Mayor takes a knee with police chief, protesters, in Oak Park solidarity march

Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Police Chief Daniel Hahn kneel with protesters.

Today, members of our community, young people, faith leaders and mothers who have lost sons all walked together in solidarity through the Oak Park neighborhood to honor the memory of George Floyd and to work for change.

Standing with so many members of the community gave me great comfort. Taking the knee reminded me that I don’t want to be comforted: I don’t want to be comfortable.

I want to continue to feel very uncomfortable and to dig deeper as a leader, as a man. Because those of us in positions of leadership must think beyond the ways we have thought traditionally.

I can point to a very proud track record of service on behalf of progressive causes and communities of color, and yet in this moment none of it matters because the people, especially younger people, are saying to us loudly and clearly that we aren’t listening hard enough., and we aren’t listening well enough.

The real test of whether these protests will bring lasting change is how those of us in positions of leadership respond two weeks from now or a month from now, when crowds are no longer marching every day in our streets. We can’t just ‘get through this’ and go back to business as usual.

Mayor Steinberg with Lugenia Whiteside, who lost her 17-year-old son, Deonte, to gun violence in 2016.