:

PROLOGUE: El Capitan: The Ahwahneechees named this granite monolith for the chief of the first tribe of Yosemite Indians, Too-tok-ah-noo-lah. Bunnell substituted the Spanish word for chief, or el capitán.

1.We serve as a faith-Based Building Captains’ & Highrise Block Club, who have been long-term affiliated with the MTO-HUD Sub-Committee, itself dedicated to fair housing principles grassroots tenants democratically organized.

2. We are a brand of OUR FATHER’S BUSINESS WEEKLY whose URL is regroupingreformation.com

3. This said, we are essentially about continuing the Reformation African American Lutheran Congregation-Chicago Legacy of Mother Dorothy King.

4. Accordingly, we are a Black Church housing ministry whose convener/host is an adherent of the Black Liberation Theology Movement.

5. By Chicago MTO-HUD Sub-Committee we mean we are advanced members of said Sub-Committee serving as Building Captains on the one hand and on the other as a high rise block club located at Maple Pointe Apartments, itself consisting of 349 low income 1-bed room apartment units, located @ 150 W. Maple St. Chicago IL 60610, North Loop.

6. Using their own words: “The Metropolitan Tenants Organization {of Chicago} is a membership organization made up of tenants, tenant organizations, and community members and groups who support the mission of MTO.”

7. About MTO, again in their own words: “We educate, organize, and empower tenants to have a voice in the decisions that affect the affordibility and availability of safe, decent & accessible housing.”

8. MTO HUD Sub-Committee consists of MTO members focused on advancing, locally, regionally, and nationally, MTO HUD tenant relationships with HUD i.e. U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, a Presidential Cabinet Office.

9. Our process consists of hosting Black Church Bible Studies as Devotions Weekly combined with Temple Talks on HUD Tenants Rights & Responsibilities & Concerns primarily from a Black Liberation Theology Perspective.

10. We unite with the LIVE FREE ILLINOIS slogan, recently enunciated at their statewide organizer’s virtual meeting: “A disorganized truth cannot defeat an organized lie.” BTW, LFI is an affiliate of the Oakland California based LIVE FREE USA. Additionally, the University of Chicago’s Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy serves as a training asset of LIVE FREE ILLINOIS as well as of the LIVE FREE USA movement as a whole.

11. Given the above, we invite the solidarity of LIVE FREE ILLINOIS’S OFFICE OF FAITH-BASED ENGAGEMENT on the one hand and on the other their CLEAN SLATE ACTION COALITION.

12. Here, we unite with FRELIMO’S late Africanist womanist leader, Josina Machal’s perspective “Solidarity is not charity. It is the mutual aid of forces striving for the same goals.”

13. Certainly a common goal is developing an ongoing balance of power, via our low income housing ministry, between Landlord, Property Management, and Tenant relationships reducing thereby the social vulnerability of tenants in said Landlord, Property Management, and Tenant relations.

14. Although theoretically. because of local, regional, and national housing laws and professional ethics, a balance of power is said to exist in Landlord, Property Management, and Tenant relations, however in practice, because of the historic subservience of tenants, a level playing field does not exist. Tenant organization is required to guarantee fair tenant treatment in Landlord, Property Management, and Tenant relations.

EPILOGUE

“Jesus Christ speaks to the whole person body and soul.” William Carey{1761-1884}, UK Protestant Missionary to India

⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house -about my Fathers business?” ^{-Luke 2} NIV

Rev. Joel Washington {Khunanpu Sangoma}, Senior Pastor/Executive Director Missionary Control, Maple Pointe Resident, 3/31/25 Update