Speaking at a “unity service” June 1 at St. Sabina Catholic Church in Chicago, Father Michael Pfleger said his remarks the week before at Trinity United Church of Christ were about racism, not politics.<\/p>\n
“All my life, I have had to deal with the reality of racism,” the St. Sabina pastor said in a statement to the media before his homily. “I have committed myself to tearing down the walls that divide us wherever they stand.”<\/p>\n
He said the days following the dissemination of the YouTube clip in which he mocked Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York were “the most painful days of my life, even more so than the death of Jarvis, my foster son.”<\/p>\n
Jarvis was gunned down in gang crossfire not far from St. Sabina in 1998.<\/p>\n
“This was a new level, when the world is meeting you for the first time in a minute-and-a-half YouTube clip,” he said.<\/p>\n