Two mass shootings over the weekend — one at a South Side home and another at a park on the Far North Side — as well as a fatal shooting near a Grand Crossing Subway sandwich shop Monday proved yet once again that there are no spaces that can elude America’s pervasive gun violence.
Out-of-town politicians might have used Sunday’s shootings in Chatham and Rogers Park and Monday’s incident to grandstand and slam Chicago, had the crimes taken place in the Loop or another predominately white, affluent corner our city. And many Chicagoans, while deeply concerned about the carnage, have grown weary of hearing from elected leaders, especially those who refuse to pass common sense gun legislation that would actually help curb the bloodshed.
But City Council members and Mayor Brandon Johnson, who genuinely value the safety of their constituents, cannot afford to give off an air of complacency. Chicagoans need continual public reassurance that City Hall is paying attention to the tragedies that take place in their neighborhoods and is prioritizing immediate solutions just as much as addressing the underlying causes of the violence.
Kudos to Ald. William Hall (6th), who did join police officials at a news conference Sunday night following the mass shooting in his ward that claimed the lives of three people, including 14-year-old Amere Deese. An older teen also suffered a wound to his leg when a pair of assailants — perhaps teens as young as 14 themselves, according to police — burst into the home in the 8000 block of South Vincennes Avenue and started firing their weapons.
“Chicago is way better than this,” Hall said in asking residents to help find the shooters, ABC7 Chicago reported.
Kudos also to Ald. Maria Hadden (49th), who issued a statement, including condolences, the same day after a 19-year-old woman was killed and three other people were injured in a “targeted” shooting in Pottawattomie Park Sunday afternoon.
The mayor, who launched a community safety plan in December centering on at-risk areas on the South and West sides, also must chime in, expressing outrage when callous violence, to paraphrase Hall, leads to the planning of funerals instead of the planning of futures.
What is happening in real time cannot be placed on the back burner.
Johnson vowed during his campaign to “invest in people because that’s what safe American cities do.”
That’s a noble and worthwhile strategy, and if done right it will benefit Chicago in the years to come. But shootings are cutting so many lives short every day — before they even get a chance to be lifted up. Our city leaders must hammer home a sense of urgency about that.
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