Violence prompts more questions than answers
Neither the mayor or city council should be expected to have the answers
For many of us, it’s tough to get our head around the number of shootings-62 this past weekend. But here is a virtual visual that might help put that total in perspective. Imagine either sideline of players at a National Football League (NFL) game. That is a pretty long stretch-55 men to be exact. Now imagine each of them suddenly disappearing. Yes, an entire NFL team and then some equate to the number of individuals shot in Chicago.
l admit I felt sorry for Mayor Brandon Johnson as he fumbled his way through a brief news conference addressing the rash of shootings. Understandably, the news media turns to the top elected official when there is such an outpouring of violence. What is not so understandable is why the mayor cannot say he simply doesn’t have the answers and is not sure if anyone does. Worse yet, we have 50 men and women elected to represent all wards in the city and they have been mum. Some might ask what can council members say, other than how tragic the weekend was. What all or any of the alderpersons can say is they want to work with the Johnson Administration to try to quell this level of violence. They can end the brewing rancor and proclaim we are all in this together.
It’s wrong-minded in my opinion to expect any of our elected officials to have all of the answers to this dilemma. However, it is not wrong for them to look to the community for some of the answers. Shouldn’t the electeds check in with the ladies in the pink T-shirts on the corners giving away hot dogs? The Englewood community has a legion of organizations focusing on violence reduction. Doesn’t it make sense for all of the alderpersons (five to be exact) representing that community to meet every week with the leaders of those organizations and get an assessment of how things can improve with the city’s help?
We are aware of the dozens of organizations being publicly and privately funded to fight violence. What we aren’t aware of is the accounting for those dollars. One estimate is that more than $50 million is funneled to these organizations. We should know the ratio of administrative spending to services rendered. That sort of information will help galvanize the community and possibly support these orgs in ways they previously haven’t. Of course, it will mean some of them will have to step up to a level of accountability we haven’t seen from them.
Shouldn’t elected officials and top administrators at the Chicago Police Department sit down with some of the known shooters and ask about the challenges of not picking up a gun? While all of this meeting is going on, I don’t see anything wrong with many of our alderpersons hosting gatherings for state legisltors to discuss changing laws that make it so extremely difficult for people being released from prison and back into the community.
Maybe you are ignorant like I once was and didn’t realize serving your time was not enough. When these men and women re-enter society they are restricted as to where they can live as many landlords refuse to accept a returning citizen as a tenant. Even in instances where a job applicant doesn’t have to check a box denoting whether he or she had ever been convicted of a felony, potential employers have ways of finding out and rejecting that applicant. Many of the recently released can’t get a drivers license upon their return because of unpaid tickets on their record when they were initially incarcerated; and when they get out have no means of paying those increased fines. And for those who can get a job, the bus fare getting back and forth can put a serious dent in the paycheck.
Have community leaders from the South Side and West Side been convened to find out what they are doing to address the problem, and if there is more their organizations can and are willing to do?
We are fooling ourselves if we believe the answers to this ongoing dilemma are anything other than community based. The CPD has been in perpetual transition for more than two years now.
Those who see themselves as leaders definitely need to develop more collaborative strategies. Marching has become a staple, but no quantative results are ever presented from any march. The cliche of ‘bringing awareness to the violence” is nothing more than that. What more can be done?
As a community we should adhere to theold street saying ‘get in where you fit in.’