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.