Violence in Chicago

Homicides are up substantially this year in Chicago. Very sad. There were over 100 shot and 15 killed over the 4th of July weekend. 

No homicides so far this year in my far southwest side neighborhoods Mount Greenwood and Beverly, shown in light blue. Two in Morgan Park where my father lives. Twenty in Roseland which used to be our commercial center and where President Obama worked as a community organizer. Thirty three in Englewood, which was our transit hub - the end of the line for our south side transit trains.

I rode with a police officer friend of mine one night in Englewood, then and now a high crime neighborhood. The gang crime task force was targeting Englewood, trying to reduce crime and homicide. There was a Marine Colonel riding with us - not from Chicago and he did not know where the calls were originating. I of course knew. It sounded like a combat zone - women being raped, shots fired in the alley, people being beaten with ball bats on the Elevated train, man killed in alley. 

We did not discuss the locations and I would guess that the non native Marine may have thought the calls were from the entire city. They were not, they were just Englewood calls, just a few blocks from where we were driving. 

When I was 10 a friend and I would go downtown every Saturday, taking two buses and the Elevated train from Englewood.  A fun adventure. My friend was going to art classes at the Art Institute, while I would roam around downtown. One time for some reason I came home alone at night. Ended up at the wrong stop at a very frightening place. 

Map and Murder Number Source: heyjackass.com