Politics
After Delivering DNC’s Closing Prayer, Ald. Hall is Back to ‘Potholes and Garbage Pickup’
Ald. William Hall, a rookie politician elected a little more than a year ago to represent Chicago’s 6th Ward, delivered the closing prayer during Wednesday’s session of the Democratic National Convention.
The pastor of St. James Church, Hall said it was “humbling, joyful, inspirational” to find himself in the white-hot spotlight of the DNC, delivering the benediction alongside Tahil Sharma, a Los Angeles interfaith activist, who wore a keffiyeh in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Hall’s prayer was rooted on his home turf.
“Growing up on the block with Mamie Till, serving alongside CTU President Stacy Davis Gates, walking past the childhood home of Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, I know that women from the 6th Ward on the South Side of Chicago have changed the world,” Hall said.
Till helped launch the Civil Rights Movement after her 13-year-old son Emmett was killed after being accused of whistling at a White woman while in Mississippi. Till’s decision to show her son’s brutalized body in an open casket catalyzed efforts to push back against racist violence against Black Americans.
Davis Gates leads the Chicago Teachers Union, which was instrumental in helping to elect Mayor Brandon Johnson, Hall’s close ally.
Moseley Braun was the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate. Vice President Kamala Harris, who will formally accept the Democratic nomination for president Thursday, was the second.
“God, we are ready to fight for freedoms,” Hall said. “Division is the tool of the insecure. Hatred is the misunderstanding of love.”
“Let there be peace tonight, peace in Palestine, peace for Palestinians, peace for Israelis,” Hall said. “Tonight, by faith, we rise together.”
But by Thursday morning, Hall was back at his desk, dealing with “potholes and garbage pickup” issues in his ward, which includes parts of Auburn Gresham, Chatham and Englewood.
Hall, 40, said he hoped to inspire his generation to participate in politics and civic life, and help spark a rebirth in the Democratic Party.
“That moment wasn’t about me,” Hall said. “I hope I am gasoline to the fire of rebirth.”
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
