How Chicago’s gang fighters, facilitated by the media, are claiming to be innocent victims
Sam Barnes writes:
I am writing in response to your post on Chicago’s “intra-black mayhem.” You had previously commented on the “mysterious, descriptionless young people” murdering each-other, and as a former resident of Chicago—I lived there for six years—I felt compelled to follow the story. Now, these types of crimes, in these areas of the city (predominantly black and Hispanic, South and West sides, respectively) are not big news: people in Chicago read about them in the paper, shake their heads, and move on with their days. However, one thing stood out to me that either I had never noticed before or is a recent development, and that is the appearance of the phrase, “heard shots and felt pain.”
In five separate incidents, seven different people reported to the police that the circumstances surrounding their shootings amounted to, “I heard shots and felt pain,” i.e., I was standing around minding my own business when I heard gunfire and realized I had been shot and I have no idea why anyone would want to shoot me. Perhaps I am overly cynical, but I don’t believe that for a moment. First of all, the phrasing seems to be a sort of standard, almost like “I want to speak with a lawyer,” which any viewer of TV crime dramas is familiar with. Additionally, the Tribune reports that two of the shooting victims who used this phrase “would not cooperate with the police,” and a third “was shot three times”—it seems unlikely that three stray bullets would hit the same person. So it seems to me that the criminal gangs of Chicago at the very least have some basic legal knowledge or training or even regular counseling on how to avoid implicating their gangs or their enemies, and would rather handle their affairs on their own terms—a peculiar modern day omerta.
By the way, here are links to the stories at the Chicago Tribune, one for each night of last weekend: June 15, June 16, and June 17.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 21, 2012 09:38 AM | Send