***Update***
The latest reports are now indicating that at least 100 were shot and injured, 14 killed over the weekend.
***End Update***
The youngest of them was a three-year-old boy. But to even mention this violence to the protesters chanting about the importance of lives is a serious social misstep.
They have a very narrow focus on what really matters. But do you think the family of that three-year-old boy give a single damn about protests or marches when they have to sort out funeral arrangements in a COVID world? He was supposed to be learning to throw a ball, and read. Now he’s gone, shot in the back.
A 27-year-old man was driving his 3-year-old son, Mekhi James, in the 600-block of North Central Avenue when a blue Honda pulled up and fired into their car just before 6:30 Saturday night, according to police. —ABC
That was just one story among many.
Jasean Francis, 17, and the 16-year-old were in an alley about 5:10 p.m. in the 7900-block of South Luella Avenue when the male suspect approached them and fired shots, authorities said. They were coming home from the neighborhood store.
“These kids are not criminals, they are not gang members, they get gunned down for no reason at all,” Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said.
Francis was shot in the back, chest and hand, while the 16-year-old was shot in the back and side. Both were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where they died. —ABC
And another one:
About two hours later, a 13-year-old girl was fatally shot in the 1000-block of North LeClaire Avenue in the Austin neighborhood.
Police say 2 teenage boys were sitting on a porch when one noticed a laser pointed at him.
Gunshots followed. The boys were both hit, but taken to the hospital in good condition.
According to investigators, the 13-year-old girl, Amaria Jones, was inside the home watching TV when a bullet struck her in the right side of the neck. She was taken to the hospital but later died. She was going into the seventh grade at John Hay Elementary Community Academy. Her family said she loved to dance. —ABC
It’s a big problem, and a solution will require something more comprehensive then party talking points.
Politics — especially Washington politics — swallows up so much of our attention most of the time. It’s easy to forget that the LOCAL level is where so much life really happens. Is MY neighborhood safe? Are MY schools preparing kids for a life of learning, or are they failure factories that doom their students to mediocrity?
While we, on a national level, grapple with questions about policing budgets and methods, let’s not lose sight of what’s happening in those areas where police do NOT have the upper hand against organized crime, where they don’t have the manpower to determine who the violent attackers threatening their citizens are.
Wherever you may live, don’t forget to pay attention to what’s happening in your own backyard. It may well be that is where you can make the biggest difference in the lives of your own family and your whole community.
