“A Mother’s Greatest Fear.” Mural in Chicago, Illinois, and response to the city’s rising murder rate due to gang violence.

When I used to think of Chicago, Illinois, what immediately came to mind was Oprah.  The wind.  Then the cold.  An image of rush hour people hurrying to work with the anxiousness of New Yorkers comes to mind.  But the Chicagoan does not clutch his head or neck because there are too many people packed in one place to breathe; he does it because the winters are always frigid, always insane.  I see scarves and trench coats flying behind the Chicagoan, pulled by the wind like the tail of a kite.  I see a beautiful city sort of dipping its feet in water.  I see side-by-side bridges.  I see bridges over water.

Lately, when I think of Chicago, I still see the bridges.  But they all seem to be over troubled waters.

When I think of Oprah or the President, I think of Chicago having been abandoned by its current leaders.  The Rahm Emanuels and the Cory Bookers seem to be at a loss to stop the blood shed.  As a result, Chicago’s people who are without strong leadership or a vision are perishing.

In large metropolitan cities in particular, gang activity is a nuisance throughout the country.  However, Chicago is special.  And not in a good way.  In this city alone, over 100,000 gang members have been documented.  The only other city that may have more gang members is Los Angeles.

Conservatives say, gun laws are not at the root of Chicago’s gang violence.

While crime in general and homicides in New York and Los Angeles have declined since the 1990s, for the residents of Chicago, the thing whizzing past their ear is less likely to be winter’s snowflakes or spring’s butterflies.  It’s likely bullets.  All-year-long bullets.  In Chicago, murder is on the rise.  That’s because 50 to 80 percent of Chicago’s most violent crime is gang-related.  And these boys love their guns.

In Chicago, black lives matter when whites kill blacks.

In Chicago, black lives sort of matter when Cain, himself, kills Abel.

In Chicago, gangs have more power than the police.

In Chicago, parents of gang members have failed their children.

In Chicago, violence reduction strategies are failing.

In Chicago, Operation Ceasefire, Impact, Search & Seizure, have all ceased working.

In Chicago, less restrictive gun laws keep weapons in the hands of the criminally-minded.

In Chicago, neighborhoods have been taken hostage by fools with guns.

The heat of these disgusting facts is felt by no one more than Chicago’s residents; these facts are as close to them as skin and dead kin.  The worst thing that can happen to any city under siege has already happened to Chicago’s residents.  Instead of feeling confident that they will take back their streets, the people now see themselves as victims.  They have lost hope.

In the United States, that the gangs are winning is a national shame.