We Have No Solutions to Gun Violence

Yes, I hate videos on the Internet, too. But you really need to watch this.  Gun violence is destroying inner city America yet it seems like only white, rural college shootings get the press.

We need solutions. Sadly every proposal I've seen from President Obama and  our "leaders" would accomplish nothing beyond harming law abiding citizens.  We really need solutions that will reduce Chicago violence.

We are witnessing America's Genocide.  We're shooting 11 month old babies.

America's Genocide

No teenager, black, brown or white should ever be murdered by a police officer.  Not ever.

Fortunately, it actually is a very rare occurrence, in spite of what you might "feel" after listening to the non-stop television reports and the rantings of certain pundits.  In  fact, it makes the national news because it is so rare.  We can spend hours upon hours concentrating on the events in Ferguson, Missouri because not one other similar event (white officer, black victim) happened since that date.  I am thankful for that.

But events in Ferguson further distract us from the real American Genocide happening EVERY SINGLE DAY WITHOUT EXCEPTION all across America.  Not one of these stories make national news. Not one of these genocidal murders ever gets the attention of President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, or any leaders in the Black community.

None-the-less, black teenage males are being murdered at an alarming rate, every day.  The dead numbers in the thousands just this year.  When do we make this a priority? When do we step in to save lives? When do we stop the Genocide?

Thirteen year old Nizzear Rodriguez was shot and killed Sunday in Atlanta by three black men (ages 17 to 24) as he slept in bed during a home robbery to steal his Play Station.

Nine year old Antonio Smith was shot and killed execution style, shot four time, just minutes after he ran outdoors to play. in his Chicago South Side neighborhood.  

The shooter or shooters have not been identified and the crime may never be solved. The Chicago Tribune has an excellent story here: Parents Visit the Block Where Antonio Was Killed

I could go on...... I have over seventy more stories in just over the last ten days......

We cry for justice for Michael Brown, exactly as we should, but we ignore the American Genocide of young black men happening right before our eyes.

The Streets Run Red With Blood

"The streets run red with blood...."

We could be talking about the tragedy and violence in Cairo this weekend, but we're not.  The above quote comes from right here in the United States, right here in Chicago, where gun violence, shootings and murder continue in epidemic proportions year round.  The six murders and twenty-eight other shootings are this weekend's toll on Chicago's South Side, our own mid-east microcosm of murder.

President Obama and the State Department issued warnings to Americans not to travel to Egypt and to leave the country as quickly as possible.  Similar warnings should be issued to Chicago's South Side, where the police are both incapable and unwilling to stop the rampant violence.

In spite of the fact that Chicago has one of the strictest gun control laws anywhere in the United States, the law is basically unenforced and, many say, unenforceable.  This is in part because courts strictly limit or outright forbid "Stop and Frisk" practices by the police as racist or otherwise unlawful.

In a broad, sweeping and scathing ruling this past week, Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin severely restricted New York City's practice of "Stop, Question and Frisk."  The long and thoroughly documented ruling will eliminate most of the stops and appoints a Federal Monitor to oversee NYC Police tactics.  

NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly defended the practice and claimed it had saved over 7,000 lives and removed thousands of illegal guns from the streets.

The fact the courts chose to ignore is that while only 60% of the people stopped by police where black or Hispanic, 97% of the murder victims are black and Hispanic.  

The real racism is in the murders.  Courts routinely and purposely overlook this fact.  

Meanwhile Kelly predicted New York would become another Detroit or Chicago if the judge's ruling is not overturned.

"Stop and Frisk" is rarely used in Chicago.  But blacks are murdered in genocidal numbers.  Someone needs to file a racism suit against the Chicago Mayor, government and Police for their failure to protect blacks.  After all there are relatively few white murders in Chicago.  The police MUST be discriminating by protected whites disproportionately while allowing blacks to die.

Justice for Sterling Sims

This eighteen year old in a hoodie is not Trayvon Martin, although I'm willing to bet if you showed his picture to any random hundred people at least half would tell you it's Trayvon and probably launch into a rant about injustice in America.  

However, this eighteen year old is Antonio Lewis and he was arrested yesterday for the cold blooded murder of five year old Sterling Sims and his mother, 31 year old Chavonne Brown.  You might remember I wrote demanding JUSTICE for Sterling Sims last July 16th.

Sadly Antonio Lewis is just one more tragic example of the dysfunctional world that is the south side of Chicago.  In Chicago and across America murder rates of young blacks has reached genocidal proportions.  

I keep saying that guns don't kill.  But police that fail to lock up a young man arrested not once, but twice, for illegal use of a firearm in the months leading up to the killing of a 5 year old and his mom deserve a lot of blame for the murders they might have prevented.  What the hell is going on in Chicago?

The police might never even have arrested Antonio Lewis if not for the fact Antonio was shot himself in another act of Chicago street violence less than 24 hours after he shot and killed little Sterling!  

Lewis was shot in the back, neck and groin in a separate incident.  Reports I've gathered so far give no indication of his shooter has been identified or arrested.

However, as of last night, Antonio Lewis has been charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.  If he recovers from his very severe wounds, he faces a lifetime in prison.

So Sterling Sims will receive some sort justice, if that actually matters after a five year old's life has been cut short. Somehow I'm even more sad than ever.

For reference here is the ABC News report on the Antonio Lewis arrest from Chicago
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Sterling Sims older sister Sabrina made this tribute video for her little brother Sterling and her mother Chavonne.  Please join me in watching this and working to bring an end to our American Genocide.

Chicago Mother Loses All Four Children to Gun Violence

Shirley Chambers had four wonderful children.  Like all mothers she had hopes and dreams for every one of them.  Today all four are dead, victims of America's Genocide, the epidemic we lack the honesty or courage to address.

Shirley's oldest boy, Carlos, was shot by a classmate when he was only 18 years old.  The tragedy was almost too much to bear.

Shirley lived in the infamous Cabrini-Green welfare housing development, which thankfully has been torn down.  But not before gang violence in the apartment complex claimed the life of Shirley's daughter, LaToya.  LaToya was caught in the cross fire of gang warfare right in the Cabrini-Green lobby.

Only two months later LaToya's older brother Jerome was shot and killed, likely a victim of gang violence.

Shirley Chambers begged and pleaded for her only remaining child, Ronnie, to abandon the gang lifestyle and chose a different path in life.  Ronnie, who was known by his nickname "Scoobie" did just that and turned into a mentor, helping other young men leave the gangs and explore other pathways, including music.  He became a notable rap performer and recently appeared on Ricki Lake's Chicago television show.

He told Ricki that the murders of his two brothers and sister made him change his life.

"That right there, you know, me in and out of jail, let me know I had to do something different," Chambers said.

Just one month later Scoobie was dead, shot in the head as he sat in a parked car.

Shirley Chambers has lost all four children to gun violence.  None were killed with so-called "assault weapons."   None of the murders would be prevented by the gun control legislation President Obama has proposed.

And, in spite of Rev. Jesse Jackson's pleas yesterday, President Obama has no plans to visit Chicago or to propose any solutions to reduce the real gun violence destroying America.

Support Rev. Jesse Jackson's Appeal to President Obama

Chicago marchers urge Obama to come home to address gun violence

(Reuters) - Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and relatives of victims of fatal shootings in Chicago urged President Barack Obama on Saturday to come back to his hometown and address the gun violence plaguing the city.

Before a march on the city's South Side, Jackson, a former Democratic presidential candidate, said America's third most populous city needed more help than Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police superintendent Garry McCarthy could offer.

"When the president shows up, it shows ultimate national seriousness," said Jackson, a Chicago resident. He also called for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to help patrol the streets of Chicago.

Gun violence in Chicago has been in the national spotlight over the past year, with 506 murders in 2012, an increase of 17 percent from the previous year. As of Thursday, there were 42 homicides and 157 shootings so far this year, according to Chicago police.

The issue received new urgency with the killing this week of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, an honors student who performed with her high school band at Obama's inauguration on January 21.

Ending Gun Violence

This past Wednesday President Obama outlined a broad and complex series of initiatives to curb gun violence in America.  Many steps he outlined will require new legislation, but a large number of measures he instituted through Executive Order.  By and large I agree with his "Executive Order" measures.  However, new legislation is unlikely to pass.

There are two very unfortunate side effects of the Obama initiatives.  First his heavy handed and combative approach further deepened the divide in our society over this contentious issue.  Obama further inflamed tempers and increased friction in our already over-heated political atmosphere.  Lats face it, President Obama does not want to be, and is incapable of being, a conciliator.

Second, every step President Obama outlined, even if fully implemented would not curb gun violence one tiny bit.  It likely would make it worse.

Gun violence can be curbed. In fact it can be nearly eliminated.  But not by making criminals out of America's most law abiding citizens.  Obama's laws are all designed to restrict and restrain good honest people, they do nothing to affect the criminals.

Many cities and communities across America are taking real action to reduce gun violence.  None are doing it by further restricting guns.  One example is tremendous success is Aurora, Illinois.  Aurora is Illinois second largest city, is near Chicago, and was one of the deadliest cities in America just a few short years ago.

Just eight years ago the murder rate in Aurora exceeded the rate in Chicago.  Over the last eight years gun violence and murders in Chicago has gotten worse, while in 2012 Aurora did not have one single homicide!  Not one!!  And there were only 61 incidents of gun violence, an 80% reduction from the peak in 1996.

How did Aurora do it while simultaneously having a population explosion?  It took a multifaceted d approach to solving the underlying issues of poverty, gang violence, education and opportunity.

Aurora Police Chief Greg Thomas said there are no quick fixes for reducing the number of murders in any community.

Thomas said that a key factor was getting help from the community, getting kids into after-school programs and the Junior ROTC.

The police department also tried to keep young people from joining gangs through it’s “Knock and Talk” program.

If the police caught wind that a certain young person was trying to become involved in a gang, police would talk to the young person’s parent and inform them of the signs to watch for from their son or daughter.

Rev. Pat McManus, pastor at Kingdom Impact Center, is one of several aurora ministers who held prayer vigils at every murder scene in past years, encouraging neighbors to fight back. “We’re all working together, doing the same thing, having the same focus to truly see the city turn,” he said.

Thomas said Aurora started focusing in 2005 on the worst of the repeat criminals and getting them locked up in federal prisons.

“If you look at about 2005 to 2007, we took about 150 high-ranking gang members, shooters off the streets in Aurora, with help from federal partnerships with the ATF and FBI. I think that was a big contributor,” Thomas said.

Thomas said the reduction in the murder rate is the culmination of a long team effort, and the results have been dramatic. Thomas credited a crackdown on gangs, assisted by federal authorities. Thomas also credited use of the CompStat system, which uses crime statistics to focus police resources on hot spots of activity.

East Aurora was once the center of much of the city’s gang and drug violence, but in the neighborhoods, and the lively businesses, residents feel the change. “I believe my kids are in less danger,” one woman said.

“I feel a lot safer,” one man said.

“I think it should get out, you know? Come live in Aurora, It’s a safe place,” another man said.

Certainly the growth Aurora has experienced has helped by opening up job opportunities.

One thing Chicago's overly tough gun laws have proved beyond any doubt: Gun Control DOES NOT reduce gun violence.  Social, civic and law enforcement solutions like those implemented in Aurora do.

The following resources were helpful in preparing this blog entry.  In some cases quotes for city officials and residents were taken from these news stories and I am indebted to the reporters who did the real work in researching this information:

CBS 2 Chicago

Democratic Underground dot com

HUFF POST Chicago

City of Aurora Website

Solving Gun Violence

A tragic and horribly misplaced approach of today's liberal and progressive leaders is to blame inanimate objects or cultural attitudes or corporations (which today's liberals see as inanimate objects) or, rarely, government for any and all of today's ills.  But we avoid any assignment of personal responsibility at all costs. Even if the cost is in human lives.

Gun deaths and gun violence is no exception.

First we blame the guns themselves.  And, of course that allows us to blame the NRA. From there it's easy to blame the gun manufacturers, gun sellers and gun owners (as a group, of course, and primarily if they're legal, registered gun owners).

Quickly we blame lax gun laws, gun shows and gun registration.  We blame large ammunition clips and semi-automatic weapons.

Next we blame the lack of jobs, poverty in general, or as Reverend Jessie Jackson did this week, a "lack of dreams."

Curiously we don't blame Hollywood or the media culture of violence very often. I'm guessing that's because many of the people in Hollywood are wealthy liberals who contribute verbally and, rather rarely, financially to our causes.  Best not bite the hand that feeds. But that's a very minor side point.

But we avoid any assignment of personal responsibility.  We do not, under any circumstances blame personal lifestyles, personal choices or personal decisions. We never allow any blame that would insult or hurt an individual or the choices they have made or failed to make.

If a person drops out of school, that's the school's fault. A school system is a great inanimate object.  But we never blame the teachers, or even dare to measure a teacher's ability or success.  That's personal and we don't do personal.

Because of our tragically failed approach to problems we have the great tragedy of gun violence in our society.  And the iconic symbol of our failure in curbing gun violence is not Newtown, Connecticut, but Chicago Illinois.

Chicago had 500 hundred murders this year, 87.5% of which were "gun related."  And they took place in city with the tightest, toughest gun laws in America.  Babies, children, teen and adults were all killed, with the toughest gun laws in place.

Did you realize that virtually no murders are committed by people with "concealed carry" permits? Nationally. Almost none. It turns out that murders are committed by criminals.  Who knew?

I personally have no problem with tougher gun laws.  I believe some new gun laws will emerge from Congress this next year and they'll have my strong personal support.  They won't solve any problems, but my fellow liberal will feel better.

But no gun law currently being proposed or discussed will prevent the tragedy in Newtown or reduce murders in Chicago (or anywhere else).

Both Ann Coulter and the vilified NRA know exactly how to stop future Newtown's from happening.  We will condemn them with our strongest voices of righteous indignation. We will call them "racists" and "neanderthals" and then we will quickly and quietly implement their solutions because they are right. Curiously, Ann Coulter is almost always right.

And Larry Elder knows how to solve the poverty problem, which does lead directly to the gun and gang violence in Chicago.  Our problem is that, as liberals, we've decided to take personal responsibility off the table and, therefore we cannot consider Elder's solutions.  Let me print some of what Elder has to say:

“To avoid poverty, UCLA public policy professor James Q. Wilson said that everyone — not just blacks — must do three things: finish high school, don’t become a parent until at least the age of twenty, and get married before having a child. Do this and you will not be poor,” 

Elder said. “I once asked Kweisi Mfume, then the head of the NAACP the following question: ‘As between the presence of white racism and the absence of black fathers, which poses the bigger threat to the black community.’ He immediately responded, ‘The absence of black fathers.’ Screaming about racism won’t solve this problem.”

“And if every white person, as my friend Walter Williams likes to say, suddenly became as pure as Mother Teresa, the problem of a 50 percent urban high school drop out rate would remain,” he added.

I want to be clear. I favor gay and lesbian marriage.  But Elder is right, we need two parent families.  Two men, two women or a man and women, I don't care.  But marriage need to occur before childbirth.  And life long commitment is a key.

Poverty rarely occurs in two parent families.  School drop-outs are reduced, too. Be honest, a single parent doesn't have the time or financial resources to attend school meetings, join the PTA and lead fund drives for more resources.  They often don't have the time to help with homework.

Poor single parents are good people, but they are handicapped  financially and functionally.  They love their kids, but they are stressed to the limit.

We cannot and must not legislate marriage. But, as a society, we need to realize strong family units are a key to a healthy society.  And, as liberals, we must look beyond the inanimate and toward the personal if we are truly to make an impact and begin to actually solve problems.

The Headline You Never Saw

Everyone saw this Headline:

Gunman kills Six at Sikh Temple in Wisconsin

The entire nation (and most of the world) was shocked this weekend by the senseless assault on a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.  Every cable news channel quickly dropped weekend programming and broadcast full time from the site of this tragedy.  Twitter literally burst at the seams with reports, rumors and completely false accusation (all aimed at the right, from Progressive Zealots on the left who all but claimed Michelle Bachmann pulled the trigger).

The world was at once captivated and horrified.

However, no one saw this headline:

Twelve Murdered in Chicago This Weekend

The headline above never appeared anywhere until my posting, but it is completely true.  It represents just one small piece of the massive American Genocide being ignored by the press.  Because each murder happened individually (or in small groups) and because each is attributed to "gangland violence" they are ignored and forgotten, never reported outside of the neighborhood communities.

Worse, there will be no follow-up.  We won't know anything about the killers.  Many will, in fact, never be identified.  Many will kill again..... and again.  Some will actually murder more people than the famous serial killers.  They will go unrecognized because they are taking lives slowly in drive-by shootings and random acts of violence.

I keep coming back to Chicago because there is an excellent website, Redeye Chicago Com that tracks every murder.  

But these murders are being duplicated in every major metropolitan area in America.  Well over one hundred black teen and twenty something boys and girls die every weekend.  No one reports this tragedy.

I'll finish this tragic entry in my long and growing blog series with a tiny portion of a gut wrenching article in the Chicago Sun Times written by Mary Mitchell, Chronic grief overtaking black communities

It used to be when a teen was killed under any circumstances, mothers would snatch up their children and keep them inside as if they were trying to hide them from the Angel of Death.

Mourners would stop by the grieving family’s house carrying trays of food and just sit quietly. But the prolonged killings of young black people have resulted in a macabre cultural shift when it comes to the grieving process.

Mourners leave empty liquor bottles and cigarette packages on the spot where the victim died. They order T-shirts with an image of the fallen and distribute them to the dead youth’s family and friends. They string up balloons like they are getting ready for the family reunion picnic.

The Rev. Oscar Crear, pastor of New Tiberia Missionary Baptist Church at 2156 W. Wellington, is one of the pastors called upon to perform funeral services for young people who have no church home.

“People struggle for a long time after a violent death,” Crear told me during a recent interview.

“A lot of young people are suffering from chronic grief. They are not handling this very well.”

Some ask, “ ‘How can I bury my son this week and bury your son the following week?’ ” Crear said.

“When people go to funeral after funeral it impacts them.”

The Disposable First Amendment

It seems that it's easy to dispense with the Bill of Rights when it doesn't fit with your personal agenda.  Certainly the mayors of two of our largest and most important cities have no problem tossing the First Amendment to the Constitution aside.

You might remember the First Amendment.  It's the one that guarantees Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion.  Those rights no longer apply in Boston or in Chicago.

It was easy for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to dispense with the Constitution since they were simultaneously discarding their oath of office and the virtually all city, state and Federal laws at the same time.

Both Mayor's personally promised that Chick-fil-A, the popular, successful and well managed fast food chain would never open a store within their respective cities.  The reason is that Chick-fil-A's CEO Dan Cathy is a Christian who made the mistake of actually professing his faith in an interview.  Cathy committed other sins in the mayor's eyes.  He personally gave donations to his church and supported many of their charities.  Some of these well known charities oppose gay marriage or, at least, favor traditional marriage.


But Emanuel and Menino have both decided they alone are the arbiters of religious dogma.  And Freedom of Religion no longer exists.  If you do not believe EXACTLY as they believe, you will be legally prevented from doing business is their cities.


This abuse of power is precisely what the framers of our Constitution feared.  Our government is prevented from establishing any single religion for precisely this reason.  Our country was originally settled by people trying to escape the Church of England and have religious freedom.  


The Boston Herald Editorial Board has rightly condemned Mayor Menoni.  In their editorial Mayor Plays Chicken they write:

We’re trying to imagine a big-city mayor telling the world that he refuses to grant government permits to a restaurant business whose CEO happens to support gay marriage. The condemnation of such an abuse of government power would be swift, overwhelming and appropriate. 

But Boston Mayor Tom Menino apparently doesn’t see any problem using the power of his government office to issue threats to a private company whose CEO does not happen to share the mayor’s own personal or political views.

UPDATE 7/27/2012: Boston Mayor Menino has backed away from his promise to prevent Chick-fil-A from opening in his city or even along The Freedom Trail.  While maintaining his strong support for Gay Marriage, he insists he spoke incorrectly, exaggerating both his ability and intent to block the fast food chain. "I'm just the mayor," Menino sheepishly admitted.