    During the years of the Vietnam Conflict the Defense Department released, on a weekly basis, the number of U.S. military forces killed and wounded in battle. Needless to say, many weeks, those figures were staggering.

    Presently, media outlets in Chicago report the number of people killed and wounded in Chicago at the end of each weekend. Many weekends and weeks those figures are staggering. Sadly, they rival war zones. Over the Labor Day holiday weekend 13 people were killed, victims of gun violence. Another 52 were shot in Chicago. After eight months and one week 500 people were murdered in the neighborhoods of Chicago.

    In every video scene of the shootings in Chicago, there is one common picture: Chicago police officers. The expectation is that these men and women are called upon to stop this seemingly out-of-control situation.

    The First Friday Club is honored that Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson will speak to this issue. It is no longer a Chicago neighborhood issue, or a city issue, or even a national issue. The violence in Chicago is now headline news internationally.

    At the time of his birth, Superintendent Johnson was born into the toughest community in Chicago, Cabrini Green. At the age of nine his family moved to the south side of Chicago, where he still lives. During the last three decades he has held nearly every position within the Chicago Police Department, from ordinary cop to Chief of Patrol.

    Lord, make me an instrument of your peace...