Introduction
Among the social problems that arise in society, some have devastating consequences. These include poverty, drugs, and low social status. Chicago is a city of contrasts, combining luxury and wealth with serious street trouble, the most serious of which is shooting. Chicago’s west and south neighborhoods are recognized as the most dangerous places to live in all of America, with murders, robberies, and shootings being heard every day. It is crucial to understand what are the reasons for these incidents and what motivates people to kill. In 2016, more than 700 people were killed in shootings in Chicago, greatly prompting the public to notice (CBS News, 2017). The work provides an overview of the problem of gun violence, which affects the lives of Americans in Chicago.
The Emergence of Gun Violence: Causes and Impact on Society
The legalization of gun sales is a subject of debate that does not die down daily. With a low crime rate, guns are unnecessary for ordinary people because the police can protect them (Aynes, 2011). But how can one trust the police when even police officers fear for their lives and want to go home to supposed safety? Unfortunately, it is not a problem of the cops themselves but of the system that has emerged on the streets of Chicago.
The emergence of gun violence is primarily due to the growth of the black population in Chicago in the 1960s. Factories opened, infrastructure developed, but soon the factories were displaced, and many people lost their jobs. Gradually the process of forming gangs took place, in which people found the same unfortunate unemployed and tried to find a way out of poverty. With the growth of drugs and the availability of guns, more and more gangs began to engage in criminal activity, which inevitably led to street fighting (60 Minutes Australia, 2019). Soon the crews started feuding with each other, and the situation deteriorated manifold. Innocent people who were unlucky enough to visit a store during its robbery, who were walking home and accidentally returned to the wrong alley, were involved in the wrong place at the wrong time.
More than 50 gangs are operating in Chicago, carrying out criminal or similar activities. The gangs are divided into factions, each of which “controls” certain areas of the county. Instead of directly combating gang activity, since 2012, the police have shifted their focus to patrolling at the mayor’s behest (60 Minutes Australia, 2019). However, as statistics have shown, this has only led to increased violence: more than 80 percent of crimes are committed by gangs, which is an intimidating figure.
The factions’ animosity intensified: the reasons for the violence became more and more insignificant, and the punishments and retaliation became more and more severe. Gradually it became so massive that it spread to ordinary people. The market for legal guns grew so large that it was easier to get them illegally. Chicago residents point out that they do not want to hold one, but it is the only way to keep their family safe while trying to find ways to escape.
Life in Chicago: What Ordinary People Face
Many social studies focus on the problems of violence: sociologists and biologists try to understand the mechanisms of aggressive behavior and evaluate the influence of society. Traditionally, they refer to genetic characteristics, psycho-emotional status, and gender. However, significant impacts on the community in which children grow up: parents’ behavior becomes their role model. Such is the case in Chicago, where children know no other life.
The reporters in the video address the locals who have already grown up, asking why they did not leave. The answer is almost always the same: most people say there is nowhere to go. Parents say they are no longer afraid for themselves but for their children; they want to give children a better life and provide them with a promising future (CBS News, 2017). The murder of three children between the ages of 2 and 11 in 2016 shows one thing: gun violence and gangs war affect all families to varying degrees (60 Minutes Australia, 2019). There is probably no family that has not experienced violence: everyone has heard or seen shootings, some have even been shot. These people have learned that without a gun, their chances of being killed on the street are much higher than without one (CBS News, 2017). People here are not afraid of the police or being caught with a gun; it is much scarier to be in a situation where there is no gun at hand.
Faced with poverty and hopelessness, people try to find ways to escape the cycle of violence. Unfortunately, it inevitably haunts all families: they know no other life, and most have grown up on these streets, where shootings continue every day. There are far more shootings than murders, but the statistics are inevitable. The growth curve tends upward, and these are disappointing results. Virtually every person in Chicago has faced the brutality of the street, and they all remember the names of those killed.
There are good things, too: a man named Tim provides psychological support for people who have lost loved ones. He holds meetings, helps them cope with grief, and leads services like a church. Tim travels to the scenes of shootings, trying to help survivors. Tim also notes that he is most concerned about the Fourth of July: fireworks drowned out the gunfire on that day (CBS News, 2017). Tim fears he will not have time to help people, and the police have no right to ban celebrations.
Good things are happening on the streets of Chicago, but unfortunately, the situation remains difficult for many people. Some say they know the shooters and the reasons for the shootings, but they still do nothing. It is probably because this is not the way to break the cycle of violence and improve the situation. In addition, many realize that revenge will not bring back dead relatives but will only make things worse (CBS News, 2017). Chicago County police officers are also concerned: the former head of investigations believes that the police should act and help. The mayor, however, has a different attitude; he does not comment and maybe denies funding. These difficulties create even more favorable conditions for the development of police violence.
The Problem of Racism in Mass Gun Violence
Chicago has a predominantly black population because it is where migration began after the abolition of slavery. Racists often blame the government for allowing outsiders into their country, forgetting that whites showed the same treatment to Native Americans. Racism is a part of people’s lives, especially in Chicago, because often, the amount of street violence is determined by a person’s race (60 Minutes Australia, 2019). As stated earlier, poverty and drugs are extreme among the causes of violence. Also, crime becomes someone’s job when people join gangs. However, I would like to explain why this is not due to a racial category.
As it was mentioned earlier, there were many gangs involved in Chicago, formed because of the high unemployment rate in the 1960s. The units operated independently of each other, and most violence occurred against the white population as privileged. However, race or ethnicity no longer mattered as the population grew: crimes were increasingly committed based on other social criteria. In reviewing past cases and crimes against Hispanics, the court found that the crimes were not the result of a racial struggle in most cases. The national or racial communes developed in Chicago do not correlate with criminal gangs, so it is impossible to view crime only as a product of the black community. Race and ethnicity have nothing to do with the biochemical mechanisms of aggression (60 Minutes Australia, 2019). Manifestations of racism should no longer have an evidentiary basis in a crime, but instead, other indicators should be used: income, age, gender, family, etc.
The solution to racism and the prevalence of gun violence must be to revise legislation and choose other tactics to reduce crime. Patrolling is not an effective way to fight because police officers are in the same danger as others. Policies that focus on equalizing social, economic, and legal differences will improve the situation in disadvantaged areas and have a significant impact on the development of healthy attitudes among people.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, the problem of gun violence on the streets of America remains unresolved, and in Chicago, it is reaching its peak. The situation is not good: the number of police officers is decreasing, the number of shootings is increasing, and the percentage of poverty is rising. The proliferation of illegal weapons allows gangs to continue their criminal activity, which causes the death of innocent people every year. It is essentially the fault of the county’s internal system, so at the very least, we need to look for ways to address unemployment and try to solve the problems of street violence. Gun sales need to be reduced, and surveillance of drugs and illegal gun distribution must be more thorough. The measures that have been taken are not helping, so gun violence continues to be a problem.
References
Aynes, R.L. (2011). McDonald, v. Chicago self-defense, the right to bear arms, & the future. Akron Journal Of Constitutional Law And Policy, 2 (181).
CBS News. (2017). The guns of Chicago [Video]. YouTube. Web.
60 Minutes Australia. (2019). Chicago’s gang war: a crisis like no other [Video]. YouTube. Web.