A reader, E. S., writes (the emails are complete and unedited, the ellipses are his):
I happened to come upon a situation last Saturday morning and I had to laugh ... crying is a luxury many of us in these neighborhoods cannot afford. On the corner of 24th Street and Sacramento Ave ... in the middle of the intersection was a garbage dumpster. No one seemed to mind it. I guess the police had other things to do as well. But it's meant to convey that Satan disciples aren't welcome here. I think the bigger message conveyed is that everyone around these neighborhoods knows who the law is ... and sadly who it isn't. It's a very sad story told over and over again.
The end result was that half a block from the dumpster and less than 24 hours after this picture was taken. 3 people were shot. Someone somewhere needs to tell these stories everyday. I wish I could ... but that's a story for another day.
I asked him how he knows what a dumpster being in the middle of the intersection means.
That one is easy Sir. It's a roadblock ... much like the ones we used in Iraq and Kuwait when I was there. Except we used armored vehicles... haahaa. The upside down pitchfork is a warning to the Satan disciples who use that moniker in their graffiti and have used it for decades. On the street it means DK disciple killers.
The roadblock functions to slow the traffic to identify potential targets. Once that's done ... well the shooting normally follows. Military tactics on a rudimentary scale ... often with the desired results for one group ... and detrimental results for the other ... and the wars ... on our streets ... go on.
It's more socioeconomic than most people think. It's not lack of opportunities or deficiency in schooling that drives the violence. I too am from these streets. However, violence prevention begins in the home and without adequate father figures ... or discipline..kids turn to the streets. As Glenn Frey once sang ... it's the lure of easy money and has a very strong appeal.
School is hard..work is hard ... life is hard. But if you tell a kid I'll give you 20 grand for 20 hours ... and no one at joke to say HELL NO! Well that settles that.
I asked if he'd mind my posting the photo on my blog, with maybe a few of his remarks, shielding his identity of course. He replied:
Will someone give a shit? I don't know. At least not where we live. If someone is shot in Lincoln Park ... there's wall to wall coverage. The tragic shooting in Highland Park produced an assault weapons ban. But kids in Chicago's poorest neighborhoods are killed every single day ... and yeah some of it is reported ... but most of it isn't.
We live in a world where we know nobody cares ... it makes us indifferent to the suffering everywhere else. They don't give a shit about us ...why in the world should we give a shit about them.
And so it goes.. I do thank you for giving a shit ... and replying to my emails. I should work for the Sun-Times ... the stories ... I could tell.
Powerful-because it's true. We as a society have never really 'throw money' at this problem. I am old and have been hearing about 'how to solve' this problem, but nothing changes. Better schools, housing, social services, etc etc-never seems to happen. We know what to do-there just isn't the will. Why-'my taxes are so high'; the refrain never changes.
ReplyDeleteCan't change anything from the outside going in...but I do agree that the political will doesn't exist.
DeleteThanks for commenting.ES
DeleteWell done, to both of you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading.ES
DeleteThank you for reading..ES
DeleteSeeing the roadblock meshed perfectly with this statement: "Everyone around these neighborhoods knows who the law is ... and who it isn't." When I was younger, the graffiti I saw would proudly state "________ (insert gang name here) RUN IT. " Meaning the "hood" where it was scrawled. But back then, the CPD was still the toughest gang in town. At least, they were when I still lived in Chicago, back in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s.
ReplyDeleteThat may not be true anymore. The cops have ceded dominance and control of too many neighborhoods to the bangers. This has happened for political, economic, and even military reasons. The police are outmanned and outgunned And yeah, too many people have just stopped giving a shit...as long as they are not the ones who are affected by it...which is ridiculous. Guns don't argue. If you're in the way, you get whacked.
You should make this dude your next Caren Jeskey project, Mr. S. Which would, in effect, put him to work for the Sun-Times. The stories ...he could definitely tell. I'd love to hear some of them. I've always had a vicarious interest in the bad boys and the thug life.
Street gangs, and their murderous history, go back many decades in Chicago. There may be more of them here than in any other city in America. Some of their members have grandfathers who "rode with" the same outfits in the 40s and 50s. There's even a Facebook page dedicated to this history. Makes for some fascinating...and chilling... reading. The writing has been on the wall for a long, long time.
I lived in South Lawndale until I was 21, when I left to take an out-of-town job. In the early to mid-1960s the two main gangs were the Latin Kings and Ridgeway Lords. Oddly, they followed a code of sorts, and neither gang would harm civilians. They didn't have guns, either; just the usual bicycle chains, baseball bats and switchblades. To state the obvious, times have changed and the gangs don't care who they shoot in the process of getting their target. When I went to visit my parents for holidays and birthdays (until they wisely moved out) I slouched in my driver's seat in case shooting started. What saddens me is that I loved my neighborhood, more than I love my current North Side neighborhood. In the past five or six years I've gone back only a few times, to Home Run Inn on 31st Street, for the best pizza in Chicago.
Deletei'm sorry polskiboy, but i'm a little tired of the canard of the cops being outmanned and out gunned. first, i don't know of a single police department in this country that is. "outgunned", that's a cantanzaro piece of hyperbole (and i'm not implying his execrable personality to you by any means). as to outmanned, the cpd has, per capita, a larger police force than NYC or LA, yet has a higher murder/shooting rate than either for just 2 examples, so i'd suggest there might be something else going on here. i'm 77 years old and grew up in working class south side neighborhoods, so i get what you're saying about different times, but police dept. size and armaments have nothing to do with this sadly continuing story.
Deleteneil, thanks for this, you keep coming up with good stuff, and thanks especially to your correspondent, who tells a compelling, heartfelt story.
paul w
roscoe village
No, Los Angeles has way more gang members. But Chicago has far more different gangs, well over 250 last count i saw, due to them splintering down to individual blocks due to drug sales.
DeleteWhich is yet another reason to legalize all of it & cut off their incomes!
My older brother was a Ridgeway Lord. They were swallowed up by the Kings in the 70s. Yes very different times. Thanks for commenting.
DeleteCan't comment..but drug sales didn't bust up the gangs.. that happened with the failed war on drugs in the 80s. The law decapitated the heads of the major gangs. Left no structure..hence the chaos we see today
DeleteWhat a sad and awful state of affairs. We deserve a city where practically everyone moves around safely. Before the city is completely overrun by gangs, like we read about in Mexico. No wonder that shopping, dining, and theatres are in danger of dying.
ReplyDeleteThis is excellent and enlightening. Thank you, E.S.
ReplyDeleteThank you. ES.
DeleteThank you. ES
DeleteThank you ES.
DeleteThe SunTimes has a crime section . On the weekends they post an extensive list of the shootings. And details of murders. It's treated like a ball game.
ReplyDeleteAgreed...ES
DeletePowerful and sad. And the people who need to aren’t going to read it
ReplyDeleteWow... please forward to the Mayor this dialogue... unbelievable
ReplyDeleteThis is an example of people, often children fighting over crumbs. It's why people , often children flash mob and break into businesses. Because they have nothing.
ReplyDeleteLook at the background in that photo.
This is a neighborhood that is destitute.
It's also one of the neighborhoods they shoved recent immigrants.
It's all of a piece.
This mayor actually seems to care about this.
Even though he can't fix it. At least not right away.
There are many many issues in these neighborhoods. But we have not have migrants shoved into this neighborhood. Would we welcome them. Yes..and remember that the 26th Street corridor is second only to the mag mile in income and tax revenues for this city. We pay our way .and yet get 2nd class services . That's bullshit. ES.
DeleteThanks for your views very informative. I thought piotroski park would be in little village.
DeleteThank you for this EGD piece. It's powerful and chilling and so very sad.
ReplyDelete