Local carnage covered up by Wall Street woes

The first thing the community organizers and activists can do is to quit blaming the police, the schools and everyone else and place it exactly where it belongs: On the perpetrators and their parents. Poverty is not an excuse; Many of us were born in poverty, but did not shoot, rob and rape, and instead went to school, worked hard and pushed ourselves ahead in life. No handouts, no freebies, no excuses. What can be done to stop people from conceiving babies they neither can afford nor wish to properly support? I don't know, but I do know that's where you start.

It isint the goverments job to "Bail-out" the cities from gang bangers. It is the mayors and the goveners job to aproach these LOCAL crime issues. This isint a federal problem, our buddies locally have failed us. Almost every single alderman has failed us, the mayor has failed us, the govener has failed us. We need to vote these people out of office, elect officals who will make a difference, and stop this idea that it is somehow the goverments job to make all of this better.

Dawn--Thanks for another thoughtful piece.

John in Hinsdale:

It isn't ANY level of government's job to "bail out cities from gang bangers."

It's EVERYONE'S job...to care about our (collective) younger generation
and our own (collective) communities.

If you see children in danger and do NOT intervene, what kind of person are you?

I raised two daughters and they were often protected, even saved, by other adults when I was not present. These
were teachers, grandparents, neighbors, police officers, and other citizens in the various places we have lived.

Because I (and they) cared about more than themselves and did not leave the care of children to "officials," we
have a next generation of decent citizens.

This is OUR problem--not "their" problem!! Get on the case.

Community organizers are to blame.

When you live off of Section 8 housing, collect food stamps you should have to pick garbage off the highway for a few hours out of your busy day of drinking and bar-b-queing.

Government is rewarding bad behavior. HUD is giving free apartments and free food to uneducated folks who keep breeding more of the same!

Stop the ethnic cleansing on the south side!

Look at Riverdale, Dolton, South Holland.

Why would decent working class people want to live with gangbangers and filth?

STOP THE ETHNIC CLEANSING SPONSORED BY HUD!

WWIIbaby wrote:

Dawn--Thanks for another thoughtful piece.
John in Hinsdale:
It isn't ANY level of government's job to "bail out cities from gang bangers."
It's EVERYONE'S job...to care about our (collective) younger generation
and our own (collective) communities.
If you see children in danger and do NOT intervene, what kind of person are you?
I raised two daughters and they were often protected, even saved, by other adults when I was not present. These
were teachers, grandparents, neighbors, police officers, and other citizens in the various places we have lived.
Because I (and they) cared about more than themselves and did not leave the care of children to "officials," we
have a next generation of decent citizens.
This is OUR problem--not "their" problem!! Get on the case.

Crime is our problem, but its all our fault for electing these do nothing politicians. It is the communitys problem, and the local goverments problem mainly, and nothing is being done with any effectivness on either front.

The problem is everybody on the south sids thinks theyre either Kobe Bryant or 50 Cent.

$5,000 rims on a $2,000 car?
Numerous babys mammas?
$200 shoes
Government assistance?

There was an article about upgrading the Altgeld housing project to the tune of $450 million dollars for rehabbing these living quarters.

In the article one person said she lived there for over 33 years in the housing project.

33 years in a housing project, are you kidding me?

Are you telling me that in 33 years you couldent afford an apartment on your own!

Thats pathetic!!!

Cadillac wrote:

There was an article about upgrading the Altgeld housing project to the tune of $450 million dollars for rehabbing these living quarters.
In the article one person said she lived there for over 33 years in the housing project.
33 years in a housing project, are you kidding me?
Are you telling me that in 33 years you couldent afford an apartment on your own!
Thats pathetic!!!

Pathetic doesn't even begin to approach describing Altgeld Gardens. The solution is a bulldozer.

Obama is the Senator from Illinois who has done NOTHING for this state. McCain is NOT from Illinois. Place the blame squarely where it belongs... ON OBAMA!

He has spent ALL of his time campaigning for yet another office he is not qualified to hold.

You libs are sick, twisted people. Pray that this insult to humanity does not steal the most powerful poisition on Earth. If he does, there will be REAL hell to pay!

Looks like that Chicago gun ban is working out great.

I agree 100%. The problem is however no one is willing or able to take all of the rights and privileges away from the gangbangers and criminals. When someone finally does get caught for something, they're put on probation, or out in a year or two, released back to the streets that created their predatory ways. You want change? Silence all of the civil rights leaders and storefront reverends and name all violent street gangs terrorists. Bring in the National Guard and pluck them all off of the streets. The seasoned vets of the gangs are locked up for good or executed. The younger ones put into college or a trades program or back in high school. They're not returned to society until they've proven that they can be a positive addition to it. Deeply overhaul and reduce the entitlement programs. Give people in these blighted areas a stronger sense of self-worth.

We can accomplish this, but do not imply that there are racial undertones when the cleansing is taking place. Remember we are going after gangs. When you're locking up thousands and thousands of members of organizations such as the Latin Kings and Black Gangster Disciples, it's not a race issue, it is a domestic terrorist issue. They thrive today because the race card is played in every hand, discouraging CPD and others from doing their job.

Okay so give the CPD the needed powers to break up the gangs. Give the FBI, CPD, and the DEA the powers to break up the drug selling. I don't want to hear we are infringing on these poor gangs and there so called rights. You want to declare War on the Latino, and Black street gangs then go for it, but I don't want the liberal media to start crying because some gang bangers were killed defending there turf, and drugs. You can't have it both ways. More gang relating killings occur in the US every year then in all of Iraq, but no one cares because it doesn't fit into the liberal agenda.

I am surprised that the City of Chicago has not handled crime the way the City of Aurora did. For years Aurora has had the same gangs and the same problems as Chicago, albeit on a smaller scale. But one day about four or five years ago the ATF showed up (I still don't know who brought them here) and the murder rate went from double digits to, well, one this year so far. There were sweeps in which thirty plus people would be arrested and while I hate the thought of locking up whole generations of young men, the violence seems to be at least some what under control. But as a resident of both Aurora and Chicago I have long believed that Daley doesn't care a straw about poor kids--if he did the schools would be better. He has tried for years, through boosting expensive development by corrupt, sleazy developers, to get rid of the middle class in Chicago. After all, they never stop complaining about bad schools and high crime. I really do think he has you-know-what envy for New York City: a bunch of wealthy people who insulate themselves and poor people who have no voice or power. He almost pulled it off but now the economy has changed everything. No matter how many flower pots there are downtown the violence in the neighborhoods is off the charts, the streets are crumbling and more and more people are sleeping in the parks. My question remains: why does he keep winning elections?

You are a typical, left, liberal, racist journalist. You're a disgrace to your profession and to humanity in general.

Ms. Trice, thank you for writing this. As rich tycoons get a bailout courtesy of the American taxpayer, poor families are losing, and I promise you, you're not the only one who's angry about it.
To "Full Circle": Don't assume the National Guard is the answer for you, or people in high-crime neighborhoods, or anyone else. Let me share the insight I picked up after being enlisted in the National Guard for the better part of the '90s:
First of all, the military's primary mission isn't to maintain order, it's to kill enemy soldiers. The bulk of the Army's training is directed toward this mission--kill them, before they kill us. Aim the National Guard at a stateside target, and you'll see the effects of this training: you will have turned a high-crime area into a war zone. You'd wind up with more gun deaths, not less. If you want a force whose primary mission is to deal with Americans in a manner consistent with civil law, you need police, not soldiers.
Second, military personnel come disproportionately from poor neighborhoods, and you're assuming those same personnel would then march on their own friends and families and treat them like enemies? My old unit, the now-defunct 202nd Air Defense Artillery, was designated as the rapid-response team in the event of a riot in Chicago. While President Clinton never activated National Guard troops for combat, the Bulls won plenty of championships, so the risk of getting deployed for riot-control was certainly present. This was our biggest fear, because we knew we'd be marching into our own neighborhoods.
A common knee-jerk American reaction to any problem is to deploy guns and bombs, but that won't solve this problem, it'll just get a lot of people killed.

Dailey is to proud to let the ATF Take credit for cleaning up HIS City.
If we brought the FBI, ATF & DEA in here to clean up all these MS13, Spanish Cobras, Latin Kings, Gangster Deciples and the other trash then things could turn around.
the 70's were a dark time for NYC
My Father lived it and saw it.
We are NYC in the 70's, but then a few good men came along and turned the most dangerous city in america into one of the safest to this day.
We need to learn from what NYC Did put aside all this political posturing and get it done. A Gang Bangers bullet doesnt care about your party, or what you think. We need to get rid of these guys once and for all they dont deserve to live in our city.

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Ms. Trice, it is nice that you address this issue of kids dying in the inner city. You ask what can be done. I am here to tell you that in our current cultural state of political correctness there is nothing that can be done. We, as a nation, are not prepared to deal with the senseless killing of children (and adults) in the low income, inner city areas. An example of this can be found in how those same areas respond to two different occurrences. If a young gangbanger with a history of violent crime is arrested forcefully by the local police, the line of witnesses complaining about police brutality is very long. However, when that same "wayward" youth kills a 10 yr. old neighbor with a stray bullet during a retaliatory drive-by shooting there are suddenly no witnesses. The pieces are in place to discourage helping your own community. The absence of responsible fathers does not help, obviously. The rules of political correctness label me a racist for suggesting that people take responsibility for their community.
Consequently, we are left with more rhetoric and the same problem.

Jamison wrote:

The first thing the community organizers and activists can do is to quit blaming the police, the schools and everyone else and place it exactly where it belongs: On the perpetrators and their parents. Poverty is not an excuse; Many of us were born in poverty, but did not shoot, rob and rape, and instead went to school, worked hard and pushed ourselves ahead in life. No handouts, no freebies, no excuses. What can be done to stop people from conceiving babies they neither can afford nor wish to properly support? I don't know, but I do know that's where you start.

Wow you nailed it on the head. I have to wonder where are these so called civil rights leaders? If a white person uses the so called N word they are ranting and raving all over. But when their own are killing each other, all you get is silence. Quit blaming everybody else for your own problems. Quit demanding everyone else handles it. Deal with it yourselves. Start taking action. You kill someone because your hands touched each other???