A letter to Chicago

"Last week the AG of the United States came to your city. To talk about the heinous effect on young lives from all this violence? Nope. To continue the eight year old war on Police." 

Oh Chicago! My heart does bleed for you! And bleeding is something you have become very used to as of late. You were my home base when I worked at IBM. I traveled to you. I walked your streets. And I never felt ill at ease. Today, there are parts of your city which look no different than a war zone. In fact, more Americans have been killed by violence in Chicago in the past few years than Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

And this past weekend. What is disgrace. 10 killed and 29 wounded on Martin Luther King weekend. This past weekend, we all of us, honored this great man. A hero to us all, he is particularly revered by the black community. And what was done to honor this great man whose life was ended by gunfire? More black on black crime in Chicago. After the unbelievable number of people killed in 2016, one would think that city leaders would have had a better solution for their citizens in 2017.

Last week the AG of the United States came to your city. To talk about the heinous effect on young lives from all this violence? Nope. To continue the eight year old war on Police. To talk about the bad "culture" in Chicago's police department. Ms. Lynch - could you imagine a tougher job in America than being a cop in this war zone called Chicago? I sure can't. I think considering the circumstances, the cops in Chicago are doing an admirable job.

But (and this is for your highly ineffective Mayor), how about taking the shackles off the police and letting them do their jobs? Rather than wetting your pants worrying about being an illegal "sanctuary" city, how about letting the cops be cops? Letting them practice "broken window policing" and "stop and frisk" in the worst parts of your city? By putting more restrictions on your police, all you do is let the thugs rule the day (or night).

Part of me is tempted to say, "Chicago, you are a deep blue city. You keep voting for these morons, so you get what you vote for." But I will not say that. I really do like Chicago - a lot. I have met some wonderful people from Chicago. Chicago you deserve better - you really do. And I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but our President Elect will fix things if your Mayor will not. It will be painful to have the feds come in to take over your crime problem, but you will all feel much better when it is over.

Trust me. One way or the other - better days are coming for Chicago. Until then, hunker down and bunker up.