilience of the community. The events of the past year demonstrated that ordinary people were willing to set aside potential divisions, putting their hearts and bodies on the line to protect one another. <\/p>\n

Residents repeatedly chose community over fear and courage over silence. They committed themselves to building a neighborhood where diverse people can coexist, rather than accepting an environment where groups are systematically targeted and forced out one by one until no one is left.<\/p>\n

For Kardon and her neighbors, these actions reflect the true spirit of their city and their neighborhood. Rogers Park remains a place where every person is recognized as having inherent value, where residents defend one another, and where attempts to divide the community are met with a steadfast commitment to stay together. <\/p>\n

\n

Rev. Hannah Kardon serves as the pastor of the United Church of Rogers Park, a United Methodist community in Chicago. She lives in the Rogers Park neighborhood with her husband and two children.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For nine years, Rev. Hannah Kardon has called Rogers Park home. Situated on the far northern edge of Chicago along the shores of Lake Michigan, the neighborhood represents the longest single place of residence in her life, following a childhood characterized by frequent moves. Over nearly a decade, building a genuine, enduring community in Rogers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[518],"tags":[1738,1457,1638,520,1452,1737,519,522,1736,1735,1734,521,1732,1733],"class_list":["post-1331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interfaith-family-ethics","tag-back","tag-chicago","tag-division","tag-family-ethics","tag-fear","tag-fought","tag-interfaith","tag-interfaith-parenting","tag-neighborhood","tag-park","tag-rogers","tag-spiritual-diversity","tag-standing","tag-together"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualparent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}