An Unfortunate Choice of Words

     On July 27, 1919, gang members threw rocks at 17 year old Eugene Williams, and he ultimately died in Lake Michigan. Over the next 6 days, 38 people were killed, 500 people were injured, and 1,000 Black families' homes were torched during a Chicago race riot. (History.com)

     95 years later, to the day, on July 27, 2014, a prominent City of Chicago Official was quoted in the media as having stated, "If gangs were throwing rocks instead of shooting each other we wouldn't have this problem". (Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy)
    
     That statement from 2014 is, in and of itself, fundamentally true, but at its' core the statement continues to over-simplify and miss the mark completely in addressing the basic societal needs that are not being met here in Chicago. To continue such a flawed approach in addressing this city's problem with street violence, virtually guarantees that Chicago will become the next Detroit.

     Whether we discuss the launching of rocks or bullets, the underlying motivators for violence will always be ignorance, greed, and the mistreatment of one or more groups of citizens, for the benefit of  others. 21st Century Chicago gangs have fallen into the trap best described as "divide and conquer". Currently, this strategy is working remarkably well. Gangs are now "cliques", that endlessly slaughter one another without consideration for the lasting effects on their own families, their neighborhoods, and the City as a whole. If indeed there are those in this society who continuously benefit financially from the assisted self-subjugation of this segment of our population, I take great satisfaction in knowing deep within my everlasting Soul, that there exists in Hell a special place, reserved just for them.

     I conceived an idea for something new in our criminal justice system, but ultimately understood that this idea had no chance at all for success. The idea involved completely revamping the way prisons operate. There would be no gangs there, because any gang activity would mandate immediate execution for that inmate. There would be absolutely no money coming into the hands of inmates, they would wear what is given to them, and eat what is fed to them. There would be no inmate on inmate violence, which would mandate immediate execution for any perpetrator. The only way out would be through education and training. Inmates who are able to live in peaceful co-existence with one another, and earn legitimate degrees while incarcerated, would then qualify for release back into society. Those who refuse to learn their way to freedom can then justifiably be left there to rot. Those who are released can network their way into starting businesses, property ownership, and forming unbreakable bonds with their loved ones. The cycle of multiple generations of convicted felons would cease to exist within 20 years. There are more details and nuances inherent in such an innovative system, but I know that it can be done successfully.
      I asked myself why something of this nature has never been attempted, and came to the conclusion that our prison system, (overall), has been purposely structured to relentlessly subjugate the incarcerated, in order to demoralize them to such a profound degree that they no longer believe in God, in Love, or in their own self worth as human beings who are the equals of anyone else who walks this Earth. As a result, far too many former non-violent inmates relentlessly continue to engage in the same self-destructive decision making that sent them to prison in the first place. Still others are consistently sent in to this soul destroying environment for crimes that they didn't commit, often on the basis of flawed or fabricated evidence. There are millions and millions of dollars to be made by warehousing human beings for legal transgressions, but if the supply of hapless victims, (and of absolute murderous psychopaths), drops below a certain level, there's no longer an acceptable degree of profitability involved in citizen incarceration.

     I can honestly state that I don't feel any malice what so ever concerning the quote that inspired this blog post, but as always in this world in which we exist, "Everything happens for a reason". The task before us is to use our God given intelligence to fathom that reason, and to respond appropriately.


    
            

    

Life is Priceless, Talk is Cheap

     After looking at todays' news in Chicago, I came away with three items that got my attention, and are worth commenting on. In the first news item, a Church Pastor and a Deacon were robbed at gunpoint. In the second item, Englewood Residents, "Love the Neighborhood, Hate the Violence". In the third news item,  The current Governor of Illinois and some church Pastors participated in a weekly "Peace March", where people who want to stop this wanton violence have chosen to do so by chanting slogans and marching in public. The Governor reportedly stated that "We area a family, and that we've got to stick together, and fight the violence".
     How can it be that a Pastor and Deacon being robbed and left physically unhurt be considered newsworthy? Because as news, it further emphasized the concept that armed robbers are less than human, and should be locked away like savage beasts. It serves the purpose of dehumanizing anyone who does something illegal, of an up close and personal nature, while at the same time, corporate and governmental robbers routinely go unpunished, and continue to live relatively comfortable lives. The more we stigmatize those who do wrong out of desperation, while looking the other way when financially and socially secure thieves plunder our financial resources at will, we absolutely ensure that our "society" will ultimately collapse.
     The residents of Englewood who so strongly hate the violence in this area must first come to realize that their hatred, in and of itself, is self-defeating. One of the things I taught my children many years ago was that, "It takes too much energy to hate". By that I meant that hatred is an emotion that solves nothing, and only prevents one from using logic, reason, determination, courage, and love to successfully counteract destructive behavior in others. A person cannot really love their neighborhood without first accepting all of its' residents as their equals. When those of us who "have" look down upon those who "have not", we fundamentally help to create the conditions that make our lives less fulfilling, and much more tension filled. By looking closely at the people who are committing violent acts, and how they came to be that way, we can remove the negative aspects of their day to day existence, and the influences in the neighborhood that serve to perpetuate hopelessness and violence from one generation to the next. When you actually Love Your Neighborhood, you must necessarily Love everyone in it, not just the people who are most like yourself.
     Slogan chanting and marching may have achieved some degree of success as methods to initiate social change fifty years ago, but in this situation, marching activists are largely wasting their time. Public protests of this kind can be effective in pressuring persons in positions of power to shift their use of financial resources to enhance the lives of workers, taxpayers, property owners, and voters, but protest marches aimed at influencing the behavior of persons who have nothing to lose if they're killed or incarcerated, is simply an utter waste of time and effort. The media attention given to these kinds of protests are worthless, and only serve as a way to further separate the "haves" from the "have nots", and are therefore counter-productive. There is a better way to counteract the negative and self-destructive behavior of others, and it begins with a clear understanding of the underlying educational, financial and social inequities that exist, and carrying through on ways and means by which those inequities can be eliminated.
     As Alderman of the 6th Ward, I can and will stridently and consistently pursue ways and means  which will enhance the lives of all Ward residents, not just some of them.




    
    
            
      

Political Participation as a Personal Security Tool

     Political Participation and Personal Security might, on the surface, seem to be completely unrelated concepts, but on the contrary, the two are bound much more firmly than most people can imagine. At one end of the spectrum, Executive Branch elected officials are afforded such a high level of personal protection that, if such a thing had existed in his time, Julius Caesar would have given anything to possess it. At the opposite end of the modern societal spectrum one finds the often undereducated, economically deprived, socially outcast young person, who somehow sees street gang economics and symbolic territorial killings as their only method for attaining personal prestige and significant economic benefit. Quick online research shows the average politicians' lifespan as 83 years, for gang members, they'd be lucky to reach 25. One glaring similarity that just struck me is that the two groups are more similar than most people would admit. Both groups have tended to belong to organized cliques, (Crips/Republicans/Bloods/Democrats/Latin Kings/Tea Party, etc.). Such systems thrive by recruiting anyone who's willing to follow a doctrine of narrow inclusion, to the detriment of everyone else. Somehow, our society became sidetracked, in that our Constitution specifies that all persons are created equal, not just established  members of specific special interest groups. Long ago people seemed to have forgotten that "United We Stand, Divided We Fall".  The problem lies in the fact that gang members are completely wrong in their evaluation of societal systems, and their chosen methods for coping with the situation. Overt violence and negative notoriety simply ensure that the American prison system will remain the most efficient process of citizen imprisonment on Earth. Decades ago, if these people had channeled their illicit profits into paying taxes, supporting positive community initiatives, starting businesses, and educating themselves, they'd be local merchants, bankers, landlords, and true leaders, not a collection of perpetually angry outcasts. The need for young people to form paramilitary local alliances in order to have some degree of personal safety and economic wealth would've vanished like mist, once educational and economic restrictions were overcome.
     Societies that exercise both fiscal and moral equanimity, cannot be negatively influenced from within, or from outside sources. Unfortunately, such societies are few and far between, both geographically and historically.
    I tend to feel that when one consistently treats others in a respectful manner, and refuses to be intimidated or subjugated, then even the harshest dictatorial official or badass gang member has to think twice before committing themselves to an attempt to compromise an honest and truly independent person. If we fail to participate in electoral debate, and in the selection of our elected officials, we may never last long enough  as a society, to celebrate this nations' tricentennial anniversary. Let's not let others determine our future destiny.      

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Smoke and Mirrors, That's How We'll Do it!

The Chicago Public Schools recently dealt with an $876.3 Million Deficit, by "changing the way they recognize revenue". The only honest way to deal with revenue is to understand that either you have it, or you don't. Then, use it effectively and honestly. I honestly find this type of problem solving utterly absurd. Massaging the numbers in this fashion is just another way to lull the populace into passive submission. It's a "don't worry, be happy", solution that has no place in the 21st Century.
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