The press is called if the police arrive and need to shoot
their way to safety in this chaos. Somehow the police get tainted by their even
being nearby in response to the calls for help. Then the spin gets applied:
this is a cop shoot out.
I don’t know which came first, the chicken or the egg, in
this matter. What I do know is residents living in fear in neighborhoods
affected by gangs have a problem. And if they make the police the scapegoat
they have an even greater problem. The police one day may not show up because
they have allowed a chaotic environment to happen and propagate. Gangs do not
appear overnight. They grow out of a destructive brew of social dysfunction
focused on neighborhood, family and schools. Anti social behavior becomes a
defensive act of survival. Churches often get involved to lessen the tensions
but they are left powerless in the face of stubborn violence, deadly violence.
Churches, however, often become critics of police tactics.
This turn of affairs allows families to blame police as well. When this happens
they all lose. So do we in larger society.
Seems to me there are many resources to study and understand
the problems inherent in the above scenario. What is lacking is a coming
together of police, church, family and others who can lessen tensions and begin
the delicate process of building peace. Currently we are stuck in indecision
and lack of cooperation. Nothing much gets done that is good. Just tossing
blame hither and yon. That simply does not work.
The police are caught in the middle of this chaos. They did
not cause gangs to form. They are, however, charged with the responsibility of
controlling gangs and lessening their impact on society. If the rest of society
supported their efforts and helped them, police might actually gain some
traction in their endeavors. Lacking that cooperation, police are dealing with
a stalemate.
The result: 21 people get shot in 20 hours in the
neighborhoods.
That problem belongs to all of us. Social unrest and
violence is caused by heavy concentrations of population in tight quarters.
Competition among residents for breathing room and education and opportunity
pits too many people against one another. This is a social problem and a social
disease. It comes from urban areas growing quickly. It comes from urban
economies growing unequally and affecting poor people who become trapped living
in areas that increasingly are unfit for habitation.
These problems are not new. They have been present
throughout our history as a nation, and they are present in other nations as
well that have disproportionate economic development and disproportionate
economic rewards among the people of the region. The poor get poorer; the rich
get richer. The latter move to safer areas which leaves the poor to manage a
region in decline. And then more decline until conditions are not survivable and
people die.
Help community leaders lead. Help police patrol the streets
and keep them safe. Help the schools teach students about opportunity to fuel
better lives. Help churches harbor the innocent and weak in times of crisis.
But overall: participate in your community and help it be whole.
The police are not the enemy. They are but men and women
like you being paid too little to risk their lives and health to
protect yours when you are doing too little to help your own situation. Now is
the time for you and your neighbors to stand united and work with others to end
the chaos and violence. Only you can do it.
The alternative is growing violence until
someone is declared the victor over the dead bodies. Is that what you really
want?
And by the way, Chicago
is not the only community with this problem. LA, New York ,
Pittsburgh, Miami , Philadelphia ,
Houston , Dallas
and many other large urban areas have the same problems. None are immune. But
all can do more to control the situation.
When will they. And we?
March 11, 2016
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