CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

EDITORIAL: See Chicago violence? Report it. Get angry about it.

Chicago Tribune - 7/21/2017

July 21--A few days after 10-year-old Gustavo Garcia became the fourth Chicago child this year to be killed by a bullet, about 200 people gathered along East 97th Street to get emotional, to get angry, to rally against gun violence at a vigil organized by police.

It was sad to see. It was important to see.

Shootings and killings gut neighborhoods and destroy lives, most often on the South and West sides. There is no simple answer to the scourge, much of it connected to gang activity that's wormed deep into much of Chicago. But if one response is vital and doable, it's for neighbors to take action to resist the gangs.

Residents who endure the violence often know what goes on and who's involved. If these neighbors, friends and family share information with Chicago police, the odds increase that law enforcement will arrive in time to thwart a shooting, apprehend a suspect or at least send bad guys scurrying.

It's easy for us to make that pronouncement from the safety of Tribune Tower. On many streets relations with the police are tense because of the history of abuse by some officers. Calling in tips also means risking retaliation by gangbangers. It's safer to keep the doors locked and stay away from windows.

Something, though, drew those people onto the street Monday night in the Southeast Side when they could have kept silent and invisible. The death of Gustavo, shot while riding in a car with his stepfather after 11 p.m. on July 14, stunned the community. Residents came out to an "Operation Wake Up" anti-violence event organized by police. Rosa Jimenez-Hernandez, who would have been the boy's fifth-grade literacy teacher this fall, told Tribune reporter Peter Nickeas she wished more people had attended. "I don't know what we can do about it. I don't know," she said.

Nickeas' reporting captured the conflicting sentiments that encourage some witnesses to defy the gangs yet prevent other witnesses from going to police. Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza, 10th, told the gathering that community action is crucial to fighting violence. "I'm begging you to take a stand," she said. "Some people say, 'I saw it but I'm not going to say anything.' That's like saying it's OK."

Yet a neighbor who asked not to be identified told Nickeas he'd be scared to call the cops. "Gangs, they're very dangerous people. If you make a call, these people catch who does it."

One way forward, then, is to harness the courage of bigger crowds at more rallies to convince individuals it's in everyone's interest to safeguard communities. For that to happen, city leaders need to organize this resistance. We've called out aldermen for abdicating this important responsibility. Their voices are loud enough in City Council chambers when issues suit them, but they're conspicuously quiet on the streets. Who among them could we point to as a leader?

Some aldermen do speak out. Earlier this year we heard Ald. Ray Lopez, 15th, say the right things about combating gang warfare in Brighton Park and Back of the Yards. "We need the people who live here to stand up and help us stop what's going on," he said. It was good, too, to hear Sadlowski Garza echo that call at the Gustavo Garcia rally. The more aldermen lead, the more likely residents will follow.

That's what police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told us in a Wednesday conversation: "It takes everybody to step up. We need the aldermen, elected officials, clergy, community residents, business owners, it doesn't matter who it is. Everybody has a vested interest in reducing crime."

Johnson says he knows relations with the police are fractured, while getting too involved as a tipster could risk retaliation. But he also knows cops can't take control of the streets without pressure from impatient, law-abiding citizens. Tips lead to arrests. Community action tells gangs their mayhem won't be tolerated.

"The more people we get out there, the more information will flow to the police," Johnson said. The goal is a culture in which gang members don't pick up a gun. "Once they know they can't run around in those communities firing weapons with impunity, they'll stop doing it."

The alternative? Just keep quiet and let the death toll mount.

Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.

Become a subscriber today to support editorial writing like this. Start getting full access to our signature journalism for just 99 cents for the first four weeks.

___

(c)2017 the Chicago Tribune

Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.