Now that Mayor Brandon Johnson has vociferously denounced Chicago’s gun violence, all the gun-toting bad guys will obey and stop shooting each other, right?
It is hoped he understands the history of Chicago’s current gun violence, which today mirrors the violence of Prohibition. Only back then, submachine guns were in the mix.
But what chance does he have in a nation whose gun culture is defended by the gun industry, where the “right” to own firearms is guaranteed by our Constitution, written when settlers faced the Indian frontier, our nation was in the throes of the Revolutionary War and patriots were expected to be Minutemen, with a loaded musket at the ready? Past that era, we have been acculturated by legends of “winning the West;” cowboy and Indian shootouts, an endless parade of gangster movies, and war movie after war movie glorifying shooting ability.
This gunplay overload has shaped our psyches and our cultural tolerance of guns, normalizing private gun ownership. This isn’t the case in Europe or elsewhere overseas, where private gun ownership is practically unknown.
Unless this cultural reality can be undone and reversed, it appears our mayor doesn’t stand a chance of winning his anti-gun battle. But let’s wish him well anyway. Anything to mitigate guns in private hands might help and can’t hurt. But it seems like trying to hold back the tides or wishing away thunderstorms.
Is America ready for ending the right to bear arms? We are cursed by the very guns we insisted were necessary early on. Circumstances have changed, but the primitive fear of being defenseless against others who have guns has a life of its own. We are trapped in a gun-ownership dead end by our nation’s history.
Would all guns be surrendered if federal agents came knocking to confiscate them? Silly question. We have made a lethal trap for ourselves: A gun-free America is a mere pipe dream.
At bottom is fear of each other. To live in a gun-free society, we must move to Canada or Europe, where people have better sense.
— Ted Z. Manuel, Chicago
Officials should lead with truth
After seeing how our political leaders artfully bobbed and weaved around taking any kind of responsibility for the violence that grips our city (“Civic leaders take aim at violence,” July 11), I now know why I have had such a hard time settling into my role as a newly elected member of a Police District Council: It is because I am not a politician.
As a veteran of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with stints in two African embassies, it is in my DNA to seek solutions to problems through a lens of truth, especially when I am called upon to brief superiors on the best course of action to achieve an objective. I arrive at my perspective and deliver the best-case scenario to my commanding officers, built upon a deep analysis derived from sincere research. What I don’t do is continuously throw things against the wall and blame others when they don’t stick.
Addressing the root causes of violence may require many things, but deflection has never been one of them. May I suggest that officials learn how to strengthen their ability to speak the truth instead of always relying on scapegoats. Gov. J.B. Pritzker aptly threw out the old Republican card, even though Illinois has made it a mission to minimize the GOP’s influence in state and city politics down to its lowest point in decades. Also on display were the mayor and the deflection crutch of racism, and how the deaths of Black people support economies, without the mayor getting into specifics on what those economies are/were.
The time may have finally arrived for our elected officials to dump their cliches and finally admit that they are as clueless about the continued bloodletting as those of us who voted them in office. They should arrive for their news conferences unshaven, open-collared and without the usual political polish, and level with us by stating that this problem is larger than they anticipated, along with calling out their Democratic members on the Cook County Board and Cook County Circuit Court system, state’s attorney’s office and attorney general’s office and every other party member in this city and state who have had a hand in building this crisis, be it from their action or inaction.
My commander would sure appreciate it from me.
— Ephraim Lee, councilor, 2nd Police District Council, Chicago
Nixon’s civil rights legacy
I was shocked and dismayed to see Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s comments regarding the tragic Fourth of July weekend violence in the city, in which he stated that “Black death” has long been accepted in because “we had a chance 60 years ago to get at the root causes” and, instead, “we ended up with Richard Nixon.”
Nixon has a very strong civil rights legacy. In 1970, he developed a plan to finally carry out the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision to desegregate all schools. Nixon’s Emergency School Aid Act provided $1.5 million to end school segregation and fund cultural education programs to stem educational disadvantages caused by segregation. During his presidency, federal funding for civil rights programs swelled to $600 million from $75 million, according to the Richard Nixon Foundation. He also allocated $12 million for research into sickle-cell anemia, a blood disorder that occurs in around 1 in 365 African American births.
From 1969 to 1971, federal purchases from Black-owned businesses increased to $142 million from $13 million, according to the Nixon Foundation. Federal aid to Black colleges also doubled. Nixon created the Office of Minority Business Enterprise and called on government agencies to apply equal-opportunity policies to personnel policies and practices. He mandated that federal contractors comply with equal employment opportunity laws, which helped dismantle institutionalized racism in labor unions. The Nixon administration instituted plans to increase jobs for minorities in construction.
Johnson should instead look inward and think about the failure of current leadership to effectively address violence in America’s greatest city. He would also do well to remember Nixon’s remarks during his inauguration in 1969: “In these difficult years, America has suffered from a fever of words; from inflated rhetoric that promises more than it can deliver; from angry rhetoric that fans discontents into hatreds; from bombastic rhetoric that postures instead of persuading. We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another — until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.”
— Ryan Curtis, Rockford
Hire more Chicago police
It is true that the South and West sides of Chicago have suffered decades of under- and disinvestment, especially since the 1970s and the shuttering of steel mills and auto companies. With those closings went well-paying union jobs with benefits and pensions. Reversing that trend is at best a medium- to long-term project, and it must be continued with the necessary funding required.
But the horrendous problem of violence in Chicago that we are experiencing every day must be addressed now, and that means hiring 2,000 well-trained new police officers. Increased police presence, along with other measures, will deter a significant portion of the violence and other street crime. There is no way around that!
— Robert Hart, Chicago
Johnson’s accountability
After reading two Tribune articles, I realize Mayor Brandon Johnson is very skilled at blaming others and avoiding personal responsibility.
He continues to resuscitate the nebulous concept of disinvestment in Black and brown communities as the cause of gun violence. What exactly does that mean?
When asked if NASCAR will pay the city the money it is owed, he responded that is not his job; it is the comptroller’s job. When asked about moving the date for the NASCAR race, he blamed Lori Lightfoot’s administration and said it was something we inherited.
However, I applaud his comments regarding the perpetrators of gun violence, that he plans on “holding every single individual accountable.” Now it is his turn to be accountable.
— Cathleen Bylina, Chicago
Note to readers: Taking Jean Kwas’ lead in her July 13 letter to the editor, we would like to hear from you about memorable acts of kindness you witnessed or facilitated. Send us a letter of no more than 400 words to letters@chicagotribune.com. Provide your full name and your contact information including city.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.