489 people died in Chicago last year. That’s as many people as a graduating senior class. Around as many people that work in the White House. And now the amount of deceased soldiers in Chi-Raq. With around 605 shootings so far this year, the violent path of Chicago doesn’t look like it will be ending anytime soon.
It’s no secret that Chicago has a notorious record. If we don’t hear of the gangs and the violence from the rappers that originated from the city, then we hear it on the news. Chicago’s prodigy, Chance the Rapper, deemed his home-town “scummy” as a result of the violence that is fueling the raging fire of youth in Chicago. We hear about the young thugs that wreck havoc on the city or the drive-by shootings that take yet another high school student. Local news stations have an endless stream of stories circling the violence that has strangled a city with so much potential.
As the year progresses, the death toll will most likely reach or pass that of the previous year, with 131 dead already in just the beginning months alone. If the mass shootings and the trigger-happy people of Chicago continue this pointless violence, they will ruin their city. There was a point in time where there were more deaths per week than there were actual days of the week. That means a death per day, and then some. It seems as if no one can escape the violent wrath. The deceased vary from the great-nephews of pastors to young mothers merely driving in heir cars.
And today, as America takes off work to celebrate Memorial Day, the violence continues to wage on. Shootings have put a damper on the weekend festivities, with around 53 injured and 4 dead. The deaths leave the city’s inhabitants to fear for a bloody Summer, with the youth bored and out of school which has preoccupied them for the majority of the year. People like Rev. Corey Brooks, a pastor on the city’s South Side, predict that this summer will be the worst one yet. The casualties prove that Chicago’s violence doesn’t stop in lieu of holidays or special occasions. Does this message foreshadow bloody Thanksgivings or Christmases? I guess only time will tell
In this time of the desperate need of authority, it also seems as if the trigger-happy spirit of Chi-Town has even reached the law enforcement.Leaving the citizens wondering who to turn to for help.We saw this mentality in the way that 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was killed. We saw this as over a dozen bullets tore through and destroyed this man’s future. We saw this as McDonald’s family turned their anguish toward the very people that were meant to protect their son. The Chicago Police Force appears to be disappointing the city, but who’s fault is it? The department truly looks as if it is trying. They’ve dispatched new officers and have vowed to videotape more traffic stops. The department has also expressed plans to begin a program that targets gang members and attempts to coax them into alternative methods outside of gang violence. So why isn’t this working? Why are there still weekly murders and the feeling of a false sense of security? Perhaps it will take much more than video cameras and new officers and much more time to establish real authority and respect. I guess we will just have to wait patiently, very patiently.
