Mass shootings overwhelm city
Monday, Aug 6, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* There are no words…
* Tribune…
The largest shooting, which injured eight people, happened in the South Side’s Gresham neighborhood as a group, including a 14-year-old girl, was standing in a courtyard just before 12:40 a.m.
The crowd had gathered after attending a funeral repass, said Fred Waller, Chicago police chief of patrol. […]
At 16th Street and Avers Avenue, people in lime green T-shirts from an annual block party in the West Side’s Lawndale neighborhood gathered on sidewalks and in streets after a shooting there around midnight. Crime scene tape crossed 16th Street east of Springfield Avenue and stretched far down the block past Penn Elementary School on the south side of 16th.
There, a 13-year-old boy was shot twice in the right arm. A car drove up to the gathering and two people got out and opened fire into the crowd, hitting two more teenagers and a 25-year-old man. […]
The youngest person hurt was an 11-year-old boy shot in the left leg on the West Side — also in the Lawndale neighborhood. He was on the sidewalk with five other people, including a 14-year-old boy, when two men came up to them and started shooting, police said.
* Sun-Times…
The heaviest amount of violence took place between midnight and 3 a.m., when 30 people were shot. Five mass shootings, in which three or more people were shot, accounted for 25 of the shooting victims during the three-hour span. […]
The aftermath of many of the shootings played out inside and outside the emergency room at Stroger Hospital where extended members and friends were prevented from entering as the staff dealt with the influx of trauma patients.
Visitation was limited to immediate family members, leaving dozens of people to mill about the parking lot outside the emergency room, where the sounds of crying, wailing and yelling could be heard every few minutes. Tempers occasionally flared. Nearly two dozen police officers huddled near the entrance to the hospital.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said one law enforcement officer stationed outside the hospital who’s seen similar scenes play out over two decades.
“It’s hot right now. There’s a lot of tension,” said the officer, who asked not to be named. “And it might get worse because you can hear people talking about revenge, saying on their cellphones ‘I know know who did it. You get him.’ ”
* WGN TV…
Dozens and dozens of families waited for word on shooting victims being treated at Stroger Hospital Sunday afternoon. Police blocked the emergency room driveway amid rising tensions.
“This hospital is almost like a trauma center in a war zone,” community activist Eric Russell said.
* CBS 2...
“It’s absolutely outrageous. It’s a state of emergency in our city,” Pfleger said Sunday in response to the series of mass shootings earlier in the day. “Someplace else in the country, the whole country would be talking about that this morning. All world news and national news would be talking about that. Four types of mass shootings going on in Chicago with those numbers, and it’s a weekend in Chicago, a rough weekend. No it’s not a rough weekend! It’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s unacceptable.”
* July stats…
60 shot & killed […]
1 homicide-linked arrest
Emphasis added.
- Anonimity - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 9:10 am:
Maybe I’m old and out-of-touch, but when I read about young teenagers getting shot and it is between midnight and 3:00am, my first thought is “Huh?” I have a teenager and never in his life has he been out on the streets at that time or even asked to do so. And I don’t live in an area that comes up on lists of most dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago.
Again, maybe I am just old…
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 9:12 am:
Yeah, but it’s in those neighborhoods.
The true Illinois Exodus is the hundreds of thousands of black Chicagoans who’ve left the city in recent decades.
Given the weekend headlines, obviously it’s all about property taxes.
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/June-2017/Chicagos-Population-Problem/
- Frank talks - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 9:14 am:
It was just a number on this mornings news. But the 16 year old white kid from Mundelein who died at Lolapallooza they gave his name.
Quick question, were more resources used in the march on Friday than were around in the neighborhoods this weekend? Was the shift where most of the shootings occurred understaffed because of allotment of officers to Lola and overtime from Friday’s march?
- Ghost of Bernie Epton - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 9:19 am:
And Rahm is nowhere to be found. I’ll be interested in hearing how the Mayoral candidates want to address this issue.
But hey, Lollapalooza and Pawar’s universal basic income scheme are what’s important!
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 9:22 am:
No snark. Dr. Wilson and other charitably inclined civic leaders might want to consider passing out window AC units and helping pay electric bills.
When it get this blazing hot, people pour out in the streets late night in search of any kind of relief. It doesn’t get crazy like this in December.
- City - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 9:24 am:
Trump will be tweeting about this very soon.
- 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 9:47 am:
I just read this piece in Chicago Magazine this weekend where Chicago trauma doctors talk about their jobs, recommended: http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-2018/What-Trauma-Docs-Know/
- SW - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 9:49 am:
With the consent decrees, and another one in the works, the cops can’t do their job. Investigative stops are way down. Anyone that reads CWB Chicago can see that career criminals are released routinely on little bond or electronic monitoring. Sentences are lenient. The criminal justice system has become a joke. One teen shot by a cop and the community goes crazy. Where are all the community leaders after 60 people are shot? 60 shootings — one arrest. Pretty much sums it up.
- Moe Berg - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:01 am:
Rahm has failed, in not doing what was needed his first term to raise Chicago property taxes (still quite low compared to the rest of the state) to generate the revenues needed to hire sufficient cops and provide other services that prevent violence.
Rauner has failed, washing his hands of any responsibility for Chicago, but happy to take occasional cheesey, grinnin’-like-a-loon photos in some of these same neighborhoods to use for political propaganda.
The conclusion that black and brown lives, especially poor ones, do not matter in Chicago is inescapable.
- City Zen - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:09 am:
==passing out window AC units and helping pay electric bills.==
Amen. Try to get a decent cross-breeze in a typical 3-story Chicago walk up when you can reach out your window and touch your neighbor’s house.
I remember how absolutely unbearable my Wrigleyville apt was during a massive power outage years ago. That was one night. If that experience was the norm, my irritable self would be out on my porch fighting at with my irritable neighbors too.
- dbk - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:19 am:
I went back and read Friday’s post/comments (A strong cause with ineffective leadership)just now in the light of the weekend’s events, and would humbly suggest others might like to do the same.
Recommended: Dahleen Glanton’s retrospective on Thursday’s march in today’s Trib.
- Cook County Commoner - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:20 am:
There will be some temporary hand-wringing, but it seems most of the Chicago community, at least those with power to bring about change in the South and West sides, are just fine with crocodile tears on demand.
Chicago needs money and lots of it. Repairing the South and West Sides would require the time, dedication and resources of a mini-Marshall Plan in Europe after WWII. Not going to happen.
Enhancing downtown and the lake shore, Rogers Park to Southshore, in order to draw in higher income residents appears to be the gameplay. Containment and crumbs for the rest.
- TKMH - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:22 am:
==Where are all of the community leaders after 60 people are shot?==
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-dan-ryan-pfleger-violence-protest-20180706-story,amp.html
They’re protesting, but no one seems to be paying attention.
- Archpundit - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:25 am:
===With the consent decrees, and another one in the works, the cops can’t do their job.
So there are 110 fewer homicides to date from last year and 108 fewer to date from 2016.
- Archpundit - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:27 am:
==They’re protesting, but no one seems to be paying attention.
Exactly, I’m always amused that a bunch of white people who don’t spend any time in black neighborhoods want to know why the people in the neighborhood aren’t acting. I don’t spend that much time, but the number of anti-violence/anti-drug events are kind of ridiculous in how ever present they are.
- Saluki - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:28 am:
3293 Shot and Killed in Chicago since 2012.
17,551 shot and wounded since 2013.
- Archpundit - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:31 am:
— I have a teenager and never in his life has he been out on the streets at that time or even asked to do so.
First, it’s good that you have that response–I do as well, but in economically stressed neighborhoods like this, parents may be working, exhausted, may be addicts in some cases…
I’m not going to defend it (well the working), but we have to understand the reality.
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:33 am:
–Enhancing downtown and the lake shore, Rogers Park to Southshore, in order to draw in higher income residents appears to be the gameplay. Containment and crumbs for the rest.–
For quite some time, that’s been the play. All it takes is a pair of eyes to see.
Remember the beating Chris Kennedy took from all sides for pointing out the obvious?
- BlueDogDem - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:33 am:
I certainly don’t have an answer. But I wonder if 6,000 national guard troops posted would help.
- Todd - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:39 am:
“I certainly don’t have an answer. But I wonder if 6,000 national guard troops posted would help.”
Only if you want Chicago to look like Belfast in the ’80s and give some liberal ROEs
- The Iceman Cometh - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:43 am:
===generate the revenues needed to hire sufficient cops===
But how many is “sufficient”? As of 2016, among cities with 25k or more people, Chicago had the 4th most police per capita, even more than NYC. Chicago had 2000 more officers than LA, a city whose population is 1,000,000 more than Chicago. Both are cities with much lower crime rates.
http://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/police-officers-per-capita-rates-employment-for-city-departments.html
- TKMH - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:46 am:
@BlueDogDem
Are you willing to extend your martial law anti-crime policy to the 18 or so cities with higher per capital murder rates than Chicago? How many national guard troops would you support in Baton Rouge or St. Louis?
- 47th Ward - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:48 am:
===But I wonder if 6,000 national guard troops posted would help===
That would simply be an expensive show of force. National Guard troops, for the most part, are not police. They are trained to seize and hold territory, not to enforce civilian laws.
You’d be much better off funding 6,000 summer jobs to give to teens in these neighborhoods. Hard to be out all night when you’re tired from working or if you have to be on the job in the morning.
- SSL - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:49 am:
I remember when Rahm announced his candidacy and said something to the effect that being the Mayor of Chicago was his dream job. I don’t think his dream looked like this.
Rome is burning and I think I hear someone playing a fiddle.
- BlueDogDem - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:49 am:
I am not proposing anything. Just asking a question cause I have no clue how to stop this insanity. And Yes, the question could be applied to many areas. Do you have a solution?
- BlueDogDem - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:51 am:
47th. Good idea. Does Chicago have the resources? If not, my idea of a 1/4% city earnings tax could provide the necessary funding.
- Lucky Pierre - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:53 am:
Wordslinger
“Given the weekend headlines, obviously it’s all about property taxes”
More misdirection, who said it was “all about the property taxes”?
A lot different than your claim they have nothing to do with it
Amazing what a 5% effective property tax rate can do the price of a house.
Dwayne Wade’s house is for sale for $269,000- that is $120,000 less than he paid for it brand new 12 years ago.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/elitestreet/ct-re-elite-street-dwayne-wade-matteson-20180724-story.html
- A Jack - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:55 am:
Lolla this past weekend certainly didn’t help. You have a lot of police walking the perimeter ensuring people don’t jump the fence. Last year I saw a huge group of police on the north side of Grant Park making sure people didn’t get too close to the fence for a free listen. I am fairly certain that gang members also know that the police presence in other parts of the city will be lacking over Lolla weekend.
- Archpundit - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:56 am:
=== Do you have a solution?
I don’t think there are any easy ones. However, most of what I understand is that enforcement is limited in its effect–that doesn’t mean we don’t do it especially with a spike like this, but it’s not a long term solution.
The networks in these communities need to be disrupted–part of that are summer jobs–though some of these kids are too young. Some of it is intervention with young men in these neighborhoods.
I think this article describes some of the issues fairly well:
https://www.thecut.com/2016/07/why-is-new-york-so-much-safer-than-chicago.html
I always find this bit the most fascinating
As Science of Us has reported before, from 2006 to 2012, 70 percent of all nonfatal gunshot injuries in Chicago happened to a network that accounted for under 6 percent of the city’s total population. And 89 percent of those victims were part of a single social network of 107,740 people. This shows how gun violence — like smoking or obesity — travels between people by “social contagion.”
- Annoyance - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:58 am:
The community needs to assist, help stop it, poor is poor but this goes beyond being poor. A window unit is cheap, there are grants for the electricity service. How much does a gun cost? How can you encourage a business to come in with this violence? An investment plan but only if use of funds are accounted. The city is massive needs a constant stream of officers from the area tied to the community but the community needs to assist.
- Rod - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:59 am:
I agree with Word about Chicago’s long term gentrification strategy and will admit I have benefited from it based on property values. As most of us are aware the murder clearance rate in Chicago is really one of the worst in the USA. There is massive none corporation with police, in part because it could require some shooting victims or family members of victims to admit their own involvement with gangs and drug crews. Really Farher Pfleger is highly aware of this having been in Auburn Gresham for so long, all he can do is hope the supply of weapons will get cut off some how by legislation. Really very few of his own parishioners at Saint Sabina church are part of that culture in Aburn Gresham. I taught for years at the old Calumet Hugh School in that community before it was converted to a charter school. The divide between the good church going people and the thugs is just massive.
It’s all a little overwhelming coming back to Chicago having been gone for about six weeks.
- Father Ted - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:00 am:
This is much bigger than policy- bigger than Rahm, bigger than activists, and definitely bigger than anything we will solve here. Clearly, there are people who have no concern for the lives of other human beings and don’t know or don’t care to know of other ways to work out their differences. I don’t claim to know the solution but in one breath there are policymakers who hamstring the police department in umpteen different ways and in the next, complain that cops aren’t stopping the violence.
- TKMH - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:07 am:
@BlueDogDem
A few: Wisconsin and Indiana (or Congress) passes gun reform, summer jobs for kids, more investment in the Red Line to make it easier to commute for work from the South Side (greater access to jobs).
- City Zen - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:18 am:
==You’d be much better off funding 6,000 summer jobs to give to teens in these neighborhoods.==
Better yet, a Fortnite tournament.
- RNUG - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:22 am:
== You’d be much better off funding 6,000 summer jobs to give to teens in these neighborhoods ==
Hire them to pick up trash, cut weeds and grass, and remove graffiti and gang tags. Heck, you could even have them wash police cars.
- RNUG - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:27 am:
== How much does a gun cost? ==
About the same or more than an A/C unit …
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:29 am:
LP, please, no mas. I just fall apart when you start landing the body blows like that.
Now go home and get your shine box.
- Jocko - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:36 am:
As far as suggestions, is there some way Fr. Pfleger (or some other community organizer) could get the name(s) of the more serious offenders?
Like others, I’d rather have my money go to A/C units, summer jobs, or programs like CeaseFire rather than trips to the ER.
- Little Changes - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:43 am:
A million answers to a problem that needs two million solutions. Whether it’s poverty, gentrification, education, substance abuse, proliferation in gang activity…. Not sure if guns or gun laws, more restrictions or less are the issue.
It’d sure be nice if Chicago and state leaders would get better about chipping away at SOMETHING here. If Rauner and Rahm can take a lead - perhaps Rauner can drop the schtick of being a doofus and Rahm can unbutton the corporate Democrat cloak, there’s a little bit the chip away at.
I don’t know a lot. But I know that those screams and cries on the above video are real. And maybe, just maybe, firearms are a symptom to a vastly larger problem that is unaddressed in our nation. Regardless of the side you sit on regarding guns, if that’s your sole solution, you’re probably wrong.
- Saluki - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:48 am:
http://abc7chicago.com/archive/6268390/
Blago had the answer.
- Biker - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:49 am:
Wordslinger, City Zen, thank you. When you have children out at 2 in the morning, it is because of a lack of air conditioning. No more, no less. It is an urgently needed solution.
- Because I said so.... - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:52 am:
This crisis needs to be addressed on a number of levels. But guns are at the heart of the matter. I know law enforcement is working hard to cut off the flow of guns from out of state. Maybe the federal government can help. Oh wait, I forgot who is in control of the White House and Congress.
- Anonymous - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:53 am:
Solution? Stop shooting people. Start respecting other peoples’ lives. No amount of police presence or national guard will solve this. It might wane while there is a presence but will probably start up again when they leave. This is a moral issue. That’s why everyone is so frustrated with trying to stop it. It comes from the individual, not government regulation. Send more police or national guard? For how long? Forever?
- BlueDogDem - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:00 pm:
FYI. Old Blue didn’t have A/C til he was 23 years old.
- RNUG - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:02 pm:
This comment is going to sound harsh and cruel, but I’ve come to see part of the “solution” as just needing to write off one or more generations of kids / young adults and either incarcerate the troublemakers or isolate them in special limited access boarding schools / orphanges. That needs to be paired with much, much higher parent train and extremely early and heavy intervention in at risk families.
And all of this is going to cost a lot more than Rauner and Rahm are willing to tax and spend.
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:04 pm:
–FYI. Old Blue didn’t have A/C til he was 23 years old.–
Fascinating. Do go on.
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:09 pm:
–When you have children out at 2 in the morning, it is because of a lack of air conditioning. No more, no less.–
Dazzling burn, with that thing, that no one said.
No one suggested that was “the solution.” But mitigation is a good thing.
If you’re not aware that shootings spike on hot weekend nights, then you’re just not paying attention.
- 44th - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:10 pm:
These kids need a family member in their lives to see them through. If not, the gangs become their families. How about a summer state of emergency and lock down the hood?
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:13 pm:
–I’ve come to see part of the “solution” as just needing to write off one or more generations of kids / young adults and either incarcerate the troublemakers or isolate them in special limited access boarding schools / orphanges.–
Geez, dude. You realize that the shooters are a very small number of those “generations” of kids you want to write off, correct?
- Mason born - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:14 pm:
Blue dog,
Please don’t take this as dog piling, but as a vet I don’t think sending Troops, National guard or other, would help. I could see it making things worse instead.
I do wonder if the State could coordinate with Downstate County Sheriffs to send more State Troopers up to Chicago for the summer. I know it’s not a permanent fix but maybe it’d help.
- 47th Ward - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:15 pm:
===This comment is going to sound harsh and cruel, but I’ve come to see part of the “solution”===
You’d suggest we consider writing off an entire generation or two of Americans rather than put some modest restrictions on firearms?
Dude, stick to commenting about pensions. Please.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:16 pm:
===lock down the hood===
That comment says lots more about you than you may realize.
- 51st ward - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:17 pm:
ut how many is “sufficient”? As of 2016, among cities with 25k or more people, Chicago had the 4th most police per capita, even more than NYC. Chicago had 2000 more officers than LA, a city whose population is 1,000,000 more than Chicago. Both are cities with much lower crime rates.
You understand LA city police are small in number but LA county and CHP both actually patrol in the city of LA Chicago does not get that from County and state police except small number on highways
NY City has multiple police agency’s, transit, Port, housing all seperate agencies. Chicago just does CPD to keep control with the Mayor
- Biker - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:25 pm:
And for the other 70 people shot and 5 dead, my heart breaks. My point on the 11 year old is that 1 death was preventable. I believe in multi-layered solutions. A/C, summer electric bill support, jobs, counseling, community policing, cameras, are all part of a strategy. But A/C off the bat recognizes the humanity of those living in neighborhoods we seek to help who are simply caught in a cross fire.
- Anonymous - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:27 pm:
DO we really want a permanent police state in some neighborhoods? The police are in charge of peoples’ self control/anger/disrespect? No accountability on the perp’s part? Churches have alot of work to do here and it’s not just about poverty (which is of course, a part, but an external force). Families have alot of work to do. It starts small.
- Anonymous - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:28 pm:
SW @ 9:49 am- “With the consent decrees, and another one in the works, the cops can’t do their job.” You can’t let people who can kill without any real legal review in most cases define their own “job” descriptions. That’s like taking a poll and asking the police if you should have a right to jury trial, or if the standard for criminal convictions should be lowered from guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, to preponderance of the evidence. Ask cops if we should just get rid of judges and prosecutors to review their actions, and let cops send you straight from the street to prison, like Judge Dredd? Police cannot police themselves.
Let’s see some solidarity from the gun rights groups for all these shooting victims. NRA & ISRA recruited black people from the south side like Otis McDonald and Shawn Gowder for their lawsuits. How about Richard Pearson from ISRA and Valinda Rowe from Illinois Carry run a bus of white gun owners up from southern Illinois to step in as violence interrupters with Tio Hardiman? Time for the gun hicks to give back to the community that has provided them with so many plaintiffs.
Investigative stops are way down. Anyone
- RNUG - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:30 pm:
== Geez, dude. You realize that the shooters are a very small number of those “generations” of kids you want to write off, correct? ==
Word, yes I do … and that relatively small group is who I was referring to. I may not have been clear enough in my comment.
- Humboldt Boulevard - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:36 pm:
i volunteer with a mentoring program on the west side. if any of you offering suggestions also want to do something yourself, lets figure out how to get in touch. the program needs a lot more men to volunteer, there are a lot of boys on the wait list.
- Amalia - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:37 pm:
it’s a multi layered problem as to why there is this much violence, and, yes, it’s more prevalent in very hot weather. even with AC parents seem to let kids out. more layers of reasons behind that, and ways to solve, yes including discouraging youth from becoming parents. youth in all economic levels.
- Downstate - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:44 pm:
I once believed that much of this could be solved with a national guard presence in the neighborhood. It would certainly solve the problem……short term.
The challenge to a heavy police presence is the exit strategy. Rio (with their growing slums) successfully curbed violence in their favellas by employing shock troops and a long term military presence. The neighborhoods became peaceful and economically vibrant. But once the troops left, the violence returned.
I do wonder what impact having a national guard presence just on weekend evenings might have in the neighborhoods.
- BlueDogDem - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:45 pm:
Would anyone be opposed to reinstating the draft as mandatory?
- Moe Berg - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:47 pm:
Iceman and others: the root of the problem, in Chicago and elsewhere, and the difference with New York, especially, is Chicago’s concentrated poverty areas, exacerbated and related to high segregation. So, b/c of that, in the short term we likely do need more cops (on the beat) to literally stop and prevent the bleeding, coupled with services to address root causes. In the longer term, we need to address our segregation problem.
From New York Times 2016:
“What predicts violent crime rates is concentrated poverty and neighborhood disadvantage, and what determines concentrated poverty is high levels of black segregation combined with high levels of black poverty,” said Douglas S. Massey, a sociology professor at Princeton University.
In Chicago, homicide rates correspond with segregation. While many areas have few or no killings, the South and West Sides are on par with the world’s most dangerous countries, like Brazil and Venezuela, and have been for many years.
But segregation in New York is nothing like in Chicago: The perfectly isolated neighborhood – where every man, woman and child is the same race – is rare in New York. Less than one percent of the population lives in such areas, and most of them are white. In Chicago, 12 percent of the black population is in a census block group that is 100 percent black.
Racially segregated minority neighborhoods have a long history of multiple adversities, such as poverty, joblessness, environmental toxins and inadequate housing, Professor Sampson said. In these places, people tend to be more cynical about the law and distrust police, “heightening the risk that conflictual encounters will erupt in violence.”
“The major underlying causes of crime are similar across cities, but the intensity of the connection between social ills and violence seems to be more persistent in Chicago,” Professor Sampson said. “You don’t get that kind of extensive social and economic segregation in many other cities.”
- SSL - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:52 pm:
The scope of the problem is so large, and it has been building for decades, that it is difficult to know where to start. We see the results in the statistics, but unless you live in these violent areas, we can’t comprehend the level of despair and hopelessness the residents feel. What has to break inside a person to have them roam the streets and shoot without care? The high temperatures serve as a short fuse to the powder keg that is waiting to blow. As the old saying goes, the most dangerous man is the one with nothing to lose.
You can’t even call these violent, blighted areas neighborhoods, as that implies a sense of belonging that doesn’t exist.
In a broken city in a broken state there are no solutions. The resources to address this long ignored issue are enormous, and currently, everything in the city and state coffers are earmarked for other mismanaged areas.
It won’t be pretty to watch as it plays out. Better to watch from a distance, which many have decided to do.
- Rod - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:56 pm:
Because I said so…. correctly raises the issue of guns in the communities with high numbers of shootings. But the truth also is there are family members who are aware there are convicted felons who illegally possess guns in the very homes in which they live. There are very few cases where police are notified of this so the guns can be confiscated.
To do this would be to rat out your own flesh and blood. When there are gun buy backs many of the guns are not operational and even in one case apparently somehow a gun turned in by a deceased cook county judge’s wife to the CPD turned up at a murder scene. There is massive cynicism relating to the issue of illegal guns in the communities facing this massive violence. Really the solution of concealed carry within the city by legal gun carriers has had very little observable impact on these kind of shootings and killings. Possibly other forms of crime may be reduced by armed citizens, but the reality is more often than not even armed citizens don’t have a chance when the bad guys already have their gun pointed at you. As a State Rifle Association member I just don’t see concealed carry as a solution for what is happening in many communities, I totally agree with citizens having this right. But it’s not addressing the massive problem of shootings and retaliatory shootings in the City, it also is not intimidating car jackers and other stick up men in the City as far as I can see. I agree with tough sentences for gun crimes, but if there are limited arrests for murders and actual shootings and most of the gun arrests are being done by CPD tactical units for possession not actual shootings then statutory jail time will be limited by statute. There is not a simple solution to all of this, Word’s free air conditioning recommendation is really as good as any other one being presented.
- BlueDogDem - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:56 pm:
The resources to address this long ignored issue are enormous. Hence my idea of a city wide earnings tax.
- Trapped in the 'burbs - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 1:15 pm:
Air conditioners are not a panacea, but it is a relatively inexpensive way to reduce the number of people on the street in the middle of the night. Not sure what the down side would be. Maybe, Rauner, JB and Willie Wilson can all chip in some money to get this program started.
- RNUG - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 1:17 pm:
== Dude, stick to commenting about pensions. Please. ==
47th, see my other comment to word.
And I might be a bit more informed on family malfunctions and insufficient intervention than you think … it’s not in Chicago, but at least 3 extended family members have worked for DCFS for many years and another one worked at Lutheran Services.
- BlueDogDem - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 1:19 pm:
I’m am confused. Wouldn’t you want to be trying to sleep at night when it a bit cooler rather than holing up during daylight hours when it’s at its hottest?
- 47th Ward - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 1:22 pm:
I have an aunt who is a nun and an uncle who was a priest. That doesn’t make me a saint.
In the past, you’ve expressed opposition to gun control measures, with a strong point of contention being that they are unconstitutional. So is putting thousands of people in permanent detention.
Your comments about various pension proposals are enlightening, smart and helpful. It makes this blog the cool place it is. Your comment above detracts from the conversation and is as feasible and legal as confiscating all guns in Chicago.
- Silicon Prairie - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 1:46 pm:
The bottom line is within those neighborhoods it is socially acceptable to shoot rivals. Gangs feel is is acceptable to respond and shoot other gangs, over and over, year after year. Dont think any amount of police can stop that
- Archpundit - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 1:48 pm:
Context people. Yes, it’s awful and we need to have multiple ways of addressing the problem, but Chicago is 110 murders under last years total at the same point including this weekend, 108 below 2016, well below the numbers in the 80s and 500 fewer gun shot victims from last year at this time.
The world hasn’t gone to heck all of a sudden. The level of violence is below the crack years even by homicide rate. It’s still way too high, but takes place in a very specific network.
- Archpundit - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 1:50 pm:
====it’s not in Chicago, but at least 3 extended family members have worked for DCFS for many years and another one worked at Lutheran Services.
I saw your comment to Word and that’s fine. What I would say is that the concentration of that dysfunction in neighborhoods and actually large swaths of the city create a different structure to the poverty that we don’t see elsewhere in the state–maybe a couple places in Metro East.
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 1:58 pm:
–Wouldn’t you want to be trying to sleep at night when it a bit cooler rather than holing up during daylight hours when it’s at its hottest?–
Google “the sun” and see if that helps you.
My, you’re extra-special trolly today.
- Shemp - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 2:11 pm:
“And it might get worse because you can hear people talking about revenge, saying on their cellphones ‘I know know who did it. You get him.’ ”
And then we have articles like this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/investigations/black-homicides-arrests/?utm_term=.ea3e64b81ef4
- Shemp - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 2:16 pm:
I am all for a modern day CCC/WPA to help people out. Assist the people and help our ailing infrastructure. So many great things came out of these programs that are still standing the test of time and getting good use.
That said, most of these projects would interfere with prevailing wage work, so I am guessing this is all a fantasy because it would pit to major interests against one another.
- California Guy - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 2:26 pm:
Everyone demands action on this problem but no one really knows what to do.
- blue dog dem - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 2:37 pm:
First we get Joe the plumber. Now we have Word the A/C specialist. Prolly gonna see ya on a Rahn commercial soon?
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 2:47 pm:
BDD, I’m sure there are some clouds outside for you to yell at.
- blue dog dem - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 2:59 pm:
Shemp. Spot on.
- Anonymous - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 3:13 pm:
Rahm:”This is not the real Chicago.”
- Anonymous - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 3:14 pm:
And you all laughed when we predicted the Wild West and blood in the streets if concealed carry is passed. Who gets the last laugh?
- NeverPoliticallyCorrect - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 3:35 pm:
So the answer is we need more air conditioning? Wow, it’s answers like this that help us avoid doing anything. Like it or not there is a cohort of bad people in the West and South sides who don’t care about life. Like it or not you have groups of adults who don’t care or know how to parent. Like it or not you have a police force that is not adequate to the situation. Like it or not either you take charge of a situation or others will (the gang bangers are in control of those sections of the city). If Black lives matter then someone would do everything possible to stop this. But the deafening silence confirms our worst fears. these people just don’t matter so the slaughter continues. Doing the same old thing isn’t working but that’s what they do.
- Shytown - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 3:43 pm:
So, this must mean that Rauner is going to sign that gun dealer licensing act after all? I mean when 40% of guns used in chicago gun crimes are linked back to Illinois gun dealers, seems like we can make a pretty big impact on limiting illegal gun access my making that bill the law. Where’s Rauner now? Oh, he’ll just say it’s all Rahm’s fault.
- FormerParatrooper - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 3:44 pm:
CCW has nothing to do with this. This is gang violence. The violence existed long before CCW.
Police don’t seem to be answer, a military solution isn’t the answer and if we magically made all the guns disappear, the gangs would still be using violence.
There is an answer. Don’t protest on the highway, take your people into these neighborhoods and make your presence known. Make it uncomfortable for the gangs. Don’t give them cover anymore, embarrass them. Be in their business when they are doing wrong. Make small strides, take back sections at a time and push them out.
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 3:48 pm:
–So the answer is we need more air conditioning?–
No one claims that there is a “the answer,” Strawman Maker.
Maybe when you get out of junior high, you’ll begin to understand that there aren’t single simple “answers” to complex problems. And many problems can’t be “solved,” but they can be mitigated.
- blue dog dem - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 4:14 pm:
Cirrus-ly Word, your a bit on edge today.
- blue dog dem - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 4:34 pm:
Maybe we should implement stop and frisk in those areas. Or maybe we can just walk up and ask people if they possess a gun and a FOID card. If no FOID card, they would undoubtedly hand over their firearms.
- Sue - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 4:40 pm:
Rahm is too busy waiting on Amazon to pay much attention to more mundane issues
- Demoralized - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 4:51 pm:
==Maybe we should implement stop and frisk in those areas.==
You’re kidding right?
- 47th Ward - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 5:10 pm:
===You’re kidding right?===
No, he’s trolling.
- TinyDancer(FKASue) - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 5:23 pm:
These neighborhoods were ravaged by the 2007/08 banking crisis:
homes foreclosed and boarded up
neighborhood schools closed
mental health clinics closed
My question in not why this is happening, but what took so long.
- downstate hack - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 5:29 pm:
This is absurd..Call in the National Gaurd now.. If Black Lives Matter, where is the outrage, Where is Jessie Jackson and Sharpton.. It is time to stop innocent slaughter of kids and others caught in crossfires.
- Stuntman Bob's Brother - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 6:15 pm:
https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/chicago-75-murdered-are-black-71-murderers-are-black
https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/chicago-3-out-4-blacks-born-out-wedlock
Many posts here refer to African American poverty being a root cause of the problem, specifically, too many people with low resources vying for their “piece of the pie”. If we’re going to throw money at something, how about we pay unmarried girls to not get preggers before age 23 or so, which would greatly decrease one of the root causes of poverty? How many of the shooters (and victims) come from single parent homes, which would be another reason they’re out on the street at 0300?
- Cirion - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 6:46 pm:
I watched the Mayor and Police Chiefs news conference today and they seemed truly affected but sadly, they don’t know what to do about it. The Chief is right about the community knowing who the shooters are, they just are not turning them in to the police.
That means a bloody August to come because, I fear, these shootings will be answered.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 7:23 pm:
The people in the neigborhood can’t turn in the bad guys. To do do would be a death sentance. They are making a rational choice.
- MyTwoCents - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 9:22 pm:
There are no easy solutions to the violence problem, particularly short term. Long term it’s going to take a lot of different strategies, many of which have been discussed on this thread. One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is continued lead mitigation. The effects of lead poisoning are well known and when combined with poverty, broken families, etc. it only makes things worse.
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 9:54 pm:
–Many posts here refer to African American poverty being a root cause of the problem, specifically, too many people with low resources vying for their “piece of the pie”. If we’re going to throw money at something, how about we pay unmarried girls to not get preggers before age 23 or so, which would greatly decrease one of the root causes of poverty?–
I’m sure you’ll be overjoyed to know that both teen pregnancies and abortions are at all-time lows in the United States.
What else you got?
Not too tough to get a gun though, legally or otherwise. Chicago cops seize more illegal guns than NYC and LA cops combined.
Maybe we should adopt those New York and Cali laws?
I imagine Todd and Dick, with their single-minded interests in those “tools,” could be invaluable resources on how to cut down the stupefyingly easy access to cheap guns.
Seriously, guys, you know how it’s happening, right? Support the Blue, and tell them where the illegal guns are coming from.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/30/health/teen-birth-rate-prenatal-care-2016/index.html
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/january/america-abortion-rate-hits-all-time-low-guttmacher.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-bc-il–illegal-handguns-chicago-20180705-story.html
- BlueDogDem - Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 7:50 am:
25 years no parole for violent gun crimes. Second offense. Life in prison.
- TinyDancer(FKASue) - Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 9:05 am:
= If we’re going to throw money at something, how about we pay unmarried girls to not get preggers before age 23…=
How about we just support Planned Parenthood and free birth control?
I love all you guys who complain about unwanted pregnancies and then oppose Planned Parenthood, birth control, and abortion.
Can’t have it both ways.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 10:34 am:
==. One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is continued lead mitigation.==
Lead causes brain damage which can make the victim unable to control his/her impulses. Madison WI is digging all it’s lead pipes and replacing them. How about Chicago? It would put people to work, too.