Two faced cities

"Until you get serious about your two faced city Rahm, the head shots, the carnage, the sorrow will continue."

When I was first hired by IBM, myself and another man were going to be responsible for all post award contracts that IBM Global Systems had in Minnesota. And there were some giants. We were a part of the Chicago team, so my boss and most of the rest of our small team lived and worked in Chicago-land. Because of that, I took much of my training in Chicago and that is where our team meetings were held.

The people who lived in Chicago loved it. They loved the fact is was referred to a the Second City, right behind NYC. Sure there was some crime, but it was mostly centered down by the old Cabrini Green area. You just needed to steer clear of that area. But the food, the culture, the night life - out of this world good!

Today, Chicago is the poster child for how a large city dies a slow death. Is it still a quality city? Sure, in some places. But a large area of the city is now a certifiable war zone. I look at the publication Hey Jackass! (odd name, but good information) every other week or so. This online publication uses public domain information to catalog the shootings and murders in Chicago. Most days it is like reading a MASH report from a combat zone. 

Hey Jackass! has some interesting statistics. How many people were shot. How many people died from those wounds, and how many were just wounded. Where in the city they were shot, (and the one which really tells a valuable story) - where in the body they were shot. 

The reason the last one was so interesting and tells the story is most of the killed or wounded were shot in the head. That just says one thing - many of these killings were execution type. To make matters worse, the arrest rate for the shooters is alarmingly low. Out of the 421 homicides this year, in 352 of them, no suspect has been charged. And, over 80% of the victims were black, many of them young, and mostly male.

Chicago is the worst, but the murder rates are up in many of the large cities. Of all the reporting I see on this issue, the one questions which is not answered is "why"? Have we become that hollow as human beings that if we disagree with someone, it ends with a shot in the head? Even if a person survives a head shot, the medical bills, the recovery time is often times staggering. 

This is the what is happening to many large cities today. They are two faced. "Hey we have a great night life and eateries. Just make sure you stay out of the "so and so" neighborhood." But the people who live in that "so and so" neighborhood, have to hear gunshots most every night, worry about family members outside after dark, and have bars on every window. Some life for those who are stuck there.

We have a toxic brew of gangs, illegal guns, drugs and broken families in many of our cities. These poor kids grow up without so much as a prayer. Their choices are often times an early grave or prison. And what is being done to curb this insanity? Not much. Just be careful where you go after dark.

Even though this brew has many ingredients, the catalyst (in my opinion) are the drugs. Until we can control our nation's drug problem, we will continue to have these issues. The fact we have so many young men in the inner cities who grow up without fathers and dysfunctional mothers does not help much either.

A word to Mayor Rahm, aka "sharp elbows". I think this online publication (Hey Jackass!) is for you to read more than anyone else. It does after all, have your name on it. Until you get serious about your two faced city Rahm, the head shots, the carnage, the sorrow will continue.