The latest toll: 33 DAYS, 31 DEATHS, 303 INJURED
'Cuse me???? You are conversing with gang leaders in the most passive way possible and you are warning them they need to curb their thugs or you're going to crack the whip? Am I wrong in assuming the CPD was SUPPOSED to be doing that anyway? And you know how to reach them? Why not arrest them, then? And please don't give me that bullshit speech how police just hate arresting people because the judges and lawyers let the criminals back out on the street so, what's the point.
The latest toll: 33 DAYS, 31 DEATHS, 303 INJURED
I used to work at downtown Chicago hospital. I worked with every ethnic sector and came in contact with the extremely wealthy and the poorest of the poor. I learned so much about human nature how the world works during my time there.
A soft-spoken Hispanic man in his twenties worked with me. One day, he shared his upbringing in the gang-filled Logan Square neighborhood (before the gentrification began). He shared how his mom made it her mission to keep him from joining a gang and from romanticizing/fantasizing about gang life. She succeeded.
However, he told me there were unspoken "rules" to be followed. You had to show the gang bangers respect; remember to say "hi" as you pass them on the street, etc. He told me he did so, so that they wouldn't mess with his mom. He didn't have to join the gang, he just had to show them props.
And for the cops? They know exactly where the gang-bangers are, he said. The bangers wave to the cops if they seem them patrol by. Gangs gather on the street corners doing business. "The cops could erase the gangs any time they wanted to. Any. Time, " he said. They just won't because they're afraid of getting hurt. And even more chilling, is the fact that their families don't live in those neighborhoods--so it doesn't affect their quality of life.
Can you imagine, he asked. No more gangs. Then we wouldn't have to be afraid.
The latest toll: 33 DAYS, 31 DEATHS, 303 INJURED
© It's All Wanderlust 2010
I love that the gangs will be left alone, if they keep themselves in check. What exactly does that mean? They can perform illegal activities as long as they aren't too illegal? Is that like telling a kid, "Okay, misbehave, but not too much."? This is absurd.
ReplyDeleteJohngy, I once heard someone categorize the police as the flip side of a gang, i.e., they operate like a gang, but legal one. Maybe that's why they seem to "understand" them so well. I hear Weis is getting hell over his statement.
ReplyDelete