italian bread
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It's too simplistic just to shout "it's a war zone" or "fake news".
It’s no coincidence that singling out Chicago became so widespread during Barack Obama’s presidency. The right jumped at a chance to highlight gang-style violence in his hometown, with the same barely concealed racial animus that came with suggestions that he wasn’t a real American citizen, or that he was seeking to undermine America itself.
“It’s so tragic the way that the Trump Administration is using Chicago as a prop in the racial politics of America,” said Harold Pollack, a professor and codirector of the University of Chicago Crime Lab.
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There's a misperception that the city is even more violent than it actually is, and as a result, we are having the wrong conversations about solutions. The communities that suffer the most need resources and support — we cannot simply police our way out of gun violence. Even though Chicago and Illinois have gun laws many regard as tough, it’s trivially easy to buy guns in nearby states and drive them into the city, meaning illegal weapons are easy to obtain.
Instead of understanding these problems and thinking about how to solve them, people panic, and declare the city a war zone. That’s the wrong metaphor — and it's wrong in the same way as the similarly racialized and equally disastrous war on drugs. That war also fueled violence, as draconian laws and discriminatory enforcement led to record levels of mass incarceration. Men emerged from prison more troubled, and more likely to find trouble, than when they entered.
When They Say Chicago Is A War Zone, We Know What They Really Mean
Chicago is merely the latest city to be the poster child for urban violence, even though New Orleans, Philadelphia, Richmond, Atlanta, Baltimore, and St. Louis have higher murder rates. Painting Chicago into a corner is a dangerous exercise that evades talking about sound gun policy or improving urban centers. It does nothing to fix our gun problem, or help understand why it exists in the first place.It’s no coincidence that singling out Chicago became so widespread during Barack Obama’s presidency. The right jumped at a chance to highlight gang-style violence in his hometown, with the same barely concealed racial animus that came with suggestions that he wasn’t a real American citizen, or that he was seeking to undermine America itself.
“It’s so tragic the way that the Trump Administration is using Chicago as a prop in the racial politics of America,” said Harold Pollack, a professor and codirector of the University of Chicago Crime Lab.
....
There's a misperception that the city is even more violent than it actually is, and as a result, we are having the wrong conversations about solutions. The communities that suffer the most need resources and support — we cannot simply police our way out of gun violence. Even though Chicago and Illinois have gun laws many regard as tough, it’s trivially easy to buy guns in nearby states and drive them into the city, meaning illegal weapons are easy to obtain.
Instead of understanding these problems and thinking about how to solve them, people panic, and declare the city a war zone. That’s the wrong metaphor — and it's wrong in the same way as the similarly racialized and equally disastrous war on drugs. That war also fueled violence, as draconian laws and discriminatory enforcement led to record levels of mass incarceration. Men emerged from prison more troubled, and more likely to find trouble, than when they entered.
