Chicago Weekend Shootings: 29

29 More People Were Shot In Chicago This Weekend, and the Media Barely Covered It - PolicyMic:

The news: That "Chiraq" moniker is going to stick around for a while longer. After a particularly deadly April, Chicago is keeping up its disturbing streak of gun violence: At least three people died and 26 were wounded in the first weekend of May alone, followed by several shootings in the city on Monday and Tuesday as well.
 Twenty-nine people shot might not sound like much in a city of 2.7 million, but considering that gun violence roughly kills 32 people and wounds 140 everyday across all of America, that's a startling statistic, and one that's barely been reported by most mainstream media outlets.
 Chicago's gun violence is turning into a regular event each weekend. But just because this seems like a familiar story doesn't mean it's any less worthy of media attention.
What is going on?
Chicago's problem with gang violence is nothing new, but there's been a worrying spike in the past several months. According to the Chicago Tribune, there have already been close to 600 shootings since the beginning of 2014 alone. That's a slightly better figure than the 2,185 shootings that took place in Chicago last year, but if you look at the month-to-month analysis, April was particularly brutal.

I've been reporting Chicago shooting "weekend" shooting statistics for .. what .. a month now?  It has come to the point where I cringe to check Chicago-land news, because I know what the headlines will say:

XX PEOPLE SHOT IN CHICAGO OVER THE WEEKEND: YY DIED!

The only thing that changes is the values of "XX" and "YY" ... but you know these variables are always going to be gruesome.

Why?  To quote the article: "WHAT'S GOING ON?"

Gang Violence.

No, no no no.  That's not answer.  That's not the problem.

That's the symptom.

Here's what's going on:

(1) young people growing up in single-mother homes.  There is no paternal role-model to teach them "how to be".   The so-called "adults" who sired and gave birth to these children never accepted their responsibilities to actually "parent" their children.

(2) The fathers were the same way; they never knew how to be A Man, and did not accept their responsibility for their progeny.   They came, they saw, they conquered ... then they left.  They probably received the same lack of guidance from their paternity.  (I am NOT going to call them "Fathers"; fathers have too much self-respect to abandon their progeny.)

(3) The mothers may or may not have tried to do the best they could for their children .. but establishing the best moral values for their children may have not been their first priority.  They were probably doing as well as they could by finding governmental services to support themselves and their children.  What is better?  To work and support your children, or to stay home and raise them?

(4)  What do the children learn?  Unfortunately, they find themselves in a culture of violence.  They have few, and little example of responsible action to guide them.  What they see in their neighborhood is that the people who commit violence without conscience seem to prosper.  Respect for the law is a laughable concept; only fools respect a set of laws which invalidates the only livelihood which gives them a liveable wage ... selling drugs and stealing.

(5) The mothers may work hard to earn a living; set an example for her children; try to instill moral values. But the children see the drug dealers on the corner; there's a fancy car, women, money ... compare that to the financial and moral poverty.  What course would you embrace?

The answer isn't Government Assisted Living.  It isn't Child and Family Services.  It isn't, in fact, the Government at all.

It's the Fathers, who have learned no values from their fathers.

It's their mothers, who take what affection they can find; and need it, because they are on their own unless they can find a man to be a "father" ... or a "husband" ... if only for a short time.  It's a basic need; we can't put the blame on them.



What's The Answer?

The answer is not "The Government"!  Politicians have been milking the "underprivileged class" for decades, looking for votes .. not answers.  They will vote in return ... for Public Assistance Programs which give money instead of leadership.  Or answers.

The answer is not "Social Workers";  that's a career path for people who adhere to the mantra of: "If it saves just one child" and "It's for the CHILLLLLDRENNNNNN!"

Fools.  Well-meaning fools, probably, but fools no less.

Who can "Solve this problem"?

It's the people concerned.  The mothers and fathers (or child-bearers and inseminators, if you please) who create the children.

This is not an easy concept to accept.

Impoverished people are fond of criticizing The Government because "They don't give us the support we need!"

Here is, in the words of Al Gore, "An Inconvenient Truth".

Actually, we can say it all in one word:

BOOTSTRAPS!

We're very sorry, but we don't have a viable solution for you.  You'll just have to work it out for yourself.  Sure, we do have programs to help you, but you have to do most of the work yourself.   We don't know what you are suppose to do to dig yourself out of the economic/social HELL you are in.  Everyone who says they have the answer?  They're Politicians.  And they are Liars.  (But, I repeat myself.)

Look around, see who the people who are making it do.  See the example?  They work .. they work hard, every day and half the night.  Their children work .. after they come home from school, because they know that they may not make it but their children can if they learn the value of their own efforts.

They sacrifice.  They don't "do crack".  They do school, and jobs, and anything that will bring in a couple of extra dollars in every week.

What they do not do is .. depend on someone else to support them.  They do without the 'nice things' because they know they can't afford them.

These are the successful people. Oh, sure, they may not look successful now.  But their children are clean, and respectful, and responsible.  They are determined to make it through school, so their children will have it better then they did.

They are .. and here's that awful word ... responsible.

They don't think they HAVE to live on "Other People's Money".  Welfare?  They get off it as quick as they can; never mind that they could get more money if they go on Welfare than if they work for a living.  They have pride in themselves. Maybe it's hard to feed a family on what you can make duing grunt work, but your CHILDREN will learn pride.

Know what this is?

It's The American Way.  Thousands .. millions! .. of people have made their children's lives better than their own, by their own example if nothing else.

And maybe, just maybe, your babies won't die from a random shot through your tenement window.

And maybe your child won't be the one who fired that shot.